Thanks guys, I have just got my free tv license

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Hi Studders, just got this spam after reading your post above this morning.



Hello John


Good news - we're giving you even faster broadband, for less.

You're already getting the UK's fastest widely available broadband, and starting this summer we'll be starting the roll-out to boost your speeds from up to 100Mb to up to 120Mb. We'll also be lowering the price of your broadband package in April to match the price of our 50Mb Broadband XXL packages.

These are nice extras we do to make you smile. We call them Virgin Media tickles, and we only give them to people we know and like - our customers.

Our ongoing commitment to offering the UK's fastest broadband.

Virgin Media offers the fastest broadband speeds in the UK*, as proven by Ofcom for three years in a row. And we're committed to keeping it this way. Which is why we're upgrading our award winning fibre optic network over the next 18 months.

As part of this upgrade, you may have seen we'll be doubling many of our customers' broadband speeds. But, because you already get our fastest broadband, we're upgrading you to up to 120Mb and giving you a discount instead.

So whether you love streaming HD movies, ruling the gaming world or downloading tunes in super quick time - you'll soon be able to do it even faster and for less.

You don't have to lift a finger.

The 120Mb upgrade kick off in the summer and will have a slightly different roll-out schedule to our other work. We'll let you know nearer the time when to expect your broadband speed boost. In the meantime, see what you can do with faster speeds at virginmedia.com/evenfaster.

We'll be in touch in a few weeks with more details about your price reduction, so there's no need to call us, or do a thing – except keep enjoying what is already the UK's fastest broadband.




Kind regards,



That sounds nice? :mrgreen:
 
I had the same email. (My name is John so I just assumed it was an offer from my ISP.

Today I received the following email from Virgin

Hello there,

Oops! That last email, 100Mb Broadband Announcement, was sent in error.

Please ignore this, and rest assured current Virgin Media Cable Broadband customers will be receiving some good news about their broadband in the next 2 weeks. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The Virgin Media team

So I dunno. If they don't need me to do anything, and they are going to be in touch, then no problems. I deleted them!

John :)
 
Trouble is, at peak times, it matters not what 'maximum' speed they advertise it rarely comes even remotely close to it. Some times it's like being back on dial up at 56k. Some of that appears to be bloated websites, some the ISP throttling speeds but mostly, I think, because there is so many people sharing the bandwidth. Nearly every property in the street seems to have the tell tale cable running to it.
 
I don't get it either Studders.

I don't have any trouble as a rule. Iplayer sometimes has apoplexy, but most downloads are reasonably fast, and I have just the basic package, as a home, low-use customer. Maybe my street is mostly phone-line served?
What I do get, more so than with AOL, is my email access being out of commission, and having to wait four hours or so before I can check-in.

John
 
It's Virginmedia I am with Woody! Their email seems to go belly-up a lot. But NP. All the folks I have regular contact with send important stuff (Which isn't a lot really!) to my Google-mail addy too. No big deal. Email isn't usually so important as to warrant 'panicking Mr. Mainwaring'! On the whole, I am happier with Virgin's service and it's cheaper than was AOL. Also not so many problems with my PC, since the change over.

John :mrgreen:
 
I'm sure someone with more networking knowledge can probably give more detail but as I understand it cable networks run a token ring type system where everyone on, for example, a street shares the bandwidth on a single line. There is a lot if bandwidth so the maximum possible speed is very good but if the system is busy it will slow and latency will increase (which makes it bad for gaming and to a lesser extent streaming). ADSL gives you your own line to the exchange. It slows because the is then contention for ISPs out going connection to the wider world. Your top speed therefore is dependent on the local loop (your phone line) and the portion of the ISPs line you can use.
 
Err... Yep... that's exactly what I was going to say. :---)













If it's right, then I was right, if it's wrong then blame wobblycogs. :lol:
 
New on this forum....

I feel for you guys, having to pay TV licence fees,these fees here in Australia were abolished 40 years ago and for what I read on my PC our programs are no worse than yours,and I must admit free to air sports are pretty good here at present....My only gripe is here in South Australia we aren't shown the English soccer results so I have to search on my PC on Sunday morning. Cheers cobbers.
 
Welcome to the forum.

I can't believe we still have a TV licence either. To give them their due the BBC make some good programs and I'd be prepared to bet a fair portion of the shows you get on free to air are BBC productions. That doesn't really excuse the licensing model they have though.

I would hate to see the BBC disappear but in the current market a subscription based model would be far more appropriate. Given the choice how many people would really pay £145/year for the BBC? Bare in mind that you can get a Netflix subscription for £72/year which includes a range of popular BBC content.
 
wobblycogs":2e17npex said:
I'm sure someone with more networking knowledge can probably give more detail but as I understand it cable networks run a token ring type system where everyone on, for example, a street shares the bandwidth on a single line. There is a lot if bandwidth so the maximum possible speed is very good but if the system is busy it will slow and latency will increase (which makes it bad for gaming and to a lesser extent streaming). ADSL gives you your own line to the exchange. It slows because the is then contention for ISPs out going connection to the wider world. Your top speed therefore is dependent on the local loop (your phone line) and the portion of the ISPs line you can use.

Virgin use

DOCSIS 3.0 over coaxial copper cable - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

Also of interest -

"On 26 November 2009, it was revealed that Virgin Media would trial deep packet inspection technology to measure the level of illegal filesharing on its network.[84] The CView system, provided by Detica, will look at traffic and identify the peer-to-peer packets. It will then peer inside those packets and try to determine what is licensed and what is unlicensed, based on data provided by the record industry. The trial - which has no scheduled end date - will cover about 40 per cent of Virgin Media's network but those involved will not be informed. Virgin Media emphasised that it is seeking to measure the overall level of illegal filesharing, not to keep records on individual customers. Data on the level of copyright infringement will be aggregated and anonymised."

I would suspect they must now be shaping traffic based on DPI.

Your top speed is ultimately limited by the slowest leg in the chain to the server you are trying to access (plus other minor stuff such as DNS, Proxies, cache - but I would say that's minor).

Cheers

Dibs
 
I'd love to be in the position where I thought that there was even a chance my local loop wasn't the slowest hop :)
 
Aboottarren":jt3lkay9 said:
New on this forum....

I feel for you guys, having to pay TV licence fees,these fees here in Australia were abolished 40 years ago and for what I read on my PC our programs are no worse than yours,and I must admit free to air sports are pretty good here at present....My only gripe is here in South Australia we aren't shown the English soccer results so I have to search on my PC on Sunday morning. Cheers cobbers.


Welcome to another aussie. :)

Perhaps someone here can post you a link that would work to our BBC i/player which plays back the past 7 days programs for PC users.
 
The BBC filter access to iPlayer based on IP address limiting it to just IP addresses used in the UK. It should be fairly easy to find a UK based proxy to use to get iPlayer content - although this no doubt breaks numerous laws.
 
I have Virgin Media cable and have had the same fibre-optic since United Artists fitted the system about 14 years ago. In all that time I've had very few problems - and those were fixed very promptly. I measure the speed occasionally and it's always precisely what I pay for. Apparently they're doubling my speed next month at no charge. Very satisfied. :)
 
wobblycogs":27jb482l said:
The BBC filter access to iPlayer based on IP address limiting it to just IP addresses used in the UK. It should be fairly easy to find a UK based proxy to use to get iPlayer content - although this no doubt breaks numerous laws.

I would not have a guilty conscience, wasn't the WWW developed for free communication purposes, not for commercial juggernauts to start making their ill gotten gains. :wink:
 
That sound folks is a huge can of worms being opened.

While I support a root and branch re-write of copyright law (in particular a dramatic shortening of the length of time copyright applies) I couldn't support a complete abolition of copyright unless there was a clear alternative way for producers to get paid. For example my livelihood as a software developer relies on copyright law, without it anyone could just use a copy of what I produce without paying for it (actually the probably could anyway but that's beside the point).
 
Aboottarren":1vinfdrh said:
New on this forum....

I feel for you guys, having to pay TV licence fees,these fees here in Australia were abolished 40 years ago and for what I read on my PC our programs are no worse than yours,and I must admit free to air sports are pretty good here at present....My only gripe is here in South Australia we aren't shown the English soccer results so I have to search on my PC on Sunday morning. Cheers cobbers.

G'day Cobber,

I think your Government show some sense, and it irks a bit, since you get a lot of the BBC programmes. (Well Antiques Roadshow at least!) However, I ain't about to re-locate! Although I would love to enjoy your warm climate, (So it would be the North?) Sadly, I would need my Son to make the leap of faith, and then arrange for his oldsters to relocate! I would miss my beer though.

Is home brewing allowed? I just can't stand freezing cold bitter, and any kind of Lager gives me the squits! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Cheers Cobber

John :D
 
devonwoody":2lnbewxx said:
wobblycogs":2lnbewxx said:
The BBC filter access to iPlayer based on IP address limiting it to just IP addresses used in the UK. It should be fairly easy to find a UK based proxy to use to get iPlayer content - although this no doubt breaks numerous laws.

I would not have a guilty conscience, wasn't the WWW developed for free communication purposes, not for commercial juggernauts to start making their ill gotten gains. :wink:

Dream on Woody!

John :D
 
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