Virgin Media - the Internet Service Provider from HELL!

As you probably know from reading ZombieTron’s blog we have been having some serious problems with our Internet Service Provider (ISP) lately. I first noticed that something was wrong last week. The same problems then started happening at the same time on Monday this week.

I then went to <insert your favourite adsl speed tester here> and checked our speed. The results were as follows: download: 65kbps (kilo bit pr second) and upload: 285kbps. Our download speed is supposed to be 8Mbps (mega bit pr second) so our speed was 0.8% of what it was supposed to be. A call was then made to Virgin Media Customer Support and they couldn’t find that anything was wrong. They then mentioned something about a throttle list and that if you download more than a total of 5GB (giga Byte) at peak times (4pm to midnight) during a week you will have no broadband Internet connection the following week between 4pm and midnight.

This was when I totally lost it and actually used the C word shocking our guest . As you know English is not my native language but I do think I understand the meaning of the word unlimited. The dictionary defines it as follows: unlimited, limitless (having no limits in range or scope). So when Virgin Media is advertising unlimited broadband AND downloads that means that you can download as much as you like, when you like, how you like and that no restrictions are put on any part of the service as long as you stay within the law.

The only thing that might impact the download speeds are things like phone line quality and distance from the local exchange. This is also why they make it clear that the 8Mbps speed is a maximum and you could pretty much get anything from 2-8Mbps. One thing I do want to make clear is that this number is pretty much constant. So if you are normally running at 8Mbps that is what the infrastructure can take and if the speed goes below this that would mean that something is wrong.

What I really have trouble understanding is how a company like Virgin Media can advertise their broadband products as being unlimited. Well in one way it is true because as long as you don’t use the product you bought from them it is truly unlimited. The minute you start using it you are basically paying £17 a month for a service that is actually slower than the good old modem/isdn dialup connection. I say this because a limit of 5GB a week is nothing. 5GB is no more than a couple of windows updates, your 7 x a week virus updates, 3-4 movie downloads from itunes, a couple of podcasts, the weekly arcade titles and maybe one or two demos of Xbox live market place. If you are lucky you might be able to fit one or two nights of gaming within the limit as well.
You could argue that you could do lots of this stuff outside their so called peak times… well the only way that can happen is if you are not working. So I say NO! Well of course you could go to bed at 5PM and get up at 1am to do your downloads but I think that is a little bit unreasonable!

It is also unreasonable that Virgin Media’s terms and conditions and their Acceptable use Policy say nothing about a weekly download limit. It actually says the opposite… yeah you guessed right. They use the word unlimited there as well. So in the contract that we and others have with Virgin there is no mention of any kind of restrictions or “capping” of download speeds based on usage. The terms and conditions also clearly state that before any kinds of restrictions are imposed on your service they will have to give a written warning. When asking Virgin Media about where it says that there is a 5GB weekly download limit they finally gave us a link to a FAQ… In the FAQ it does in fact say that they can impose a “cap” on your download speed if you use their service. But I’m sorry Virgin… a FAQ is not a legal binding document! Especially not since it has not been signed and read by us. You can’t just write random text and because you put it on you website that makes it the law!

I realize that this is a fight that we can’t win. Since lots of gamers read this blog I will use the opportunity to encourage anyone that are getting broadband or are considering changing provider to not even think about selecting Virgin Media. Before you make your choice be 100% sure that the ISP you select gives you a truly unlimited service or that the limit is one that you are comfortable with.

As a curiosity I just want to mention that this kind of behaviour from ISP’s used to be quite common in Norway a couple of years ago, but was promptly put to a halt when the government intervened. Basically you can’t charge customers for a service that does not exist and put the blame for poor infrastructure on your customers. Virgin is trying to play the solidarity game and basically says that because you download too much other customers get a worse service from us and that is your problem. Denied! It is Virgin’s problem. Make sure that you have a proper infrastructure before you go off making promises you can’t keep.

Never sell the skin before you've hunted the bear!