Taxi!!

Bill · Oct 27, 2010, 17:58:48

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/4445.html

Rik · Oct 27, 2010, 18:02:07

So many answers, so many reasons to ban myself.

zappaDPJ · Oct 27, 2010, 18:04:20

I was just thinking exactly the same!

Bill · Oct 27, 2010, 18:05:53

zappaDPJ · Oct 28, 2010, 15:10:58

It's quite ironic that on the same day Virgin Media launch the fastest broadband service available in the UK they also find themselves in the position of giving thousands of their customers the worst possible gaming experience for one particular game.

Quoteon 28-10-2010 12:09

Since the latest World of Warcraft update we have seen that the type of packets used by Blizzard to deliver the on-line gaming has changed significantly. This means that Virgin Media's National (ADSL) traffic management system is unable to recognise the packets as gaming traffic and assumes that they are peer to peer traffic. Due to this the traffic management system does not place the packets within the gaming queue which has the highest priority and lowest latency within the VM network, instead they fall into the peer to peer class which gets a low level of priority within our network and by default a higher level of latency.

We are working to try and rectify this as soon as we can with our traffic management supplier however it will take us a few weeks to upgrade the traffic manage solution so that is can recognise the new traffic class and correctly classify it as gaming. Unfortunately due to the nature of most traffic management solutions we can not manually move these packets into the gaming queue as the solution can not work out which ones to move.

We appreciate that some customers will have noticed a similar issue with the previous World of Warcraft update. The reason behind this is because gaming companies are not prepared to share the updates with Virgin Media or traffic management suppliers prior to its release and so the first time we see the new packets is when people start to use the new updates. We are trying to change this view point of the gaming companies however at present they are un-willing to work with us.

We apologise for the affect that this has on your gaming experience and we will update you when we have a confirmed fix date for this.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Broadband-down-your-phone-line/World-of-Warcraft-Latency-Issues/td-p/161857

According to one of my forums, 1500ms latency is about as good as it gets for most users trying to connect to World of Warcraft on Virgin Media

DorsetBoy · Oct 28, 2010, 15:27:01

Bet that is a causing a few moans then

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2010, 15:29:37

Seems Like I'm going to be paying through the nose for net neutrality then.

Glenn · Oct 28, 2010, 15:45:26

BT are looking to trump Virgin, by offering 110mbs on their MK trial http://www.silicon.com/technology/networks/2010/10/21/bt-launching-110mbps-broadband-from-march-2011-39746521/

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2010, 16:01:14

Really? REALLY? I'm a bit cynical there. (But FTTC/P is artificially limited anyhow. So they could continue this battle, MB by MB for quite some time...)

Rik · Oct 28, 2010, 16:08:32

And probably will.

esh · Oct 28, 2010, 18:10:10

Sounds a bit like the consumer digital camera market... they keep upping the megapixels but in the end all you see is more noise.

Rik · Oct 28, 2010, 18:16:14

Exactly, esh. People see the headline pixel rate and think it's better but it's often far worse in reality.

pctech · Oct 28, 2010, 18:26:54

I want to see the 100 Meg for a reasonable price first.

Glenn · Oct 28, 2010, 18:27:38

£45 from Virgin

pctech · Oct 28, 2010, 18:29:45

Virgin haven't rolled out their network in MK so not an option.

Rik · Oct 28, 2010, 18:30:42

No, we still have wonderful coax.

pctech · Oct 28, 2010, 19:07:02

Analogue system closing down next year apparently.

Rik · Oct 28, 2010, 19:18:58

I wonder what they'll do. They most have lost most of the 'captive' market that BT had before they were forced to sell the operation. The Council stopped wanting planning permission for aerials and satellite dishes, and the covenants in the contracts can't be enforced.

pctech · Oct 28, 2010, 19:25:10

Council advice is to install freesat or freeview apparently.

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2010, 21:42:09

Quote from: esh on Oct 28, 2010, 18:10:10
Sounds a bit like the consumer digital camera market... they keep upping the megapixels but in the end all you see is more noise.

Good point. I'll have to check that out when looking to get one. I will agree you do need something over 620 pixels.

But there is so much more that makes a good picture. Zoom lenses also help a lot.

I guess the only thing holding back a 100mb FTTH connection are the servers, not the home users. I really don't see how they can blame the home user.

It also gets to the problem of "do we need it?" I agree, ASDL2+ and 24mb is great, even up to 50mb. But do you really need 100mb when streaming uses only a fraction? When most servers will not provide that to download? When even large files are easy to get with the current services?
Looking to the future, with higher definition, it will be needed. But the home pcs will progress along with this. You are not going to get a home user playing 10gb 3d blue ray movies, or an old EEPC laptop. So why worry about it?

zappaDPJ · Oct 28, 2010, 22:09:16

I'd say the answer to why worry about it is if we don't worry now by the time we need it we won't have it

The march of technical progress is relentless and exponential. I want my Holodeck and I want it now!

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2010, 22:47:18

But once you get HD, do you need more? Even "stereoscopic" is rather pointless.

esh · Oct 29, 2010, 09:04:26

Actually, I just want some upload speeds as current multi-GB backups at 60KB/s ...suck.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 11:17:25

Quote from: pctech on Oct 28, 2010, 19:25:10
Council advice is to install freesat or freeview apparently.

Both in my case.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 11:19:29

Quote from: Technical Ben on Oct 28, 2010, 21:42:09
Good point. I'll have to check that out when looking to get one. I will agree you do need something over 620 pixels.
But there is so much more that makes a good picture. Zoom lenses also help a lot.

Actually, Ben zooms hinder a lot.

A good prime will beat a zoom any day, albeit they are less convenient.

Gary · Oct 29, 2010, 11:24:34

I had my sky engineer run another line from my Quad dish to my Freesat TV for £20. Must say not much on it compared with the blood sucking Sky. I called them up and they dropped a tenner of my sub for 6 mths

If you don't ask you don't get as they say. Thats 41 HD channels (without sport) for me.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 11:26:05

Most Sky engineers will be quite happy to do a little extra work for cash. The materials cost them nothing.

Gary · Oct 29, 2010, 11:31:51

Quote from: Rik on Oct 29, 2010, 11:26:05
Most Sky engineers will be quite happy to do a little extra work for cash. The materials cost them nothing.

A nice cuppa and a biscuit goes along way, I have the mobile number of our one, new Raven dish each when we need it (new style bit bigger) for £20 it rusts a lot as we are near the sea so once a year seems about right.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 11:34:50

Me too, except for the by the sea bit.

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 15:14:43

Popped into the Panasonic shop 'up da city' (local MK phrase referring to a rather large shopping area)

£499 each for last year's blu ray Freesat hard drive recorder (display model) and £599 for new model which is basically same.

Found the Humax ones for £233 from Co-op so will be asking John Lewis to match the price.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 16:14:56

Happy hunting, Mitch.

Good sandwich?

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 16:20:59

None there by the time I got there at 1.30

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 16:28:11

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 16:28:59

Next time I go up will be going there first.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 16:29:32

Or come here.

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 16:31:39

Very tempting

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 16:43:06

24 hours notice is all that's needed.

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 16:57:41

Maybe we ought to arrange a members meet up some day at a pub somewhere in MK

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 17:17:00

It's nice and central for the country as a whole.

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 17:19:35

Sounds like a plan then

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 17:22:55

January 6 - when it's nice and raw?

Glenn · Oct 29, 2010, 17:30:12

Quote from: pctech on Oct 28, 2010, 19:07:02
Analogue system closing down next year apparently.

I wonder what they will do where I live? Virgin own the TV ariel which feeds the entire estate (300+ homes), Freeview is unavailable in the area, until the end of the digital switchver period.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 17:32:21

You shouldn't be affected, then. The final switches are in 2012.

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 17:41:31

Quote from: Glenn on Oct 29, 2010, 17:30:12
I wonder what they will do where I live? Virgin own the TV ariel which feeds the entire estate (300+ homes), Freeview is unavailable in the area, until the end of the digital switchver period.

Freesat seems to be the most hassle free.

Someone near me did go the Freeview route but had to have a powerful amplifier to get it.

Rik · Oct 29, 2010, 17:45:10

It depends very much on where you live, Glenn. We get both here. Overall it's hard to tell them apart, but in general I'd say Freesat has better picture quality than Freeview.

Glenn · Oct 29, 2010, 17:48:49

Quote from: pctech on Oct 29, 2010, 15:14:43
Popped into the Panasonic shop 'up da city' (local MK phrase referring to a rather large shopping area)

£499 each for last year's blu ray Freesat hard drive recorder (display model) and £599 for new model which is basically same.

Found the Humax ones for £233 from Co-op so will be asking John Lewis to match the price.

£209 in Laskys http://www.humaxfoxsat.co.uk/

pctech · Oct 29, 2010, 17:52:16

Cheers for the heads up Glenn, not got the free bread just now and I try and avoid using my credit cards where possible.