text.news.virginmedia.com has slowed to the point that downloading 300
headers takes about 5mins. A 99kb binary on virginmedia.com takes about 90
secs. It has been like this for a few weeks. Is it just me?

Tim W

On Wed, 13 May 2009 21:03:14 GMT, "Tim W"
 wrote:

>text.news.virginmedia.com has slowed to the point that downloading 300
>headers takes about 5mins. A 99kb binary on virginmedia.com takes about 90
>secs. It has been like this for a few weeks. Is it just me?
>
>Tim W

I use Agent and it has not slowed.


Pam in Bristol

"Tim W" <wrote in message
> text.news.virginmedia.com has slowed to the point that downloading 300
> headers takes about 5mins. A 99kb binary on virginmedia.com takes about 90
> secs. It has been like this for a few weeks. Is it just me?
>
> Tim W
>
Yes I'm having the same problem, perhaps it's something to do with the move 
to google (see email switch) if they piss everyone off, there may be no 
complaints during the run-up to the google changeover.

I've also added freebie newservers - aioe.org and news.albasani.net and 
*sometimes* these help, but usually if the ISP is cranky, then they become 
cranky also.

On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:15:50 +0100, "Bertie Doe"
 wrote:

>
>"Tim W" <wrote in message
>> text.news.virginmedia.com has slowed to the point that downloading 300
>> headers takes about 5mins. A 99kb binary on virginmedia.com takes about 90
>> secs. It has been like this for a few weeks. Is it just me?
>>
>> Tim W
>>
>Yes I'm having the same problem, perhaps it's something to do with the move 
>to google (see email switch) if they piss everyone off, there may be no 
>complaints during the run-up to the google changeover.
>
>I've also added freebie newservers - aioe.org and news.albasani.net and 
>*sometimes* these help, but usually if the ISP is cranky, then they become 
>cranky also.
>

I'll add my experiences.

I use a premium server as well as news.virginmedia.com. I use Agent
for text groups and Newsbin Pro for binaries i.e. both clients use
both servers.

On a 6Mb/sec connection (National, not cable) I was getting around
5Mb/sec for header and binaries downloads (as displayed by NetMeter
network monitor) in the early part of last month, outside peak times.

During the month this dropped overnight to 500Kb/sec. This was so
consistent, whichever client or server was being used, or time of the
morning, that it seemed unlikely to be traffic congestion.

In an attempt to find a possible problem I have:-
Used different server farms for the premium account (US and Europe)
Used alternate ports (i.e. not 119)  for the premium account
Turned off the Anti-Virus traffic monitoring

Nothing has made any difference, NetMeter consistently shows a small
fluctuation around 500Kb/sec (off peak).

I have come to the conclusion that VirginMedia are throttling NNTP
traffic. I did consider emailing Customer Support but decided just to
hit my head against a brick wall to save time. The result was the
same.

Brian

wrote in message 
news:q8co05150gh4vonp97kiu2v2e63cj9mte1@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:15:50 +0100, "Bertie Doe"
>  wrote:
>
> I'll add my experiences.
>
[...]
> Nothing has made any difference, NetMeter consistently shows a small
> fluctuation around 500Kb/sec (off peak).
>
> I have come to the conclusion that VirginMedia are throttling NNTP
> traffic. I did consider emailing Customer Support but decided just to
> hit my head against a brick wall to save time. The result was the
> same.

I am sure you are right. My meter is showing a straight line across the 
graph as I try to download some images from
alt.binaries.pictures.fine-art. Trouble is I seem to be throttled at 
15Kb/sec. This is supposed to be an 8Meg connection so time to go elsewhere.