Virgin and latency

[jimrobo]

I just thought I'd post I've noticed recently (well actually its been a problem for a while but worse recently) that virgin seem to have a lot more latency than other ISP's when connecting to the api. I'm not sure what causes it it must be a routing issue because a speedtest shows I am getting 50mb download and 1.5 up. Don't get me wrong when it works well it is the best domestic connection to betair around but at least 2-3 days a week it suffers really bad latency and bad pings. Today is a good example of a bad day! When I connect my virgin connection it has 2-3000 spikes every couple of seconds and the market seems to move in slow motion. When I connect my adsl connection (be broadband) I get a constant connection with no bad pings at all. If you are trading with virgin then I suggest you have a backup internet connection.

[Bengal Daddy]

I hear you!

I'm on V as well, and my connection was the reason I looked at this general section for the first time since registering!

Next to the red "R" I am constantly getting 1***/1*** .

I take it that is proof???

[jimrobo]

yep thats exactly it!!

It must be a routing issue and I have never been able to get to the bottom of it but thats exactly the problem!

have had no api prolems at all today using adsl (be broadband) but when I plug the virgin connection in the responses are up the wall ven though the connection is running at 50 Mb

Like I said all this week it has been brilliant but it always seems t happen a couple of days a week on virgin like that.

[Cran]

Changing IP address usually helps

In your router config/admin:
DHCP Release
Turn of cable modem
change MAC address of router
Turn on cable modem
wait for connection
DHCP renew

Then it should be ok again (for a while)

sometimes it goes a month with no problem, other times is crap and I have to do that 3 times a day for a week.

[jimrobo]

when you say router. Do you mean the modem or literally the router if you have one attached.

You can't change the MAC address of the modem. I also tink your ip address is static.

Either way this has been a problem with virgin for a long time so I think neither of these suggestions are a fix to the pverall problem.

[Cran]

The router that plugs into the cable modem.

The virgin DHCP servers will re assign the same IP address unless you change the MAC address of your router (or the PC network card if you just have one PC connected direct to the cable modem).

I know this works as I'm on virgin and I do it whenever the connection goes tits up.

I know this doesn't fix the underlying problem, but usually the connection is good again (whether it's for 3 hours or 3 days) after doing this.

[Bengal Daddy]

Thanks Cran, thats seriously useful info for those of us who suffer!!

Today has been unacceptable.

[Cran]

It doesn't always work, but I find it does more often than not.

Sometimes the network is just completely hosed.

[jimrobo]

I don't use a router though I plug straight into the modem.

Does it matter whether you are on docsis 2 or 3

[Cran]

No idea, but if you connect with a network cable and can change the MAC address of your network card and are able to release and renew your dhcp ip addresses then should be the same.

Otherwise you'd need to get a router that has the option to change MAC address. They are fairly cheap

[J.S.]

Am considering using Virgin to trade.

Anyone using Virgin atm, would you mind posting some feedback in regards to recent performance.

Would be much appreciated.

[jimrobo]

there is no doubt they have some internal routing problems. I no longer even use them as my main trading line. I did have 50Meg but I downgraded it to 20. I was hoping I would be put back on the docsis2 network as I had less problems on the orifinal 20 Meg docsis 2 network, but all they did was throttle my 50Mb router down to 20Mb and keep me on the docsis 3 network. I'd say 5 days out of 7 it works great. When it works it is way better than any other connection I have used as the ping is around 15ms but when it doesn't work it is majorly frustrating. I usually just use my backup connection which runs at 6 Mb as I it is always consistent and if there is a problem it is with betfair not my connection.

I used to try and get to the bottom of the routing problems and contact the tech people through the newsgroups to try and get to the bottom of the problem but I just kept hitting brick walls. As soon as you let on you use 3rd party software they just end up blaming the software and are not interesting in looking into the issue.

I've known at least 3 other traders who have exactly the same problems as me with them. If you get it good luck! You will praise it on the days it works but the 2 days a week it doesn;t you'll probably hate it!

[J.S.]

Thanks for such a quality response dude, really helpful.

Mind if I finally ask who you use as your backup, will probably give Virgin a miss in regards to trading based on the feedback I've got so far. I know I'd defo prefer a slower consistent line anyday.

[mickey]

I'm on virgin as well, you might like to look at their 'traffic management' policy . Might not be that noticeable if you're on the 20mb or 50mb connection. They throttle you by 75% if you download too much during peak hours.

I used to get throttled all the time when I was on 2mb connection and it became impossible to trade. Amazing how quick you reach the limits when your trading at 250ms!! Had a program called netmeter ( freeware, if memory serves me well) running to monitor the data transfer.

Other isp's also have traffic management policies but virgin rigorously enforce theirs.

There's a table on the link below that shows you how/when and why they throttle you.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/in ... affic.html

[mickey]

Forgot to mention, I'm now on 10mb connection with them and don't suffer from freezes etc.. anymore - my son is even playing modern warfare on xbox live at same time via same router.