Virgin Media to target BitTorrent users

[Jasmeet_87]

The UK's second largest ISP, Virgin Media, will next year introduce network monitoring technology to specifically target and restrict BitTorrent traffic, its boss has told The Register.

The firm argues that its current "traffic management" policy allows it to ensure service quality at peak times for 95 per cent of customers while still allowing peer-to-peer filesharers to download large amounts of data.

The details and timing of the new application-based restrictions are still being developed, Virgin Media's Kiwi CEO Neil Berkett said in an interview on Monday following the launch of his firm's new 50Mbit/s service. They will come into force around the middle of next year, he added.

A company spokesman later declined to provide more detail on the CEO's comments. He said: "Broadband has become integral to delivering home entertainment services and with data consumption growing rapidly, we are exploring new ways to enhance our product offering. Part of this involves intelligent monitoring and understanding the way people use our broadband service."

Virgin Media to dump neutrality and target BitTorrent users ? The Register

[caveman_nige]

yeah, i read that earlier, forgot about it straight away as i don't use torrents, so long I can still use rapidsh@re it doesn't effect me but i know it will catch a few of you guys..

[ITS A SCAM !]

It won't bother me.....if they moan at me i say to them, whats the point in having a 20Mb line is you cannot use its bandwidth to its maximum ?? please downgrade my service to 2Mb please. This will happen across the country and customers will leave in the thousands !!, and VM will have a 50Mb line that nobody wants because they cannot download what they want. I know people who have actually had advice from VM on how to port forward their routers to allow Bit torrent !!!! So they have been helping customers to use file sharing sites like Mininova etc...

[firestorm]

looks like vermin will go bust ie change encryption on cable boxs will lose a lot to sly and then stop people downloading torrents well you may as well cancel the broadband so whats the piont of keeping the phone .They wont be getting anything of me if this goses ahead that ?55 a month gone from me

[dctyper]

well easy fix protect yourself Phoenix Labs ? PeerGuardian 2

once installed you can see how many institutions try and search your pc

[ITS A SCAM !]

I would cancel my ?55 to ?57 per month i pay to Virgin, and continue to use my 3G mobile broadband connected to my laptop. It only costs ?10 per month, and there is 1Gb allowance with that...more than enough for ebay and forums etc etc....I will continue to use the company mobile for keeping in touch with everyone etc. So virgin will be Money down, and me in pocket for over ?600 !!!

[ITS A SCAM !]

well easy fix protect yourself Phoenix Labs ? PeerGuardian 2

once installed you can see how many institutions try and search your pc

Yes PG2 is a good piece of free software...however there is no way of staying invisible when downloading...i use usenext, its super fast !! you casn download a 700Mb file in about 3-4 minutes

[dctyper]

pg blocks all computers scannning while you use p2p, install and you will be amazed mate, even google searches your pc

[ITS A SCAM !]

pg blocks all computers scannning while you use p2p, install and you will be amazed mate, even google searches your pc

I have used PG now for a number of years, if the list is not 100% you are not properly covered as the lists of blacklisted sites are obtained from bluetack. Once you begin to download, you are also uploading...this is where your ip address is visible to others, including MPAA etc. Thats why i use usenext, you directly download from 3 servers in europe...no uploading involved whatsoever.

[lebob]

well easy fix protect yourself Phoenix Labs ? PeerGuardian 2

once installed you can see how many institutions try and search your pc

Peer Guardian won't help as they are using DPI (deep packet inspection) and it won't only be torrents that are throttled. usenet will also be throttled and there is no way around it, even if you use SSL to download.

[DavC]

i dont like the way virgin are handling things here.

they obviously only have a limited bandwith to share between all their customers, so they are trying to kerb the ever growing traffic so they can roll out a faster broadband service? that doesnt sound like good buisness logic.

i can see the basic 2meg service becoming more and more throttled with smaller limits forcing people to upgrade or go elsewhere.

[BoomBoom]

Another nail in their coffin. Only takes me about an hour or 2 and ive used up my quota and they begin to throttle my broadband. when i finally get round to it ill go with BE or some other ADSL company and when the little scrote of a customer service rep from virg1n says you wont get anything over 16 meg, then ill simply say well its faar better than you crap service where im paying for 20 meg and 80% of the times its throttled down to 6 meg

Their loss and err the phone will also go, and ill just use my "FREEVIEW" box

[turion]

It won't bother me.....if they moan at me i say to them, whats the point in having a 20Mb line is you cannot use its bandwidth to its maximum ?? please downgrade my service to 2Mb please. This will happen across the country and customers will leave in the thousands !!, and VM will have a 50Mb line that nobody wants because they cannot download what they want. I know people who have actually had advice from VM on how to port forward their routers to allow Bit torrent !!!! So they have been helping customers to use file sharing sites like Mininova etc...

nail head

that the reson i canceld my broardband with them and got a hacked modem

screw i aint paying for a service i cant use

[Jasmeet_87]

Virgin Media, the British internet service provider that just announced a 50 megabits per second broadband service, is denying a Tuesday published report that it plans to throttle BitTorrent traffic as a congestion management plan.

"It's not true," Asam Ahmad, a company spokesman, said in telephone interview from London. "There are no changes planned in our traffic management policy."

Virgin Media Denies BitTorrent Throttling Report | Threat Level from Wired.com