Help for Cable customers
Broadband and Internet :
Broadband Connection
Getting the most from Virgin Broadband cable
Virgin Broadband is designed for maximum efficiency, but there are still a few things that can affect the speed of your connection - like how many people are using a site at the same time as you, and how powerful a web site’s server is.
Here’s a list of things you can do to help make sure you always get the fastest surfing speeds possible:
- It is always a good idea to close the programs you aren’t using on your computer when you are on the Internet. Unused programs, especially those that use graphics or video and audio, can sometimes clog up broadband connections and slow down your surfing speeds.
- Try to do one thing at a time while you are on the Internet. If you download files, use a web browser, send e-mails and read newsgroups all at the same time, none of them are likely to be as fast as they could be!
- Optimise your web browser. For tips on ensuring that your web browser is set up to download web pages with maximum efficiency, click Optimising your web browser.
- Free up space on your computer by carrying out some quick and easy clean up tasks. Your computer can sometimes become cluttered with unnecessary files that effect broadband performance. Go to Optimising your computer for details on how to get rid of them.
- Always run the latest available versions of programs that use the broadband connection, such as mail or news programs. This kind of software is usually getting tweaked all the time to improve it’s performance over broadband - go to the web site of the company that produces the software, and check what upgrades are available.
- Turn off file sharing programs (also known as Peer to Peer software, or P2P). Examples of this kind of software are Napster, Kazaa, iMesh, eMule and so on. This type of software can consume a large chunk of your connection speed. Remember, too, that your broadband speed can only be as fast as the connection of the person you are downloading from.
- Check that your computer has the minimum system requirements for broadband. Your Virgin Broadband service cannot run smoothly unless your PC or Mac meets the requirements for a broadband connection. (Just to let you know, we no longer support users of Windows 98 and Windows ME.)
- If you are using a USB connection, try switching to an Ethernet connection. Sometimes, extra processing power is required to drive the USB connection, and this can have an adverse effect on your computer’s speed. For details, refer to Ethernet vs USB.
Advanced users
If you’re a more advanced computer user, you might like to visit one of the dedicated sites which can help you speed up your PC even more, like www.speedguide.net.
It’s only a good idea to attempt this if you’re particularly confident with the software on your computer. That’s because you’ll need to change settings within the registry of your PC (the very heart of your operating system) which is a risky business. You should always make a backup copy of your registry before attempting to make any changes to it. That way you can restore your previous settings should anything go wrong.
It’s important to know that Virgin Media takes no responsibility in any way for the state of your computer if you attempt to make these kinds of changes. So if you’re in doubt, you are strongly advised not to make any changes. We also need to let you know that sadly our technical team can’t support you if things go wrong.
Finally, there are some legal bits we need to let you know. Your cable modem is configured to the speed of the broadband package you’ve chosen. You mustn’t attempt to alter the configuration of the cable modem in order to increase your bandwidth. This is prohibited under the Virgin Media Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), and may result in the termination of your service.
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