Virgin Media + OpenVPN = Fail?

[AirSpider 1]

Morning all,

 

I've just jumped on a 120Mb Virgin Media cable connection and my VPN connection is now dire. I'm maxing out at about 8Mb (with a random burst here and there), and this remains the same no matter which server/port I'm on. I've tried every available router option and disabled all firewalls, but nothing I've tried has had any effect. The speed tests give the impression that the connection is being throttled.

 

It appears this is caused by the OpenVPN protocol, as I've taken trials from two other providers on IPSec and I can almost max it out. Do Air offer anything other than OpenVPN, and if so, how do I get hooked up? I've been extremely happy with Air, so much so I have recommended them on several occasions; it would be a real shame to have to say goodbye over this 

 

Thanks all, K22

[Staff 9972]

Hello!

 

We're sorry, AirVPN is based on OpenVPN.

 

We have never received elements to assume that Virgin is throttling bandwidth against OpenVPN, did this happen recently?

 

Kind regards

[AirSpider 1]

Hello!

 

This issue became apparent after upgrading to 120Mb 2 days ago, prior to this I was on 60Mb and had no issues whatsoever. I have since downgraded to 60Mb in an attempt to resolve but the issue remains. 

 

After trialling OpenVPN connections from other providers I can confirm that the problem affects them also, whilst IPSec offerings are unaffected. It seems that VM are throttling OpenVPN traffic; perhaps the upgrade process triggered a new profile/shaping policy? At the moment the only viable solution is to connect under a different protocol.

 

Of course I would rather not leave Air, but what choice do I have I am happy to perform any testing that may assist you in a workaround, and would be grateful if you would refund the remainder of my plan.

 

Many thanks, K22

 

[Staff 9972]

Hello!

 

Which other providers? We have extremely rare warnings of providers unconditional shaping on OpenVPN, and in most cases they are false positives (i.e. client error, not ISP throttling).

 

Kind regards

 

P.S. Any other report from Virgin customers?

[AirSpider 1]

Hi,

 

[moderator note: ads for VPN competitors have been cut out]

 

Whatever the cause of the problem, I am confident that 'user error' is not a factor. You stated yourself that OpenVPN problems exist for Virgin customers here: https://airvpn.org/topic/8421-new-user-slow-speeds-s/?hl=virgin&do=findComment&comment=8431 and that "If you get exactly 10 Mbit/s on all servers, all ports and all protocols then your ISP caps your OpenVPN connections at exactly 10 Mbit/s."

 

I wish as much as you that there were another way round this, but I can only tell it as I see it 

 

Many thanks, K22

[AirSpider 1]

Hello!

 

Which other providers?

 

[moderator note: ads for VPN competitors have been cut out]

 

Not 'ads', just answering your question

[Staff 9972]

Hello,

 

we would have liked to know which other ISPs you noticed capping OpenVPN...

 

Kind regards

[Royee 10]

Dont forget Virgin do different types of throttling at some of the most weird times and types...

 

How do I avoid traffic management?

Save heavy downloads and uploads for overnight, set them running just before bed. Just leave your computer to do it overnight, from 11pm onwards. The best bit is waking up the next morning to find it all done.

 

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=3103&CURRENT_CMD=SEARCH&CONFIGURATION=1001&PARTITION_ID=1&USERTYPE=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTY=us&VM_CUSTOMER_TYPE=Cable

 

Possible your just being traffic shaped/throttled

 

They recently changed there times earlier this year.

 

Worth trying just after 2am even some of there forums state the limit and all restrictions go after that time.... some guys that try and do a heavy download get throttled for 4hrs etc....

[AirSpider 1]

Hello,

 

we would have liked to know which other ISPs you noticed capping OpenVPN...

 

Kind regards

 

I see. Perhaps it would have been clearer if I had written "After trialling OpenVPN connections from other VPN providers"

 

 

Possible your just being traffic shaped/throttled

 

I have read the management policy; there is nothing allowing a 120Mb connection to be throttled to 10Mb  That said, I do believe the connection was being aggressively managed by Virgin. I subscribed to a competitor this evening (one month only, I have faith in Air yet!) and the connection looks like this: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2947607735

 

Nuff said

[Royee 10]

I am at a loss on any solutions,  even if you were to use a tomato router that also uses the openvpn system.

 

I take it the issue is the same with the Airclient software also ?

 

Have you tried even the basic checks,  disable firewall,  any other ip filters or blocking,  disable malware/virus scanners etc

 

I understand it all works fine at max speeds on others but hey worth a shot.

 

perhaps last try and ditch attempt try it on another laptop or pc,  or even mobile phone.... just to see the speed and performance.

[Ernst89 11]

Hi AirVpn does work at almost full speed for a VM 120 connection http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2952551578.

 

There are however a few caveats my speed does vary sometimes It goes as low as 12 Mb/s. In peak times it is common to see it at about 50Mb/s. I suspect this is part due to virgin and in part due to air.

 

It is worth noting that virgin tends to handle congestion on a per thread/connection basis. So at a congested time you may only get 60Mb/s on a single connection/thread but if you have two you will still be able to get 120Mb/s. It is my assumption that the AirVPN VPN tunnel is effectively a single connection in the VM world so even if we run two threads over the VPN tunnel it is slowed as if it were a single VM connection. In the past (years ago when I last looked) Speedtest used two connections to test speed, so I would not be surprised to see airvpn running at half VM speed at a peak VM time. Congestion on VM can of course vary massively minute to minute. It is also worth noting this slow down will effect bittorent with its multitude of threads even more significantly.

 

Secondly OpenVPN is cpu intensive. On my tomato router (asus rt-N16) it was limited to about 8Mb/s, I doubt the asus rt-N66U or 56 would be much faster. Even an intel i860 caps at about 90Mb/s. My SandyBridge 2500K can handle full speed 120, either using the airclient or a virtual pfSense router.

 

I would also expect any cheap all you can eat VPN to be limited at peak times, or become so as people discovered it. 

 

Please take my comments with a pinch of salt I'm not a network expert, nor have I had my views confirmed. They are just the way I figure things to be, any reasoned corrections would be welcome.

[greenhouseblues 0]

Hi,

 

I'm also having my speed apparently "capped" by Virgin Media to around 3-5mb/s. I'm currently on a 60mb/s subscription, and I usually get that speed at all times if I don't connect though AirVPN. I've tried (Like the other post above) various servers, protocols and ports, turning off firewalls etc, but the highest speed I've ever got through AirVPN in months of using it is 3-5Mb/s.

 

Has anyone else who is with Virgin Media been able to resolve this problem?

 

Cheers

[Staff 9972]

Hi,

 

I'm also having my speed apparently "capped" by Virgin Media to around 3-5mb/s. I'm currently on a 60mb/s subscription, and I usually get that speed at all times if I don't connect though AirVPN. I've tried (Like the other post above) various servers, protocols and ports, turning off firewalls etc, but the highest speed I've ever got through AirVPN in months of using it is 3-5Mb/s.

 

Has anyone else who is with Virgin Media been able to resolve this problem?

 

Cheers

 

Hello,

 

Virgin Media infrastructure is insufficient to deliver the nominal peak bandwidth to all of their customers at the same time, so they perform traffic shaping on protocol-discriminatory basis, see their statement: http://help.virginmedia.com/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=3103

 

This is typical practice of every ISP which operates an infrastructure which, due to heavy overselling, is totally inadequate to support on a regular basis the nominal, "promised" peak bandwidth to every customer at the same time.

 

You might like to try OpenVPN over SSL to port 443, and OpenVPN over SSH to port 80, just to see if they shape those protocols less than OpenVPN.

 

Kind regards

[greenhouseblues 0]

Thank you.

 

I have been trying for a few days to set up both SSL & SSH using the config generator. I've download the files but the "How to use /  Set up intruction page" for both are a bit sketchy for a newbie like me.

 

Is there a more detailed, exact, step by step guide that I could follow, anywhere. in the forums? (Where exactly to copy files to - what exactly to enter in the command line etc)

 

Thank you.

[darckhart 2]

I was also going to suggest trying ssh and/or ssl with the openvpn.

 

However, I too have trouble getting the setup to work correctly on Windows. 

[Staff 9972]

Hello!

 

In the following example, we setup an OpenVPN over SSH connection to port 22 of server Persei with Windows Vista/7/8.

1) Log in the Air web site and go to "Client Area"->"Config Generator"

2) Tick "Windows" as Operating System and select server "Persei"

3) Tick "Advanced Mode" and tick "SSH Tunnel, port 22"

4) Tick to accept the Terms of Service and click "Generate"

5) The Generator will generate four files. Download the four files "AirVPN_US-Persei_SSH.22.ovpn", "AirVPN_US-Persei_SSH-22.bat", "sshtunnel.ppk" and "plink.exe".

6) Put (copy and paste) the aforementioned four files in the SAME directory. It can be any directory you like, just create a new one for your comfort.

7) Open a PowerShell or a command prompt, cd to the aforementioned directory (*) and type:
AirVPN_US-Persei_SSH-22.bat

8) Wait until ssh connection is established (it should take just 3-4 seconds), then open another Powershell WITH administrator privileges, cd to the same directory as above and type:
openvpn AirVPN_US-Persei_SSH.22.ovpn

 

(*) this means to set the current working directory with the command cd. For example, if the directory where you pasted all the files is C:\somedirectory\someotherdirectory, the command will be: "cd C:\somedirectory\someotherdirectory"

Kind regards
 

[greenhouseblues 0]

Thank Youfor the clear instructions.

 

I have now successfully used both SSL & SSH using the above instructions.

 

My speed has now increased from 3-5mbps to around 11mbps (Using SSL), there was a smaller improvement on SSH to about 7-8 mbps.

 

It's better than it was.

[Staff 9972]

Thank Youfor the clear instructions.

 

I have now successfully used both SSL & SSH using the above instructions.

 

My speed has now increased from 3-5mbps to around 11mbps (Using SSL), there was a smaller improvement on SSH to about 7-8 mbps.

 

It's better than it was.

 

Hello,

 

very interesting for us and useful to Virgin customers as well as potential Virgin customers, thank you very much for your feedback.

 

Kind regards

[Lumikai 0]

I too am on Virgin Media connection (60mb) and seem to be capped when running through VPN. Normal connection through airvpn I hit a maximum 3mbps on speedtest.net no matter which server I choose. Through OpenVPN over SSL I had the following download speeds:

 

8 mbps - dorsum
6.3 - Naos
5 - 7 - Tauri
2 - Virginis
5.8 - Keid
5 - grafias
 

Do those speeds look normal? or am I still experiencing traffic shaping?

 

Thanks

[greenhouseblues 0]

I use Naos on SSL-443 on a Virgin Media 60mb connection. (Manually run via command line)

 

Speedtest.net today has given me 56mbps on my first test, then 8-12 mpbs on my second and third test (done about 15minutes apart in the morning).

 

I'd say I experiance about 7-10mpbs usually, which isn't idea but it was a lot faster than running the Airvpn client which only gave me 2-3mbps using it's settings.

 

I found SSH gave me slower speeds when trying out various options, but this may have changed.

[Lee47 23]

Have you guys tried your downloads after 12pm say 12:20pm Midnight ?

 

I heard on another forums Virgin uncap and take off the throttle after midnight always...

 

If your getting 56 meg on speed test then 8-12meg seconds after it may be worth trying to download a large file and see what the real time transfer speed is also run this test with out Air and then with just to see...

 

I always hear complaints on virgin customers I think from UK about them being throttled during the day and even evening... but after 12pm midnight all seems fine and not much complaints once people get what they pay for. I did hear once if you attempt to download to much during the day you get throtteled right till 12pm Midnight also...

[Jumping 1]

There definitely seems to be something limiting the speeds on the virgin network, never managed to get over 20mbit on download on any speed test usually it seems to be stuck at around 10mbit for both download/upload which is ok for my upload as I only have 12mbit to start with but my download speed is 120mbit.

 

I have tried all of the UK servers and its consistent tried one of the NL and similar speed but much lower latancy which was expected. I tried using all of the different port options to the same server and its more or less the same regardless if I use UDP or TCP on all the different port option available when using the Windows client.

 

I first configured my router to be the vpn client Asus rt-n66u (merlin wrt) and had the same speed thought the router couldn't handle it which is why i tested with the client.

 

So im interested to hear what other Virgin users done to get more than what seems to be a 10mbit cap, if any one managed to do that? If this is due to Virgin having some stupid restriction on OpenVPN traffic I don't think I can actually sign up for a permanent account as losing over 100mbit in download speed is just a bit to much to take and I might have to try another vpn provider that have different protocol optiosn to see if it makes any difference. Or if Openreach could just get my local fttc cab fixed I could jump to that and I bet Airvpn will work fine on that.

 

On a positive note it was easy to setup and even managed to ger portforwarding working unfortunately the dnat scrip doesn't seem to run automatically but thats not Airvpn's fault.

[Lee47 23]

thanks for update jumping seems you have tried the few work arounds and different servers and still no joy, have you tried the connection @ 1am to see if its not virgin throttling or restricting your access?

 

on page 1 nickspam I think he is on virgin and he showed he had no issues here:

https://airvpn.org/topic/9941-virgin-media-openvpn-fail/?do=findComment&comment=12288

 

So it is quite strange many Air customers with one particular ISP get such low speeds, have you tried dare I suggest it another test or trial from another vpn or after 1am ?

[Jumping 1]

Not sure if I remembered to test after 1am but I know I was up pretty late on Saturday and did check later in the evening if the speed would change and it was still the same.

 

Unfortunately my trial has run out but still interested to see if other Virgin people have found the same and if they have any recommendations to use. I don't expect to get 120mbit dl when using the VPN but losing 100mbit thats just too much to take.

 

I wonder if Virgin have left some weird OpenVPN traffic shaping on as they not suppose to do that and if other people have the same issues it might be something we need to report to Virgin and possibly if it is a widespread issue to the media see if that can get them to sort it out. I mean it could just be me that was doing something wrong but really there isn't much you can configure in the client so can't see that is the case.

[Lee47 23]

Well your not alone as the past 2 pages have said only 1 guy seems to have it working but it really is a mystery !

 

Something nickspam may wish to further comment or answer?

 

I wonder if it might be down to the router that Virgin provide ? perhaps different versions exist for various customers otherwise it still makes no sense but since so many have the same issue it can't be wrong.

 

As one person suggested he seemed to be fine on virgin till the upgrade to faster speeds, downgrading did not help so perhaps virgin do impose some restrictions to the line in general which we are not aware off course this does not explain why as topic starter said another vpn provider gets full speeds either.