Virgin to monitor next-gen broadband

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 23 Jul 2009 at 12:32

Virgin Media is using SamKnows monitoring equipment to assess the performance of its 50Mbits/sec broadband network.

SamKnows has carved something of a reputation for itself in the broadband monitoring market, having been chosen by regulator Ofcom to test the real-world performance of Britain's broadband connections.

The company distributes specially-adapted routers to broadband users, which measure not only the actual connection speed, but other factors such as uptime, latency and traffic-shaping measures.

Because SamKnows' equipment isn't affected by factors such as the speed of the user's PC or internal wiring, it provides an accurate snapshot of the connection.

Virgin, which in the past has been highly critical of online broadband speed tests, claims the SamKnows equipment is "the only accurate way to truly measure all aspects of broadband performance, including speed and responsiveness".

Virgin will despatch the performance-testing routers to 750 of its customers. The company admits it will select the customers involved, but says it won't cherry pick customers with the fastest connection because the aim of the exercise is to help identify faults on its network.

"We need to get a good spectrum of users from all tiers," a Virgin spokesman told PC Pro. "We want [to include] the worst performing lines - we want to see how that performance drop manifests itself and how we can deal with it."

Virgin says it's unsure whether it will publish the data from the SamKnows trials. However, Ofcom has promised to published ISP-specific data based on its nationwide deployment of the SamKnows routers.

Virgin customers interested in signing up for the trial should click here