Man, if this crap becomes reality nobody will be able to have a decent game online, EVEN pc gamers will be affected by this. i kind of think that if it does happen, there will be a lot of pist of gamers on all formats, and believe me when i say, NOBODY WANTS TO PISS US OFF. apart from commercial use of the internet, gaming is one of, if not the most profitable for companies, so i think they'd be shootin themsells in the foot there!!!!

This is crazy I can't believe any real gamer would agree with what Virgin is trying to do. Just another case of a BIG company trying to tread on others.

If this happens in the future might as well hurry guys and boycott Virgin before Resistance 3 50 v 50 is wrecked

omg lag on Warhawk Athenewins hey I just added them on youtube

In relation to this story, please check out this article at The Register.

There is no way that this could happen in America.  Not only would the ISP get a ton of backlash from customers, they would force Congress to act on behalf of consumers--which could bring more legislation in addition to net nuetrality.

Buy a new ISP, it's as simple as that.

@ jaybiv - Hopefully, there will be a similar reaction here in the UK if they decide to try it.

 

I have been a happy customer of Virgin/NTL for many years now, but a lot of recent incidents are angering me. Unfortunately, where I live, the only alternative ISPs provide a slower and/or worse service, so I can't be too quick to jump ship.

Some of you guys haven't read the article very well. If one ISP is able to do so, then All ISPs will soon follow. This is why the Net Neutrality movement is important, but even that has it's share of problems.

 

And to those of you that think that this couldn't happen [in America].

Remember the whole Comcast debacle over limiting bandwidth for users sharing files via P2P/using bit torrent and clones of bit torrent / limewire? It's not flat out illegal, but they stopped because consumers weren't happy and congress got involved (correct me if I have any details incorrect).

If they are allowed to limit the bandwitdh per household, then they could also limit it for certain companies/websites and charge a premium for certain services. Comcast even said that they want to charge more for people that use youtube and other video sites intinsively.

Nooo we need to make a petition.

Long time reader first time posting. If Virgin succeed then prepare for every other ISP to follow. be ready for the lag or pay up that extra cash for stable online play.

Its not just Virgin, other companies have been trying to do this as well, and yes even in America, though we are fighting back, if you are interested in fighting back, a good place to start is at www.savetheinternet.com

I should get the speeds I pay for, the way I see it is that they are stealing my money if say I only get half the speed when playing an online game.

If Virgin did this I would go ballistic.  There is no doubt within my mind that they would see a massive exodus of users downscaling their service rather than a limited 10mb 20mb or the planned 50mb service.

virgins are the best...............oh wait think i read it wrong lol

psn id: gingo... well just luckily i am not a virgin media subscriber and i am going to stay with BT as they have served me well and i couldn't be happier with my internet service, well if it was slightly faster i would be but that will improve in time

i live in ontario canada and have Rogers high speed we have to pay for additional levels of bandwidth and get charged extra if we go over. so wouldnt companies using this isp for gaming servers be subject to the same bandwidth constrictions and resulting penalties? this doesnt sound like it will happen here the c.r.t.c. is pretty strict about shady things like this. just switch your isp theres always going to be the "other" guy.

dave, yes they will get caught.  eventhough comcast was interfering with p2p networks where people were probably trading copywrited materials, they still took a beating.  the main fear factor in america is that the isps do not want congress to dictate what they have to do, because we all know that when congress interferes it usually screws things up--in this case it would be on behalf of the consumer.  if they are smart, the isps will not try to implement this stateside.

Then some new ISP will come about offering net neautrality, everybody will flock to them, they'll get loads of money and the rest of the industy will follow suit trying to get a chip in and get some of the cash.

 

Btw, I know nothing about how the industry works, but I see something like the above happening if this takes place. (perhaps not the 'all the other ISPs wil go back to net neautrality' part, but there will be some ISP that will stick with net neautrality.)

I'm glad that my new house has a BT line...i've had Telewest (now Virgin) broadband since it's inception but this plus a few recent things I've noticed have put me off them completely...I'll be hooking up my Sky Broadband at my new place and taking on all comers...

 

Seriously though, this is something that can be put off for a while but it'll happen eventually...BT recently ran what equates to Spyware on their customers by monitoring the websites visited to provide "better and more appropriate advertising"...this software was piloted in secret and people only found out by accident...

thats retarded if u only have a couple companies willing to pay the money they pretty much have a monopoly on online play=very very bad, go net neutrality

eeh money plan sucks

MMmmm...More and more companies are starting to come down with MSS (MicroSoft Syndrome).

At this rate the world will become an ailing cesspool of greed making large companies filthy rich & the lowly commoners become malnourished and die from lack of internet.:lol:

Well...if these idiots carry out such an action, they would very very quickly find more competition for ISP's that offer what we get today. Eventually, they would lose so many customers that they would effectively put them out of the ISP buisness.

Personally, If I had an ISP that determined whether I could play a game or not I would tell them to go fudge. I want my online experience to get better...not worse.

Its almost like they are trying to go back in time. Soon enough we would be back on pay-as-you-go style internet with mounting phone bills every flaming month.

Virgin and every other ISP need to get this idea out of their heads ASAP, for their own good.;)

@ jaybiv: Don't be naive. Our Congress doesn't give a damn about anybody. The US has become too dumb to realize that there is NO LAW forcing you to file your taxes.

There will be no backlash with this because every company will do it at the same time, just like with oil prices now. People will complain but they will be forced to deal with it because they let themselves get too attached to these things.

I don't get the speed I pay for as it is. I check every day through speedtest.net and they always short me by at least 1MBps. It's hard to notice when you pay for 7 and you get 6, but the price is utter crap. Ever notice cable companies can raise their speeds every year to be higher than DSL, yet never need new equipment? Everything is already there and they keep the bandwidth down to meet the market. Time Warner customers could easily be getting 50MBps for the same price as 7MBps, but the market isn't there yet.

one thing though, just because one does doesn't mean everyone will, i'm sure as soon as one company does it, people will leave and go to another company that isn't doing that, so then they will see how stupid they are being, and switch back to normal

Just another example of how we are becomming a society of people who don't have control over what we see or play anymore. The "authorities" now manage what you play. God I am sick of this.

Wait, so is this a good thing for me because my ISP is VIRGIN? From my brief scan of this article it looks like I'm going to get even faster speeds with my 20mb cable virgin connection.

Lol typical virgin and typicla british thinking i might add. "Hmm what does everyone use a lot that we slap an extra charge/limit on??? I Know the internet!!"
This attitude for charging for anything and everything that people seem to get enjoyment out of is just plain ridiculous, sure the ISP fees as they are, are understandable but limiting what you can use it for when YOU are paying for it in the first place is the bollox here!

What with this and the fact that they are not just 'cooperating' with anti-piracy agencies, but ACTIVELY VOLUNTEERING the names of their customers who fileshare, I think it may be time for me to move away from my Virgin service, even though it would mean a massive cut in net speed. (I can only get 2 meg from any BT-reliant service, but I currently pay £45 !!!!! for 20meg)

Wow that's rally all I can say. I've got to spread the word around, maybe put it on a blog or something (with a link to PSU fo course) because this really isn't the best direction the internet can take.

 

I don't agree with Virgin, but if you don't like it, complain to the company, not your government.  I had trouble a while back with my DSL disconnecting.  I called my ISP’s help desk a few times, and probably others around here did the same thing because they eventually fixed the problem by adding a new junction box down the road.  If you want to get nothing done, or get things even more screwed up than they are now...waste your time getting our government involved.  Companies don't make decisions that will cost them money.  Those that do, go under.  If enough people complain about their service, stop using it, and the company starts losing money, then they'll change for the better, or go under.  Either case, there will always be some company out there that will give people what they want that others won't.  If there's money to be made, somebody is selling it.  People sell bottled water and make good money off of it because people are willing to buy the stuff.  Who would have thought you could bottle water, something just about everyone already pays for at home, and make money off of it?  However, if somebody tried to sell muddy water with sticks floating in it for $100 a bottle, nobody would buy it and they’d go out of business.  If you get government involved where they say what these companies can and can't do, then you get a bunch of companies with basically the same service, or one big crappy monopoly.  People gripe about gas prices, but if our government didn't get so involved in telling the oil companies what they could and couldn't do and using our tax dollars to bail them out of trouble...then people would have started switching over to better ways to fuel a car a long time ago.  Unless a company is directly in the process of harming somebody, like dumping toxic waste in your back yard, then government shouldn't get involved in helping them or hurting them and remain neutral.  We are the consumer and we're the ones who control how much money/power they have. If you don't like the way a company is doing business, then stop doing business with them.  That simple act says more to them and hurts them more than any politician ever could. 

why is'nt there just 1 ISP or, is that what Net Neutrality is about? I had trouble understanding this article

if they gonna be messin wit online......... they shud only be making it better........... not worse

Bracomadar, your comment was nearly as big as this article and therefore I didn't read it, please shorten them next time into bitesize pieces. As for Virgin, just change ISP if it ever happens and put them out of business, that will stop other ISp's following suit.

Virgin Sucks.  Why bother doing this?  Just leave thigns where they are!!  I guess if it becomes true in the near/mid future because it isn't gonna happen soon, the only safe way to play online is with blizzard, they rake in millions a day.  Starcraft 2 is going to be safe!!  :P

We all know that petition's never solve anything, NEVER. So we have no other alternative but to turn to Extremeism, if this blasfamious act HAPPENS, all gamers must riot, and protest, "We dont want totalitarian net!!!!" "Give me game, or give me death!!!" I will be dammed if I have to pay extra!!