UK ISP TalkTalk Confirms Removal of Peak Time Traffic Management

Internet and phone provider TalkTalk has confirmed that its Plus and entry-level Essentials fixed line broadband products will no longer apply Traffic Management during peak times, which effectively makes the products “totally unlimited” instead of merely “unlimited“. Yes there’s a difference.

TalkTalk has advised ISPreview.co.uk that the change, which was initially spotted by Thinkbroadband, actually occurred on 13th May 2013 but for some reason the provider chose not to shout from the rooftops about it. Perhaps because most people understandably tend to assume that “unlimited” already means “totally unlimited“, even if it doesn’t in the eyes of some providers.

A Spokesperson for TalkTalk told ISPreview.co.uk:

“Last year we scrapped download limits on Essentials and as of the 13th of May have made our network totally unlimited by removing the limited traffic management policy that we had in place. This means that our customers will never be slowed down, even at peak times, and is part of our ongoing investment in our network. TalkTalk customers can now enjoy the UK’s best value totally unlimited broadband.”

Good news then, although it should still be said that customers could still be slowed down by other factors like natural network congestion or problems with home wiring etc. In fact a number of things can slow down your connection and many of those are often outside of your ISPs control.