COVID-19 – East Yorkshire ISP KCOM Softens Data Allowances

Hull-based UK ISP KCOM, which is currently investing £100m to extend their “full fibre” network across new parts of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire (here and here), has announced that – due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – they will be making changes for those customers still on data capped packages.

In response to the current situation, which is causing many people to work from home, the provider has said they will “remove broadband data caps for those working from home” until the Coronavirus emergency has passed (obviously this is not relevant if you have one of their “unlimited” plans). But they quickly caveat that this actually means they’re merely making an exception for data created due to several home working activities.

As a result of this the use of video calls (Skype), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and online (cloud-hosted) office software packages “will not count” toward your data allowance. Curiously there’s no mention of email but it’s better than nothing.

Meanwhile gaming and live streaming or downloading media, such as playing on an Xbox, streaming a show on Netflix or downloading a show on iPlayer, will still count towards customers’ monthly data limits as normal. “While the measures are in place customers with broadband packages that have usage caps will only be billed for over usage that falls into one of these categories,” said KCOM.

A Spokesman for KCOM said:

“At KCOM we’re committed to supporting our community and doing as much as we can to help our customers get through this difficult time with as little disruption as possible.

This means typical working from home activities such as connecting to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), making a Skype video call or using office software that’s hosted online or in the cloud will not count towards your monthly data limit. We’ll review this at the end of each month and let customers know of any changes.

We hope removing this extra reason for worry will mean businesses and employees across our Hull and East Yorkshire region can continue to work normally as far as is possible under very difficult circumstances.”

End.