ADSLGuide reports that traffic management, which is another way of saying 'fair usage', has today been implemented on Pipex's Solo broadband ADSL packages. In essence, some of the ISP's heaviest users may have their connection speed throttled.

The full policy change can be read here:
http://www.pipex.net/legal/changes-faq.php

Typically Pipex's system is flawed because much like one or two other ISP's, it fails to give a concrete indicator as to exactly what it considers to be excessive usage. Most will at least give you a rough idea or something specific.

We don't and never have approved of this cloak and dagger approach to fair usage, customers have a right to be told so that they can self manage effectively. For all we know they might consider 2GB per month to be excessive.

Pipex states that 99% of its customers will not be affected, which would appear to suggest that 1% of their ADSL users are likely to receive a warning. We can expect a small, yet loud, response from those afflicted. This may give us some idea of Pipex's tolerance level.

The reason for Pipex choosing not to be specific is to do with competition. With most sensible providers clearly stating their restrictions, it makes Pipex look less restrictive by not doing so. Heavy P2P users should be cautious.

Once again the unfair issue of advertising a service as 'unlimited', while running a fair usage policy alongside, comes into play. Pipex comments:

I thought my PIPEX broadband was unlimited?

Currently, that remains the case. PIPEX is not imposing a usage limit on how much data you can transfer or when you can use your connection. We are simply looking to address the challenges of managing a shared service in the interest of the majority of users, during peak periods. This may require traffic managing certain customers during particular periods in order to allow our network to be used fairly.