ADSLGuide has reported on unconfirmed rumours that BT Retail is considering the introduction of packages priced by data consumption and not speed. Users would thus get the best possible speed for their line:

Rather than have the traditional method of paying more for a faster line speed, you will simply pay according to the size of usage limit you want. The suggestion is that the BT Broadband 'no frills' products will retail at £24.99 per month with a 15GB monthly allowance, and BT Yahoo! (with bundled email etc) at £26.99 and the same allowance.

Those able to attain a 2Mbps connection would obviously stand to benefit from such a system, although anybody stuck in the 512Kbps coverage bracket would stay the same.

One concern is that this could create the ‘perception’ of an unfair playing field between customers. Another concern is that, with more people downloading information over higher speeds than before, would that drag overall network performance down or not?