A new survey of over 1,400 UK people has revealed that 20% of respondents do not know what the terms of either their broadband ISPs download limits or Fair Usage Policy (FUP) are. Furthermore nearly one third said that their ISP's Traffic Management policy was not explained during the signup process.

The BroadbandChoices study also revealed that 42% had no idea how much they downloaded each month, which is perhaps one of several reasons why so-called "unlimited" packages are popular. At the same time it also means that many people are either paying for too much for their broadband or could even be at risk of exceeding their providers usage rules without knowing it.

Unsurprisingly 85% felt it unfair for ISPs to advertise packages as "unlimited" when a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) or Traffic Management/Shaping measures are attached. In reality "unlimited" is about marketing and should not be taken as a pledge to maximum speed unless specifically stated. Suffice to say that the term can be very misleading.

A separate survey by the same site also revealed that customer satisfaction with the speed of their broadband packages has dropped by 10% since 2008. However broadband reliability, customer support and the speed of activation all saw an increase.