Fair usage & throttling!

[dogsoldjah]

I pay BT monthly for a service of up to 8/mbs. Their FUP proceeds to restrict my speed between midday and midnight after I've downloaded 300 GB per month (used to be 100 GB). By my estimates I am paying for a advertised unlimited service with a capacity of 19353.6 GB every 28 days ( 8 x 60 secs. x 60 mins x 24 hrs. x 28 days / 1000. Check my maths please?) How can fair usage be only one 64th of this? I get the impression that once again the consumer is being fleeced!!! Thoughts please?

 

[timeless]

actually... have you ever bothered to ask your ISP what unlimited means? ISPs are really crafty in using the term unlimited because there isnt really such a thing.. there will always be a limitation of some sort unless you pay 100s a month..

take AOL for example (bare in mind my experience is from 3 years back).. their unlimited means 60gb a month before receiving a letter telling you that your using too much.. l managed to pry out of them that unlimited didnt mean data but "time" online.. so if l just sat there and watched my modems lights blink then they are quite happy for me to do that.. in any case with most ISPs they consider residential usage to be a little browsing and checking emails.. but when you download 100gb plus they complain.

still regardless there is little one can do but automate their downloads for outside peak times of the day where everyone hops on and live with it because regulators wont help in this situation until ISPs are not allowed to use the term unlimited any more because there is always a limitation somewhere but l dont expect it will ever happen.

(as for using 300gb a month, well l cant say lm totally innocent as l admit lm not a light user, as l tend to use the net for pretty much all my entertainment needs, but lm sure all ISPs and other ppl will see that as excessive.. and quite a few ISPs will turn around and tell you to either pay for a business connection as its kinda assumed that the only ppl than need such what they coin.. "excessive" bandwidth as a general member of the public..)

 

[dogsoldjah]

Fair usage & throttling

I accept without reserve that my usage is high. I don't have a television and much of my entertainment needs are met by streaming media and P2P over the internet.

It seems to me that ISP's are not offering the services that consumers actually require. They are offering the services that benefit themselves. No surprise there!

The packages they offer should be based upon usage requirements and not upon the speed of a service. I note a number of reports in a similar vein on Google news today.

http://www.t3.com/news/o2-uk-broadband-users-wasting-over-%C2%A32m-a-day?=48781

When I buy goods or services anywhere else, I expect to receive them in full without unreasonable restriction. I do not buy "up to" a gallon of petrol for example. Or "up to" 38 miles worth of fuel. I would not accept only 1/64th of the goods/service I am paying for in this example. Why should I accept it from my ISP without question?

When I am charged for a service of up to 8mb/sec I do not expect that service to be restricted so severely that I receive only 1/64th of the service I am paying for. Bearing in mind that these charges are set by the ISP and not myself.

I would describe that as legalised theft! And at the very least miss-selling their product!

Perhaps ISP's should be more transparent about their "Unfair Charging Policy" (UCP's) rather than penalising their customers with their so-called "Fair Usage Policies" (FUP's). Making an acronym of something doesn't make it any more palatable, does it?

 

[Captain_Cretin]

I suspect you are trolling.

It is fairly common knowledge (and has been reported in the National papers many times), that the ISPs rely on "Unlimited" meaning "You can stay on line an unlimited amount of time", and not "Download an unlimited amount of data".

 

[dogsoldjah]

Fair usage & throttling

If expressing an opinion is trolling then I am guilty! Without question.

I apologise. I understood that this was a forum regarding the service provided by our ISP's.

I hoped to invite opinions from others regarding this matter rather than personal condemnation for pointing out what I perceive to be a problem.

I won't bother posting again as it appears that discussion isn't possible here without being accused of trolling.

Thank you to those that read my post without feeling that I was deliberately inviting any inflammatory responses.

 

[Mark.J]

I don't think he is trolling Capt, everybody has a right to their opinion and the fact is that most consumers don't read the small print or would have trouble understanding it even if they did. This is a big problem.

The ASA and Ofcom are looking to clamp down on this issue even more over the coming weeks and months, although we don't yet know how strict or soft they will be. At least they are looking at it.

On the other hand it is common knowledge that BT's FUP can be quite restrictive and anything over 100GB tends to cause problems on their most expensive package(s). In the real world, if every customer on BT used 100GB then you'd probably have to pay more like £80-£120 per month for it. Multiply that by 3.

Dogsoldjah, don't be put off by people having different or more confrontational opinions. Sadly that is common on most internet forums and is a fact of life.

 

[timeless]

I suspect you are trolling.

It is fairly common knowledge (and has been reported in the National papers many times), that the ISPs rely on "Unlimited" meaning "You can stay on line an unlimited amount of time", and not "Download an unlimited amount of data".

uh trolling.. l thought it was a valid question..

still unlimited has quite a few meanings.. some specifically state unlimited data others you have to delve into T&Cs to find it only means you can spend all the time watching the lights blink on the modem without going over a certain amount of GB.. regardless of its meaning it generally only relates to certain times of the day... Peak Times are when things will hit in, while some ISPs might have a hidden limit they only tell you about if you go over it.. sometimes downloading outside of those times (even if its annoying because you dont have any other time to come online except peak times) because its usually much quicker when a majority of the UK is in bed.

 

[Captain_Cretin]

Sorry, Mark, We seem to get a "Guest" or new member making the same complaint every other week; perhaps we need an FAQ section to explain it, rather than say the same thing over, and over, and over, and over (you get the idea)...........

 

[ManOfMeans]

How many Linux distros are you downloading to get to that amount of usage? ADSL is a shared service and which the people are all sharing the same bandwidth, if you wish to get dedicated bandwidth say a 10meg leased line then your looking at around £800 to £1000 a month at a rough guess plus install costs which could be in the £1000's. But then still you could have a bottle neck at a server you are downloading from and you would still blame the ISP.

I am all for throttling if it is done right and managed correctly, I'm quite sure that the throttling is allied to less than 5% of users BT have said publicly in the past.

Schedual your downloads to off peak after midnight.