BT Broadband - Capped; what to do??

[JCBeastie]

Myself and my flatmate recently saved the pennies to get reconnected to broadband, hooray!

We'd purchased BT Talk and Surf Unlimited: Broadband Option 3 and Anytime Calls.

"Talk and surf without limits! Get unlimited UK calls at any time and up to 20Mb, wireless broadband with unlimited downloads."

Well we very happy to recieve about 16Mb/s, we've both reinstalled Windows recently, patched it up to modern standards, bought and downloaded games, watched Youtube, iPlayer etc... all perfectly normal stuff, usually between 5pm and Midnight.

Well apparently we have used over 100Gb of bandwidth inside April and so we have been capped to 1Mb/s downloads for the next 30days! I am frankly ******! What's the point in buying the top package with the most bandwidth and high connection speeds if you can't use it? I'm aware that the Fair Usage Policy exists, I was under the impression that most ISPs would let it slide for the first month or so! I don't see how they can get away with claiming 'Unlimited' bandwidth when it's clearly 100Gb a month! If we had used this within a week or two I could undestand it being deemed as abuse, but a one off heavy usage month and now we're not recieving the service we've paid for!

I want to know if there's anyway I can get the cap removed, or the duration reduced as I sure don't feel like giving them any money after this!

 

[JCBeastie]

Read the T&Cs next time?

You are still allowed to download more right? Hence unlimited.

Talktalk simply don't want customers who download loads. At their prices, I can understand why.

Firstly I read and understood the T&C and Policies, secondly I am limited, to 1Mb/s, I can't be bothered to do that math but that means there is an effective daily limit to the data I can download.

Thirdly, I'm on BT, not TalkTalk.

I am disputing the fact that we have been limited in our use after our first month connected, when according to the Fair Usage Policy:

"If you exceed your monthly usage allowance your service won't stop working; advisory emails will be sent to your BT primary email address if you reach 80 per cent of your usage allowance each month and further notification if you then exceed your allowance in a particular month.

If you exceed your usage allowance for two months in a row, we'll charge you £1 for each extra GB you use (rounded up to the nearest GB) starting from the second month you exceed your allowance. We'll continue charging if you keep exceeding your allowance in the following months. These charges will appear on your BT bill."

Now on a lower usage package we would be billed for excess, however on the heavy use package you are instead limited:

"BT Total Broadband Option 3 offers unlimited usage at no extra cost. Please note a Fair Usage Policy applies which means very heavy users will find their speeds restricted, at peak times only, in order to safeguard the online experience for the vast majority of customers."

It seems to me that you should only then be billed/limited after 2 months of 'excessive' use not 1.

Also qouting from their package guides:

Ideal for heavy users:

Download movies and music
Play games online
Listen to the radio

Available on BT Total
Broadband Option 3 and
BT Infinity Option 2

Apparently the 'ideal' package for us... considering this is the first time being connected to the internet for almost a year, I'm not surprised we ate the bandwidth with all the Windows and Software updates, game patches etc.

 

[JCBeastie]

Their Fair Usage Policy is extremely vague, especially as it varies package to package and there is no definitive document on their site. You have to search through about 3 different pages to pull snippets of info together and it's still not clear then.

When we received our first '80%' bandwidth used warning via email (which BTW is the first time you recieve notice in writing that there is 100Gb cap on the FUP) we added up our combined upload/download totals from the bandwidth monitor on McAffee SecurityCentre, which BT priovide with the package and it came to about 67Gb...

I have serious doubts to the accuracy of their monitoring, since they obfuscate their policies and advise you track your own usage. from BTs email:

"You can keep track of your usage by downloading a free, independent, usage monitor from the web and installing it on your PC. This will only report the usage driven by that machine but it will provide an indication of your usage levels."

Why they don't provide their own tools or allow u access to view your bandwidth I don't know. I can only assume they penalise the heaviest users to free up usage overall. I also recently learned there is no limit to how much bandwidth BT Vision customers can use, I can't help but feel the two are connected.

 

[JCBeastie]

Aye, I'm stunned by how draconic they've been, it's almost like they resent your custom.

Need to pursuade my mate to phone the FUP team as I'll be at work while the lines are open, but he's not the best negotiator.

 

[JCBeastie]

Unlimited just means no cap on your usage limit, but doesn't mean they won't cap your speeds.

You've downloaded 100gig in a week, that shows to BT you're a heavy user thus they've capped you...

That's what you get for joining the crappest ISP on earth...

I downloaded a 100Gb in a MONTH, not a week.

Also if you take a minute to think about how bandwidth works you'd realise that a capped download rate is no different to a total cap. I could sit down with a calculator and work out how many Mb/s I would pull in a month but frankly I can't be bothered (I'm also rubbish at maths so I'd get frustrated!).

I won't argue about BT being awful though, they're not doing a lot to secure my custom. Considering Sky offer better speeds and a genuine unlimited bandwidth, I'd say BT have to keep up with the times; advertising a package for heavy users and then throttling you for heavy use makes my head spin!

 

[JCBeastie]

No... Theres a big difference between usage allowance and download rate...

Usage allowances are a set limit on how much you're allowed to download before you have to pay for more, regardless of download rate.

On my package I can't pay for extra downloads, they cap my download speed.

When you're on an unlimited package, it only means you you have no limit regardless of download rate... Which means you can still download as much as you want but at a restricted speed.

/facepalm

If they restrict your speed they are restricting the amount of data you can get in any set period of time, it is merely a clever way to obfuscate a cap from people who can't use logic.

For example:

You have a 1Mbps connection and a 100 Gigabyte a month plan.

1 month = 2629743.83 seconds

256 kilobits = 0.03125 megabytes

2629743.83 * 0.03125 = 82178,493 megabytes

82178.493 / 1024 = 80.253411 gigabytes

If I downloaded 24/7 @ 1Mb/s I could not download 100Gb in a month of continuous use, you could call that an 80Gb cap. So what's the difference between an arbitrary 'thou shalt not download more than 100Gb in a month' usage cap and download rate again?

 

[JCBeastie]

100Gb really isn't a lot for a line advertised as being 'ideal' for gaming and streaming video...

Anyway point I've failed to get across is the fact there's no transparency, we were connected end of march, probably made the heaviest use of our line that we're likely to make (windows/software updates, driver downloads etc), they also encourage you to use the line heavily to begin with to test your connection speed.

We recieved our first warning email towards the end of april, and then we were capped for excessive use start of may... I'm baffled as to how they count their months. Plus I highly doubt we used over 20Gb in a few days consciously not downloading anything large.

Will see how far I can get with a phonecall to the Fair Usage Team.

 

[JCBeastie]

Because the restriction is only put in place after the 100Gb already downloaded in which BT say is heavy usage...

You connect at 16Mb which is 2048KB/s.

2048 KB/s

= 122.88 MB/min
= 7.37 GB/h
= 176.95 GB/d
= 5.31 TB/m

That's with continuous downloading...

The FUP is there to lower the rate and bandwidth hogging which you are still able to download with.

Now, if you are restricted to a 1Mb connection your rate would be 128KB/s.

128 KB/s

= 128.00 KB/s
= 7.68 MB/min
= 460.80 MB/h
= 1.02 Mbps
= 11.06 GB/d
= 331.78 GB/m

That's with continuous downloading...

Your maths are flawed...

/facepalm

Said earlier my maths were bad, but thanks for doing them for me. Still my point stands, there is always a limit.

Also I didn't purchase the line, that would be my mates fault.