BT Broadband - Capped; what to do??

JCBeastie said:
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!).
Click to expand...


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.

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.



BTs T&Cs state this fact, they're still providing you with an unlimited service...
 
Swifty55 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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

Swifty55 said:
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.
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/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?
 
I don't think that 100gb is a lot in 30 days, that's only 3.3gb a day, for few users its not all that much.

Call BT and asked them for PUK number or whatever it is called nowadays to transfer smoothly to another better company that does a true unlimited broadband.

I probably easily download 100gb p/m alone and I have no idea if my bro downloads anything but I doubt he downloads more than 10gb p/m. I've just upgraded my 10mb to 20mb so I can imagine I will download even more hd content over the coming months.
 
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.
 
Find a company who does it better. I can recommend BE Broadband. I think they use the O2 network. I pay about £17 a month. I download games/music/updates/patches constantly and have never had a single complaint from BE Broadband about my usage.

My line runs at 19Mbit/sec.
 
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JCBeastie said:
On my package I can't pay for extra downloads, they cap my download 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?
Click to expand...

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
 
Being on BT "unlimited" and having been capped a few times:

They send you the warning email when you've exceeded far less than the stated 80gig - somewhere between 50 and 60gig seems to trip it (combined up and down straight from my router)... which is all well and good if it was an "early" warning... but you will notice some throttling from this point onwards - tho its not too noticeable.

Once you exceed ~80gig combined you will get the 100gig email and be capped from 5pm til midnight to pitiful speeds... I wouldn't care so much personally if they then capped you for the rest of the month as usually I hit it around the end of the month... but no its for the next 30 days... wheres the sense in that? it just punishes people with no other course of action available to them except to try and get out of contract and change ISP.


EDIT: Oh and even when the FUP kicks in you can still manage another 900+gig... but thats not the point - it makes the connection pretty much unusable for anything other than basic stuff during the times most people are on and theres no allowance for off peak useage - which if that was really the issue encouraging people to DL outside of that time would make far more sense.
 
Swifty55 said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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