BT Fair Usage

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 15:29

I'm on the BT "unlimited" broadband package for home users, I've been restricted during peak hours since I started with them (about a year ago), but this morning they have been capping me at 0.5mb broadband.

After about an hour of phone calls I finally spoke to someone who told me that I would be restricted to half a meg for the rest of the month. I've only ever been restricted during peak hours (typically 5pm-11.30) - is this some new thing of BT's or a breach of contract?

I did enquire about Business Broadband but that seems to have the same restrictions.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 15:43

It varies, I always go over there "unlimited" limit which I think is about 100gb per month - I have done since I've been with them but as my downloads are always restricted during peak time (normally to 2mb), I only normally download overnight.

But now it's being restricted to 0.5mb 24 hours a day.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 16:06

jake108 said:
When working on a contract for BT they do restrict some customers to 0.5 mbit/s. They have only ever done this when someone REALLY loves P2P, Steam, Youtube or BBC iPlayer (a little too much) IMHO.

What is your normal usage throughout the day/week/month? You could be considered on of their few "heavy" users. What are the main sites you use and how long do you use them throughout the day/week/month?

Did BT Customer Service tell you this or Technical Support? Did you speak to the back office teams as they are the only people with extended access to the systems to see this IIRC?

**NINJA EDIT***

Yup you will be restricted. Very few of their customers are restricted like this. I believe it should be in the terms and conditions but I am not a BT customer so cannot comment. Again customers have had this throttling before but I did not hear of any legal challenge regarding this.

Your choice going forward.

Thanks for your comments. Well I got passed around between technical and customer support, but in the past I have spoken to thier Fair Usage Team or something similar - they now said this doesn't exist anymore. Whether they are telling porkies or not, I have no idea.

I am a heavy user yes, it can range from 100gb- a lot higher, my contract ends in January - trouble is wherever I go the same (or less) restrictions will apply I guess.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 16:12

Just seen these people, not sure what they are like but might take the gamble :

http://www.smithmediagroup.co.uk/flexibroadband.html

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 16:48

subbytna said:
lol...when I was with Virgin I was throttled back and I was also informed I was in their top 3% of heavy users in the whole of the UK

I went to Sky Unlimited and never been throttled once...line rental, free landline calls and 8MB connection (getting 5MB real life speeds) for £25 a month...result! ...plus my ping is MUCH better with Sky

Unfortunately I've been with Sky in the past, as I'm a long term customer for SkyHD etc - they throttled connection (at a previous property). I've also been with Demon, Plusnet, Talktalk, Bethere and 02.

All have throttled me or had some kind of connection problem apart from Bethere, but I can't get Bethere in this exchange

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:08

thepeganator said:
And Sky throttling?

Were you on their LLU?

I would have thought you weren't, I used to do 250gb+ a month when I was on Sky and never got throttled!

Sky wouldn't let me on thier LLU for some reason, although I haven't tried at this property. I would need somewhere between 100-500gb allowance per month, so will check the link and see what's available, cheers.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:09

Well that link doesn't throw up as many as are actually available to me, but it says just the usual - Plusnet, BT, 02, Directsave, Eclipse. None of which I'm interested in.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:15

fluff said:
No LLU for you. Check out IDNet and Zen.

I've already looked at IDNET, they only offer upto 140gb on thier Homesupermax package. I'll have a look at Zen though, cheers.

Edit - Zen is capped at 100gb

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:33

Just looking back on Sky again, it's been a long time since I used them last, does fair usage still apply to normal ADSL with them?

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:49

hyperst said:
You could change the ammount you download, 500Gb a month is an awfull lot of material, they do say it will make you go blind you know

lol

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 17:51

hyperst said:
Don't bother with Sky and there connect service, I tried and second day I was on it I was down to 0.50 Mb, I had only downloaded MOH game from EA, 40Gb a month limit with the connect service.

If you can get Sky LLU service then that will be fine but not Connect

Yep I was with Sky before, thought things might have changed. Well I'll keep looking around, to be honest I'd be happy with someone who just restricts during peak times rather than this 0.5mb rubbish I'm on at the moment.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 18:02

Spook187 said:
BT option 3 is 300 gig now,you also get a usage monitor if you log into your account.

http://www.bt.com/appsyouraccount/public/index.do?siteArea=con.mya&bvurl=/personal/youraccount

That's what I'm already on.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 18:16

hyperst said:
I am on Bt option 3, and TBH it is dire during the day for me, i just checked my usage and have only used 18Gb this month, and yet the traffic shaping is ridiculous, 1.5mb at the minute with a ping through the roof and an upload speed of 0.05Mb, it's impossible to play online games, and really thats the main thing i do , really frustrating, I keep ringing them up and complaining, got an engineer visit this wednesday as they say i should be getting a good speed but am not

Wow that is bad!

I have to say, I haven't had any major problems with ping, upload has always been around 40-60 kb/s for me which seems to be the norm in this area. Normal/Overnight download speeds here are 5-6mb, BT have always restricted me during peak hours to 2mb which I accepted. But limiting to 0.5mb 24/7 for the remainder of the month (from yesterday) is where I have to draw the line.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 18:29

That's mine, looks like my pings up the swanny now as well

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 21:00

Just had a look on the bt website looks like we won't get fibre here. Annoyingly the area I moved from a couple of years ago is getting it this month. Mind you from what I've read there is still a 300gb limit.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 23:03

Dave L said:
100-250GB a month DL's???

You can only DL so much pr0n before it all looks the same!

I know I've strayed onto gay pron just for a change.

Retromatic · 13 Dec 2010 at 23:05

Just found a place called vivienti or something on a broadband forum. Think offer uncapped at a price, will take a proper look in the morn!

Retromatic · 14 Dec 2010 at 15:39

fluff said:
IDNet has off-peak bandwidth. You will need to spend a decent amount or you will have to put up with a poor service from a cheap and cheerful ISP.

Not bothered about the money to be honest (within reason) but don't want to go with someone else who starts capping to 0.5mb 24/7 when I hit around 250/300gb on or offpeak.

Retromatic · 14 Dec 2010 at 15:49

Just had a look at IDNET's total it's 360gb for £34.99 a month (on and offpeak total). I guess I need to work out if that's better than what I'm on with BT at the moment, thanks everyone.

Retromatic · 14 Dec 2010 at 17:30

hyperst said:
I just had a look and it sounds all right, especially the bit about no throttling

Yep that looks okay. My only worry is this though :

"Unlimited additional download allowance available at £1/GB/month"

Presumably as they don't throttle, if you do go over your monthly allowance your in for a nasty bill. Maybe I'll give em a call find out what's what.