Isp that don't cap or try and get you to cap? LIKE PIPEX!

Spudgun said:
As always it is the idiots that spoil it for everyone else.

Thanks for downloading your 35gb a week and changing the ways in which ISPs do business
To be fair I think the people who are the worst offenders are those downloading at full speed 24/7 which I think on 1mb equates to something like 65GB a week.

Don't these changes just effect those people who's usage is deemed as excessive though, not the average user?

As a little experiment i'm going to set up a download monitor and monitor just how much i'm downloading by not downloading pointless rubbish and scheduling anything large to download after midnight as Pipex request. Should be interesting to see what the total is in twelve days time (two weeks after my receipt of my email) compared to what it currently runs at.

EDIT- Does anyone know how they look at the two week adaption period? My first two days I downloaded loads but now i'm cutting the crap it should be much lower for the next 12 days so hopefully they will take that into account?
 
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lordrobs said:
To be fair I think the people who are the worst offenders are those downloading at full speed 24/7 which I think on 1mb equates to something like 65GB a week.

Not really. As long as you're using enough to distort the average, you're a "problem".
 
tolien said:
Not really. As long as you're using enough to distort the average, you're a "problem".

True. I guess my usage will always be above average but tbh with all the junk I was downloading it was getting a bit silly :o Maybe I should go for a capped service as I don't need more than 1GB a day (well not everyday of the week) and it'll stop me slipping into my old ways and save a few quid.
 
Stellios said:
Just the guy!

If you dont mind me asking how do you find them? My dads looking at them as they do telephone/internet unlimited for £30 a month, but im worried the internet lines crap.

They are OK for you then?

Cheers

I've been using them for 3 years now and only had one minor problem. Their customer service is pretty terrible thats the only thing, last time i called i had to spell out my surname about 5 times, Tomsin...No, Tampson...No, Tompson...No, Tompson...Nooo, Thompson...Bout bloody time!! (its one of those indian outsourced ones)

I get a good connection though, i ran a test when i upgraded to 2mb and i think it worked out 1.88 downstream 250 upstream which in reality is pretty good, i'm about 200m away from the exchange on a non cable street so most people are hooked up via the phone line, doesn't seem to degrade the signal though.

I'm hooked up via a router as well, i didn't think the modem they supplied was very good, but then i'd probably say that about any of the free ones ISP's supply. In 3 years my connection went down once, which was due to the msblaster worm a few years back, which i seem to remember shut down other ISP's for a lot longer.

Big bonus with them is they're not a big provider and dont suffer from oversubscription. Downside definitely the customer service. Although credit to them i play a lot on online games and must use up my fair share of download space, and they've never complained.
 
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Look to getting a proper business installation instead. It costs more, but you will not have any caps imposed.

Even BT do a 2Mb line for £29.99 without any caps, though I'm not sure I would recommend them.

My business line has been fine on the whole, and when I have had to contact support, they have been pleasant enough and helpful.

I know that BT is a bit like selling your soul to the devil, but if they sell what you need...

Spudgun said:
As always it is the idiots that spoil it for everyone else.

Thanks for downloading your 35gb a week and changing the ways in which ISPs do business

It's not always the idiots... I used to to max out my 1Gb link working from home quite easily and 35Gb is nothing when you are working with Visio files etc.

From your definition, I am an idiot... yet the issue lies in ISPs selling "uncapped" solutions which then burns their business.

Do you want every car manufacturer to limit their cars to 70mph because some "idiots" drive at 75mph?
 
Hi

Totally agree you dont have to be downloading illegal stuff to see a 2mb connection maxed out ... in my view Pipex in particular have caused some of the problem themselves by aquiring 2 (that i know of) or maybe more by now competitor ISP's and although im guessing i expect they channeled a lot of the influx onto the same system causing it to struggle ... my main gripe is that new services such as Sky have lauched where a subscriber can watch movies on their broadband connection is going to put even more strain on the system if many users all want it at peak times so how they sell 2mb & soon the 8mb connections and then say users have to be prudent during peak times is beyond a joke ... its only a matter of time and they will say home users will have to cut back use during business hours as the servers cant supply the better paying business because home users nick all the bandwidth

just my views that its the thin end of the wedge for all whether a cam chatter or a torrent downloader "traffic management" will kill "unlimited DSL"
 
Sadgeek said:
Do you want every car manufacturer to limit their cars to 70mph because some "idiots" drive at 75mph?

The people travelling at 75mph aren't cluttering up the roads for the people who do the limits though are they?
 
I got an email back from Pipex today as I had asked them for further details on what was considered unfair usage etc.

I was told that, if I wished, I could dowload at my connections full rate as much as I wanted as long as I ease off the bandwidth between 18:00 and 00:00.

To me this seems quite fair as if you really want to be downloading that much then 18 hours a day at full whack should be more than enough for even the most heavy user. even on 1mb that equates to something crazy like 54.4GB a week :eek:
 
lordrobs said:
I got an email back from Pipex today as I had asked them for further details on what was considered unfair usage etc.

I was told that, if I wished, I could dowload at my connections full rate as much as I wanted as long as I ease off the bandwidth between 18:00 and 00:00.

To me this seems quite fair as if you really want to be downloading that much then 18 hours a day at full whack should be more than enough for even the most heavy user. even on 1mb that equates to something crazy like 54.4GB a week :eek:


I agree with you they never told me that at all.

I'll mail them and see what they say . Hopefully it will be the same as they told you.

Thanks for the info.
 
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I got zen 2 meg and it is totaly uncapped no fair use policy at all hence why its more pricey than others.
 
Matrix said:
I agree with you they never told me that at all.

I'll mail them and see what they say . Hopefully it will be the same as they told you.

Thanks for the info.

It took them a couple of days to get back to me so don't expect a response straight away.

The initial email they send out was quite lacking in info in my opinion which means they are probably now being inundated with emails requesting more information.

They still didn't explain what the definition of having your account "managed" was and only said that you would be moved to a shared connection and you would not be able to download large files :confused: I guess this means that all the managed users will have there bandwidth combined into a set pipe with a max combined upload / download speed?
 
Anyone tried TalkTalk for Internet. They advertise 2Mb unlimited but who knows how long before it is limited. I juts want to leave Plusnuts
 
Hi

I still think the "traffic management" is crazy ... to tell some users to cut back during peak times and yet others can go full pelt ... the point is most users whether they download a lot or a little will want max bandwidth at precisely those times for things other than large downloads so the system will struggle even if certain users cut back ... the user is being blamed when clearly they are encouraging more users to have higher speed connections and their network simple wasnt designed to account for such demands ... as for saying Zen is pricey ... well Pipex are not that much cheaper .. a pound or two at most .. 2Mb unlimited is £33.99 a month when vat is included
 
I'm with Namesco (formerly NDO) and am on an "uncapped" service. The T&C's, however, have a clause relating to a "Fair Use Policy" which effectively says that 30GB per month is reasonable, and if you go over this then they have the right to "manage your bandwidth".

I found this out about 6 months ago after a particularly heavy downloading month, and it resulted in my line being moved to a higher contention rate with other high users, effectively ruining my connection for 2 weeks. After this 2 week period was over, my connection was reset.

To be honest I don't have an issue with this at all, as I think 30GB per month a reasonable figure (I've certainly not hit it since) and at the end of the day, you have to remember that depending on the contention ratio of the service you signed up for there are x number of other people sharing your "pipe" who have paid the same as you but who will be adversly affected by your excessive use.

The alternative is that contention ratios are decreased, but this will have a (large) impact on the cost of broadband - no thanks!
 
Jabbs said:
I got zen 2 meg and it is totaly uncapped no fair use policy at all hence why its more pricey than others.
same here. Excellent ISP. I don't mind paying the extra for a quality service.
 
Im with AOL currently @ £30 a month for a 2MB "uncapped" service, but for the past few months now my machine doesnt like the new connection service they have that is suppost to make it better, as it sometimes freezes my machine, and involves unplugging and plugging back in the modem before I get my machine back, and think that paying an extra £5 a month is worth the money for a quality service :D
 
danceMB said:
Im with AOL currently @ £30 a month for a 2MB "uncapped" service, but for the past few months now my machine doesnt like the new connection service they have that is suppost to make it better, as it sometimes freezes my machine, and involves unplugging and plugging back in the modem before I get my machine back, and think that paying an extra £5 a month is worth the money for a quality service :D



Looks like Zen for me then i think. As for AOL i wouldn't let that cd go anywhere near my computer :p
 
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