Should have read the fine print, unlimited doesn't mean unlimited it means we'll limit you if we feel you're using too much. As far as I know all ISPs have this in their contract. Moriquendi
Yeh I have the same experience on bt option 3, and just have to live with the speed cut. Most of my downloading is outside peak hours anyway. It sucks but I think it's fairly common thing for ISPs.
I am with Sky and have downloaded more than 80gb a month on several occasions (thanks to windows reinstalls and steam) perhaps you should be looking at changing your ISP. I wouldn't stand for getting my speed dropped that low.
Sky still have a similar clause in their Fair Use Policy, which is almost worse in that it doesn't specify how much you have to download in order in activate it. They will all do it if you download enough
Actually, as far as I'm aware Be have never reduced a user's speed due to the amount they have downloaded. There's been numerous people who've admitted on their forums to have downloaded 100s of GB, if not into the TBs, with no action being taken by Be.
Why does it matter? 80GB isn't exactly uncommon and isn't really very much these days. You might be surprised how much bandwidth you used every month just from general web browsing and streaming Youtube videos/Spotify or whatever if you actually measured it. Not all ISPs are the same though, and just because they all have FUPs doesn't mean they're all the same or that they all enforce them the same way. I'm on an unlimited contract and can sometimes download >200GB a month, but I'd still be pissed if my bandwidth got limited. Unlimited downloads should always be unlimited.
Apologies if i came across as looking down my nose at someone for having that much data usage in a month, i was just wondering what sort of stuff would put your usage at 80gb.
Well, if you use Steam a lot, then that would chew through your bandwidth allowance in no time. I've already downloaded nearly 20GB from Steam today alone. My point was that an 80GB download limit is unacceptable in this day and age, even if you're only in the top 1% of users.
If you read their email, they've not put any kind of limit on your download allowance, just the speed you get to download at. It's not an 80Gb limit, it's 80Gbs fast, and the rest slow. I'm not saying I approve, it's a horrible practise, but there's no point raving about a download limit when they're not enforcing one. Why do they care so much if it's only 1% of users anyway? If 1% of heavy use affects their system that badly methinks it's high time for an upgrade...
Of course it's a limit, just because they couldn't realistically boot you off the service the first time you do it so are stuck to limiting your speed to a level far below what it should be doesn't mean it's not a limit on what you can do with the service.
Seems harsh. It'd be different if they were up-front about it, although I hate how companies say "unlimited" when they actually attach (sometimes strict) limits. To me it's false-advertising. It occurs a lot in hosting too (all but a couple of the big hosts lie and offer "Unlimited" space and data transfer despite it clearly being limited)
Not allowing you the speeds which were advertised to you when you bought the package and artificially downgrading your connection to a slower one seems pretty much the same as having a limit to me. They're basically telling you you've been naughty for downloading so much and actually using the service they are meant to be providing you.
I'ts total BS i would cancel my account and take my business elsewhere, i watch everything on my pc, iplayer, streaming Tv, and my GF rinses netflix for tv shows. 1Mbs for 30 days is abyssmal i can get more than that using my iphone tethered, if you want to watch anything you won't be able to I am sure i easily use 80gb a month
Although I've never had a letter from Virgin saying so I suspect they do this to my house on a regular basis, however it seems to just be for the remainder of the day and it all speeds up again the next day. Reckon the house downloads ~ 10gb a day at least between the 4 of us.
I posted a very similar thread a few weeks ago. BT customer, option 3 too. They eventually restricted my internet speeds to 60KB/s 24/7.
BT are well known as being strict with download limits and their FUP. The best ISP's at the moment are Sky (the max package) and O2 on LLU. You can only get away with it on the LLU packages though. They still enforce their FUP's on the packages they supply through BT wholesale.
Just out of curiuousity sake, If they are dropping your speed down to 1MB, are they going to be dropping your bill down to the price that their 1Mb service is or do they still expect you to pay the full amount of whatever service that they are denying you.
This is it in a nutshell and is what's wrong with almost every UK ISP I know of, BT being the main culprits. It's getting to be a disgrace. Broadband service and ISP practice in this country needs to change NOW. I'm sick of being stuck in the middle ages compared to the rest of the world, and getting charged the same or more than other customers in other countries do for a much better quality of service.
