One Million UK Broadband Customers Risk Penalties For Breaching Limit oct24th

Antaletriangle · 10-24-2008, 12:42 AM

http://www.itproportal.com/articles/...eaching-limit/
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/232434/c...broadband.html
Research carried out by Analyst firm uSwitch showed that a million UK broadband users have either come close to or exceed their broadband usage data cap which is in place in the majority of Internet Service Providers in the UK.

Uswitch's survey of the broadband landscape showed that more than half of ISPs had transfer limits in place even if they advertised their services as being "unlimited", a word that has caused much confusion and debate over the last year.

However, only two out of the nine firms surveyed said what the limits were which, in turn, could be the fundamental reason why four out of five UK broadband customers do not know what their limit was or thought they were on an unlimited package.

And to make matters worse, many ISPs sell both limited and unlimited broadband packages under the same umbrella and a sizable proportion use the "fair usage" policy to protect themselves from any step that they might take to disconnect users who have exceeded their data limits.

At the time of writing, only Be (and O2) offers truly unlimited data transfer across its range of products and it does not come as a surprise that none of the mobile broadband packages offers unlimited downloads.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7684322.stm
The BBC, who first reported this story, arguably has a vested interest since the Beeb operates iPlayer, the popular Video on Demand service which, ISPs say, is the main reason why download limits are so often breached.

Back in march, we reported how streaming David Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood could gobble 600MB worth of data in an hour.

So-called usage caps, where internet service providers limit the amount of bandwidth users can have in any given month, are standard practice.

But the majority of users are still confused by the bandwidth curbs imposed on them, the research found.

For some who go over their limit the penalty is disconnection.

"With so much reliance on broadband, having the service disconnected could feel to someone as serious as having their electricity cut off," said Tim Wolfenden, spokesman for uSwitch.

Small print

Its survey found that 56% of broadband providers who advertised services as "unlimited" did impose usage caps and were prepared to cut people off if they used their service to excess.

Only two out of the nine actually said what these limits were.

10-24-2008, 12:42 AM	#1
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	One Million UK Broadband Customers Risk Penalties For Breaching Limit oct24th http://www.itproportal.com/articles/...eaching-limit/ http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/232434/c...broadband.html Research carried out by Analyst firm uSwitch showed that a million UK broadband users have either come close to or exceed their broadband usage data cap which is in place in the majority of Internet Service Providers in the UK. Uswitch's survey of the broadband landscape showed that more than half of ISPs had transfer limits in place even if they advertised their services as being "unlimited", a word that has caused much confusion and debate over the last year. However, only two out of the nine firms surveyed said what the limits were which, in turn, could be the fundamental reason why four out of five UK broadband customers do not know what their limit was or thought they were on an unlimited package. And to make matters worse, many ISPs sell both limited and unlimited broadband packages under the same umbrella and a sizable proportion use the "fair usage" policy to protect themselves from any step that they might take to disconnect users who have exceeded their data limits. At the time of writing, only Be (and O2) offers truly unlimited data transfer across its range of products and it does not come as a surprise that none of the mobile broadband packages offers unlimited downloads. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7684322.stm The BBC, who first reported this story, arguably has a vested interest since the Beeb operates iPlayer, the popular Video on Demand service which, ISPs say, is the main reason why download limits are so often breached. Back in march, we reported how streaming David Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood could gobble 600MB worth of data in an hour. So-called usage caps, where internet service providers limit the amount of bandwidth users can have in any given month, are standard practice. But the majority of users are still confused by the bandwidth curbs imposed on them, the research found. For some who go over their limit the penalty is disconnection. "With so much reliance on broadband, having the service disconnected could feel to someone as serious as having their electricity cut off," said Tim Wolfenden, spokesman for uSwitch. Small print Its survey found that 56% of broadband providers who advertised services as "unlimited" did impose usage caps and were prepared to cut people off if they used their service to excess. Only two out of the nine actually said what these limits were.