UPC fair usage and uploading...

paddydriver · 11-09-2010 11:21am #1

Hello,

Have been searching around and commonly I see reference to fair usage policies and "downloading", but see on here some references to uploading too - and on UPC they mention reference to the full amount transferred.

Anyway, to get to the point - I have the full UPC package with 30Mb, TV and phone. I use an online backup service called "Mozy" which allows me unlimited online backup storage per PC. To date I have just backed up photo's, music and personal/work doc's etc but I am now looking to move all my video into the backup too - this will add approx 900GB to the backup; which is currently 90GBish.

What you reckon? If I kick it off and let it go do you think I will have UPC on my case or are they usually more stringent on downloading? My worry is there gonna think I am hosting dodgy stuff or will they look at my destination and have the brains to see its an online backup service?

Or maybe I just go for it... get the data up there, get a wrap on the knuckles and after that all backup's are incremental so only changes going up - does though mean every 10GB MKV is coming down, and going back up again:D

Any thoughts?

Thanks all
Paddy

center15 · 11-09-2010 11:44am

It's 250GB combined limit with UPC ie including upload and download from what I've read on boards. I use Carbonite for Backup, these services are not designed for Video Storage they way you want to use it. Both Carbonite and Mozy have fair usage limits too and both slow down your backup when it reaches a certain size. Best way to backup video is a second hard drive. Why is the 10GB MKV being uploaded and downloaded?

paddydriver · 11-09-2010 2:53pm

Thanks center,

Didn't think of the mozy fair usage; better look into that. I am downloading MKV's from sites such as rapidshare etc - then if I am backing them up, they are going back up the link:p

I use a 2nd drive too but for all the family photo's and purchased/ripped music etc but I really want them online too as a belt and braces approach from really bad luck event.

I likely will skip uploading video's but just re-evaluating at present cause I got some new drives: a 1TB WD portable and a 2TB WD desktop.

Paddy

Kensington · 11-09-2010 2:59pm

You do realise UPC upload speed is only 3MB? To add 900GB would take 30 days at least, and that's 30 days of solid uploading, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with nothing else using the connection for the entire time.

900GB will most definitely have them phoning you up about the FUP.

You're also likely to be given hassle about why there's so much going out of your connection, it would look suspiciously like you're hosting a webserver which is not permitted.

watty · 11-09-2010 4:29pm

You won't have more than 250G (upload + download) regular per month without a stiff reaction.

For Belt & Braces store them on another drive and carry that to someone else's house.

Who on the "Internet" are you going to trust?

vibe666 · 12-09-2010 1:54am

well, you could wait till next month and see what we get (if anything) from the UPC broadband fairy when they do the 100mbps upgrades.

if we're lucky, the 30mbps package *might* go to either 50mbps or 60mbps and if it does, the upload should increase to 5mbps.

if youre a real big spender and don't mind paying double (or maybe more, or less) for the privilege, you could stump up for the 100mbps with (hopefully, if it's the same as other UPC territories) 10mbps upload.

then (assuming the AUP/FUP goes up to more than 250gb) mozy's FUP will definitely be your main problem.

Charisteas · 18-09-2010 8:03pm

Is that 250GB limit per calendar month, or just every 30 days from when you had the UPC installed?

vibe666 · 19-09-2010 12:24am

technically it's both.

their monitoring works on a rolling 30 days period, but the general consensus is you'll be grand if you don't pass 250gb in a calendar month.

CorkMan · 19-09-2010 4:55am

When 100MB comes in, you should get that and move up to UPC Extreme. You can download TB's of data every month with that.

Jilm · 19-09-2010 2:50pm

CorkMan wrote: »

When 100MB comes in, you should get that and move up to UPC Extreme. You can download TB's of data every month with that.

Do you know this for a fact?

Charisteas · 19-09-2010 6:45pm

vibe666 wrote: »

technically it's both.

their monitoring works on a rolling 30 days period, but the general consensus is you'll be grand if you don't pass 250gb in a calendar month.

Ok thanks for that

Chanquete · 08-03-2011 4:15pm

As an experiment, today I used the "Live Person" feature in the UPC website, where I had a chat with their sales team. Here is the conversation (my emphasis):

This functionality requires JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript and try again. To read the LivePerson accessibility policy, please go to the Liveperson accessibility policy page.
Please wait a moment for an agent to reply.
You are now chatting with 'Chris'
Chris: Hello, my name is Chris, how can I help you today?
you: hello chris
you: i was considering the 30Mb broadband package - is there any cap on the amount that can be downloaded every month?
Chris: No that is completely unlimited downloads. Could I just ask your name and your full address please so I can check the availability of the broadband service?
you: no need - i know for sure it's available, my neighbour has it
Chris: Ok, that's great.
you: i was asking about the limit since sometimes I need to download large files in order to work from home - so it wouldn't be uncommon to sometimes download around 300 or even 400 Gb
you: so that would be ok then?
Chris: Well our downloads are unlimited for our 30meg broadband so that would not be a problem.
Chris: Do you currently have the UPC television service at home?

I could attach a screenshot if I knew how to do that in the forums.

Surely somebody should get in trouble for this kind of false advertising? :mad:

Chanquete · 08-03-2011 4:29pm

After posting here, I continued the conversation:

=======
Chris: Well our downloads are unlimited for our 30meg broadband so that would not be a problem.
Chris: Do you currently have the UPC television service at home?
Chris: Is there anything else you would like to ask regarding the broadband?
Chris: Are you having any difficulty with the website?
you: sorry - I was distracted
you: are you sure about the unlimited bit? i certainly don't want to be penalized for heavy use - just double checking
Chris: I can honestly say that it is unlimited, it even says on our website, so it's there in writing so we cannot put that there if it isn't going to be unlimited.
=========

I want to scream...

DoesNotCompute · 08-03-2011 4:30pm

Slightly off-topic...

Do UPC offer any sort of "monitoring" service that allows you to manage exactly how much you are uploading and downloading every month?

zenno · 08-03-2011 4:44pm

Chanquete wrote: »

After posting here, I continued the conversation:

=======
Chris: Well our downloads are unlimited for our 30meg broadband so that would not be a problem.
Chris: Do you currently have the UPC television service at home?
Chris: Is there anything else you would like to ask regarding the broadband?
Chris: Are you having any difficulty with the website?
you: sorry - I was distracted
you: are you sure about the unlimited bit? i certainly don't want to be penalized for heavy use - just double checking
Chris: I can honestly say that it is unlimited, it even says on our website, so it's there in writing so we cannot put that there if it isn't going to be unlimited.
=========

I want to scream...

I find that totally unprofessional from this guy as I am on 30MB with tv and phone and they are trying to charge me €129 for allegedly going over their so called 250gb limit and I am on their 30MB fibrewire broadband. just curious to see that that Liveperson accessibility policy page is usa ?

slave1 · 08-03-2011 4:49pm

Chanquete wrote: »

I had a chat with their sales team

There's your answer mate, sales team only want to sell, problems thereafter is for customer service and they'll be off the hook.
Never trust sales team.

joolsveer · 08-03-2011 4:53pm

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

Slightly off-topic...

Do UPC offer any sort of "monitoring" service that allows you to manage exactly how much you are uploading and downloading every month?

The answer according to UPC is no! I asked them this question a couple of times.

DoesNotCompute · 08-03-2011 4:58pm

joolsveer wrote: »

The answer according to UPC is no! I asked them this question a couple of times.

So when they upgrade you for going over the limit, it's their word against yours? Nice. :rolleyes:

jay93 · 08-03-2011 5:06pm

@chanquete. He musn't have known about the limits on the broadband at the bottom of the UPC page there is an acceptable usage policy page where it outlines what the monthly limit is for each broadband package bit of a joke tough that he didn't know about the download caps:o

Chanquete · 08-03-2011 5:08pm

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

Slightly off-topic...

Do UPC offer any sort of "monitoring" service that allows you to manage exactly how much you are uploading and downloading every month?

You can email aup@upc.ie, they will give you weekly reports of your download and upload totals if you ask.

That's the only reliable way. They claim they are working on an online reporting tool at the moment, but it's been many months claiming that so I wouldn't hold my breath.

vibe666 · 08-03-2011 5:13pm

Chanquete wrote: »

You can email aup@upc.ie, they will give you weekly reports of your download and upload totals if you ask.

That's the only reliable way. They claim they are working on an online reporting tool at the moment, but it's been many months claiming that so I wouldn't hold my breath.

afaik, they've been "working on it" since jan 2009 (according to an old thread here), so don't hold your breath.

Chanquete · 08-03-2011 5:15pm

jay93 wrote: »

@chanquete. He musn't have known about the limits on the broadband at the bottom of the UPC page there is an acceptable usage policy page where it outlines what the monthly limit is for each broadband package bit of a joke tough that he didn't know about the download caps:o

I agree - he may not know know about those caps. He may be honest, just misinformed. The point is that if not even their sales people are aware of the terms and caps, how do they expect users not only to be aware of them, but also to comply?

250Gb may seem like a lot for many users, but it's certainly not difficult to break if you work with multimedia (bluray authoring, etc). My first warning letter was for a 620Gb total. I am already at 150Gb for this month. All legal stuff, btw.

vibe666 · 08-03-2011 5:34pm

the first mention of the 250gb limit was when they first started making use of the 'fair usage policy' in the contract in january 2008.

up until that time, nobody had heard of it (certainly nobody here as far as I'm aware) and people were pretty much using whatever fitted their needs on the (then) 20mbps package up to that point.

i signed up in november 2009 and had asked here at the time about limits (as i was moving from BT with 100gb limit) and all i got back was people telling me there was no cap and that some of them had been downloading 500-600gb+ per month on a regular basis and had heard nothing from NTL/UPC at all.

i got my first letter about 3 days into february saying i'd gone over their FUP in january by about 100gb so i kept my usage under that from then on.

of course i understand that there has to be limits on everything, but if there are then just say so honestly and don't pretend you offer an 'unlimited' service when you quite clearly don't.

another thing is, since the 250gb limit was put in place the internet has become a very different beast and rich multimedia and HD content has ballooned in size and availability many many times beyond what was out there at the start of 2009 and 250gb just isn't enough for a lot of people any more.

dub45 · 09-03-2011 2:27am

From the UPC broadband page with no qualification whatsoever

Fibre Power Broadband 20Mb

Downloading local maps, videos or photos? Then 20Mb is for you and with unlimited usage don’t be afraid to download again and again. Be free from wires with a free wireless router so everyone in the home can go online at the same time. It’s also over twice as fast as eircom’s 8Mb Next Generation Broadband. .

Its absolutely sickening that they are allowed get away with these lies month after month:mad::mad::mad:

UPC fair usage and uploading...

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