BT throttled my connection

TCP/IP

Hi there,

As above my BT 7.6meg connection is been throttled for the last three days. I downloaded 110gb 60 of which were over a two day period. Does anybody have an idea when I am likely to get my connection back to full speed as at the moment it is barely usable.

I rang BT and support did not know and were useless. Surely I am not the first person for this to happen to so somebody hopefully will have an idea.

Thanks
TCP/IP

JohnC.

Some people in the past seemed to be back after a couple of days after going over 100GB. But I'm not long back from a *3 week throttle* after downloading 85GB. So it seems YMMV.

PogMoThoin

So much for "Unlimited"

Its a rolling cap IIRC, you'll be unthrottled when your rate falls below the XXXGB downloaded in 30days. What "XXX" is, is anyones guess, used be 100Gb on old 3Mbit package

thund3rbird_

I rang BT last week about changing over

the guy on the phone told me the FUP wouldn't kick in until around the 150gig mark

any chance it depends on the area / no of subscribers in the area?

Spunog UIE

I got throttled the other day as well. Only downloaded 80 gigs for the last 30 days (going by dumeter, there online thing doesn't work for me).

However 20-25gigs of that 80 was just for Sat/Sun for various reasons and was a bit out of the ordinary. Normally only download 1-5gigs a day, prob less than 2gigs on average.

I downloaded more when I had 3mb and never got limited...bizzare, remove the caps and so far being throttled more than when there was a cap.

No notice either that i had been throttled just happened and checked usage site (which also had moved with the informative 'STOP THAT' message and had to get address on boards) and eventually noticed the throttled banner text.

15k is painfully slow even for webpages.

vibe666

same here, nowhere near 100gb for the last 30 days (well, maybe 60-80gb, but no more than that at the very most).

throttled to about 100kbps now which sux major a$$.

seems like a case of a faster car on a smaller track to me.

i wonder how long it will be before some holier than thou download preacher pipes up telling us we're all going to hell for breaking the mystical fair use policy (now that they can't whinge about breaking the cap any more) and that we're ruining t'internet for everyone.

who's for a class action suit against BT for inhibiting our digital freedom?

EDIT: just checking the fair use policy page and noticed this:

"Your usage allowance lets you download (receiving emails, web pages and files) or upload (sending emails and files) any data you want, up to the GB allowances you choose. Please note that separate to the usage allowances, all customers on any BT Broadband Option, including Option 3, are subject to BT's Fair Usage Policy."

Okay, so I 'choose' a 1tb allowance per month thanks very much and i think that's a totally fair amount of usage.

vms7ply9t6dw4b

vibe666 wrote: »

same here, nowhere near 100gb for the last 30 days (well, maybe 60-80gb, but no more than that at the very most).

throttled to about 100kbps now which sux major a$$.

seems like a case of a faster car on a smaller track to me.

i wonder how long it will be before some holier than thou download preacher pipes up telling us we're all going to hell for breaking the mystical fair use policy (now that they can't whinge about breaking the cap any more) and that we're ruining t'internet for everyone.

who's for a class action suit against BT for inhibiting our digital freedom?

EDIT: just checking the fair use policy page and noticed this:

"Your usage allowance lets you download (receiving emails, web pages and files) or upload (sending emails and files) any data you want, up to the GB allowances you choose. Please note that separate to the usage allowances, all customers on any BT Broadband Option, including Option 3, are subject to BT's Fair Usage Policy."

Okay, so I 'choose' a 1tb allowance per month thanks very much and i think that's a totally fair amount of usage.

Ive been throttled for the last 13 days.

Did anyone get any communication from them to say they were going to throttle you? It says in thier fair usage policy that they wont do it untill reasonable attempts have been made to contact you but when i asked for times and dates they tried to contact me they just ignored me.
I dont think anyone in esatbt has ever heard of the concept of customer service, this is what 5 years of suscribing gets you. Think im going to switch to UPC anyway...

Cabaal

Jaxson CoolS Umbrella wrote: »

Ive been throttled for the last 13 days.

Did anyone get any communication from them to say they were going to throttle you? It says in thier fair usage policy that they wont do it untill reasonable attempts have been made to contact you but when i asked for times and dates they tried to contact me they just ignored me.
.

FUP is http://www.btireland.ie/legalUsage.shtml

BT reserves the right to take such action as it deems appropriate against customers who violate any conditions of the Acceptable Usage Policy. In such cases, services may be limited, interrupted or terminated after reasonable attempts have been made where appropriate to contact the customer.

The key words here are where appropriate, basically if they wanted to terminate or suspend your account they'd contact you, if they want to limit you they'll do this as they see fit and as they don't deem it appropriate to contact you they don't have to.

People here seem to be quoting that you can download X amount before your limited and that they've been told this by agents, in short this means nothing as there T&C's say:

There is no hard and fast usage limit that determines if you are a heavy user as the parameters that determine heavy use vary with the demands placed on the network at that given time

So unless you have something in writing from BT Ireland no set limit applys as everything else defaults back to their Terms & Conditions.

In relation to UPC, you'll see UPC start to hammer down on people as the leechers move to them over time, same as with any ISP, the bottom line lads whether you like it or not is ISP's are in it to make money and people who download alot mean the ISP has to fork out more for backhaul when compared to the "average" user who maybe does 5-10GB a month.

I'll admit however that BT should have a reasonable cap such as perhaps 60-100GB mark, as this is more then anough for the vast majroity of users

Tusky

I'm on 4mb broadband and my speeds have gone to **** in the last week. On my premium rapidshare account I'm currently getting speeds of 15-20 kbps.

Is it possible I have throttled ? I haven't even downloaded 20gb in the last month.

vibe666

i'd switch to UPC if it wasn't for the fact I've been with them before, both as NTL when I was in Dublin and Chorus where we are now and my customer services experiences with both of them were equally as bad as BT.

vibe666

Tusky wrote: »

Is it possible I have throttled ? I haven't even downloaded 20gb in the last month.

check the usage meter Tusky. it says if they've throttled you or not at the top of the page.

or try www.speedtest.net and see what you're getting. if it's throttled it'll be limited to around 100kbps or so download.

BenAndJerry

Hey Guys,

I too have been limited. Initially I thought it was for exceeding 50 Gigs download in 30 days (the "Customer Service" person in BT told me this)but when I checked my stats I had downloaded more like 160 Gigs.

I have been having email communications with BT over this issue though and am waiting for a reply from them to my most recent questions. I have asked them to clearly outline (in megs) how big the limit is over a 30 day period - reading above i feel they will give some less than precise answer.

The have told me that if I give them an email address they will warn me if I am approaching my download limit...

I really think they need to have one of two things:

1. An umlimited download policy which is really unlimited
2. A limited download policy with a publicly specified limit

Do any providers in the Dublin region offer truely unlimited downloads at an affordable price?

Cheers,

BenAndJerry

Cabaal

BenAndJerry wrote: »

I have been having email communications with BT over this issue though and am waiting for a reply from them to my most recent questions. I have asked them to clearly outline (in megs) how big the limit is over a 30 day period - reading above i feel they will give some less than precise answer.

<SNIP>

I really think they need to have one of two things:

1. An umlimited download policy which is really unlimited
2. A limited download policy with a publicly specified limit

Do any providers in the Dublin region offer truely unlimited downloads at an affordable price?

...and I wish I could get 200MB Broadband for 5e, its nice to dream but we won't always get what we want

There is no such thing as truly unlimited Broadband, every ISP has a limit, generally when it comes unprofitable for it to keep the heavy users.

Based on BT's Terms I wouldn't be holding your breath if your expecting BT to give you a figure you can download upto.

If it doesn't happen in the UK it sure as hell isn't going to happen in Ireland
Your only hope is to get onto an ISP that all the heavy users are not using already or pay more for a service that provided more data transfers in a month

paulm17781

vibe666 wrote: »

i'd switch to UPC if it wasn't for the fact I've been with them before, both as NTL when I was in Dublin and Chorus where we are now and my customer services experiences with both of them were equally as bad as BT.

Then why stick with BT? :P

kaizersoze

I've heard nothing concrete about the FUP but i've been told it's ~100gig, but can be less depending on the time of day the bulk of the downloading occurs, ie. if it's off peak they're not as strict.

-TK^Creator

Can someone tell me what happens to users who are on a bt line with a cap and you go over it?

I was looking thru the site and couldn't find anything except that you may be charged/suspend/disconnect but someone mentioned being charged 2cent for every mb you go over your cap by.

I regularly go over my 20gb cap per month by maybe 5-7gbs but I don't get the bill to see if we're getting charged

vibe666

there's no ifficial cap any more on the top end package, just a 'fair usage policy'. if you exceed what BT deem to be 'fair use' of your connection BT will limit the speed of your connection to around 100-128kbps (ISDN speeds) until you drop below their secret imaginary limit.

there's speculation about what this actually is, but anywhere between 50-100gb seems to be what we're inadvertantly discovering here.

paulm17781 wrote: »

Then why stick with BT? :P

because 99% of the tie you don't have to deal with customer services and when it works BT offer the best broadband service available to me.

the fact it's not working now and i DO have to deal with customer services is a bit of a pain, but i'll make do.

i'm running my own business from home so i'm just going to switch to the business broadband and be done with it altogether.

been meaning to do it for ages but i just never got round to it.

Spunog UIE

Yes, a warning would be nice, or do like UTV where the speed is just thottled during peak hours. Or maybe, just maybe when you are throttled that they let you know and when the restriction will be lifted.

Hell, I don't know why don't they let you pay some more if you do get throttled. Not sure many people would go for it with knowing the above information but still its an idea.

Another thing is for many of us is that the only thing we can get is DSL from BT/Eircom/UTV. If I could get UPC I'd change.

15kB is a pretty harsh throttling speed too I might add considering regular service of 850kB

vibe666

i got throttled on the 31st of august and by the time i realised it was the 1st sept and my usage meter had been reset.

the least they could do it show you where you're at so you know whats what and how long it will last.

Blindpew

vibe666 wrote: »

i got throttled on the 31st of august and by the time i realised it was the 1st sept and my usage meter had been reset.

the least they could do it show you where you're at so you know whats what and how long it will last.

When I got throttled for the fifth time in Aug my usage meter said exactly 100gbs. As I was unthrottled on the 1st of Sept I assume that 100gb is the throttling ammount. I figure if I had downloaded that 100gb in the last week of the month and nothing for the first three weeks that I would remain throttled for 3 weeks until the first day of the downloading week was 31 days ago. My advice would be download 3gbs every day from bt and get UPC as well for more serious downloads.

JohnC.

Blindpew wrote: »

I assume that 100gb is the throttling ammount.

It varies. I got throttled after 85GB.

slave1

don't know whether I'm throttled or just crap speeds, on the BT 3mg and very slow this last week or so, my stats page is not working, again

Blindpew

Kahless wrote: »

It varies. I got throttled after 85GB.

Are you sure there wasn't another 15gbs from the previous month that you may have forgotten, BT are like elephants and never forget a single mb.

vms7ply9t6dw4b

Blindpew wrote: »

Are you sure there wasn't another 15gbs from the previous month that you may have forgotten, BT are like elephants and never forget a single mb.

The only thing BT forget is to send you a bill!

Quote possibly one of the most incompetent companies ive ever dealt with and nobody seems to have ever heard of the phrase "Customer Service". They claim they have no way to unthrottle the connection and when i suggested they just log on to the switch and free up my port he just ignored me and went off on a rant about average daily downloads not exceeding 5 gigs a day

BenAndJerry

Just off the phone with BT Customer Service. I actually got one of the helpful (perhaps the only one) staff in there.

After a lot of questioning he told me the limit was roughly 130 Gigs in any 30 day rolling period. I am on the 24Mb connections, so not sure if it differs for the others.

He couldn't tell me when my throttle would be listed i.e. what was my usage over the last 30 days - so i am waiting until this drops below 130 gigs i guess.

However, they can now set up an email address for your account which will email you if it looks like you are going to be throttled based on your current usage.

130 Gigs a month is not bad I guess.....

Blindpew

BenAndJerry wrote: »

Just off the phone with BT Customer Service. I actually got one of the helpful (perhaps the only one) staff in there.

After a lot of questioning he told me the limit was roughly 130 Gigs in any 30 day rolling period. I am on the 24Mb connections, so not sure if it differs for the others.

He couldn't tell me when my throttle would be listed i.e. what was my usage over the last 30 days - so i am waiting until this drops below 130 gigs i guess.

However, they can now set up an email address for your account which will email you if it looks like you are going to be throttled based on your current usage.

130 Gigs a month is not bad I guess.....

I would disagree with you, 130gbs a month from a so called unlimited no cap product is ridiculous. You could download that much in about 20 hours with 24mb download speed.

BenAndJerry

Blindpew wrote: »

I would disagree with you, 130gbs a month from a so called unlimited no cap product is ridiculous. You could download that much in about 20 hours with 24mb download speed.

Yeah, true enough, it's not really that good. I was trying to be positive... i downloaded 150 gigs in the space of a few days so I will exceed it in no time.

Does anyone know of providers that don't inforce a cap or have a much higher cap?

JohnC.

Blindpew wrote: »

Are you sure there wasn't another 15gbs from the previous month that you may have forgotten, BT are like elephants and never forget a single mb.

Yeah. The online checker wasn't working for me at the time and I got the figure from them on the phone.

PogMoThoin

BenAndJerry wrote: »

Does anyone know of providers that don't inforce a cap or have a much higher cap?

Eircom

Blackdragon

BenAndJerry wrote: »

Yeah, true enough, it's not really that good. I was trying to be positive... i downloaded 150 gigs in the space of a few days so I will exceed it in no time.

Does anyone know of providers that don't inforce a cap or have a much higher cap?

Smart telecom.

I was well over 400GB in august. In may i think i was into 600GB with no problems. There a blessing if available in your area.

branners69

I have just checked my BT summary and it says "You have exceeded your download limit for this month!". It says I have downloaded 18.24gb, I am on the 8mb option and dont have a clue how they can say I have exceeded my limit within 6 days?

Did you guys who were throttled get the above message before throttling?

I hate this cráp of not knowing how much I can download before I will be throttled! I usually just wait til near the end of the month and then hammer it so if I am throttled it will only be for a couple of days!

SeanW

-TK^Creator wrote: »

Can someone tell me what happens to users who are on a bt line with a cap and you go over it?

I was looking thru the site and couldn't find anything except that you may be charged/suspend/disconnect but someone mentioned being charged 2cent for every mb you go over your cap by.

I regularly go over my 20gb cap per month by maybe 5-7gbs but I don't get the bill to see if we're getting charged

I am assuming you're using BT?

Back when I was using BT packages that had caps (the old 2MB package, then the old 3MB package before the upgrade) I used to break my caps occasionally in both directions (up and down) by between 1GB and 10GB from time to time. Never got cut off or charged. Last month on the new unlimited(ish) I went a little nuts, 65 down, 68 up or thereabouts, didn't get throttled, even though the old usage meter warned me I had exceeded my allowance.

If you routinely break your cap, I would recommend stepping up to the next package just to be on the safe side.

vibe666

feck 'em, I'm switching to the BT business package and be done with it.

spoke to support on friday and they have said my residential cancellation is already in progress andas soon as that goes through on Monday I'm all set.

one of the advantages of being an IT contractor is that I get to be the director of a limited company, so techinically a business.

having said that though, when I asked to switch and said I needed it for the business they only asked for the company name and I actually gave them the name slightly incorrectly and thats all they asked for and didn't even ask for the correct spelling or anything like that, so I don't think it was checked.

my business pays for the broadband anyway, so in my case at least it's all 100% legit, but I don't see how they'd know if it wasn't.

i'll let everyone know how it goes and if indeed it is sorted out promptly etc.

BenAndJerry

The latest I have received from BT after asking specific questions on usage limits:

"Sorry for the delay. Your email address has been added to the contacts section of your account. You should receive a warning before you are throttled but depending how fast you overuse your connection this might be generated at the same time as the throttling comes into effect. The only specification I have been told in relation to limits is "heavy use which is having a negative effect on the connections of other people sharing the line with you".

I was able to confirm however that going over 30GB will not result in throttling as this is no longer your limit."


I think I am going to consider other options. What is the cost of the BT Business connection and do they specify that it is unlimited?

Going to look up Smart Telecom and see what they have to offer too....

Cheers

Blindpew

branners69 wrote: »

I hate this cráp of not knowing how much I can download before I will be throttled! I usually just wait til near the end of the month and then hammer it so if I am throttled it will only be for a couple of days!

If you were throttled and all of your downloads were within two days, you might have to wait 28 days to be unthrottled. The end of the month or the begining of the month doesn't matter, the throttling is based on the previous 30 days. You're far better off to download 3gbs everyday. That way after a month you'll be on the verge of being throttled all the time. But it won't last long as you won't be much over the 100gb cap. Downloading 110 gbs in 2 days would have you throttled for a month.

TCP/IP

Well just a quick update they have un throttled me

BenAndJerry

TCP/IP wrote: »

Well just a quick update they have un throttled me

wish i was so lucky. I have been throttled for a week and am still waiting for the connection to speed up again - it's been almost unusable for the last week :mad:

I have been emailing the BT customer service without reply on most occassions - they really are dreadful.

24 Mbps connection is great, but if you have issues that you need BT to deal with or if you are a heavy user and get capped, it's not so good.

slave1

my connection speed is pure cak at the minute, trying to upload photos and nothing happening, don't know whether I'm throttled or not because my stats page has been stuck on a stupid "error, stop doing that" message for the last month or so, so I can't see whether I'm throttled or not

Phlann

slave1 wrote: »

my connection speed is pure cak at the minute, trying to upload photos and nothing happening, don't know whether I'm throttled or not because my stats page has been stuck on a stupid "error, stop doing that" message for the last month or so, so I can't see whether I'm throttled or not

I've noticed it no longer allows me to go straight to the usage stats here: http://broadband.iol.ie/cgi-bin/sec/dsl. Have to go to this page first:

http://broadband.iol.ie/usage/

Try it and see if it works.

Mjedl

Talked to BT yesterday re my 3MB broadband connection (Tralee), 120kbps download and 220kbps upload. Thay didn't say i was being throttled although he did say i was over my limit , feck it. Also they are having some network problems, so he says. I'm definately being throttled though as i've seen it happen to me once or twice before.:mad:

BenAndJerry

Mjedl wrote: »

Talked to BT yesterday re my 3MB broadband connection (Tralee), 120kbps download and 220kbps upload. Thay didn't say i was being throttled although he did say i was over my limit , feck it. Also they are having some network problems, so he says. I'm definately being throttled though as i've seen it happen to me once or twice before.:mad:

Check here - http://broadband.iol.ie/usage/ - it should tell you once you login if you are throttled or not.

If you are, it's anyones guess when they will unthrottle you - I have been waiting over a week now and I can't get any useful information from the incompetent BT support :mad:

Blindpew

BenAndJerry wrote: »

Check here - http://broadband.iol.ie/usage/ - it should tell you once you login if you are throttled or not.

If you are, it's anyones guess when they will unthrottle you - I have been waiting over a week now and I can't get any useful information from the incompetent BT support :mad:

It's pointless getting on to BT if throttled, if it says throttled on the usage page then throttled you'll remain until your last 30day usage falls under a 100gbs. Ringing them is only increasing your phone bill.

BenAndJerry

Blindpew wrote: »

It's pointless getting on to BT if throttled, if it says throttled on the usage page then throttled you'll remain until your last 30day usage falls under a 100gbs. Ringing them is only increasing your phone bill.

I believe the limit is 130 Gigs over the last 30 days. If they can tell me my usage over the previous 30 days I could estimate when I might be unthrottled which is not pointless from my viewpoint (i work from home).

BT are getting away with what I consider very poor customer service... I will do what I can not just to put up with it.

Blindpew

BenAndJerry wrote: »

I believe the limit is 130 Gigs over the last 30 days. If they can tell me my usage over the previous 30 days I could estimate when I might be unthrottled which is not pointless from my viewpoint (i work from home).

BT are getting away with what I consider very poor customer service... I will do what I can not just to put up with it.

Best of luck to you, but I doubt you'll succeed where countless others have failed. They'll tell you nothing and charge you for the call.

BenAndJerry

Blindpew wrote: »

Best of luck to you, but I doubt you'll succeed where countless others have failed. They'll tell you nothing and charge you for the call.

Indeed, nothing ventured nothing gained though.....

I have been primarily contacting them via email - the most recent of which tells me a manager is due to call me tomorrow.... we shall see!

Cheers

slave1

tks for the updated link to the stats page, just the 8 gig over my limit so not throttled, dare I say it my concerns lie in the other "BT really slow the last couple of days" thread, had to leave the PC overnight to upload photos, crazy stuff

vibe666

forgot to mention I was unthrottled at some point on Monday, but I have so much to catch up on I dare say i'll be strangled agan in no time.

no word yet on my switchover to business tho. i keep calling them but no matter what number i call i get through to the same automated options and no matter what option i choose on that the first person i speak to is always some idiot receptionist who says oh okay i'll pass you on to xxxx who then leave me in another queuing stystem which then is inevitably the wrong department and i then get xferred again and about 50% of the time it's my 3rd go before i get onto someone with half a brain, but a lot of the time i don't have the patience for all that and hang up.

there's something up on the BT support site about the recent slowness too I think.

Phlann

My usage page says I'm throttled... but I'm not. Speeds are ok.

The message only appeared when I hit a little over 100gigs for the 30 days, I've been keeping an eye on it.

tony-od

I've been throttled at 85gbs.So much for unlimited

BenAndJerry

I have been throttled now for three weeks. BT are a complete joke. The "Customer Service" and "Technical Support" are probably the worst I have ever encountered.

I was told by tech support that I would be throttled for up to 30 days but someone in the Customer Service team told me via email that I should have been unthrottled several days ago - she is now no longer replying to my phone or email messages.

Very annoying!

tony-od

Just been told that I will be unthrottled on Mondy,Will belive it when iI see it.Also told the the unlimited download is 3gb a day.They really have to come up with a unified answer