BT Broadband DOES limit its 'unlimited' service

CptSternn

So for the past week I have had speeds of less than 1/4 meg. I rang BT THREE TIMES and spoke with tech support, each time them walking me through a settings and config check and the tech guy telling me they would look into the issue. Each day I still have the same issue.

So I am searching the forums here and find a link to this:

http://broadband.iol.ie/cgi-bin/sec/dsl

This link allows you to see your monthly usage limit for BT (even though it says IOL).

Turns out, in the past 25 days I downloaded 100 gigs, and now I am 'throttled'. Even though I pay €69.99 a month for 'unlimited' access, they now limit my access because I downloaded more than 100 gigs (140 total transfer with uploads).

I work for a large IT company, and I move DVD images for servers over private VPN's from home a few days a week. Moving the new SAP install files or even some Linux distros are 10-20 gigs right there each transfer (4-5 DVDs). This means I can not effectively do my job from home, because BT now has set the magic number at 100 gigs download. If you download 100 gigs in a month, they automatically cut your connection down to 1/4 meg until the next month, without warning, without any notification.

They don't tell you, and even if you ring tech support those guys don't tell you. They keep it quite it appears.

So if your on BT, then note that 100 gigs is what they mean when they say 'unlimited' - meaning its not really unlimited, its 100 gigs, then your kicked down to a speed slower than dialup until next month. That sounds a lot like false advertisement to me.

I am going to ring today to complain. Are there any ISP's in Kildare (near Leixlip) that don't throttle you, that actually do give you the 'unlimited' connection you pay for?

I saw Ice Broadband has 'unlimited' - is that really unlimited?

Its sad really. I moved back to Ireland from Virginia (USA). There I had a truly unlimited connection to my home - FiOS - high speed fibre which cost me HALF of what BT charges for 4 meg and gave me 20 meg transfer speeds and truly unlimited transfers. Too bad there aren't better options here, even in and around Dublin for people who need quality broadband.

BuffyBot

I'm pretty sure it's been pointed out before on here, but very few (if any) unlimited packages are unlimited. Most have fair usage policies. Always check these things out.

Sam Vimes

sounds to me like you're trying to use a residential package for business use. Maybe look at a business package and see if the company will pay for it

That 100gb thing is very annoying though, i've got caught with it a few times myself

Calebmcd

Tried your link, it told me

Error - Stop doing that

I use this link

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

Which has always comes up as 0 since August.

PogMoThoin

And also its not 100GB per month, its 100GB per rolling month (last 30 days) which means if You keep using it, even though throttled, the throttling will last longer. Very unfair IMO

Change to business, they don't throttle business packages, unlimited is unlimited

Elessar

This is one of the main reasons I switched to UPC.

CptSternn

Yeah, I rang and they told me the same thing - its a 'rolling' throttle, meaning if you go over 100 gigs in a 30 day period you get throttled for the next 30 days.

I asked why didn't they alert me and they said 'they have no obligation to alert me'. I asked will I be notified when I am unthrottled, they told me again, they are under no obligation to tell me when I would be put on throttling or removed.

I asked how was I supposed to know then when I was reaching a transfer limit when my usage would be effected, they told me to 'not download as much, only download what I need'.

I was like really? I pay for the largest package with supposedly unlimited transfer rate (which is a bold lie) so I can download only essentials? If I wanted to download essentials I would get their cheap plan.

In fact, I think I might be better off with a cheaper plan. I mean, when I was on option two they always sent me an email telling me when I was reaching my limit and warning me I would be billed for going over. I never went over my 30 gig limit, and it was nice to have them alert you. Too bad they don't offer the same consideration to people who choose the high end package.

I am going to look into the business broadband. I am a contractor, so I write all the bill off anyway, its just the principle behind it ye know?

I pay for a fast connection and unlimited access. They sell it and advertise it as unlimited. Then all of a sudden a limit appears and they reduce the speed I was promised and pay for. I put up with years (four years and counting) of billing errors (see the BT billing thread) only because they had a good service. Now, I can't even say I get good service from them anymore.

PogMoThoin

Change to Eircom, they don't enforce any limits, thats why I'm with them over BT. They have a limit but never enforce it.

Ciaran500

What package are you on now?

PogMoThoin

Ciaran500 wrote: »

What package are you on now?

That directed at me or the OP?

Me, I'm on the 7.6mbit package with 50GB limit, as You can see I'm always well over, (the dl limit changed in July from 30-50GB when I got the upgrade). In august I dl'ed nearly 135GB, not a word or even an email

tazire

i understand the whole fair usage thing but i think 100gb's is v unrealistic for their 24mb package. i mean why else would you want such a high speed internet if u hadnt planed on dlin large amounts. i am on the 24mb myself. thankfully i have never been throtled but im v consious of my limits and try to spred out my dling. but over all i think they should be a bit more generous with the limit.

Cabaal

OP your clearly using BT's package for business use, either stop downloading so much or pay for a business package,

as for unlimited, everyone knows it has a fair usage policy and tgat really no true unlimited isp exists please read this http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58094826&postcount=11

smellslikeshoes

Ive no sympathy, if your broadband connection is important for your job you should gather information on the company first. 5 minutes on this board and you would find that BT's packages aren't unlimited.

Upgrade to a business package.

turly

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

5 minutes on this board and you would find that BT's packages aren't unlimited.

Old McBollock's Almanac prediction for May 2009 - Broadband companies cotton on to the fact that since they've been getting away with advertising their offerings as 'Unlimited', they could also get away with advertising them as FREE!

McBollock Broadband is the first to offer FREE Unlimited Always-On Broadband* !!!

*Terms and conditions apply. First bit free. Subsequent bits 1c each until you reach a limit we're not going to tell you, at which point the price triples. Always-on service available 4AM-4:05AM the third Tuesday of months with an R in their names and the fifth Wednesday of other months. Not including sign-up fee of 128 euro and per-calendar-monthly line rental of 64 euro plus 1L of your blood. Signing-off fee of 256 euro plus kidney or firstborn.

PogMoThoin

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Change to Eircom.

Is that a joke, they probably havent gotten around to contacting you, there that unorganized


Hell be lucky if he can download at all if he went to eircom


Smart

Magnet

Or UPC.

colly10

I would report them, they cant advertise unlimited (which your paying good money for) and then put a limit on it. Its blatant false advertisement

thebman

Was with IBB and had 2Mbps up/down with no limits. It is contended though at peak times but usually no contention depending on the area.

IBB no limits really meant no limits though. There service could be gone to crap since though as I don't have it for the past year and they were bought since.

Ice are catastrophically bad, don't touch them.

You also get a fixed IP from IBB. Go with IBB Breeze which is fixed wireless if going with them.

Otherwise Smart or UPC seem to be the general recommendations for BB options.

Cabaal

colly10 wrote: »

I would report them, they cant advertise unlimited (which your paying good money for) and then put a limit on it. Its blatant false advertisement

Good luck with that,
You know meteor's free txt offer is limited to about 5000 txts under its fair usage policy, also false advertising I guess :pac:

sadista

How do you access the iol usage page?I keep getting the 'error-stop doing that' whenever I enter the username and password...
I think Im experiencing the same problem as the OP and also living in the North kildare area. My OH is a heavy downloader and I think this could be the problem I just need to access the usaage page to verify. Which username and password should i be using??

Dampsquid

sadista wrote: »

How do you access the iol usage page?I keep getting the 'error-stop doing that' whenever I enter the username and password...
I think Im experiencing the same problem as the OP and also living in the North kildare area. My OH is a heavy downloader and I think this could be the problem I just need to access the usaage page to verify. Which username and password should i be using??

Use this link http://broadband.iol.ie/usage/

Terra

Smart telecom are by far that best when it comes too the fair usage policy. They generally don't say anything unless you are going above the terrabyte mark.

Apart from them, i'd recommend trying UTV as they also offer an unlimited usage for 5.99 extra and don't seem too introdruce throttling after a measly 100gb download.


I find this really annoying with BT and I'm currently changing from them for that very reason...

I mean 100gig/s is nothing these days.

Blackdragon

And you would have to have gone over a TB over a few months before they would say anything and even that that would just ask you to calm down

$tormer

turly wrote: »

*Terms and conditions apply. First bit free. Subsequent bits 1c each until you reach a limit we're not going to tell you, at which point the price triples. Always-on service available 4AM-4:05AM the third Tuesday of months with an R in their names and the fifth Wednesday of other months. Not including sign-up fee of 128 euro and per-calendar-monthly line rental of 64 euro plus 1L of your blood. Signing-off fee of 256 euro plus kidney or firstborn.

Hahahahahaha. You summed up the type advertising that goes on in this country! I hope you have more funny posts like this one cos I'm gonna check ya out :P

Anyways, I have an Eircom home broadband 1MB package which is "limited" to 10GB of downloads per month. Its true Eircom don't enforce the limit nor do they throttle my connection because they just want me to pay my bill and they're happy!Even though I seriously abuse the limit by downloading movies, music games etc. For over 2 years now I've been hogging the downloads and not a peep out of Eircom!!!

chrislad

Cabaal wrote: »

Good luck with that,
You know meteor's free txt offer is limited to about 5000 txts under its fair usage policy, also false advertising I guess :pac:

Yeah, but that's not advertised as unlimited. It's just advertised as Free Texts for Life (see terms and conditions). So you are getting Free Texts, just not unlimited free texts. I believe the older text offers are unlimited, and there is no mention of Fair Usage in the T+Cs for this offer.

As for the OP, I'd just take your business elsewhere. Regardless of whether or not he is using it for work, it's not always possible to get a business account as it will need to be in a business name, more than likely at a premises registered to the business.

watty

Meteor ran all kinds of of offeres some while back. Everyone of them in small print cancelled any unlimited or free texts deals. as did changing tarrif.

chrislad

watty wrote: »

Meteor ran all kinds of of offeres some while back. Everyone of them in small print cancelled any unlimited or free texts deals. as did changing tarrif.

No, they didn't. They announced the Free Any Network Texts or Free Meteor Calls/Texts offer. Those offers are limited to 5000 texts/minutes, as part of a fair usage policy, which is over 150 texts/minutes a day.

Some minimum call charges, and increases in prices of texts were introduced to plans late last year and early this year, but there were no changes to the T+Cs for the older Free Texts for Life plans such as Anytime Plus or Anytime Xtra. Only Anytime Choice has a fair usage policy clearly attached to it, and it's a very generous one. Anyways, the point is that Meteor don't advertise it as unlimited free texts. They advertise it as Free Texts for Life. "Free Texts for Life as long as you top up by 20e a month and don't use more than 150 a day" doesn't have the same marketing ring to it, which is why they say terms and conditions apply.

Richard Dower

I didn't even KNOW they had moved to "unlimited"...but thanks for the heads up, so while i can now go over 30GB per month i still have to be careful i guess, not go mad and do 100 gigs a month :-)

daftdave

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Change to Eircom, they don't enforce any limits, thats why I'm with them over BT. They have a limit but never enforce it.

are you crazy man , eircom are wayyyy over priced..just dont waste your money .......

mikehn

Im having throttling problems with my isp BT, I reckon i was doing about 40 gig a month and my speed went way down so decided to switch.
UTV were offering a fairly attractive package so i decided to go with them at the end of Feb.
I rang them a week ago to get a rough idea as to when I would have my new modem to be told that there was a slight problem that might delay things a bit.
I asked what the problem was and was told that the supervisor knew but was not there at the time. That kinda set the tone for the next 6 calls. On the third call I suggested that I ring BT if there was a difficulty in that area but the UTV person then admitted that UTV had a "problem" in migrating BT customers to their service. I asked when could I expect service and she did not know. I asked for somebody who did know to ring me and she said no prob and of course no call.
After three more calls I am no wiser, I have now been promised that a Supervisor will ring me on Mon.
I am going to tough this out and am considering complaining to the ombudsman as UTV are advertising a service that they are not in a position to provide.

watty

chrislad wrote: »

No, they didn't. They announced the Free Any Network Texts or Free Meteor Calls/Texts offer. Those offers are limited to 5000 texts/minutes, as part of a fair usage policy, which is over 150 texts/minutes a day.
.

I'm talking about the original offers people got when Meteor launched. The current offer is insulting. 20 Eur a month top up!

I get more value on €15 a month bill pay. 50 mins included. I switched from Meteor PAYG to O2 bill pay. The bill board offers on the tests you talking about where very misleading as there was no fine print about the top up. But ASAI and Consumer Assoc. in this country are not proactive.

T-Square

BuffyBot wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's been pointed out before on here, but very few (if any) unlimited packages are unlimited. Most have fair usage policies. Always check these things out.

If they advertise it as unlimited, then it's either unlimited or false advertisting.

You cannot say x, then introduce a "fair usage" policy later.

It's called contract law.

Phlann

T-Square wrote: »

If they advertise it as unlimited, then it's either unlimited or false advertisting.

You cannot say x, then introduce a "fair usage" policy later.

It's called contract law.

Yes, it's contract law and the fair usage policy was in the contract every one of us signed up to. They're covered from a legal point of view.

I agree that it's total bull**** though.

mndgz

so whats the closest to 'unlimited' out of dsl providers at the mo?
was with carphone warehouse's talktalk for a while ('unlimited' with 100GB fair usage) but moved house since and havent had a phone line for a while.. any tips?

smellslikeshoes

mndgz wrote: »

so whats the closest to 'unlimited' out of dsl providers at the mo?
was with carphone warehouse's talktalk for a while ('unlimited' with 100GB fair usage) but moved house since and havent had a phone line for a while.. any tips?

Smart would definitely be the closest to unlimited, there is only one case of a user getting cut off with them that I know of. It was because they had downloaded a terrabyte in a month, bearing in mind that was 4 or 5 years ago when all other providers had limits of <20gigabytes. Smart is essentially fully unlimited for 99.99% of users.

DiGi

I had just been throttled by BT for overusing my “Unlimited” usage connection. Apparently I downloaded 30GB in one day and it slowed everyone else’s connection speed. Woops. Well they did it without telling me so I called to see what the problem was and after about 5 min of being passed around I was told that I was overusing. I accepted this and was willing to accept the consciences.

So before I was about to hang up I asked “so what is the limit of my unlimited connection? So I can avoid this in the future” He replied “there is no limit but it is subject to fair usage” Well then I got a bit annoyed because he wouldn’t give me a benchmark to work to. I was on the phone for over a hour being passed from one department to the next because nobody could tell me the limit of my “Unlimited” connection.

Man I was getting really pissy near the end I started quoting the advertising laws and telling them they were breaking the law and that I would be reporting them for using misleading advertising. I also told them it would be better for everyone if they set a higher limit or at least a rough benchmark so this situation could be avoided. I did get to talk to a Level 3 tech who joked that he seen this coming a mile off and that with 24Mb connections coming out it is getting worse. But he was able to tell me it is 1TB per year which works out about 2.7 GB per day.

Well any after that I was sitting there with a 0.1Mb connection pissed So I sent a complaint to the National Consumer Agency about the situation. The next day I got a call from them to say that using the term “Unlimited” was misleading and it would be forwarded to the commissioner. Man I had to gloat so I called again and told them what they had told me. I also asked again to have my speed restored as it was breech of the advertising law.

He quoted the fair usage policy again and again and I kept asking where it says there is a limit to this connection. This went on for about 10 min before he was getting pissed with me. In the end I said you have two choices restore my connection or change your product and set a limit otherwise your using misleading advertising. He tried to defend the policy and say it was not misleading but he was loosing, I had him on the ropes at this stage. He was stuttering for something to say that I couldn’t shoot down.

I was trying my best not to piss my self laughing .well anyway I said if it was not fixed soon I would be stopping any payments and changing my provider and hung up. 24 hours later I was back up to full speed again and I was to be restricted for 18 days. Lolol

Cabaal

T-Square wrote: »

If they advertise it as unlimited, then it's either unlimited or false advertisting.

You cannot say x, then introduce a "fair usage" policy later.

It's called contract law.

All ISP's have a fair usage policy, there is actually no such thing as a truly unlimited ISP especially for residential ISP's...read the FAQ for further info on this

Cabaal

DiGi wrote: »

Man I was getting really pissy near the end I started quoting the advertising laws and telling them they were breaking the law and that I would be reporting them for using misleading advertising.

Thing is you were quoting out your arse as BT are breaking now laws, report them to the asai all you want

I also told them it would be better for everyone if they set a higher limit or at least a rough benchmark so this situation could be avoided.

The realaitys of ISP's costs would also mean that if they increase caps they will also increase monthly costs to the customer
Wholesale prices would have to change first.

I did get to talk to a Level 3 tech who joked that he seen this coming a mile off and that with 24Mb connections coming out it is getting worse. But he was able to tell me it is 1TB per year which works out about 2.7 GB per day.

2.7GB a day is a very reasonable amount for a residential service

Well any after that I was sitting there with a 0.1Mb connection pissed So I sent a complaint to the National Consumer Agency about the situation. The next day I got a call from them to say that using the term “Unlimited” was misleading and it would be forwarded to the commissioner. Man I had to gloat so I called again and told them what they had told me. I also asked again to have my speed restored as it was breech of the advertising law.

I'd be suspect about your claims regarding this, as an example OFCOM in the UK have reviewed consumer claims numerous times that ISP's in the UK are miss-selling as they advise as unlimited but have FUP in T&C's.

To date nothing has changed as ISP's are allowed to protect themselfs from abuse on their network by overuse, imho 30GB in one day is far beyond the requirements for a residential ADSL service and accordingly you need to go look at business ISP's

I was trying my best not to piss my self laughing .well anyway I said if it was not fixed soon I would be stopping any payments and changing my provider and hung up. 24 hours later I was back up to full speed again and I was to be restricted for 18 days. Lolol

I'd imagine they did this as goodwill because they were sick to death of your ranting, personally I would have stuck to the options and if you didn't like them you can cancel and go find another ISP that also has a FUP

hightower1

An ISP can indeed advertise a broadbank pack in Ireland as unlimited and its not illegal and Comreg see no issue with it on the conditions....

That a FUP is clearly advertised also....

That the FUP is reasonable in Comregs opinion...

That any breach of FUP conciqunces are outlined on the contract...

That should someone be in danger of breaching the FUP that warning steps are taken by the ISP...


Its all there to read on their site under the commonly asked questions section. Its not illegal in any way at all, you just didnt read what you were signing... never a good things to do.

Cabaal

hightower1 wrote: »

Its all there to read on their site under the commonly asked questions section. Its not illegal in any way at all, you just didnt read what you were signing... never a good things to do.

This is the reason why the vast majority of people are pissed when they get a letter or there speed is capped, plane and simple they never bothered to read the T&C's.

Bottom line is if you sign up to any service such as mobile, phone or DSL etc without reading the T&C's then your a bloody fool.

kaimera

Cabaal wrote: »

All ISP's have a fair usage policy, there is actually no such thing as a truly unlimited ISP especially for residential ISP's...read the FAQ for further info on this

smart are the closest thing to truly unlimited?

possibly magnet?

[sorry for the OT]

DiGi

Just to tell you my bandwidth usage meter has been frozen . i tried a quick download and it hasn't increased . Also the warning message telling me that i had been restricted has gone.

P.S as for the call i had from NCA i did mention there fair usage terms and he said the he had read it and that because it didn't set a figure for what they considered fair usage , describing there product as being unlimited was misleading.
But to honest who did they think was going to buy a fast connection with unlimited usage. Its a heavy users dream. They hardly thought some old guy who only uses his connection for emails is going to buy it.

Cabaal

kaimera wrote: »

smart are the closest thing to truly unlimited?

possibly magnet?

[sorry for the OT]

They would be I suppose, however if enough heavy users started using the service they would have to buy more bandwidth for backhaul and this would make them less profitable so they';d likely start enforcing the FUP.

Its happened numerous times in the UK over the years, ISP sets up..great speeds and unlimited heavy users all migrated to it ISP can't go providing the service so introduces FUP

ninjasurfer1

daftdave wrote: »

are you crazy man , eircom are wayyyy over priced..just dont waste your money .......

I'm with eircom and usually download WAAAy over the limits and have never been warned or capped.
Might be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it for the extra downloads!!