Exceeded my allowance. Meteor

the keen edge

Last month I joining up with meteor mobile broadband, 10mB per month for €10.

Previous to this my sister had o2 mobile broadband. Only once did we exceed our allowance and I think we had to pay an extra €30 or so.

Got my first Meteor bill through the door today, I didn't think that I did excessive usage in the last month, usual youtube videos etc, no video downloads (i.e. Pirate bay).

Anyhow the bill is €265, my heart almost stopped when I saw it.
From what I can gather from the bill I when 12gB over my allowance and Meteor change ~€20 per gB exceeding the allowance.

I'm totally shocked that I've gone so much over the allowance, and the cost for doing so. Considering that in the previous year of similar usage with o2 only once did I have to pay for extra usage.
I didn't even bother to monitor my usage via the usage history window as it was never an issue before.

As anyone can imagine a €265 bill right before christmas when you're only expecting a €10 is a right kick in the guts. I'm a student and really don't know how I actually am going to pay this bill.
I'm totally green regarding broadband technology etc.
So can able one tell me is it possible that data usage level vary with different suppliers, or do Meteor make errors with their bills sometimes?

rob808

Tell them your a student and can't repay all that money they make a deal with you they probably give that 265 euro a hair cut.There no way really out of this you have pay them something.

the keen edge

I'm really starting to question how Meteor calculate data usage. I suspect this is where the problem is.

I have just received a text message via the Meteor broadband to go programme, telling me that I have 1.5gB left out of my monthly 10gB allowance.

However when I calculated my usage over the last month using the usage tab on the Meteor btg programme(rounding data figures upwards), my usage only adds up to 6.5gB.
So it would seem to me that there is a problem with Meteors data (meter?).

Can any IT whizz tell me if what I'm suggesting is possible?.
I'm almost certain that their data clock, log, meter or such is running fast, to go 12gB over my allowance seems a lot, considering that in a year with the previous SP I only exceeded the allowance once, marginally at that.

CrazyRabbit

Dispute the bill and ask them to provide evidence (ie, a log of usage). At least then you can see what exactly they charged you for.

CricketDude

Unfortunately thats the business model of mobile BB providers.
The more people than can crucify for accidentally going over their caps, the cheaper the can offer the product to low usage users.
Its not fair, but its like shooting fish in a barrel for them - especially since their data counter is nowhere near accurate.

Decitronic

I left Meteor last year after a similar occurrence.

Meteor are constantly at this, it's a disgrace and I don't know how they get away with it. I know people that have gotten charged way over the limit and know for a fact that they didn't [one guy broke his stick so it wasn't used for the entire month, figure that one out]. They are dodgy to say the least.

I switched over to 3 there, 20 euro pay as you go a month with my phone gets me unlimited free internet [fair usage policy of 1000gb] and that includes free texts to anyone, free calls to 3 at anytime and free calls to everyone at the weekend. I have no idea why everyone isn't over on 3 with that price plan, maybe it's just because it's not promoted that well so most people don't know about it.

Seriously though, I was with Meteor for a long time and I'll never look back now. Dire company.

the keen edge

Yeah I'm really starting to smell a rat with how meteor calculate data usage.

Can anyone give me a ball park figure as to how much data say 1hour of youtube and 2 hours of browsing @~300 kbps would amount to in gB.
Does 1 gB sound about right?.

Decitronic

It'd be much less than 1gb, probably closer to 400mb

Jimbob 83

I have had my brother burn 400mb in 30 minutes on youtube watching stupid videos and them claim "Sure im uploading arent i?"

What a spanner

-=al=-

3 has tonnes of "broadband" (midband) 3g internet offers floating about, and people usually avoid since they're customer service is abysmal and in India, but in saying that when they're stuff works its usually fine so each to his own, + they seem to have bigger data limits compared to meteor for similar prices

Got shafted with meteor before they changed they data charging.. it was 2c per KB :eek: if you were to go over the allowance..

the average joe light enough internet user would be grand with 10gb a month tbh

streaming media will frape your data limits pretty quick and if your downloading apps/music/software you can forget about it really

the average 5 min youtube video could be about 10mb give or take and remember that your data allowance includes uploaded data too

StAnnes

the keen edge wrote: »

Last month I joining up with meteor mobile broadband, 10mB per month for €10.

Anyhow the bill is €265, my heart almost stopped when I saw it.
From what I can gather from the bill I when 12gB over my allowance and Meteor change ~€20 per gB exceeding the allowance.

I'm totally shocked that I've gone so much over the allowance, and the cost for doing so. Considering that in the previous year of similar usage with o2 only once did I have to pay for extra usage.
I didn't even bother to monitor my usage via the usage history window as it was never an issue before.

As anyone can imagine a €265 bill right before christmas when you're only expecting a €10 is a right kick in the guts. I'm a student and really don't know how I actually am going to pay this bill.
I'm totally green regarding broadband technology etc.
So can able one tell me is it possible that data usage level vary with different suppliers, or do Meteor make errors with their bills sometimes?

I just had a similar experience with Meteor which I have blogged about in meteor charges for usage outside allowance

I want to petition comreg to obligate the broadband providers to implement a better alert system for users who exceed their broadband usage. Please visit and follow my blog and dialogue with me about what type of alerts we need.
Thanks
http://irishbroadbandalert.blogspot.ie

Matt Bauer

Got shafted by Meteor and moved to 3. Much better all round. If you ask nicely, they'll even cap your bill so your internet gets cut off instead of you being overcharged if you accidentally go over the limit.

Let Meteor eat lead (disclaimer: not literally).

MOC88

the meters on your computer can be very unreliable
add up the data from your bill and see how much you actually used

the overcharge might be from ''pro rata'' - for example if you sign up on the 5th say and your billing day is the 25th you'll get 20 days usage and the charge for that ie. 6.66gb -

if this is the case explain that you weren't aware of this and were told you would have 10gb and that is what you signed up to - if it is your first bill you almost definitely have pro rata so check out how much was used before it started charging 1024kb= 1mb 1024mb = 1 gb

MrVestek

I hate to say this but ditch mid-band and go with a more reliable broadband connection if this is an option in your area. You really will save in the long run.