UPC, 500gb limit. Does anybody ever exceed this?

outofmind6 · 22-02-2012 5:45pm #1

Hi guys, I'm trying to decide which internet connection to establish in my new place. I think UPC is definitely the best on the market, but I've noticed there is a 500gb limit per month. Is that a lot? There will be 5 of us using it.
There is a squared thing already installed on the wall (sorry I'm a female), it should be called upc. Would I (maybe with some help) be able to install it on my own, avoiding the installation fee? I would just need a router I guess.. Thanks a lot!
Ioli

justme7136 · 22-02-2012 6:04pm

500 gb is a fairly massive usage allowance, Unless your gonna be watching lots of lots of netflix or downloading hd movies, Normal peoples internet usage would never get near that amount, If i were you i would install the router yourself, its pretty easy and the password is preset and written on the back of the router or in the booklet, If you ran into problems you could ring them and thed talk you through it.

Sure somebody will be along here with more detailed instructions anyway

Hope that helps a little!!

outofmind6 · 22-02-2012 7:25pm

Thanks for that! I'll try to get it sorted myself then.. You also know how long it takes for them to send me all the stuff?

aN.Droid · 22-02-2012 7:27pm

I have went over it once and came pretty near it most other months, It's a huge allowance though and you shouldn't go over it with normal use.

The month I was over I was seeding a (legal) torrent and got a nasty letter from upc about it :P

justme7136 · 23-02-2012 10:55am

outofmind6 wrote: »

Thanks for that! I'll try to get it sorted myself then.. You also know how long it takes for them to send me all the stuff?

Id expect them to send it by courier 1-2 days

You could try asking them, im sure thed have a better idea!!!!

rene13cross · 23-02-2012 11:13am

I am a student and live in a house of 5. We also have the 100mbit UPC price plan and we actually exceeded it the second month we got it lol! Not sure exactly how it happened but it hasn't happened since anyway...

They sent us a letter too actually but we've had absolutely no problem with them since. Great provider, I have to say aswell. Never had down-time and always getting the full speeds that we're promised.

squonk · 23-02-2012 11:58am

It depends on what you're going to be doing. If you like using Netflix and downloading torrents then you might burn through it fairly quickly. Where there's 5 of you in a house you have to really say it means only 100Gb/head. You mightn't feel going through that.

cramp · 23-02-2012 1:13pm

I have the 100mb since launch ,
They ate VERY strict on the 500gb
I monitor my traffick and I went over 500 one month and a cew days
Later I got a letter warning me I had gone over the 500gb by only 30gb!
I think u get 2 warnings then they drop ur speed to 30mb

And put u on the extreme package which has 1tb download limit but costs
20e more per month than the 100m !
Cramp

23-02-2012 4:45pm

Yes they do charge you extra per month for going over the 500gb per month, but there is nothing nasty about the letters lol.

rene13cross · 23-02-2012 6:03pm

Eh, no they don't charge you extra, they send you a warning letter if it happens a second time they basically make your price plan more expensive. And if my memory serves me right, the letter is actually quite intimidating in its wording. Not a huge deal though if one simply keeps an eye on usage.

This was last November so it might have changed since then.

23-02-2012 7:26pm

Quite intimidating how.:pac:
You are breaking the terms and conditions of the contract they are entitle to say "if you do it again you will be charged more and restricted in speed" they don't say do it again and we will come out and examine your pc or call the guards.

What a load of hyperbole.

jim. · 23-02-2012 8:12pm

I've been in touch with UPC's AUP division, exactly what happens is the following.

The first time you go over the 500GB limit, you'll receive a warning letter. If you do it again they'll put you on the "Extreme" package. This package is 30Mbit download speed, 1000GB/month traffic and costs €80/month. There's no other charges if this happens.

So if you were on the 100Mbit package your speed would be downgraded by 70Mbit, and you'll be paying €30/month more for an extra 500GB traffic.

They will return you to your previous package after a month has passed and you've stayed under the 500GB limit.

denballs · 23-02-2012 8:23pm

You,ll only exceed 500 a month if you like downloading blu ray movies and hav their 50mb-100mb speed...

aN.Droid · 23-02-2012 8:27pm

denballs wrote: »

You,ll only exceed 500 a month if you like downloading blu ray movies and hav their 50mb-100mb speed...

Not exactly, as I stated above I went over it by seeding legal torrents. it's very easy to go over it legally.

denballs · 23-02-2012 8:34pm

Limericks wrote: »

Not exactly, as I stated above I went over it by seeding legal torrents. it's very easy to go over it legally.

does uploading take more ?

leonil7 · 03-05-2012 6:04pm

500 Gb is now few. UPC should upgrade this to unlimited (like what it was before).
Netflix, internet radio, download and uploads, even venturing to make your own home server , makes 500 Gb insufficient, esp kids growing up and each one doing their own thing online even with friends in the house.

time to switch to a new provider.

useless technology, improved high speed but limited.

03-05-2012 6:11pm

leonil7 wrote: »

500 Gb is now few. UPC should upgrade this to unlimited (like what it was before).

No, It was never truly unlimited, like every other service in Ireland.

Netflix, internet radio, download and uploads, even venturing to make your own home server , makes 500 Gb insufficient, esp kids growing up and each one doing their own thing online even with friends in the house.

AFAIK, a home server won't use your limits, if it just used in the intranet/lan.

time to switch to a new provider.

Every provider has limits. A lot of them state "unlimited" but a Fair Usage Policy always applies

leonil7 wrote: »

useless technology, improved high speed but limited.

Bandwidth costs money, they can't make it truly unlimited, because of the current infrastructure in Ireland.

Oh, and Gb is not the same as GB

aN.Droid · 03-05-2012 6:12pm

leonil7 wrote: »

500 Gb is now few. UPC should upgrade this to unlimited (like what it was before).
Netflix, internet radio, download and uploads, even venturing to make your own home server , makes 500 Gb insufficient, esp kids growing up and each one doing their own thing online even with friends in the house.

time to switch to a new provider.

useless technology, improved high speed but limited.

UPC was never unlimited, before the 100mb and 50mb packages came in the limit was 250GB. Also, why the thread Resurrection

clearz · 03-05-2012 6:50pm

My landlady got onto us just the other day. She was charged 30 bucks extra because the download was 1100GB for the month. We are on the 25 MB/s package and there is 4 or us sharing. I would consider myself a power user but that is just rediculus.

leonil7 · 03-05-2012 7:02pm

times have changed. now we have backups to Cloud servers, Netflix, etc..
this 500 GB cap simply will not allow this kind of business to strive.

i mean how can you back up your tb of data files on this cloud servers without receiving this love letter from UPC ?

now im even streaming CNN news from the US at livestation.com

i've checked callcosts.ie , it seems only Magnet offers unlimited use bu sadly not in my area.

there must be a way UPC can offer a package with > 500 Gb limit at an extra price. the 'penalty' clause is simply embarrassing the user for things he does as a normal necessity today and possibly the next months or years to come.

03-05-2012 7:10pm

Cloud backup is going to be a huge drain on caps. I'm on 10Mb DSL and have to work hard to stay below a 170GB cap and that's without any uploading at all. If I were streaming HD instead of SB on Netflix and the rest I'd be screwed.

03-05-2012 7:11pm

leonil7 wrote: »

times have changed. now we have backups to Cloud servers, Netflix, etc..
this 500 GB cap simply will not allow this kind of business to strive.

i mean how can you back up your tb of data files on this cloud servers without receiving this love letter from UPC ?

now im even streaming CNN news from the US at livestation.com

i've checked callcosts.ie , it seems only Magnet offers unlimited use bu sadly not in my area.

there must be a way UPC can offer a package with > 500 Gb limit at an extra price. the 'penalty' clause is simply embarrassing the user for things he does as a normal necessity today and possibly the next months or years to come.

If you can afford to have 1TB online cloud storage, you can certainly afford the package from UPC, which they say, is unlimited.

leonil7 · 03-05-2012 7:25pm

huh? where is the 'unlimited' package in UPC. please show me. UPC is like a 100m sprint run. boasts of 'fiber' speed in ads. too flashy, but really limits you up to a certain distance. what we need is a marathon long distance runner of a broadband.

btw 1 tb online cloud storage is peanuts, just 25€ for 2 yrs unlimited cloud storage not just 1 tb - if you know where to look.

even then Netflix which offers 'unlimited' streaming at 7€ per month is only in theory. problem is the cap limits imposed by the providers here in ireland.

that is why im saying times have changed.

Deleted User wrote: »

If you can afford to have 1TB online cloud storage, you can certainly afford the package from UPC, which they say, is unlimited.

03-05-2012 7:27pm

leonil7 wrote: »

huh? where is the 'umlimited' package in UPC. please show me.

btw 1 tb online cloud storage is peanuts, just 25€ for 2 yrs unlimited cloud storage not just 1 tb - if you know where to look.

even then Netflix which offers 'unlimited' streaming at 7€ per month is only in theory. problem is the cap limits imposed by the providers here in ireland.

that is why im saying times have changed.

If you keep going over your limit, they can put you onto the "extreme" package. Not sure what the price is, or if it still exists though.

03-05-2012 7:32pm

According to my router I downloaded 17GB and uploaded 3.5GB last month. I think most users won't go anywhere near 500GB.

JonB · 03-05-2012 7:39pm

My problem with UPC enforcing the usage limit is they don't provide good tools to check your usage limit. I have three computers, 2 xboxs and 2 mobile phones(granted these wouldn't eat much at all) connected to my network. This makes managing usage limit a pain in the arse. Unless someone knows of a solution which is web based and uses some kind of user account to aggregate all the usage on the single user accounts on the different platforms.

Infact if there isn't I would love to research this idea and try to implement it !!!!!

Doylers · 03-05-2012 7:46pm

JonB wrote: »

My problem with UPC enforcing the usage limit is they don't provide good tools to check your usage limit. I have three computers, 2 xboxs and 2 mobile phones(granted these wouldn't eat much at all) connected to my network. This makes managing usage limit a pain in the arse. Unless someone knows of a solution which is web based and uses some kind of user account to aggregate all the usage on the single user accounts on the different platforms.

Infact if there isn't I would love to research this idea and try to implement it !!!!!

Theres no software your can get for your pc or anything because it wouldn't monitor every other device. There is a solution, buy a router, flash it with dd-wrt, connect the new router to your upc modem and make sure every device connects online via your new router. The dd-wrt firmware can show your full bandwidth usage

Crann na Beatha · 04-05-2012 12:35am

This post has been deleted.

04-05-2012 12:37am

Aquila wrote: »

Have you the thompson router?

No, it's an AVM FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7390 router connected to a SA EPC2203.

04-05-2012 9:24am

Deleted User wrote: »

If you keep going over your limit, they can put you onto the "extreme" package. Not sure what the price is, or if it still exists though.

No such thing.
They reduce your 100mb to 30mb and extend your 500Gb limit to 1Tb.
Then charge you an extra €30 a month for this wonderfull, unique privilege.

Thor · 04-05-2012 7:36pm

UPC should not be allowed to enforce or penalize anyone on any cap until they provide a means to which we can monitor our usages. This doesn't include are on way. It should be either by firmware on the modem or by are account on upc.ie.

It still shocks me that they still haven't provided this ability and the fact is the obviously have an infrastructure in place to calculate the downloads, but have yet to provide us access. Also, the 500GB limit on the 100Mb line is no good in this day and age and anyone who thinks it is, count how many people have gotten letters. If it's decent cap then why are people so easily able to break it.

uberdruid · 26-05-2012 4:26pm

There shouldn't be any kind of cap (or other ancient restrictions) in the first place bc it's freakin 2012! Every youtube vid on the Web is available in HD, ppl store their data in the cloud, your game library on Steam can be easily over 500Gigs alone if your an avid gamer, NETFLIX, etc.

So if your family of four consumes in average 2 hours HD content (4Gb/hour for decent 1080p quality) per day, you need 32GB per day for that alone. That is, for a month u would consume 960GB only for watching HD content online.

miralize · 26-05-2012 5:34pm

Very selfish thinking here. Bandwidth while cheap, does cost money. The service quality/speeds/latency also drops if one person is hogging all the bandwidth in an area. Its not ideal, but its a necessity for all their customers to have a decent service. This will change over time due to Moore's Law but for the time being, people will have to put up with data caps that are imposed

uberdruid · 27-05-2012 6:32am

miralize wrote: »

Very selfish thinking here. Bandwidth while cheap, does cost money. The service quality/speeds/latency also drops if one person is hogging all the bandwidth in an area. Its not ideal, but its a necessity for all their customers to have a decent service. This will change over time due to Moore's Law but for the time being, people will have to put up with data caps that are imposed

You don't see traffic caps for wired broadband in other European countries, e.g., Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland. Why should we accept it here in Ireland?!?

27-05-2012 1:32pm

I was a Permanet customer for a few years in Kerry. They had no download limits. Once this got out, people subscribed in droves and I knew of people who left their torrent clients open 24/7. As a result, the service fell to crap. We had a VoIP line at the time and had to stop using it as it was too unreliable. A few years later they had to introduce download caps to stop this.

So I completely support download caps, once they're reasonable. 500GB is perfectly fine for me and I've never once gone over it.

miralize · 27-05-2012 1:50pm

uberdruid wrote: »

You don't see traffic caps for wired broadband in other European countries, e.g., Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland. Why should we accept it here in Ireland?!?

Because mainland europe is easier to provide infrastructure. Ireland are a small country surrounded by water..

uberdruid · 27-05-2012 7:29pm

miralize wrote: »

Because mainland europe is easier to provide infrastructure. Ireland are a small country surrounded by water..

So mainland Europe connects to mainland America not by hundreds of cables through the Atlantic but through a magic conduit?

27-05-2012 8:05pm

Some people might like this. An interactive map of the undersea cables.

http://www.submarinecablemap.com/

kippy · 28-05-2012 11:16am

leonil7 wrote: »

times have changed. now we have backups to Cloud servers, Netflix, etc..
this 500 GB cap simply will not allow this kind of business to strive.

i mean how can you back up your tb of data files on this cloud servers without receiving this love letter from UPC ?

now im even streaming CNN news from the US at livestation.com

i've checked callcosts.ie , it seems only Magnet offers unlimited use bu sadly not in my area.

there must be a way UPC can offer a package with > 500 Gb limit at an extra price. the 'penalty' clause is simply embarrassing the user for things he does as a normal necessity today and possibly the next months or years to come.

Is there really a need to backup terrabytes of data to "the cloud" unless you are a professional photographer/vidographer?

I find it amusing that people back up all of their movie and mp3 collection at all to be honest as nowadays almost all of it is available online anyway.

uberdruid · 28-05-2012 1:01pm

kippy wrote: »

Is there really a need to backup terrabytes of data to "the cloud" unless you are a professional photographer/vidographer?

Why? Only because YOU dont have a huge collection of personal video recordings entails that anybody should be deprived of the privilege to backup his/her archives online?

kippy wrote: »

I find it amusing that people back up all of their movie and mp3 collection at all to be honest as nowadays almost all of it is available online anyway.

For public content I absolutely agree! And that's actually a very good argument for no data caps. I don't wanna be hassled by those whenever I want to redownload parts of my mp3 or video colleciton from itunes, Netflix, etc.

kippy · 28-05-2012 1:03pm

uberdruid wrote: »

Why? Only because YOU dont have a huge collection of personal video recordings entails that anybody should be deprived of the privilege to backup his/her archives online?

No one is depriving you of any "privilege" if you want that privilege, you should pay for it.......
It's that simple.

UPC have these caps, and the vast majority don't break them because they never approach them and have no need for them. If you do want to back up these personal videos online then you need to be willing to pay for it.

RangeR · 28-05-2012 1:34pm

uberdruid wrote: »

Why? Only because YOU dont have a huge collection of personal video recordings entails that anybody should be deprived of the privilege to backup his/her archives online?

If you want to invoke your privilege, why not sign up to a package that more suits your needs. You may have to contact the big boys, though. And the price will be a magnitude of residential prices. But you should get your unlimited [or at least many TB a month].

digitaldr · 02-06-2012 2:48am

I've come close to the 500 gigs but have never gone over. I actually wouldn't mind upgrading to a higher package mainly for the increased cap - not that bothered about the speed. The only thing putting me off is the *hitty router I'd be forced to use - I have a wired modem & my own wireless router. I know I could try using he dmz work around but not sure my existing setup would work will with it. Last time I enquired they won't let me increase the cap on my existing package even if pay extra.

05-06-2012 9:34am

UPC don't allow you to upgrade your 500GB cap, they reduce your 100mb speed to 30mb and extend your download cap to 1TB for an added fee.
Thats not a privilege, it's a penalty.
I would much rather they be less transparent, and create a package for bigger end users.

kippy · 05-06-2012 10:56am

RVP 11 wrote: »

UPC don't allow you to upgrade your 500GB cap, they reduce your 100mb speed to 30mb and extend your download cap to 1TB for an added fee.
Thats not a privilege, it's a penalty.
I would much rather they be less transparent, and create a package for bigger end users.

They do, it's called Business Fibre Power 100........

05-06-2012 12:18pm

kippy wrote: »

They do, it's called Business Fibre Power 100........

So why is it not on the HOME user website?
Again i'm back to transparency here, it's not for home users.

kippy · 05-06-2012 1:49pm

RVP 11 wrote: »

So why is it not on the HOME user website?
Again i'm back to transparency here, it's not for home users.

It's a package designed for users who need unlimited data at 100Meg (which tend generally to be business). What more do you want? A package tailored specificily for you and the (potentially) 1% of residential customers who require unlimited data at 100meg?
There are very very few home users who require over 500 gigabyte per month at 100 meg. I am sure UPC are aware of this.

05-06-2012 2:07pm

kippy wrote: »

It's a package designed for users who need unlimited data at 100Meg (which tend generally to be business). What more do you want? A package tailored specificily for you and the (potentially) 1% of residential customers who require unlimited data at 100meg?
There are very very few home users who require over 500 gigabyte per month at 100 meg. I am sure UPC are aware of this.

Lulz, how do you know what % of residential customers go over the limits and could keep going if they weren't penalized for it?
It's a package designed for businesses NOT people who go over 500GB, they don't do a package for people who go over 500 GB a month, FACT.
Source: UPC.
Are you the CAP Police?
I notice you are very hostile towards people who go over their cap or even mention needing a higher cap.
You need better things to be doing than telling other people how much they SHOULD be downloading a month.

miralize · 05-06-2012 2:12pm

Common sense. I consider myself a heavy downloader but I never go over 500GB. You'd have to be downloading HD video 24/7...

Seriously some people are never happy. How did you cope before UPC came along, on crappy Eircom?

05-06-2012 2:14pm

miralize wrote: »

Common sense. I consider myself a heavy downloader but I never go over 500GB. You'd have to be downloading HD video 24/7...

Seriously some people are never happy. How did you cope before UPC came along, on crappy Eircom?

Do you want a medal from the "i don't go over my CAP federation"? :pac:

DarkJager · 05-06-2012 2:17pm

I don't understand how people go over 500GB a month to be honest. Fact is if you do, that's your problem and not upcs. Good luck finding another ISP with a cap near that.

UPC, 500gb limit. Does anybody ever exceed this?

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