About to be charged for excess broadband usage...

penguine

...how can I avoid this?

We are with Waitrose and for the first time have received a message that we are about to exceed our monthly limit on broadband usage. If we do this we will be charged extra. How is our usage measured -- I assumed it was just downloads? I spend a lot of time surfing (and on these forums) and my OH watches a fair amount of YouTube videos, but we don't really download much of anything at all. I have looked at the T&C's for our account which state the following:

If you have selected to receive the Waitrose.com up to 8Mb Broadband service you will have a 5GB Monthly Usage allowance. Any Monthly Usage that is registered by our systems above this allowance will be charged at £2 (inc. VAT) per GB (or part thereof). This charge will appear on your next monthly invoice.

Any advice much appreciated!

Hillfly

Well to avoid it you need to stop using the web until you get your next months allowance.
Seems strange that you have used 5Gb if you have only been surfing. Are you sure no one's downaloaded anything or that someone isn't illegally using your internet connection?

penguine

Hillfly wrote: »

Well to avoid it you need to stop using the web until you get your next months allowance.
Seems strange that you have used 5Gb if you have only been surfing. Are you sure no one's downaloaded anything or that someone isn't illegally using your internet connection?

That occurred to me. However our wireless connection is password protected and I don't think it would be easy to guess ... in fact I've forgotten myself what the password is ... probably worth changing it though.

Still can't figure out how we've used almost 5Gb though.

Totally_Skint

Dont forget that every website you look at, every email that you receive, especially ones with photos in will be eating into the monthly usage. Watching videos on YouTube is also one of the main ones along and everytime you download updates for Windows or Anti Virus software.

Unfortunatley there doesn't seem to be any providers out there that are unlimited (even though they say they are!). If you use what they term as too much they will inform you that you are exceeding their fair usage policy, and tell you to cut down, or pay more.

It all seems a big con to me to get more money! :mad:

espresso

penguine wrote: »

That occurred to me. However our wireless connection is password protected and I don't think it would be easy to guess ... in fact I've forgotten myself what the password is ... probably worth changing it though.

Still can't figure out how we've used almost 5Gb though.

It's quite easy to use 5Gb in a month, even when using dial-up. A 5Gb monthly limit is pathetic now, as the internet has changed a lot over recent years with much more content on webpages etc.

Learn how to easily monitor your own usage here.

penrhyn

Get yourself a download monitor, I use Netmeter from readerror.
As the previous poster says, anything you do whilst online contributes to your download limit.
Sky Max broadband at £10/month for Sky subscribers in totally unlimited.

http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/

penguine

Thanks for the tips about download monitors. We use one Mac and one PC on our internet connection. Are there any easy ways to monitor usage on both?

espresso

penguine wrote: »

Thanks for the tips about download monitors. We use one Mac and one PC on our internet connection. Are there any easy ways to monitor usage on both?

What about reading the stats from your router?

penguine

espresso wrote: »

What about reading the stats from your router?

Ermm... how do I do this?

(I'm the one using a Mac.)

normanmark

Don't bother trying to read the stats from the router.

If you're on a mac then just download and install this bandwidth monitor:

http://freespace.virgin.net/jeremy.dronfield/skoobysoft/skooby/download.html#skoobyutilities

penguine

Have just done that, thanks.

Since we also have a PC I assume we have to install a download monitor on that too, and add the two totals together -- is that correct?