BT "unlimited broadband" limited to 80kb!

flightboy

Hi all,

I called BT as my usual 8MB broadband speed had droped to 80KB off peak and 16KB during peak hours. They said i had been limited 24hrs a day because i had gone over the "unlimited" allowance! and i have to wait a month to get my normal speed back again

I asked for my mac code and after a 20 min wait was told that system was down and i would have to call back to get one. I then read the terms and conditons and its states they will limit heavy users during the peak hours but says nothing about 24hrs a day for a month

Anybody got any advice or been in the same situation?

macman

Which BT broadband tariff are you on? Only Option 3 is unlimited, and the FUP still applies to that tariff.

4. What is BT's Traffic Management Policy?

BT continuously monitors network performance and reduces the speed available to very heavy users (typically less than 1 per cent of all customers) during a given month to ensure that the service received by other customers is not impacted through extremely heavy usage by a minority of people.
Customers who are classified as very heavy users will experience significantly reduced speed at peak times (typically 5pm-midnight every day but these times may change depending on the demand on the network) for a period of 30 days, or for as long as very heavy use continues. This applies to customers on all Options.
BT Total Broadband Option 3 and BT Infinity Option 2 allow unlimited downloads and uploads within the monthly rental price, so customers on these products will not be charged for over-use. However, this does not preclude BT from reducing your speed if you are a heavy user in order to protect the experience for the rest of our customers.
We may need to vary the policy from time to time to ensure the best possible experience for all our customers. This site will always be kept up to date with the latest information.

prowla

Basically the use of the word "unlimited" is nothing but a lie.
Take them to Advertising Standards.

kwikbreaks

flightboy wrote: »

I asked for my mac code and after a 20 min wait was told that system was down and i would have to call back to get one.

It shouldn't be your problem that their system is down. They are required by Ofcom to issue a MAC within five working days of the request. Call them back and try again but make sure you have completed any minimum contract first of you'll have to pay a penalty charge.

Read the T&C of your next ISP before signing up. The only place you'll get anything approaching true unlimited is Be/O2 or Sky (all only on LLU) or the 50Mbps VM cable. BTw charge far to much for their service for resellers to be able to afford anything like unlimited.

mrochester

prowla wrote: »

Basically the use of the word "unlimited" is nothing but a lie.
Take them to Advertising Standards.

Technically it is still unlimited. Even though he is downloading at a much slower speed, he can still keep on downloading as much as he likes without receiving any overuse charges. What he can't do however, is download so much that it effects other customers, at which point BT have to take action to prevent his actions from having a detrimental effect on someone else.

The OP can download as much as he likes without receiving any overuse charges. However, the T&C state that he must do this responsibly, which means the onus is on him to ensure his use isn't excessive. If he can't or won't ensure that his use isn't excessive, then BT have the right to impose restrictions.

kwikbreaks

The point with all these ISPs is that they know full well what constitutes reasonable use so they should spell out what is and what is not reasonable rather than misselling the product by labelling it "unlimited" when by any sensible definition of the term it isn't.

If a line is capable of downloading at some given rate then unlimited means downloading at that rate 24x7 but no ISP will tolerate that so they should not be describing their products as unlimited.

mrochester

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The point with all these ISPs is that they know full well what constitutes reasonable use so they should spell out what is and what is not reasonable rather than misselling the product by labelling it "unlimited" when by any sensible definition of the term it isn't.

If a line is capable of downloading at some given rate then unlimited means downloading at that rate 24x7 but no ISP will tolerate that so they should not be describing their products as unlimited.

The problem arises that the definition of 'reasonable use' will be different from one exchange to another due to the different number of customers and overall properties attached to each. It could very well be the case that 24x7 usage is tolerated in one location because the exchange can handle it but not in another. That would make it impossible for BT to state what constitutes 'reasonable use' and hence we have a blanket statement.

kwikbreaks

The point of contention is not normally the exchange - for ISPs using the BTw IPsteam product it is the endpoint of he BTw links back to the ISP. It is perfectly possible to set limits - that is exactly what all the ISPs do who do not recklessly label their clearly limited products as unlimited do.

mrJ_5

if they said it was "unlimited & unthrottled" then that would be a different thing, then you'd expect to download all you can all day ... though i don't actually think they state this

even at 50Kb/s you can still download an unlimited amount of data, just as you can at 1Mb/s - all that your limited to is the download speed, now they can't say that the speed is unlimited as it wouldn't be feasible

kwikbreaks

In the strange universe of sales-speak they can indeed call it unlimited but by any sensible definition it isn't so they shouldn't be allowed to. Unlimited means without any limits and by throttling they are imposing a limit.

spike7451

kwikbreaks wrote: »

In the strange universe of sales-speak they can indeed call it unlimited but by any sensible definition it isn't so they shouldn't be allowed to. Unlimited means without any limits and by throttling they are imposing a limit.

As well as kwikbreaks point above,one other thing I noticed when I was working for Sky BBand was the amount of customers who'd call in moaning "I'm only getting 3Mb...but the sales man told me I can get 15Mb"...so they sign up for a higher package than their line can handle.

It pays to do your research first,even O2 told me I can get 17Mb when I know the max I can get is around 6-7Mb on ADSL2.