broadband usage and online games

LAM2011

Please excuse me if I dont quite make sense but that is the purpose of my question to try and understand how it works. My mum lives with us and pays for BT broadband and some TV package thing. About 8 months ago the broadband amount went up quite a bit and on phoning BT she was advised it was due to going over the limit. So she increased it. Now again this quarter she has been charged an additional £45 for excess broadband. The amount is ridiculous (or seems so) as before when she lived on her own and still sat on the internet most of the day she still only paid a quarter of the current bill.

Now both my OH and his son play Black Ops (or something) online for quite few hours every night and most of the weekend. Before I approach him to ask if he can contribute - is this the case - would that cause excessive use?

I dont even want to phone BT as I dont really understand what I am talking about.

Can anyone help ?

iniltous

It sounds as if whatever broadband package you have it isnt unlimited and you are going over whatever limit you do have, and are being charged for it, if the on line gaming is the thing thats being done now that wasnt done previously, then that will be what the problem is....solution is to move to an unlimited broadband package or restrict the amount of time they play 'Black Ops' or whatever, also check your broadband has been secured so no neighbours can use your broadband, if the TV package is BT Vision it doesnt count towards your broadband usage, so it wont be that thats using up your allowance

societys_child

There are free usage monitors you can download. I suppose you could use one to check just what is using your bandwidth. can't recommend one 'cos I've never used them. Someone in the techie forum might know.

Scrammer

I use this bandwidth meter

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Bandwidth-Tools/ShaPlus-Bandwidth-Meter.shtml

It certainly could cause excessive usage.

You need to find out your limits and see if you can avoid going over them, I know mine and I avoid going over
them, they will have to try and play at off peak times. However my ISP does not charge me if I go
over the limit, it just throttles my speed for 5 hours, which basically makes not different to me most of the time.

So you need to sort it out or find the package which is best for you usage. That might mean switching ISP possibly.

Coopdivi

If your partner and his son are playing games online I'm not surprised that you're regularly exceeding your download limit. These sort of things use up a massive amount of data.

BT charge £5 for every 5GB that you exceed your download limit by so if they're charging you £45 you must be able to appreciate that the OH and son are far exceeding the limit which your mum previously enjoyed.

In order to avoid ludicrously high monthly charges you need to either:

Upgrade to a better package which will be either unlimited broadband and calls or Option 3 if you just have broadband from BT (note 40GB won't be enough)

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=27281&s_intcid=con_intban_btyahoohome_quicklinks_upgrade

or, if you are out of contract with BT, to see if any other company offers better value for money broadband with a generous download limit. You'll need at least 60GB though if your excessive usage charges are anything to go by.

Put your phone number into Samknows website to find out what exchange you're on and what broadband suppliers are available to you.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker

LAM2011

Thanks everyone for all your replies. Looks like we have to go unlimited.