BT Broadband: Over The Limit...?

Top_Banana_2

I have BT Broadband Option 1 with a 10mb usage limit per month.

My bill has arrived and it tells me that in April I went over the limit by 20MB and by 5MB in May. I've just checked and I'm 5MB over for June, too.

My problem is that I cannot see how I have used that much? I've never gone over the limit before and I haven't changed my online activities- no downloading of songs (I don't use iTunes, etc) and no uploading of videos to YouTube. Absolutely nothing different.

I've not changed any hardware or connections and no one else uses the internet here.

Have BT changed their policy or similar? Or have I gone over somehow by accident?

The only thing I can think of is that recently I've watched a few more YouTube videos. Longer ones than usual, like 30 minutes, etc. And I started to use the iPlayer a few times a week. But, surely these are so widely used that they can't affect usage limits......or they wouldn't be so popular???

charlotte289

Top_Banana wrote: »

I have BT Broadband Option 1 with a 10mb usage limit per month.

My bill has arrived and it tells me that in April I went over the limit by 20MB and by 5MB in May. I've just checked and I'm 5MB over for June, too.

My problem is that I cannot see how I have used that much? I've never gone over the limit before and I haven't changed my online activities- no downloading of songs (I don't use iTunes, etc) and no uploading of videos to YouTube. Absolutely nothing different.

I've not changed any hardware or connections and no one else uses the internet here.

Have BT changed their policy or similar? Or have I gone over somehow by accident?

The only thing I can think of is that recently I've watched a few more YouTube videos. Longer ones than usual, like 30 minutes, etc. And I started to use the iPlayer a few times a week. But, surely these are so widely used that they can't affect usage limits......or they wouldn't be so popular???

Unfortunately YouTube and iPlayer really do eat into your usage - a 30 minute 360p video would probably use about 100MB of bandwidth (I think), and the iPlayer videos would use more. One thing you could do is watch YouTube videos with the "240p" setting instead of 360 or 480p... you'll probably already know the quality isn't so great at that setting but if it stops you getting charged more...

tanith

I was also told that iplayer type sites us heap loads of your allowance..

Top_Banana_2

I won't be using it again, then!

I only started to use it in April, so it does tally up with the charges.

I usually listen to podcasts and radio shows I've missed- these are usually 30 minutes long and I listened to about 3 a week.

curiosity101

Top_Banana wrote: »

But, surely these are so widely used that they can't affect usage limits......or they wouldn't be so popular???

^^ Most people I know don't even consider limited broadband anymore. I imagine to majority of people who own games consoles, watch iplayer + youtube etc are on unlimited.

I'm guessing you're the exception rather than the rule. I can't imagine how much of a faff it'd be trying to track internet usage in our household.....

Top_Banana_2

curiosity101 wrote: »

^^ Most people I know don't even consider limited broadband anymore. I imagine to majority of people who own games consoles, watch iplayer + youtube etc are on unlimited.

I'm guessing you're the exception rather than the rule. I can't imagine how much of a faff it'd be trying to track internet usage in our household.....

Yep, but unlimited BB costs more, doesn't it?

devildog

Not necessarily. We were on option 2 (which I think was 40 gb(or is it mb-I don't know lol)) and at times when children/students at home that limit would be exceeded and after 2 months there was a charge(with BT) So I searched for alternative providers, chose one and signed up.Asked BT for my MAC code and basically ended up staying with them cause the deal they were offering me for unlimited broadband was cheaper than what I was paying for option 2!
Incidently there is something that you can download that shows you your broadband usage in 'real' time so if you didn't want to change packages you could monitor how much you have used and when you near your limit lay off for a few days.

penrhyn

OP You have your Megabytes and Gigabytes mixed up.

Your monthly limit would be 10Gb, 1 GB = 1000MB

brewerdave

devildog wrote: »

Not necessarily. We were on option 2 (which I think was 40 gb(or is it mb-I don't know lol)) and at times when children/students at home that limit would be exceeded and after 2 months there was a charge(with BT) So I searched for alternative providers, chose one and signed up.Asked BT for my MAC code and basically ended up staying with them cause the deal they were offering me for unlimited broadband was cheaper than what I was paying for option 2!
Incidently there is something that you can download that shows you your broadband usage in 'real' time so if you didn't want to change packages you could monitor how much you have used and when you near your limit lay off for a few days.

1. Even BT Option 3 isn't truly unlimited - Fair use policy kicks in at 300GB AFAIA
2. Many,many stories around that allege that BT claimed usage does not allign with home measured usage.

brettcta

you'd have to be battering it night and day to get up to 300gb a month

(make of that phrase what you will)

Top_Banana_2

Ooops! I did mean 10GB not 10MB!

I'm going to monitor my use over the next few weeks with the 'real time' tool and if I'm not happy I'll look for a new provider.