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DO NOT upgrade to o2's new broadband plans
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londonTiger
Posts: 4,903 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I recently "upgraded" my o2 broadband plans. The new plans were advertised as cheaper and faster, I was already an o2 customer, I didn't bother reading the fine print because I assumed it was business as usual.
I'm afraid not.
I was on the old tariff, aka "standard plan" which was out of contract and I was paying £9.39 per month for 8MB broadband.
Everything was good, I didn't really need to change, but I got a leaflet through the post advertising the o2 broadband with 20MB download speeds, for only £6.25 per month for customers who have been with o2 for more than 2 years.
I put my guard down and ddin't read the fine print, they have "traffic management" in place now, something that I didn't think twice about when I read it on the leaflet, I assumed that since I'm already an o2 customer, this "traffic management" is probably just standard and I already had it and it wasn't affecting me...WRONG
traffic management restricted bittorrent speeds and video download site speed as well.
During the evnings you get high speed on bittorrent, but during the day it (peak times from 4pm to midnight weekdays, 12pm to midnight weekds), the speed is abysmal. Worse I'm on a 12 month contract so I have to sit through this b.s. until my contract is over.
he's the rub, o2 want you to limit the high speed connection for web pages and stuff, BUT web pages don't need 20MB connections, they load just as fast on a 20MB connection as they do on a 2MB connection.
This is down to the web pages are built, when you download a web page you dont download 1 large file, you download several files, possibly hundreds with rand from just a few bytes to at most a hundred kilobyte [for those who don't know this is basically very small].
So just be aware of that, if you download videos or use torrents your connections speeds will be abysmal on the new o2 broadband with traffic management.
DO NOT sign up to o2 broadband, DO NOT "upgrade" your connection if you're an existing customer.
I'm afraid not.
I was on the old tariff, aka "standard plan" which was out of contract and I was paying £9.39 per month for 8MB broadband.
Everything was good, I didn't really need to change, but I got a leaflet through the post advertising the o2 broadband with 20MB download speeds, for only £6.25 per month for customers who have been with o2 for more than 2 years.
I put my guard down and ddin't read the fine print, they have "traffic management" in place now, something that I didn't think twice about when I read it on the leaflet, I assumed that since I'm already an o2 customer, this "traffic management" is probably just standard and I already had it and it wasn't affecting me...WRONG
traffic management restricted bittorrent speeds and video download site speed as well.
During the evnings you get high speed on bittorrent, but during the day it (peak times from 4pm to midnight weekdays, 12pm to midnight weekds), the speed is abysmal. Worse I'm on a 12 month contract so I have to sit through this b.s. until my contract is over.
he's the rub, o2 want you to limit the high speed connection for web pages and stuff, BUT web pages don't need 20MB connections, they load just as fast on a 20MB connection as they do on a 2MB connection.
This is down to the web pages are built, when you download a web page you dont download 1 large file, you download several files, possibly hundreds with rand from just a few bytes to at most a hundred kilobyte [for those who don't know this is basically very small].
So just be aware of that, if you download videos or use torrents your connections speeds will be abysmal on the new o2 broadband with traffic management.
DO NOT sign up to o2 broadband, DO NOT "upgrade" your connection if you're an existing customer.
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Comments
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I saw this advertised in the newspapers this week. O2 Broadband customers of 2 years or more can get half price broadband for 12 months and £30 cheque-back. If you sign a new 12 month contract.
If that isn't a bribe!
I'm happy to carry on paying £9.50 a month for my totally unlimited and un-traffic managed connection. Thank you very much O2!0 -
Most ISP's limit users during peak hours thats nothing new.
Plus what torrent files can you download thats Legal to actually download.0 -
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Deleted_User wrote: »Torrents themselves are totally legal. I think you are getting confused with the content that some people may download with them.
thats what i said.
What torrent files can you download thats legal.
I know torrent files are legal but what ones would you download that isn't illegal.
i.e download ubuntu torrent = legal
i.e download some music album = illegal.0 -
thats what i said.
What torrent files can you download thats legal.
I know torrent files are legal but what ones would you download that isn't illegal.
i.e download ubuntu torrent = legal
i.e download some music album = illegal.
Nearly all Linux distros and any open source software project has a torrent as one of the means of downloading. Official or not.
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what ever not getting into a discussion about torrents, i was making an example of whats legal and not.
End of.0 -
londonTiger wrote:I didn't bother reading the fine print.
Fine print? If you receive an offer to move to a newer version of ADSL (or most other things) there's a good cost-cutting (for the company) reason for doing so.
O2 are offering 6 months' free (http://www.o2.co.uk/6monthoffer although I see they've changed it to 12 months' ½ price and not fixed the URL) too if people move and they gave it to me even though I remained on a legacy product.
Sometimes upgrading can be a benefit but I don't see any benefit here for most people.0 -
Due to bitorrrent's use of multiple TCP streams it does not slow down as much other applications when congestion occur and takes a lion's share of available bandwith. This is good reason to restrict it, and can make it illegal under section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act, however that law somewhat nonsensical and can be interpreted as banning sunglasses.
O2’s page on traffic management makes no sense, web browsing is usually a special case of downloading somebody else’s shared files, peer to peer is not adequately defined, they make impossible promises to often download speeds as fast as one's line can handle without qualification.0 -
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