Broadband limits

Paully232000

Hi, Hopefully someone can help me with my broadband dilemma.

I am looking around for a new broadband deal and have found one with BT, but it has a 10Gb download limit, and then you have to pay extra.

Would this be a problem if i use the internet for browsing and email, but I also play games online like counterstrike, watch iplayer/channel4od/lovefilm on the xbox.

Is this going to cause me a problem with excess charges in the future if i sign up and i should therefore go for a more expensive say 40Gb limit?

Thanks in advance.

esuhl

IIRC, an hour of iPlayer streaming will use about 600MB. I assume you mean you have a 10GB allowance rather than 10Gb, so that will mean you would go over your download limit after watching about 17hrs of streamed TV (i.e. about half an hour a day).

General web browsing and email won't use too much; gaming probably uses a fair bit but (at a guess) probably less than streaming... It would depend on the game...

Guardsman

Some ISP's let you set a limit on how far you can go over the agreed limit and you can even set it to zero.
What they normally do is let you know that you have gone over the limit and suggest a upgrade.

santer_2

Also worth looking at unlimited packages, Orange confirmed it in writing

https://broadband.orange.co.uk/home

http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/broadband/deals

Once you have settled on a supplier, maybe worth posting back with it to see if there are any horror stories etc

Paully232000

thanks for the replies, i had a sneaking suspicion that 10GB would not be enough for what I would need.
Thanks for the broadband genie website I see that sky have a good deal and might go with that as it has unlimited.

WilliamO

TalkTalk give 40GB as standard and have an unlimited offer - See offer here:

http://sales.talktalk.co.uk/

WilliamO

esuhl

You could install a broadband meter on your PCs to track your usage over a month... That might give you an idea of how much you'll need from your new supplier:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html

Paully232000

Thanks for the Talktalk offer but I dont think that i have seen a good review/press coverage of this company. I could have just read all the bad ones of course:-)

I will install the meter and have a look, but will it also give me a record of anything that i dont do on my laptop, like xbox online gaming, and iplayer watches?

gonzo127

10gb is quite simply not enough if you are streaming programs on iplayer, netflix and lovefilm, to be honest i would be surprised if 40gb is enough if you watch quite a bit (also HD is higher usage in that netflix is 2.3gb per hour in hd so a normal film in hd would be about 3gb)

have you looked on samknows to find out who has llu at your exchange?

GunJack

Paully232000 wrote: »

Thanks for the Talktalk offer but I dont think that i have seen a good review/press coverage of this company. I could have just read all the bad ones of course:-)

part of the problem is that people only complain when things go wrong...bearing in mind TT do have a lot of customers (and not all of them are the most intelligent, IYSWIM) then the complaints as a % of customers probably isn't that big. OK, more than some, but they've got a bigger customer base than most.

I for one am with TT since the Tiscali takeover, and have to say I'm on the full LLU service, which is actually pretty good. Even on the TT forums, most of the issues seem to be from people on an IPStream connection, which neither TT or any other IPStream ISP have that much of an influence over as they are all reliant on BT. So, if you have an LLU option, they are usually the better bet

Guardsman

There are several ISP's who will give you unlimited within reason broadband for under £20 a month.
If you need to start using a meter to check your 10GB usage in case you get billed for more GB's then it's time to upgrade.
It's no fun having to keep checking a meter when a simple upgrade will take away the worry