BT Usage Monitor. Totally inaccurate.

Bradfield

Hi

Have been with BT broadband now for a couple of months on Plan 1 with a 10 Gig a month data allowance.

I decided to monitor closely the BT usage monitor because posters were reporting that they were being billed for additional data that they did not believe they had used.

In February I checked each day and kept a copy of the BT Usage monitor reports. Up till the 27th of February there were no problems. I had then used 3.78 gig of data. Then this morning I looked at the monitor and it reported that I had now used 7.21 gig of data. Over 3 gig of data in one day. Nearly as much as on the previous 27 days.

There is absolutely no way that I used over 3 gig of data in one day. I am a light user and did not do anything other than surf as I normally do.

For the month of February Netmeter reports that I used 1.23 gig of data. DuMeter reports that I used 1.13 gig. Bt Monitor says I used 7.21 gig.

This does not have any financial implications for me because it was still under my 10 gig limit. But it does not bode well for the future. I have absolutely no confidence in the BT Usage monitor now and I sympathise with those who have been hit with bills for alleged over-use. If you dont keep a close eye on it how can you fight them? Most people live busy lives and dont have the time to keep a close eye on the monitor.

I think that BT lure people in to low cost deals hoping that they will exceed their data limits and then be obliged to upgrade to unlimited.

If people dont exceed their data limits then maybe some way can be found to make it appear that they did.

Am I being too cynical here??

ianders

Netmeter and DuMeter will only monitor network traffic for the PC it's installed on. What they won't take into account is anything else that is using your broadband e.g. mobile phones, tablets, other devices etc.

Bradfield

ianders wrote: »

Netmeter and DuMeter will only monitor network traffic for the PC it's installed on. What they won't take into account is anything else that is using your broadband e.g. mobile phones, tablets, other devices etc.

Hi ianders


Other devices are negligible in the current situation. It is a good point that you make though. It shows how easy it is for BT to obfuscate the issue and sow the seeds of confusion. They tell customers that other devices must be being used and even told one complainant that they must have told other people their user name and password.

Bradfield

So I got the warning email yesterday.

"Dear Customer,

We thought you'd like to know that, so far in February, you've used more than 7GB of your 10GB monthly usage allowance for your BT Total Broadband Option 1 service."

No! I did not use more than 7GB. What actually happened was BT bunged an extra 3 GB on my data usage on the last day of Feb hoping I was too busy to notice.

You can almost write the script. First of all the "soft blow" and then in a few weeks will come the "sucker punch" telling me I have exceeded my data allowance and owe "X" amount.

If I object (and I have) I will be told you are downloading far more data than you think. You are using other devices. You have given other people your user-name and password. You have been hacked. etc etc "ad nauseum".

Well, I have now ditched my BT Home Hub and gone back to my trusty old Sar 715 router. It does not have wireless capacity so no other devices can possibly use bandwith. I have opted out of BT wifi. I am using internet connection on one desk top computer only.

So throughout this month, March, I will be able to compare the BT usage monitor against the Net-Meter and Du-Meter.

closed

life is too short for counting and worrying about data downloads, especially when there are far cheaper unlimited deals around. A little bit of iplayer can knock you over your limits very quickly.

Bt unlimited is currently £10.66/month over 18 months with a £25 sainsbury voucher. Pay line rental up front and blag free evening calls, and you get the lot for £20/month from your current provider.

The only way to monitor it properly is to look at the routerstats, not use software monitors which slow the machine down.

DUTR

Bradfield wrote: »

So I got the warning email yesterday.

"Dear Customer,

We thought you'd like to know that, so far in February, you've used more than 7GB of your 10GB monthly usage allowance for your BT Total Broadband Option 1 service."

No! I did not use more than 7GB. What actually happened was BT bunged an extra 3 GB on my data usage on the last day of Feb hoping I was too busy to notice.

You can almost write the script. First of all the "soft blow" and then in a few weeks will come the "sucker punch" telling me I have exceeded my data allowance and owe "X" amount.

If I object (and I have) I will be told you are downloading far more data than you think. You are using other devices. You have given other people your user-name and password. You have been hacked. etc etc "ad nauseum".

Well, I have now ditched my BT Home Hub and gone back to my trusty old Sar 715 router. It does not have wireless capacity so no other devices can possibly use bandwith. I have opted out of BT wifi. I am using internet connection on one desk top computer only.

So throughout this month, March, I will be able to compare the BT usage monitor against the Net-Meter and Du-Meter.

Out of interest, is the data allowance including uploads too?
Find out when your billing cycle actually is eg 3rd of this month to 2nd of next month.
Indeed, compare the 3 measurements, however do accept that your 3rd party software may not be counting correctly, I look forward to reading your update and hope it is a help request rather than yet another "lets slag off BT " posting.

Bradfield

closed wrote: »

life is too short for counting and worrying about data downloads, especially when there are far cheaper unlimited deals around. A little bit of iplayer can knock you over your limits very quickly.

Bt unlimited is currently £10.66/month over 18 months with a £25 sainsbury voucher. Pay line rental up front and blag free evening calls, and you get the lot for £20/month from your current provider.

The only way to monitor it properly is to look at the routerstats, not use software monitors which slow the machine down.

Life is too short to count eh? Tell that to the poster who was charged an excess of £145 in three months ("Excessive High Broadband Usage with BT #9")

Once you have been sucked in to the Plan 1 deal you are in for an 18 month contract and you dont get any oportuntity to blag anything. If you want to upgrade you pay full whack.

Thanks for the advice about how to monitor properly.

Bradfield

DUTR wrote: »

Out of interest, is the data allowance including uploads too?
Find out when your billing cycle actually is eg 3rd of this month to 2nd of next month.
Indeed, compare the 3 measurements, however do accept that your 3rd party software may not be counting correctly, I look forward to reading your update and hope it is a help request rather than yet another "lets slag off BT " posting.

The data usage meters include both uploads and downloads.
Thanks for the advice about counting properly. I want to get this right. I want to do as accurate a check as it is possible to do for at least one month and maybe two, if the data shows wild inaccuracies.

So far as "slagging BT" is concerned I actually praised them a little while ago. Quote

"I transferred to BT from Orange in December and so far I am very pleased with the way things have gone. My line speed has increased and I always get connected." That was in a thread entitled "Stay away from BT. (30th 01 2013)

What I will not accept is that for 27 days in a month I used 3.78 GB of data and then on one day, the last day of the month, I am alleged to have used over 3 GB of data, with no change whatever in my usage of the broadband.

It is not so much what has happened that bothers me but what I know is about to come. More inaccurate and false claims that I have exceeded my data allowance. Demands for more money.

"Closed" says I should just swallow it. I dont think so: at least not for a month or two until I have carried out a little research.

Cornucopia

One thing worth checking when you use the BT Broadband monitor is the date on the page. Sometimes its system are reporting on the usage several days in the past.

I use the BTB monitor quite a lot, and it seems fair to me. The only annoying thing being that the delayed response together with the lack of any bumper-zone means that it is impossible to use your full allowance. Fortunately, I have access to BT Wifi, as well, which adds a further 10000 minutes of slower connectivity per month.

Bradfield

Cornucopia wrote: »

One thing worth checking when you use the BT Broadband monitor is the date on the page. Sometimes its system are reporting on the usage several days in the past.

I use the BTB monitor quite a lot, and it seems fair to me. The only annoying thing being that the delayed response together with the lack of any bumper-zone means that it is impossible to use your full allowance. Fortunately, I have access to BT Wifi, as well, which adds a further 10000 minutes of slower connectivity per month.

Hi Cornucopia

I have come to the conclusion that I am just banging my head against a wall. It is basically a question of whether or not BT have the capacity to measure data usage accurately or not.

There is a tendency to think "conspiracy" and imagine that they are upping data usage in order to persuade customers to upgrade to unlimited. It really cannot be proved either way. At least not by the customer.

If I can give any advice to someone looking for an ISP it would be not to consider BT Plan 1 with the 10 GB limit. Once you commit to an 18 month contract you lose all bargaining rights.

If you get into a dispute over data usage you will not be in the driving seat.

I would not hesitate to go for BT unlimited. Other than the one blip over data usage they have actually been very reliable. Just make sure you get the best deal you can before you commit.

Cornucopia

It's worth pointing out that the BT unlimited service is actually subject to a 100GB fair usage allowance.

Legally, I suppose the think to do would be to keep a record of the BT readings day by day, and if they did try to make a surcharge, you would have the evidence to disprove (or at least discredit) it.