BT Admit Broadband Usage Monitor Is Wrong

SPJW

Hi,

BT have now acknowledged a fault with the BT broadband usage monitor.

I am prevented from posting a link to the thread. It is on the BT Community forum under a thread entitled "Broadband Usage Massive Surge" (see page 10 of the thread - post by PaddyB from BT on 24th July 2014 at 13:37 admitting the fault).

BT were incorrectly allocating any BT WiFi FON (i.e. hot spot) usage through BT home hubs to the BT broadband customers who owned the home hubs. As a consequence, BT broadband customers were being charged for excess usage, and/or forced into accepting upgrade packages in an attempt to avoid the excess usage charges.

BT have only just identified this fault and billing error. BT have not provided any reasonable explanation for the fault, nor any statement as to why they believe that only a 'very small number of customers' were affected. BT merely state that it was caused by an 'accounting process'. We do not know how many times this has happened before, nor how many customers have suffered a financial loss as a consequence of the fault.

Any broadband excess usage charges and/or unnecessary upgrade costs (or other financial loss) incurred as a consequence of this fault should be claimed from BT.

PasturesNew

I had BT and had to upgrade as my usage was getting higher and higher. Moved house 2 weeks ago and they c0cked up my move, so been having to use a three dongle..... and my broadband usage has dropped to a minute fraction of what I used to use.

With three in two weeks I've used 2.4GB .... with BT I was pushing upwards of 15GB/month. No difference in my activities.

VisionMan

SPJW wrote: »

Hi,

BT have now acknowledged a fault with the BT broadband usage monitor.

They admitted that last year and theres a thread already running about this.

SPJW

I suspect you have a very strong case to claim back any excess charges or upgrade costs from BT.

BT are exceptionally hard to deal with: they simply state that their broadband usage monitor is correct and that you need to pay excess usage charges or upgrade your contract.

I persevered. I proved that any usage of the "BTWiFi-with-FON" network through my home hub was being allocated to my personal monthly broadband allowance.

Finally BT have admitted the fault. I'm a 'Newbie' so cannot paste a link to BT's acknowledgement of the fault on the BT Community forum.

If you Google: "Broadband Usage Massive Surge" on Google (.co.uk) and take the link through to the BT Community forum, you will see the acknowledgement of the fault from 'PaddyB' on page 10 (24th July 2014, 13:37).

BT have stated that this fault was caused by an 'accounting process' and limited to 'a very small number of customers'. I do not believe BT. I am a new BT broadband customer, but I suspect it has happened many times in the past. I have also posted why I think BT are lying about the extent of impacted customers.

Typically the burden of proof is on you (the customer) to demonstrate that you haven't used the data which BT say you have used. In light of this fault, I'd suggest that any customer who received excess usage charges and/or upgraded their contract to avoid excess charges, now has a strong case to argue to compensation. BT should prove that this fault did not occur.

By the way, this could be a huge problem for BT. They have >7m broadband customers. Anyone who believes that they were incorrectly billed for broadband usage has a reason to demand compensation now.

SPJW

VisionMan,

Did BT admit a fault whereby any usage of the "BTWiFi-with-FON" network broadcast by BT broadband customers' home hubs was being billed to BT broadband customers?

I suspect not…? If you have evidence to suggest otherwise, can you provide a title or link?

Note: this means that any external FON access to BT home hubs was being billed to the BT customers who owned the home hubs. BT have always stated that this is not possible, and that FON and broadband usage are separated on the home hub. Definitely not true any more.

Bradfield

They seem to be claiming that it was a "one-off" and occurred only between 12th of June and 10th of July.

I was on the 10GB package and upgraded to unlimited because I strongly disputed the BT usage monitor. It upped my usage by 3GB on one occasion when I knew full well that I never used it.

I also have a mifi that I use when on holiday and the 1GB 3 network sims last me for a long time. I rarely use half of the 1GB data before the time runs out.

The problem is that the ISP's have the monitors and we don't so we have to rely entirely on their competence and honesty.

All I know is that I have entire confidence in the 3 network
usage monitor and none what ever in the BT monitor.

SPJW

I probably need to say this again…

As a 'Newbie' on this forum I cannot paste a link to the thread on the BT Community forum.

However, if you go to google.co.uk and look up "broadband usage massive surge", the first search result will take you straight to the thread on the BT Community forum.

On page 10 of this thread, BT admit the fault. BT state that it was caused by an 'accounting process' and was limited to 'a very small number of customers'.

The extent of the problem appears to be much greater than BT are admitting:

1. There is no common link between affected customers (location, package, joining date, BT equipment);

2. We have proof that BT knew about the fault on or before 15th July 2014, but BT chose not to declare it until 24th July 2014. BT sent an email to another customer acknowledging the fault on or before 15th July 2014. BT prevented this customer from disclosing the email to other customers;

3. FON sell a device for mobile homes: a "Fonera". The Fonera not only provides the purchasing customer with broadband access (via FON), but also provides a FON hotspot for other FON users. Any broadband usage through the Fonera, whether by the purchasing customer or by someone accessing the hotspot externally, is billed directly to the customer who purchased the Fonera. FON cannot distinguish usage between the owner of the Fonera and any other user accessing the Fonera as a hotspot. If FON cannot make this distinction, then why should we believe that BT can distinguish between broadband and FON usage on home hubs? Surely FON would implement the same technology on their own devices...?

SPJW

Bradfield,

I dispute BT's 'one-off' claim - as per the reasons in my previous post.

It looks as though BT are trying to cover it up. Now that they have admitted the fault, BT need to provide details as to why it occurred.

I can see that many customers have complained about usage figures before. They've usually paid the excess charges or upgraded. Arguing against the usage figures is nearly almost impossible.

BT have provided no real explanation as to why this fault occurred, nor any proof as to why it hasn't occurred before.

It seems likely that it's not the first time.

I'd suggest that anyone who has incurred a financial loss as a consequence of excess broadband usage asks BT to prove that it was not caused by this fault. If BT cannot prove it, there is a good case to ask for compensation.

SPJW

Re: the Fonera, go to google.co.uk and search for "the definitive guide to FON".

The first link takes you to the FON user guide.

Scroll down and read 'Option 2: Purchase A FON Box'. Here's the text:

"If you are not a BT Customer, or don’t wish to change your broadband provider, there is another way to join FON. You can purchase a small white router called a Fonera for a one off charge of £34 including free delivery to the UK from FON’s offices in Spain. This router plugs into one of the spare network sockets on the back of your existing home router and creates a secure tunnel, separate to your home network, to the FON network for other members to gain internet access.

A consideration here is that, unlike with BT, unless you are on an unlimited broadband package any usage of your FON hotspot by others would be counted towards your total monthly data allowance. You can specify how much of your internet access you wish to allow other users to use in the FON interface and in reality unless you live close to a public area it is unlikely that your hotspot will gain too much use – but it’s always possible."

That's an awesome warning statement….

VisionMan

SPJW wrote: »

VisionMan,

Did BT admit a fault whereby any usage of the "BTWiFi-with-FON" network broadcast by BT broadband customers' home hubs was being billed to BT broadband customers?

I suspect not…

I didn't mention FON. You did on another thread. I said they have admitted, quite some time ago, that their BB usage monitor doesn't work. And they were reprimanded for this. Yet the problem persists...

Pincher

When the BT Usage Monitor wasn''t working, and the BT online page just said if I go over my limit (40GB), I wouldn't get charged, I totally abused it with a Netflix free trial, followed by the Amazon Prime free trial. So it's not all bad news.

I think you have the option of not participating in the FON network.

My theory is, a good programmer fixed the problem last year, but he was too expensive, so they hired a cheaper contractor who promptly broke it. The regression tests were never updated to check the usage monitor bug, so it couldn't tell it was fixed, and couldn't tell when it was broken again. The bug fix was only tested for the software version it was released in. The solution? Hire the good guy back.