Bt Charging For High Bandwidth Usage

[caroper]

BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE
U.K. Internet service provider BT has sent letters to 3,200 subscribers
letting them know that their usage exceeds the 40GB per month download
limit to which they agreed in the terms of their service. The letters
inform customers that they must either pay a surcharge for the extra
usage or their service will be disconnected. The ISP does not have an
automatic shutoff for users who exceed the limit, and officials from BT
said they are willing to tolerate occasional violations. The users
contacted, however, are regularly downloading far more than the limit,
with some routinely downloading 200GB every month. Such a volume of
downloads corresponds to approximately 50,000 songs. A spokesperson
from BT said it would be fair to call these users "broadband hogs" and
noted, "You would have to be downloading pretty much all day, every
day, to manage that level of downloading." BT sent similar letters to
1,800 individuals in October, and while some users did agree to pay for
their usage, most were cut off from BT.
ZDNet, 27 March 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6054223.html

 

[MaD]

IMHO someone who downloads excessively and has the vast amount of options available to them such as in the UK will drop BT like a brick and opt for another provider.

Then again BT would probably be only to happy that the 'abusers' have left them.

 

[Sneeky]

even still, 40gigs we can only dream, Telkom stuck in a 3 gig mentality.

 

[Moederloos]

OK - the purpose of ADSL argument aside, these people willingly and knowingly signed up for 40GB - if they go over that they are in breach. So, I do not think BT is acting in bad faith here.

 

[Vox Populi Vox Dei]

Yeah, I suppose 200GB users can rightly be called 'abusers' unlike here where over 3GB is considered 'abusers'.

And what the hell are they doing on BT? AFAIK Bulldog DSL runs on the BT network so they can 8Mbit/sec uncapped for 30 quid.

 

[Franna]

According to this article: http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/monkeybites/index.blog?entry_id=1445309

Apparently, the last time BT cracked down on the excessive downloaders was last October. They used the same strategy — pay more money or take your business elsewhere — and only a small fraction of users chose to stay with BT.

That is the difference. Wonderful what true competition can do - don't like your current ISP, just change to a better one. Our choices here are so limited if you are a heavy bandwidth user. And they only pay about GBP 25 per month for a 2MB ADSL line with 40GB cap.

 

[pope24]

I would be more than happy if they only cut me off after I used 40GB. In fact 20GB would be fine. I am sitting on 10GB at the moment and praying I don't get capped before the end of the month.

 

[mooK]

Be Unlimited: 24mbs Uncapped, 24 quid a month. It is but now a fleeting memory, a whisper in my dreams.

 

[Cujo]

"The ISP does not have an
automatic shutoff for users who exceed the limit,"

BT's own fault. Id tell them to stuff it and move to another provider.