Esat BT throttling users over the limt

Sam Vimes

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Its reasonably stable in between frequent drop outs. Not as frequent as every few minutes though.

according to the usage page i've logged in 17 times since i came home from work today. that's how many times it's dropped out

Blindpew

Smugness is a very common condition in Ireland today and the "serves you right" brigade are just a reflection on modern society. It's like the health march last weekend when most people stayed at home going along with the HSE attitude of "serves you right for getting sick". Well I think that it's the smug "serves you right people" that are the sick ones at the end of the day.

slave1

i was about to go out and buy a new router because i thought it was faulty. this is completely unusable. i'm using my phone plugged into my computer to post this because the bt keeps disconnecting.

is that what's happening to everyone else?

I'm grand, not dropping, I used to drop every so often until I upgraded my Voyager 210 firmware last week

Little-Devil

Blindpew wrote: »

Smugness is a very common condition in Ireland today and the "serves you right" brigade are just a reflection on modern society.

I think the same about someone who complains about a service they signed up for and also moan about almost everything thats wrong with the service. If your business is that important then cancel or upgrade to a business package or better still contact your ISP and get facts.

I honestly don't see how you can complain, you downloaded a 100G and probably do each month, its BT T&C's dont like move, you surley had chance in all years you have being a customer.

I've actually sent BT a e-mail asking about this throttled accounts so i will post up once i get the reply back.

Blindpew

I don't know where you got the notion that I have a business Little Devil but I can assure you that I don't even have a job. I asked previously in this thread if one needed a business to get a business account but no one told me if that were the case or not. I'd have no problem paying up to a 100 euro a month for unlimited broadband or if I can get a business line I'll take it.

Little-Devil

Blindpew wrote: »

I don't know where you got the notion that I have a business Little Devil but I can assure you that I don't even have a job. I asked previously in this thread if one needed a business to get a business account but no one told me if that were the case or not. I'd have no problem paying up to a 100 euro a month for unlimited broadband or if I can get a business line I'll take it.

I apologise Blindpew, i just had a quick read back through and admit my mistake. It boils my blood to see this country moaning about almost everything these days from the price of a pint to bread, tax and broadband service .

I think the next step is to get confirmation from BT. I'm not even a BT customer but i sent a mail as i'm curious myself.

Blindpew

Well people are right to moan at injustice, why should the Irish be the ones that get ripped off all the time? Everything is too dear here in comparison to other countries and I will always complain about injustice. As regards to going over the download cap I can't see how I'm supposed to keep track of what my teenage kids download or watch or how much bandwidth wi fi games take up, three pcs and a wii must use a lot of bandwidth. The usage meter that BT show me always says I have downloaded nothing. Also they are a phone company, I would have thought they might have given me a call to say watch your usage or you'll be throttled rather that a straight throttling.
Thank you for taking the time to e-mail them, maybe there is some good in the country after all.

Bohrio

Blindpew wrote: »

Well I have been with BT since their infamous No Limits days and have had broadband with them for the last four years. Foolishly last summer I changed the line rental to them, which means I have a years contract with them now so can't immediatly leave. A Rep from BT actually called to the house last year and told me to my face that the caps didn't matter and that they knew people exceeded them. I think that having used their service unlimited for the last four years unquestioned and having been told it was okay to do so, that I am not wrong to assume that the T&Cs were irrelevent.

You can choose, there are countries like UK who will charge you and even disconnect you if you go over the limit, others, they will offer unlimited usage but they will only guarantee 10% of the speed... others, like smart, they can presume of offering no contention and no cap... of course, I dont even think they are even at 15% of their capacity! Of course they have contention, but the amount of customer is so small (lucky them) that they have the possibility of saying it. Why do you think they havent roll out more exchanges, Smart are very "smart", they know the kind of service they can offer, they know that is better to have few than many, quality over quantity... but this is a bit dangerous, as the profit is not the best and they could end up in bankrupt.

And that was true... I have seen many post for the last few months were people were complaining of BT throttling customers who had gone over their limit, at that time I said that BT wasnt doin it but that in a future it probably will, especially if people keep abusing of the service. Well it looks like I was right. BT probably couldnt take more abuse and although they didnt want to go this far they didnt have another choice, people who repetidly went over their limit without caring of who they were affecting and as an act of selfishness have made act like this.

I must say that from the post, I believe that some people shouldnt have been throttled. I told them to ring BT and ask them to try to get it fixed, I hope they had. Some others have honestly accepted the situation and admitted it, like if it was good while it lasted and though their situation is extremelly annoying and frustrating they go on, for those people I feel sorry, some others, in an act of prepotence they demanded BT to restore their service and they complain of the poor service they were offering and threatening of cancelling...

That's is not fair. I have said that I agree that BT should raise the cap, but remember, if it wasnt for people who abuse, BT will still accept customers exceeding their CAP as they have until now.

Think twice, now that they have done this they will analyze the traffic congestion, they will notice a great improvement and what do you think will be next... who knows if they will lower the actual throttling cap from 110-120 or whatever is now to 80 gb? or maybe 60 gb? At the moment, because of a few, we could all end up paying.

But this is all BT's fault, this is what happens when you dont keep people under control. They though that they didnt need to worry as they were counting on their customer's own good jugdement.

PotBelly

Blindpew wrote: »

I don't know where you got the notion that I have a business Little Devil but I can assure you that I don't even have a job. I asked previously in this thread if one needed a business to get a business account but no one told me if that were the case or not. I'd have no problem paying up to a 100 euro a month for unlimited broadband or if I can get a business line I'll take it.

I do run a busines from home and it is not illegal using your residential line for such. I rang bt about a business line today and they told me that for a basic 3 mg line with line rental is €40 for bb and €20 for line rental ex vat.(no calls included in that)

I went off on a rant on how they always charge more for business for they same service(except for the unlimited cap they are identical) and they replied that the residential packages are heavily discounted to get people just to buy them.

The chap also said that the 8mg bb will begin rolling out at the end of april and the business packages will be upgraded first. He also said that the delay was because eircom had a big problem with something to do with it and it all ended up in court.

Blindpew

But do you not have to prove that you have a business to get such a line. I wouldn't be registered or have a vat number. I only want it to download Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, I have no legitimate use for it business wise.

PotBelly

That does not matter. Ring up, tell them you run a small business from home and that you want your landline changed to a business line, they will do it. The chap also assured me there would be no down time and I would just have to fill in an upgrade form.

Little-Devil

Blindpew wrote: »

But do you not have to prove that you have a business to get such a line. I wouldn't be registered or have a vat number. I only want it to download Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, I have no legitimate use for it business wise.

Blindpew, once that LLU 8MB becomes available in my area i'll be ring and placing a order for a business package with BT as long as its reasonable price.

I think Eircom are being brought to court by some Music company because they believe that they should be filtering and blocking all illegal download websites, eircom will argue that its us the customers responsibility on how we use the service.

Ciaran500

No change

Bit early to say for sure, but I'm off to bed.

challengemaster

slave1 wrote: »

With respect to all those commenting on the general "serves you right" postings etc, can you please start another thread for what are unconstructive comments relating to the spirit of this thread.
Can we leave this thread to folk on BT who have been throttled and want to discuss, cheers

It's a fair point, though. If you're going to whinge about being throttled for breaking the T&C you signed up to, and getting away with 100+gigs over the cap, and getting off with a minor slap on the wrist... cop on tbh. Gonna break the law and complain when you're arrested for it too? Or would you like to pay for every mb you were over the cap, but still have full speed? Count yourself lucky a throttle is all it was.

ardmacha

The usage meter that BT show me always says I have downloaded nothing. Also they are a phone company, I would have thought they might have given me a call to say watch your usage or you'll be throttled rather that a straight throttling.

While I have no great sympathy for people going beyond their T&Cs, users have a right to expect a functioning usage meter. If the T&Cs suggested that a usage meter would be available, then it is unfair to cut off without notice people whose meter does not record the usage. UTV have a clear usage meter and they email you when you are about 80% of your limit (limits which would be considered absurdly low by some here). You can just pay for unlimited usage if this is a problem for you. There is clarity, even if you think the limits should be higher.

Ciaran500

¬_¬
Won't get a chance to call them till this evening now.

Phlann

Well, ignoring for a moment the increasingly boring 'serves you right you leeches' vs 'shut up you naysaying bastards' argument, I'm about an hour away from ordering a brand spanking new 15meg connection from Smart.

I'm weirdly excited (weird because I'm really not that geeky). I'll finally have the download speeds I dream of. Or, at least, the download speeds that I dreamed of in 2003 and which have only begun to materialise here in 2008!

I'd really advise anybody in the same position as me re: Esat to switch providers if possible. Yes, we broke their T&Cs and within those parameters their actions are probably justified (although continuing the throttling past the 1st of the month seems a little odd to me), but the solution here is simply not to let ourselves get tied down to a service provider that clearly has little or no ambition to provide a modern, customer-friendly product and are content to charge us a relatively high price for what is realistically - all bitterness aside - a very limited service.

I don't know why I didn't switch sooner, now that I think about it.

PotBelly

Smart is not available in my area:(

event

Phlann wrote: »

I'd really advise anybody in the same position as me re: Esat to switch providers if possible. Yes, we broke their T&Cs and within those parameters their actions are probably justified

END OF STORY

you broke the T&C's yet you all moan about it?

Phlann

well, my moaning is mostly based on the fact that their t&cs are hopelessly outdated.

but anyway, it's done, smart are officially my new ISP (or will be when they get round to transferring me).

What's the wait time for dublin city centre like? Yer man said three weeks but I got the impression that maybe that was just a pessimistic estimate to prevent people ringing up and whinging when they're not instantly transferred across.

PotBelly

event wrote: »

END OF STORY

you broke the T&C's yet you all moan about it?

Take a rest. FFS. Don't you think we know that.


Now - Can everyone who was throttled confirm which package they are on and have they applied for the 8Mg BB.

I only moved to the 3mg last month to avail of the 8Mg upgrade. I reckon this was a cunning plan that BT thought up to lure out all the serial downloaders

Bohrio

Phlann wrote: »

well, my moaning is mostly based on the fact that their t&cs are hopelessly outdated.

but anyway, it's done, smart are officially my new ISP (or will be when they get round to transferring me).

What's the wait time for dublin city centre like? Yer man said three weeks but I got the impression that maybe that was just a pessimistic estimate to prevent people ringing up and whinging when they're not instantly transferred across.

Just to let everyone know and as I have said before Smart people are not stupid, they will take actions if they need to... have anyone read their T&C?

Here you go:

23. FAIR USAGE POLICY
23.1 There are no specific download or upload limits imposed on you by us. However, in the interests of ensuring fair use of the
Services for all our customers, we may require you to reduce your download and/or upload usage where we consider it
excessive or for purposes outside of normal residential use. Where this occurs, we will request or attempt to request you to
reduce your usage. In certain situations, we may suspend or terminate the Services, but not before giving you a reasonable
opportunity to reduce your usage first.

It was obvious, if they start noticing congestion they WILL use this fair usage policy...

Now they dont need it as the dont have those many customers... but one day they will...

We warned!

Phlann

I was on the 3 meg package too, I upgraded to that after one of their tech guys told me last October that the exchange would be upgraded in a matter of weeks :rolleyes:

Not their fault, I'm sure, but it bugs me a little that I'm still sitting on a 3mbit connection 5 months later.

edit: Yeah, gotcha Bohrio. I don't consider Smart the panacea to all of Ireland's broadband ills, but they'll do for now.

Bohrio

PotBelly wrote: »

Take a rest. FFS. Don't you think we know that.


Now - Can everyone who was throttled confirm which package they are on and have they applied for the 8Mg BB.

I only moved to the 3mg last month to avail of the 8Mg upgrade. I reckon this was a cunning plan that BT thought up to lure out all the serial downloaders

Now that makes more sense.... and as I have been told, this throttling is not based on your monthly download but on the last 30 days... so people need to wait a few days for their usage to go below whatever the cap limit is set to.

Bohrio

Phlann wrote: »

I was on the 3 meg package too, I upgraded to that after one of their tech guys told me last October that the exchange would be upgraded in a matter of weeks :rolleyes:

Not their fault, I'm sure, but it bugs me a little that I'm still sitting on a 3mbit connection 5 months later.

edit: Yeah, gotcha Bohrio. I don't consider Smart the panacea to all of Ireland's broadband ills, but they'll do for now.

Yeah... to be honest, smart is like the when a new megastore opens and all their products are sold half the regular price... you need to buy as much as you can as fast as you can before the prices go up!

If I had smart i would probably use them and as soon as their service stops being so perfect I will move to a different provider...

Phlann

My thoughts exactly. It's a 12 month contract, I can't see them making any unusually large expansions to their service area or customer base in that period so I'd say I'll be okay for the duration of the contract.

kaimera

After talking to BT yday about a new router, I enquired about the whole throttling scenario.

yes they are doing it but the guy on the phone seemed to think it was just for folks taking the piss. There is no official line on if there is any leeway on the cap nor is there any sign of the LLU cap being raised in line with the increased speed.

I'm gonna assume that when the LLU is rolled out fully, there will be a cap increase for it.

Auvers

kaimera wrote: »

yes they are doing it but the guy on the phone seemed to think it was just for folks taking the piss..

Yeah I have to agree, I took down over 50 last month and upped around 40 odd with no throttling, it seems anyone who broke the 100gig got throttled.

zefer

Auvers wrote: »

Yeah I have to agree, I took down over 50 last month and upped around 40 odd with no throttling, it seems anyone who broke the 100gig got throttled.

90 Gig in a month isnt taking the p*ss but 100 is ???

kaimera

I forgot to add that I was also told that it's 30 down and it's not a combined cap.