BT Broadband DOES limit its 'unlimited' service

Phlann

T-Square wrote: »

If they advertise it as unlimited, then it's either unlimited or false advertisting.

You cannot say x, then introduce a "fair usage" policy later.

It's called contract law.

Yes, it's contract law and the fair usage policy was in the contract every one of us signed up to. They're covered from a legal point of view.

I agree that it's total bull**** though.

mndgz

so whats the closest to 'unlimited' out of dsl providers at the mo?
was with carphone warehouse's talktalk for a while ('unlimited' with 100GB fair usage) but moved house since and havent had a phone line for a while.. any tips?

smellslikeshoes

mndgz wrote: »

so whats the closest to 'unlimited' out of dsl providers at the mo?
was with carphone warehouse's talktalk for a while ('unlimited' with 100GB fair usage) but moved house since and havent had a phone line for a while.. any tips?

Smart would definitely be the closest to unlimited, there is only one case of a user getting cut off with them that I know of. It was because they had downloaded a terrabyte in a month, bearing in mind that was 4 or 5 years ago when all other providers had limits of <20gigabytes. Smart is essentially fully unlimited for 99.99% of users.

DiGi

I had just been throttled by BT for overusing my “Unlimited” usage connection. Apparently I downloaded 30GB in one day and it slowed everyone else’s connection speed. Woops. Well they did it without telling me so I called to see what the problem was and after about 5 min of being passed around I was told that I was overusing. I accepted this and was willing to accept the consciences.

So before I was about to hang up I asked “so what is the limit of my unlimited connection? So I can avoid this in the future” He replied “there is no limit but it is subject to fair usage” Well then I got a bit annoyed because he wouldn’t give me a benchmark to work to. I was on the phone for over a hour being passed from one department to the next because nobody could tell me the limit of my “Unlimited” connection.

Man I was getting really pissy near the end I started quoting the advertising laws and telling them they were breaking the law and that I would be reporting them for using misleading advertising. I also told them it would be better for everyone if they set a higher limit or at least a rough benchmark so this situation could be avoided. I did get to talk to a Level 3 tech who joked that he seen this coming a mile off and that with 24Mb connections coming out it is getting worse. But he was able to tell me it is 1TB per year which works out about 2.7 GB per day.

Well any after that I was sitting there with a 0.1Mb connection pissed So I sent a complaint to the National Consumer Agency about the situation. The next day I got a call from them to say that using the term “Unlimited” was misleading and it would be forwarded to the commissioner. Man I had to gloat so I called again and told them what they had told me. I also asked again to have my speed restored as it was breech of the advertising law.

He quoted the fair usage policy again and again and I kept asking where it says there is a limit to this connection. This went on for about 10 min before he was getting pissed with me. In the end I said you have two choices restore my connection or change your product and set a limit otherwise your using misleading advertising. He tried to defend the policy and say it was not misleading but he was loosing, I had him on the ropes at this stage. He was stuttering for something to say that I couldn’t shoot down.

I was trying my best not to piss my self laughing .well anyway I said if it was not fixed soon I would be stopping any payments and changing my provider and hung up. 24 hours later I was back up to full speed again and I was to be restricted for 18 days. Lolol

Cabaal

T-Square wrote: »

If they advertise it as unlimited, then it's either unlimited or false advertisting.

You cannot say x, then introduce a "fair usage" policy later.

It's called contract law.

All ISP's have a fair usage policy, there is actually no such thing as a truly unlimited ISP especially for residential ISP's...read the FAQ for further info on this

Cabaal

DiGi wrote: »

Man I was getting really pissy near the end I started quoting the advertising laws and telling them they were breaking the law and that I would be reporting them for using misleading advertising.

Thing is you were quoting out your arse as BT are breaking now laws, report them to the asai all you want

I also told them it would be better for everyone if they set a higher limit or at least a rough benchmark so this situation could be avoided.

The realaitys of ISP's costs would also mean that if they increase caps they will also increase monthly costs to the customer
Wholesale prices would have to change first.

I did get to talk to a Level 3 tech who joked that he seen this coming a mile off and that with 24Mb connections coming out it is getting worse. But he was able to tell me it is 1TB per year which works out about 2.7 GB per day.

2.7GB a day is a very reasonable amount for a residential service

Well any after that I was sitting there with a 0.1Mb connection pissed So I sent a complaint to the National Consumer Agency about the situation. The next day I got a call from them to say that using the term “Unlimited” was misleading and it would be forwarded to the commissioner. Man I had to gloat so I called again and told them what they had told me. I also asked again to have my speed restored as it was breech of the advertising law.

I'd be suspect about your claims regarding this, as an example OFCOM in the UK have reviewed consumer claims numerous times that ISP's in the UK are miss-selling as they advise as unlimited but have FUP in T&C's.

To date nothing has changed as ISP's are allowed to protect themselfs from abuse on their network by overuse, imho 30GB in one day is far beyond the requirements for a residential ADSL service and accordingly you need to go look at business ISP's

I was trying my best not to piss my self laughing .well anyway I said if it was not fixed soon I would be stopping any payments and changing my provider and hung up. 24 hours later I was back up to full speed again and I was to be restricted for 18 days. Lolol

I'd imagine they did this as goodwill because they were sick to death of your ranting, personally I would have stuck to the options and if you didn't like them you can cancel and go find another ISP that also has a FUP

hightower1

An ISP can indeed advertise a broadbank pack in Ireland as unlimited and its not illegal and Comreg see no issue with it on the conditions....

That a FUP is clearly advertised also....

That the FUP is reasonable in Comregs opinion...

That any breach of FUP conciqunces are outlined on the contract...

That should someone be in danger of breaching the FUP that warning steps are taken by the ISP...


Its all there to read on their site under the commonly asked questions section. Its not illegal in any way at all, you just didnt read what you were signing... never a good things to do.

Cabaal

hightower1 wrote: »

Its all there to read on their site under the commonly asked questions section. Its not illegal in any way at all, you just didnt read what you were signing... never a good things to do.

This is the reason why the vast majority of people are pissed when they get a letter or there speed is capped, plane and simple they never bothered to read the T&C's.

Bottom line is if you sign up to any service such as mobile, phone or DSL etc without reading the T&C's then your a bloody fool.

kaimera

Cabaal wrote: »

All ISP's have a fair usage policy, there is actually no such thing as a truly unlimited ISP especially for residential ISP's...read the FAQ for further info on this

smart are the closest thing to truly unlimited?

possibly magnet?

[sorry for the OT]

DiGi

Just to tell you my bandwidth usage meter has been frozen . i tried a quick download and it hasn't increased . Also the warning message telling me that i had been restricted has gone.

P.S as for the call i had from NCA i did mention there fair usage terms and he said the he had read it and that because it didn't set a figure for what they considered fair usage , describing there product as being unlimited was misleading.
But to honest who did they think was going to buy a fast connection with unlimited usage. Its a heavy users dream. They hardly thought some old guy who only uses his connection for emails is going to buy it.

Cabaal

kaimera wrote: »

smart are the closest thing to truly unlimited?

possibly magnet?

[sorry for the OT]

They would be I suppose, however if enough heavy users started using the service they would have to buy more bandwidth for backhaul and this would make them less profitable so they';d likely start enforcing the FUP.

Its happened numerous times in the UK over the years, ISP sets up..great speeds and unlimited heavy users all migrated to it ISP can't go providing the service so introduces FUP

ninjasurfer1

daftdave wrote: »

are you crazy man , eircom are wayyyy over priced..just dont waste your money .......

I'm with eircom and usually download WAAAy over the limits and have never been warned or capped.
Might be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it for the extra downloads!!