Letter from UPC

Crann na Beatha

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homer911

Yes, but not usually..

netstorm

got a letter myself ,now i do a fair bit of downloading ,and 3 laptops plus desktop in house so possible i did exceed it but im wondering if the real reason is i have not signed new contract when they upgraded speeds

starviewadams

Do you/housemates watch Netflix or any other video streaming service in HD often?

who_me

starviewadams wrote: »

Do you/housemates watch Netflix or any other video streaming service in HD often?

Even if they do, it still sounds excessive. Netflix 1080p streaming is less than 6Mbps (or 0.75 MBps), so by my reckoning it would take over 270 hours of Netflix viewing to reach that figure, approx. 9 hours per day. I doubt if anyone watches it that much.

Alan3002

It does seem unlikely you could have went over 500GB. Your UPC password could very well be compromised. You would be suprised how often it happens.

I highly recommend the tool Networx Usage Meter.
It is a fantastic VERY lightweight tool that when you activate runs away in the background of your computer from then on until you manually deactivate it (turns on with windows) and it tracks your internet usage. There is a way to set it up on your network to track what everyone is downloading but I only have it set to my computer at the moment.

Now I download A LOT. I mean to say I am constantly redownloading games on Steam (some games are well over 10 GBs). I am always online gaming on my Xbox 360, on my PC and I am always streaming stuff to watch online. I do a hell of a lot of stuff on the internet and the highest I have ever hit was 240 gigs in a month and that was a month of heavy heavy activity. I would really think someone is leeching off your net as it is actually difficult to hit 500gigs in a month.

netstorm

tks alan was looking for a usage monitor will give it a try

Gadgetman496

Alan3002 wrote: »

It does seem unlikely you could have went over 500GB. It is actually difficult to hit 500gigs in a month.

There was a time I would have thought that too but depending on what one does? exceeding 500GB in a month is very doable considering the size of high def video.

fishfortwo

The 500 is combined up and down usage, if your are uploading a lot then 500 is easily attainable
In time past I have hit over 1000 in a month myself and while sharing with people while at uni we were in the 2-3 thousand every month

with upc if you go over 500 for 2 months on the trot you would be moved onto a totally unlimited package, it does cost more but after 6-12 months if your usage has reduced then they can move you back

Gadgetman496

Can anyone confirm if ones monthly usage is calculated from the point of installation or the start of each month? I got UPC installed on the 14th of the month, so is my usage calculated from the 14th of each month or the 1st of each month?

fasttalkerchat

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Can anyone confirm if ones monthly usage is calculated from the point of installation or the start of each month? I got UPC installed on the 14th of the month, so is my usage calculated from the 14th of each month or the 1st of each month?

From bill to bill. Probably installation.

Gadgetman496

Why is it that a company like UPC don't provide a usage monitor for users similar to the one Smart have?

vibe666

Alan3002 wrote: »

Now I download A LOT.....and the highest I have ever hit was 240 gigs in a month and that was a month of heavy heavy activity.

then you don't download a lot, you just think you do.

you're averaging just 8gb per day on a heavy month, so 500gb is about 16gb a day and isn't that hard to do if there's a few people (i.e. housemates or a big family) using the connection a lot.

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Can anyone confirm if ones monthly usage is calculated from the point of installation or the start of each month?

it's come up before and was answered at the time by someone who was (or used to) work at UPC. usage is monitored by calendar month for the purposes of cap management and sending out warnings, although it might take a couple of weeks after for you to get a letter, but they have the ability to view it as a rolling 30 day average as well.

you will only get a letter if you go more than 10gb over the limit in any given calendar month and generally only if you are in a highly contended area where excessive usage could actually affect other users, as several people regularly go over 500gb and don't get an warnings.

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Why is it that a company like UPC don't provide a usage monitor for users similar to the one Smart have?

very simply because they don't want to.

they can track your usage accurately themselves, so the tools are already in place to do it and it is quite literally just a couple of lines of code to throw that into a webpage or similar, so it's not like there is any massive technical barrier to making it happen.

i asked about it when i signed up in 2008 and they said they were "working on it" and it should be available in a few months, but it never arrived and dozens of people have been the forum here since then saying the same thing every few months and it's now the middle of 2012 and it still hasn't happened, so don't hold your breath.

if you have multiple computers and games consoles online and expect high usage, the only accurate way of monitoring all your traffic is to get a 2nd router that has bandwidth monitoring built in and stick that between your computers and your UPC router to keep an eye on ALL the traffic.

networx is okay if you only have a couple of PC's, but you need to make sure the same PC is always on if you want it to monitor traffic directly from the router and although the feature does work for some people (it did for me) others haven't had any luck, even with the same UPC router.

ED E

Step 1. Enable Traffic logging on your router
Step 2. Set up an alert for XGB(say 450)
Step 3. Dont get hit with excess fees.

Gadgetman496

vibe666 wrote: »

very simply because they don't want to.

I don't see any logic in that to be honest? If they want users to remain within a certain bandwidth usage and have the tools to allow them to monitor it, would it not make more sense to give that feature to users? In this day and age it is likely that there are multiple items connecting to the broadband connection in many homes making it a tad difficult to monitor multi user usage. If UPC provided the means to monitor ones usage and users still blatantly abused the AUP then they would be so more justified in issuing letters or even penalties would they not?

Nody

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I don't see any logic in that to be honest? If they want users to remain within a certain bandwidth usage and have the tools to allow them to monitor it, would it not make more sense to give that feature to users? In this day and age it is likely that there are multiple items connecting to the broadband connection in many homes making it a tad difficult to monitor multi user usage. If UPC provided the means to monitor ones usage and users still blatantly abused the AUP then they would be so more justified in issuing letters or even penalties would they not?

I can see one simple reason; if people start to see X / 500 GB it will be seen as a goal to hit 500 (or relatively close) simply because it's there.

Gadgetman496

Nody wrote: »

I can see one simple reason; if people start to see X / 500 GB it will be seen as a goal to hit 500 (or relatively close) simply because it's there.

Yep, that's a possibility I guess.

jimmycrackcorm

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I don't see any logic in that to be honest? If they want users to remain within a certain bandwidth usage and have the tools to allow them to monitor it, would it not make more sense to give that feature to users? In this day and age it is likely that there are multiple items connecting to the broadband connection in many homes making it a tad difficult to monitor multi user usage. If UPC provided the means to monitor ones usage and users still blatantly abused the AUP then they would be so more justified in issuing letters or even penalties would they not?

From a business perspective it is probably more cost effective to simply use the existing monitoring and send occasional letters where warranted. They may not have a lot of users where the excess cap causes issues but it would cost to set up the online facility to monitor it for customers. Quite simply it might not be justifiable at the level it is currently. I'd say the vast number of customers are going nowhere near their cap.

Crann na Beatha

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ED E

Aquila wrote: »

Is it possible to do that with the UPC Thompson router?

I've never used it so I couldnt tell you. The screeny above is from a WNDR3800.

vibe666

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I don't see any logic in that to be honest? If they want users to remain within a certain bandwidth usage and have the tools to allow them to monitor it, would it not make more sense to give that feature to users?

simples.

1. because people will see it as a target to hit and download more as a result.
2. so that when people do go over, they can then charge those users more for going over because they have no easy way of telling their actual usage.

Aquila wrote: »

Is it possible to do that with the UPC Thompson router?

nope, nor the cisco.

you need to put a 2nd router that allows bandwidth monitoring between your UPC router and your PC.

I use a Linksys E3000 with the Tomato firmware myself and it works perfectly.

DipStick McSwindler

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vibe666

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

everybodys UPC bandwidth meter gets reset on the 7th of every month. i know because they told me this.

we'll add you to the list of people who've been told something different then, but it's a pretty long list at this stage.

not doubting that you're telling the truth, just that you could ring half a dozen times and get told something different each time.

DipStick McSwindler

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