Broadband query

A

ady_glanza

Member +
Hello all

I'm looking into getting Broadband at home and have seen a couple of packages with Sky and BT (will be cheaper for me as i've got a BT telephone line at home and subscribed to Sky)

However both of them have monthly allowances. My query is how will the broadband provider know i have used up all of my allowance for the month and if you go over it will you get charged. What do you get from the company in terms of a statement, some guy i work with mentioned that he gets sent a list of all the websites he's been on and how much of his allowance he has used up for each fo the website and a total for the month

Also If you download music of sites, will they send out any sort of warning letter to you if its downloaded illegally i.e. from Limewire.

Any info much appreciated, thanks :)
 
stuart

stuart

Member +
Can't really say alot on a public forum, but if you do use programs to download music etc - You will need an ISP with no monthly cap. I'm using a BT Vision package, TV box, hub + free phone and also 8mb uncapped internet connection.

If you go over your allowance with some ISP's they will charge you, kinda of like a pay-as-you-go mobile. Certain pence per megabyte/gigabyte of data transfered. I can't see them actually sending you a 'statement' of what websites you have visited as this is invasion of privacy? There are numerous ways around that though.

Along time ago, when broadband was first released, I was on 512kb/s connect, I got a letter from BT saying that I was distributing copies of 2 Fast 2 Furious.... Saying that if I continue to mis-use there service they can cancel the connection/line at any point. If you do download/share music/films/games/apps you could possibly get caught, I'm not saying go ahead and do it, just be aware if you do get caught, you could get blocked by the ISP.
 
97'GlanzaVTurbo

97'GlanzaVTurbo

Member +
This is correct mate your ISP can monitor anything that you are on and if they see you download music/vidoes then they can send you out a letter warnign you but if you think about it millions of people do this daily so the ISP's wont just target anyone you would need to be a serious downloader or just unlucky.
As for download limit, ISP's dont have download limits anymore as such they have 'Fair Usage Policy' which basically means that if they believe you are using too much internet to the point it is slowing or users down or stopping them connect then they can reduce your speeds down they will never stop your contract without speaking to you first so say you were on 8MB they will drop you to 1MB for a while then increase it back up.
I have never heard of ISP's charging you for going over your limi as there are no limits its all about fair usage and as I said above they will more than likely just drop your speeds instead.
NTL/Virginmedia are by far the best ISP for downloading and speed. They are offering some great packages and most of the UK will soon be 50MB with them, also they are alot less strict on their fair usage policy due to the fact they use fibre optic cables to pipe internet into houses instead of the old ADSL technology which allows better speeds, more downloads etc etc.

Also on a downloading music & videos etc companies are starting to accept that they cant stop people downloading stuff for free so a few companies are starting a new scheme where they allow you to download to your hearts content however every 30 seconds or so you have to watch an advertisment online for some product. So the company that owns the product pay for advertising which you watch, so the music company profits, the product being advertises profits and so do you as you get some free music.
Christy
 
G

Glanza D

Member +
o2 home broadband, work out slightly more then sky duno bout bt, all you need is a bt land line, its 12.76 per month or if you an o2 phone customer 7.34 a month, thats speeds of 8mb for that price few quid more will get you 20mb speed but all plans are unlimited downloads, free macfea, free wireless box and free cust services 24/7

i work for o2 :D i have to get 1 broadband transfer every day lol
but unlimited downloads with o2 meen unlimited i saw someones allowence and 160gb downloaded :O still 7.34 a month though
 
Jamz3k

Jamz3k

Fresh Recruit
My post may be a bit biased as i work for Sky.

Sky "do" keep track of your monthly allowance as your router stores info for them. If for instance you where on the MID package 8mb and 40gb download limit and you where getting close to the limit Sky would email you to let you know to cut back, if you kept breaking the download limit you are automatically upgraded to the Max package. The MAX package is 16mb with an Unlimited Download limit, Sky are the first ISP not to have a Fair Useage policy, you pay for unlimited and thats what you get!:rockon:

With Sky at the mo, you can get get your phoneline, Broaband and TV for around 26.50.

If you *don't* have Sky at the moment i have a deal which gives you free line rental worth £120 for a year if you sign up for Sky+HD.
 
97'GlanzaVTurbo

97'GlanzaVTurbo

Member +
Glanza D said:
o2 home broadband, work out slightly more then sky duno bout bt, all you need is a bt land line, its 12.76 per month or if you an o2 phone customer 7.34 a month, thats speeds of 8mb for that price few quid more will get you 20mb speed but all plans are unlimited downloads, free macfea, free wireless box and free cust services 24/7

i work for o2 :D i have to get 1 broadband transfer every day lol
but unlimited downloads with o2 meen unlimited i saw someones allowence and 160gb downloaded :O still 7.34 a month though
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Jamz3k said:
My post may be a bit biased as i work for Sky.

Sky "do" keep track of your monthly allowance as your router stores info for them. If for instance you where on the MID package 8mb and 40gb download limit and you where getting close to the limit Sky would email you to let you know to cut back, if you kept breaking the download limit you are automatically upgraded to the Max package. The MAX package is 16mb with an Unlimited Download limit, Sky are the first ISP not to have a Fair Useage policy, you pay for unlimited and thats what you get!:rockon:

With Sky at the mo, you can get get your phoneline, Broaband and TV for around 26.50.

If you *don't* have Sky at the moment i have a deal which gives you free line rental worth £120 for a year if you sign up for Sky+HD.
Click to expand...

Its a pity that both Sky and O2 are shit for broadband:haha: No joking around I know you work for these companies but O2 brandband is useless and Sky aint far behind. Honestly guys you cant compare to NTL/Virginmedia you dont need a phone line so you dont pay line rental just take out the package you want and its done. Not too mention FAR better speeds, UNLIMITED downloads, no hassle with username and passwords or setup its all done plug and play basically.
As for the router holding all the download information are you sure that is how it is kept track of? Surely they should be using their servers to keep track of users usage and downloads as what would happen if I kept resetting my router to factory settings it would lose all info on downloads etc so my limit would start again.
Ohh I work for neither Sky or O2 I work for a compuer company instead:haha:
Christy
 
Jamz3k

Jamz3k

Fresh Recruit
I'm not a technical person but as far as i'm aware they do store info on your router that does relate to what sites you have been on.

As for Sky Broadband being shite, mines been on for 3years without a single fault which aint bad!
 
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97'GlanzaVTurbo

97'GlanzaVTurbo

Member +
stuart said:
I don't use the peice of shit router BT gave me either :p
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Good on you Stuart as they are shit. Thats another thing I hate about these companies like the BT HomeHub in the first version of this that they brought out the wireless phone interferred with the wireless router as they were factory set on the same channel:homer:

Jamz3k said:
one of the draw backs to Sky is that you *do* have to use there provided router afaik.
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Dont think that is correct as they would really have no way of telling what router you are on and all routers including Sky's Netgear are just basic hubs so aslong as its an ADSL Wireless Router it will work with all BT Connection broadband and DSL Wireless Routers are for Cable connections like Virginledia.
 
97'GlanzaVTurbo

97'GlanzaVTurbo

Member +
Jamz3k said:
I'm not a technical person but as far as i'm aware they do store info on your router that does relate to what sites you have been on.

As for Sky Broadband being shite, mines been on for 3years without a single fault which aint bad!
Click to expand...

I dont mean its shite as in it wont work:haha: I mean its shite as in the speeds of it are shite. All ADSL speeds wont be the best due to the fact they are still using old technology thats why VirginMedia is the best because they use Fibre Optic cables which result in some amazing speeds turst me I have tried most if not all of them.lol.
Another thing is you can chip your Virginmedia Broadband and TV very easily so you pay nothing:haha:;) Or so I have heard anyway.
Christy
 
1

1nsan3

Member +
my 2p's worth

I work for openreach and deal with broadband issues on a daily basis. the only company currently not running old technology is virgin/cable, there network is fibre to cab and then a max run of about 300 metres of coax. Any other broadband service regardless of who its from (o2,sky,orange,talktalk etc) runs down the old BT copper network, this means that if you are any kind of distance from your exchange then you will never see the full 8mb promised by your provider as the longer the line the slower the speed. In the area that i live there are still some people who cannot get even basic 512mb broadband due to there line beinbg too long and the fact the cabling in the ground is crap.

To summarise

if you live in a cabled area then definitely go with that, the speeds and rates are far better.

If you live in an area not served by cable then a good isp who has an open policy on usage is your best bet. personally i use a company called www.eclipse.uk.net. i have only ever received one warning from them in the 5 years i have used them and that was when i did over 100gb of traffic in a month.

hope this helps
 
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