The popularity of the BBC’s iPlayer has boosted the use of internet television, but many customers are missing the additional costs which are lost in their small print, reported The Telegraph.
Three of the most popular download services, the BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4oD and the Sky Anytime service from Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) all rely on legal peer-to-peer file sharing technology which uploads data at the same time as downloading your chosen programme, further eating into precious download limits.
While many broadband users with higher download limits, or “unlimited” packages shouldn’t have any problems, unless they excessively download from the net, those on basic broadband plans could face high costs for their online TV content, warned Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director.
Customers on Eclipse’s Home Broadband packages - which are capped, as opposed to its Evolution Broadband packages that come with “unlimited” usage but also have traffic management - are charged £1.75 per additional GB over their allowance, while Madasafish customers pay an additional £2 and BT customers are charged 30p per GB.
Other providers, such as Sky Broadband - move customers up to more appropriate, more expensive packages if they consistently exceed their download limit or fair usage policy.
“Anyone who does download from the internet and is worried about the extra hidden costs can install our free Broadband Download Monitor to track their downloading and set alerts to warn them as they reach their download limit,” advised Mr Phillips.
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