Broadband Guide

Truth about 'fair usage' broadband

Updated: Tuesday 10 January, 2012

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Have you signed up for an “unlimited” package only to read the small print and find out that your broadband can be capped?

Many of the “unlimited” broadband plans on offer actually have a fair usage policy applied, which can end up imposing limits on your downloading or throttling your speeds. Sky Broadband Unlimited 20Mb (www.Sky.com), Virgin Media XXL (www.VirginMedia.com) and O2 The Works and The All Rounder O2 broadband (www.O2.co.uk) are among the only packages offering truly unlimited downloads.

If you are one of the millions of people who download music and movies or catch up on missed TV using services like the BBC iPlayer, then this could affect to you. While you might not be downloading anything like 20GB or 40GB a month now, the rise of film downloads, internet television and popular legal peer-to-peer networks like the Channel 4’s 4oD are all set to massively increase the amount we download.

What to look out for

Put simply, fair usage is the broadband industry’s attempt at keeping cyber traffic down. The policies are designed to protect the people who might be affected by the heavy downloading of others.

You probably share your broadband connection with around 49 other people because most home broadband connections have a contention ratio of 50:1.

So the problem is that if you’re a big downloader, you could be slowing down the broadband connection of up to 49 other people. And if you are regularly affecting other people’s internet, your ISP might decide that something needs to be done.

Video: What is a fair usage policy?

It’s when you use it, not how

While it may seem unfair if yours in the broadband connection being throttled, your ISP is only trying to ensure that everyone has a good user experience. Those most likely to be affected by a fair usage policy are:

• Users of peer-to-peer networks uploading and downloading lots of films and music
• Online gamers
• People working from home and remotely connecting to the office
• Any other heavy downloaders

If any of these apply to you, try cutting down your internet usage, or if possible try doing your downloading in the small hours when less people will be online in your street and some ISP's relax their policies. That way you can still download as much as you want, without causing problems for anyone else.

Traffic management

Lots of broadband providers now use traffic shaping as a way of controlling users’ downloads during peak hours, which is another reason to set your PC to download overnight when your speed is less likely to be throttled.

Typical penalties

Most ISPs with fair usage policies will ignore over-sized downloading for a month or two, and will then get in touch asking that you curb your usage. If, however, you continue to exceed the limits they are likely to take action.

This could take the form of throttling your connection, therefore limiting the amount that can be downloaded; restricting your usage at peak times; charging you for your excess usage; or restricting your access to peer-to-peer sites.

In extreme cases, your contract might even be terminated, cutting off your internet until you can get a new connection.

If, having signed up for an “unlimited broadband” package, and anything like this does happen, but you don’t think you’ve been excessively downloading, there is something you can do.

Dispute and resolution

If you feel that you’ve been wrongly penalised for your downloading you should first try to resolve the issue directly with your ISP. If this doesn’t work you could get in touch with Ombudsman Services: Communications, the telecommunication industry’s watchdog, whose job it is to investigate complaints by customers. Ombudsman Services: Communications also charges its members if they're investigated so it will help your case to get them involved.

The majority of broadband providers are Ombudsman Services: Communications members, but if yours isn’t, try Ofcom, the independent regulator for the UK, who should still be able to help.

How do I keep track of my monthly downloads?

Keeping an eye on your downloads can be difficult and becomes a particular problem if you have a wireless network and use more than one computer on the same broadband connection. However, you can install our free Broadband Download Monitor, which not only allows you to keep track of how much you download, but also lets you set warnings to avoid exceeding limits.

“I have to face facts; I’m a download-a-holic”

If you know that you’re a big downloader, it might simply be time to admit that you need to cut down.

But what counts as a big download? The average single track MP3 is about 5MB, while a DVD quality movie is 4GB (Ofcom, 2010). So if you’re downloading 10 DVD quality movies every month, plus surfing the internet, downloading music and uploading pictures to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, the chances are that you’ll be exceeding your fair usage policy.

You need to be realistic - if you are doing a lot of downloading, you need a beefy package. It will save you aggravation in the long run and will mean that you won’t have your broadband throttled to curb your habits.

So what is the right package?

Why go through the hassle of a fair usage deal and risk incurring the wrath of your ISP when you exceed your limit? Try a high end package with a generous download limit and no peak-time traffic shaping.

Virgin Media's (www.VirginMedia.com) XXL package comes with speeds of up to 50Mb, and no traffic management on downstream usage, but your upload speeds will be slowed at peak times if your upload usage is particularly high. Alternatively, you could try Sky’s Unlimited 20Mb broadband package - another genuinely unlimited broadband package. Call Sky on 08442 410 582 or visit www.Sky.com to switch online.

O2 refers to its The Works package as truly unlimited and promotes it as being suitable to movie watchers and gamers, however, it is subject to a degree of traffic management albeit only on peer-to-peer file sharing at busy time (midday to 2am). Video watching and streaming and file sharing at non-busy times are completely unrestricted. Visit www.O2.co.uk to switch online.

Fair usage deals

There’s nothing wrong with fair usage deals, especially if you have more modest usage requirements, but you need to be careful and keep an eye on your downloading, and if your provider doesn’t publish the limits of its fair usage policy, you might not know when to stop.

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