Ask Our Expert

How much should I be downloading each month?

Our Broadband Expert says...

The Option 1 package from BT broadband (www.BT.com) offers the lowest download allowance of its three packages, and its 10GB monthly limit makes it best suited to light users.

If you exceed your monthly download allowance, BT will charge you £5 for an extra 5GB of data, which should get you through the rest of the month.

The same fee applies to BT’s Option 2 package, which comes with a 40GB monthly allowance, while customers on the Option 3 plan get “unlimited broadband” downloads, subject to a fair usage policy.

How much data do I need?

Determining exactly what is “normal” is difficult when it comes to broadband download limits - it all depends on the size of your household and how you use your internet connection.

10GB a month is suitable for people who don’t spend huge amounts of time downloading music and movies or playing online games. If you just want to watch a couple of BBC iPlayer catch-ups a week, coupled with everyday use like web browsing, emails and internet banking, then 10GB should be enough.

For example, a 30-minute TV programme streamed from the BBC iPlayer, so that you watch it directly on the website, will use around 108MB, according to BT. This is little more than a 10th of a single GB.

Actually downloading the file so that it is stored on your computer and available to watch even when you're not connected to the internet would use more data, at up to around 350MB for half an hour. But if you only use the catch-up service a couple of times a week, you can still easily get away with a 10GB allowance.

Heavy downloaders and big families

Even if you're not personally a heavy downloader, you still need to consider the internet habits of other people living in your household.

If you're part of a big family - especially one with older children or teenagers who tend to spend more time online - then you could well end up exceeding your 10GB monthly allowance.

If you find that you're regularly going over your limit, it might be more economical to upgrade to the Option 2 package.

“Normal” download habits

Research by Broadbandchoices.co.uk in January 2011 found that the majority of broadband users on an “unlimited” package were wasting their money on an unnecessarily high-end service.

Although 43% of broadband customers said they were signed up to an “unlimited” package, 37% did not know how much they actually downloaded each month.

At the same time, more than 20% were light users, only downloading between 2GB and 10GB a month. 14% used between 11GB and 20GB each month, while less than 10% used more than this.

This shows that although the way we use the internet has changed dramatically over the last few years with the launch of online TV and gaming services, the main bulk of customers still use their connection simply for the basics - emailing, shopping, banking and surfing.

These are all tasks really don’t require a high level package with an unlimited download allowance.

We advise anyone who thinks they might be on the wrong package to consider switching broadband provider, as you could save over £200 by doing so.

*Saving based on switching from an unlimited download broadband service and separate line rental service to a 10GB download limit broadband service and separate line rental service.

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