Who is to blame for capped broadband?

Well it seems that everything is getting faster and faster and technology is
improving all the time.... BUT! How come we are now in a situation where
broadband is faster, but you are limited on use? It seems to me to be a
step BACKWARDS! not forwards...

Who is to blame for capping, of is it just the ISPs taking the p*ss ?

Eric wrote on Wed, 27 Apr 2005 14:49:42 +0100:

> Well it seems that everything is getting faster and faster and technology
> is improving all the time.... BUT! How come we are now in a situation
> where broadband is faster, but you are limited on use? It seems to me to
> be a step BACKWARDS! not forwards...
>
> Who is to blame for capping, of is it just the ISPs taking the p*ss ?

IIRC BT have moved their wholesale charging from "per line" to how much data
the ISP pulls through the BT pipes, so it's in the interest of the ISPs to
keep data throughput down with caps to keep their BT costs to an acceptable
level.

Dan

That may be so, however, the reason that Wanadoo give is:

"We have found that over 40GB of usage a month affects other customers..."

"... Fair Use Policy [[capping] for uncapped customers] is to minimise the
impact for other customers."

"[Please see the e-mail we sent out on the 1st April]"

(obviously I thought this was an April fool, however, they are entirely
serious.)

Does this mean that Wanadoo are lying?

How do a few high-use "uncapped" customers affect other customers
negatively?

How can true uncapped services afford to provide the service where, say
Wanadoo, cannot?



"Spack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Eric wrote on Wed, 27 Apr 2005 14:49:42 +0100:
>
> > Well it seems that everything is getting faster and faster and
technology
> > is improving all the time.... BUT! How come we are now in a situation
> > where broadband is faster, but you are limited on use? It seems to me
to
> > be a step BACKWARDS! not forwards...
> >
> > Who is to blame for capping, of is it just the ISPs taking the p*ss ?
>
> IIRC BT have moved their wholesale charging from "per line" to how much
data
> the ISP pulls through the BT pipes, so it's in the interest of the ISPs to
> keep data throughput down with caps to keep their BT costs to an
acceptable
> level.
>
> Dan
>
>

"Joe Butler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d4o64p$mjm$(E-Mail Removed)...
> That may be so, however, the reason that Wanadoo give is:
>
> "We have found that over 40GB of usage a month affects other customers..."
>
> "... Fair Use Policy [[capping] for uncapped customers] is to minimise the
> impact for other customers."
>
> "[Please see the e-mail we sent out on the 1st April]"
>
> (obviously I thought this was an April fool, however, they are entirely
> serious.)
>
> Does this mean that Wanadoo are lying?
>
> How do a few high-use "uncapped" customers affect other customers
> negatively?
>
> How can true uncapped services afford to provide the service where, say
> Wanadoo, cannot?
>

So Wanadoo is capping now as well? Do they now impose a cap on everyone,
even those who originally signed up on an Unlimited basis?

> So Wanadoo is capping now as well? Do they now impose a cap on everyone,
> even those who originally signed up on an Unlimited basis?
>
>

Yes they do. I am migrating on Wednesday next week from Wanadoo. We all got
the email on the 1st of April letting us know about the changes of the
T&C's that were being implemented from May 1st. However I was told that
they do not apply to people who have had an unlimited account, I contacted
Wanadoo and it was emphasised to me that even those people who were using
beyond their cap levels it would be a 'softly' softly approach.'. But they
seem to have ignored the May 1st start date and started sending letters out
to people already informing them that their usage is above their 'fair
usage agreement.' Now their fair usage agreement has, AFAIK, not been
marketed that much as they were imposing caps. So even though I haven't had
a letter from them, I wouldn't expect so at my usage, it has made the
choice to leave a little easier.
It would have been useful as well if, for those that stay, they had the
ability to check their usage at the members centre as those who have
routers and a home network will find that the usual DUN measuring utilities
do not work.
One person posted that he had a letter from Wanadoo when his three month
average worked out at 33GB. So it appears that even though their
implementation wasn't supposed to start until May 1st the monitoring and
letter preparation was already underway.


--
Regards


Morgan

Hard drive noise...
www.flyinglizard.freeserve.co.uk

Yes. That's exactly what they are threatening me with.

The quotes are from a letter they sent to me.

"Following this letter, we will be monitoring your usage on a monthly basis
and we will contact you again if you're still using over 40GB. We'd really
like you to stay with Wanadoo but if you do continually exceed this amount
we will have no option but to close yor account."
[extract from a Wanadoo letter to a long-term customer]

Of course, they may have no intention of closing my account, but the letter
was enough to get me looking around for true uncapped services - Bulldog is
the one that I'll probably swith to (and get a 2 meg service for the same
cost as the 0.5 meg Wanadoo service).

If I could get Bulldog's 4mbit @ctive service in my area with all-in
unlimited telephone calls and broadband for £40/month I'd switch to it
instantly - i.e dump BT and Wanadoo no problem.


"Eric M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Joe Butler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message
> news:d4o64p$mjm$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > That may be so, however, the reason that Wanadoo give is:
> >
> > "We have found that over 40GB of usage a month affects other
customers..."
> >
> > "... Fair Use Policy [[capping] for uncapped customers] is to minimise
the
> > impact for other customers."
> >
> > "[Please see the e-mail we sent out on the 1st April]"
> >
> > (obviously I thought this was an April fool, however, they are entirely
> > serious.)
> >
> > Does this mean that Wanadoo are lying?
> >
> > How do a few high-use "uncapped" customers affect other customers
> > negatively?
> >
> > How can true uncapped services afford to provide the service where, say
> > Wanadoo, cannot?
> >
>
> So Wanadoo is capping now as well? Do they now impose a cap on everyone,
> even those who originally signed up on an Unlimited basis?
>
>

your website is brilliant - very informative.

"Morgan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d4o7ij$qua$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
Morgan
>
> Hard drive noise...
> www.flyinglizard.freeserve.co.uk

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 13:49:42 UTC, "Eric M" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Well it seems that everything is getting faster and faster and technology is
> improving all the time.... BUT! How come we are now in a situation where
> broadband is faster, but you are limited on use? It seems to me to be a
> step BACKWARDS! not forwards...
>
> Who is to blame for capping, of is it just the ISPs taking the p*ss ?

1) Bt now charge for data transfer.
2) Too many people were taking the piss and saturating the ISPs'
networks...either prices rise, limits come in, or performance goes
through the floor. You can't get something for nothing!
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 14:03:21 UTC, "Joe Butler"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> How do a few high-use "uncapped" customers affect other customers
> negatively?

They cause performance problems because they take a large share of the
ISP's own capacity. OK, the ISP can put in more capacity - but then
prices have to rise. Fairer for high consumers top pay more.
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

Joe Butler wrote:
> your website is brilliant - very informative.
>

Thanks - glad that you liked it
--
Regards


Morgan

Hard drive noise...
www.flyinglizard.freeserve.co.uk