J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Went from Sky which I was really happy with, up to 8mb for a tenner a month, saw the shiny new BT FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) Infinity and saw the opportunity to get a good increase in speed, so my enthusiasm got the better of me and it eventually, aftr much p1ssing about and a failed attempt got installed and it was ok, was faster for downloads but browsing it didnt make much difference, could be sat in front of the Scoobynet Server and it would still be a bit slow (though it is better than last year).

I went for the Option 1, which was the £17.99 a month, 40 GB download limit, now I dont download much, if anything, no films or anythign like that, so its Xbox live, my VPN to work and browsing, so was surprised when our monthly usage was 170 gb.

I only discovered the issue with the download allowance when I rang to complain about the performance, was dropping to less than 1 mb/sec ! apparently I had been throttled and the Indian chap was telling me it is because we have lots of computers and had gone over 40mb, so confused I suggested he meant 40 GB, but he kept on I had gone over 40 mb, hence frustration dealing with a helpful but ultimately confusing call centre, he did indeed mean 40 gb.

So rang the billing people to see what had happened and checked my usage online and realised they were billing me £5 per 5 GB as I had gone over, now I knew they throttled you (financially, quite litterally it seems) but they had charged an extra £50 for the last three months, now it serves me right for not reading the small print but I was under the impression that for £17.99 I was getting a certain ammount and then they throttled it, nobody mentioned the exhobitant charges when I was discussing it on the phone and I thought that pay as you go internet went years ago.

So, have had to upgrade to the next package, another tenner as am stuck into the contract for the next 14 months, they waived one months excess charges so its cost me ninety quid, expensive lesson to read small print and not trust BT, "Infinity" my ****, seems very Finite to me.

So, will see if the speeds improve, it is now a 300 GB "Unlimited" download limit, after which they throttle you but dont spank you for £5 pre 5 gb.

Going to set the speed tester to run on a scheduled basis and retain the results and if it isnt up to scratch going to be on them like a rash.

boxst

You used 170gb in a month?!! How on earth did you manage that?

You *must* be downloading movies etc.. (or your children are on their computers).

I thought it was a requirement to send you emails when you were close to exceeding your limit?

Steve

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

You can check your online usage online http://www.bt.com/ I check mine like a hawk now as apparently I went over my limit by 15 gig 2 months in a row. I got suspicious after they told me I used a whopping 55 gb in December despite the fact I was on my holidays for 2 weeks and the router was switched off.
Unfortunately you cannot see your previous months usage online but so far I am tracking my usage and have 22 gb to use up before I go over my limit and that includes downloading a 7gb game off steam .

RA Dunk

Wouldent touch BT with a barge pole TBH.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Yes, still bemused about the usage, going to question the kids and see what they are upto, we already have loads of films, the other option is that someone is leaching bandwith, I did see a machine I didnt recognise but it may have been one of the kids mates bringing a laptop round and all the wireless is WPA-PSK, none of the neighbours are that tech savvy or devious to nick bandwidth, other option is the homeplugs but I dont think there is anyone close enough to connect, not anyone that techie anyway.

Going to tie the router down to mac adresses and log what is being downloaded, can get some heavy duty network stuff from work to see whats going on !

boxst

Just for anyone else reading this thread, you don't have to have BT. Like with normal broadband, you have a choice of ISPs using the BT Backbone.

I have nothing but good things to say about: http://www.zen.co.uk/business/broadb...broadband.aspx

(I haven't used them for FTTC but will when my exchange is enabled, I used them for 'normal' Broadband)

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

Jacko, why not log onto your router and check out the stats.

I was suprised how much my VPN connection downloaded during a day working from home

Router IP address is usually 192.168.0.1

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

If it's anything like my homehub he will have to reset it at least two or three times a month and that resets all the stats.

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

Agreed, doing a 'hard' reset is the definitive way of clearing the stats and getting a true data sent/received log.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Will do but thought we were never going to get near it, funnily enough checking router stats is not at the top of my evening/weekend fun things to do, up there with pairing socks, clipping the crusty bits off the dogs underside and watching Lark Rise to Candleford with the missus. Its kind of a day job sort of task but will take a look tonight and bollock the main offenders.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Infinity is in Cornwall?

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Strange, par which is a mile down the road gets infinity, we get lumped with the st awefull exchange unfortunately.

hodgy0_2

170GB a month -- that is crazy

must be something wrong, you haven't noticed any suspicious CAT5e cables running along your back garden!!!!!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Funnily enough, there was a cat 5 buried with the armoured cable to the manhut at the other ned of the garden but it never worked, used wireless for a bit but it wasa bit hit and miss and now on homeplugs that work really well, so yes but its just me in the shed/data centre.

P1Fanatic

170gb - your **** collection must be huge

mart360

Tiscali kicked me off for 40-60GB a month lol....

They reckoned it was over excessive



Mart

daddyscoob

well I think you are all very lucky. We pay £25 per month for 1/2 MB...... yes half a meg . Live in the sticks so our only option is via a stand alone satellite dish

hux309

see this is what makes me laugh, they are covering all the tiny villages around redruth, without touching redruth itself, which to me is pointless.

Was really hoping the scheme they were on about would have covered it, clearly it does not

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Something wierd going on here....

BB Usage was 77GB from the start of Feb, so nearly 6 gb a day.

So, restarted the router yesterday and its been in normal weekend usage, kids taking shifts of Xbox live, surfing, Youtube etc.

So, based on the usage reported, in pretty much 24 hours I would have expected another 6 gb, the usage meter on BT's site has gone up from us being 37 GB over our 40 gb limit to 55 GB since when I rang then Thursday, so consistent with the few gb a day.

Router in 24 hours has logged 174 MB !

I reckon something is wrong their end and it is registering a problem with the network and its showing up as data I have downloaded.



Internet connection configuration
Connection Information
Connection time 1 days, 00:29:22
Data Transmitted/Received (MB) 177.4 / 59.1
Broadband username bthomehub@btbroadband.com
Password Not configured

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Seems I am not the only one !

http://community.bt.com/t5/BB-in-Hom.../117773/page/2

Getting really F*CKED off with this, they are basically defrauding me out of £90 and limiting my service.

Also have been brobeated into ttaking their upgrade due to my "high" usage which I suspect is nowhere near what they are saying.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

And here

http://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Cal...arge/m-p/68353

110213-004792

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I rang up querying my recent internet usage and quoted this months broadband usage so far this month to try and back up my claim that I am not using 55gb a month, and they turned around and told me the broadband online meter is not accurate and to be used only as a guide What's the ferking point of having it in.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

So they can defraud you of some money !

Seriously, they are getting reported to Ofcom for this, doesnt add up, no way have we downloaded what they are saying, we only have their word for it so assume its all above board, wouldnt put it past them....

And anther 14 page thread on the issue.

http://community.bt.com/t5/BB-in-Hom...-p/4454/page/8

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Those links seem to take me to the bt home page. Just checked my usage and i seemed to have used 12 gb in 2 days, must be my son using the cbeebies website

hodgy0_2

all this reminds me of the early days of ISDN and Windows networking

when the router was not configured to drop port 146/7 it would bring the ISDN up all the time

BT made a fortune, as every few secounds the line would come up for at least 2 mins a time, a friend I knew (who had a business) got a 2k bill