back to article O2 limits unlimited broadband packages

Just as it runs a high-profile advertising campaign boasting it is "nobbling broadband niggles", O2 has begun telling users of its "unlimited" broadband packages that they shouldn't download more than 10GB in a month. Those who ignore the warning face disconnection, which might be considered a niggle. The new policy affects …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jeeeez....

    We're all used to the limited unlimited connection, but 10GB is just taking the piss! You could polish that off with Iplayer/4od very easily, especially when when the world cup kicks off and you're desperate to watch/hear about something other than football!

    Makes me wonder how low the limit of their publicly limited contracts are!?

    I'm on tiscali/talk-talk "unlimited"... It's actually working quite well at the moment, and the benefit of a company with notoriously pour customer support and technical ability, is they don't seem to be able to spot someone raping the sh*t out of the connection!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Me and my big mouth...

      After months of nothing more than the occasional 15 minute outage at 4am I've been offline from 15:30 until after 22:00... Grrrrr!

      It was a routing issue, traceroute got out about 8 hops and then packets just vanished.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But..

    "it's because you're consistently above the monthly average."

    So are 50% of the population, by deffinition!

    I'd write back and ask them to confirm I was above the 95 percentile, then I might consider asking them to refund my payments due to, breach of contract/unfair advertising, so I could take my business elsewhere.

    anyone who uses the term unlimited to describe a limited product is, in my opinion, scum.

    1. DPWDC

      I thought the same thing

      Seems pretty lame to use the average as a maximum limit!

  3. Mike Bird 1
    Happy

    Unlimited (defined by dictionary)

    –adjective

    1.not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.

    2.boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.

    3.without any qualification or exception; unconditional

  4. Mike Bird 1
    Unhappy

    Unlimited (defined by O2)

    –adjective

    1.limited; restricted; confined: limited trade.

    2.nowhere and noway what our marketing team are saying

    3.up to a limit defined by an average based on our user population.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    F@#k!n BT again..

    O2 Home Access users are actually getting a BT connection which O2 are paying for by the MB.

    This is also the case with many ISP's ie VM when not on a cable connection.

    Its BT's extortionate charge by the usage not for the service provision techniques that cause these issuse for customers on exchanges that are not unbundled.

    I do think it is wrong for O2 and others not to make this abundantly clear to customers, And they should NOT offer Unlimited in these cases! It should be very clear that they are not on an O2 server and prices are dictated by BT.

  6. Parax
    FAIL

    Easy Fix

    "it's because you're consistently above the monthly average."

    I hereby call on all O2 Home Access customers to download MORE! for the sake of you fellow customers the AVERAGE MUST BE RAISED!!

  7. Joeykins

    BT resold vs Unbundled

    I'm starting to think that all of the ISPs who offer separate packages for BT wholesale DSL and for unbundled should just bite the bullet and withdraw from the BT wholesale market. They obviously don't make money and it just leads to confusion. Be (yes part of O2) tell you "sorry but no" if you're not connected to an unbundled exchange, hence why they only seem to receive positive comments. Still, all that these announcements do is muddy the waters and cause worry amongst the larger, unbundled user base.

    I've started advising people at work to check with SamKnows whether their exchange is unbundled for Sky or O2/Be; if yes then take one of those services otherwise go for Zen.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not just O2...

    The entire industry is cynically making a profit from a service they're not actually in a position to provide - at least not if every single customer expects to get what they thought they were paying for. Not helped by technically-dyslexic top management who can't master their own laptops.

    So ludicrous contention ratios, useless connection speeds, and download limits more appropriate to a decade ago aren't the exception, they're the norm - and it's getting worse not better. The internet of 2010 is a high bandwidth animal - or ought to be - and that's not just what customers need and expect, it's what online businesses need to survive. High speeds and large downloads should be taken as a basic, not treated almost as petty crime. Currently, very few isps are up to the challenge - but they'll happily take your money and provide excuses and platitudes in return.

    I especially like the BBC's attitude that I need a TV licence for any equipment that 'can receive a TV program', including my PC. In my book that's patently unfair when applied to any PC with a limited download internet connection, where a single broadcast movie can take up a month's allowance, even assuming connection speed makes it watchable.

    1. david wilson

      @John 186

      >>"The entire industry is cynically making a profit from a service they're not actually in a position to provide."

      They can't *continually* make a profit from a service they can't provide, unless they have

      a) customers who don't realise that it isn't being provided (so presumably failing to hit invisible limits?)

      or

      b) customers who just complain rather than actually acting.

      Whatever 'unlimited' might naturally lead someone unaware of the situation to think when they take out a service, once that person has actually run up against (or even heard ab out) a provider whose service isn't as unlimited as they hoped it might be, they shouldn't be misled by it again (fool me once, shame on you, etc.) even if they are still somewhat annoyed that it still happens.

      *Personally*, I think it would be much better if the ASA (or trading standards or whoever) prevented people using the word unless their service was truly unlimited, or at least unless any reasonable use limits were both unavoidably obvious in the offer, and also higher than the limits on almost all explicitly limited services available elsewhere.

      However, given that TPTB don't seem to be doing that, I can also see how it's hard for any one company to decide to be noble at the expense of getting business.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. iRadiate

      Another supplier ?

      Who ?

  10. Ian 55
    Flame

    ASA, not OfCom

    It's the Advertising Standards Authority that allow firms to advertise services as "unlimited" when they are anything but.

    One "unlimited" service has a 30 megabyte limit - megabytes, not gigabytes! Another's ad used the word "unlimited" about three times in large letters before the tiny print admitted that they were lying.

    Once the ASA is persuaded to change its mind, we will see some ISP ads that could be called honest and truthful.

    1. AndrueC Silver badge

      Maybe..

      ..or maybe not. The ASA has no power to force advertisers to do anything. In most cases the companies responsible to withdraw or modify the offending ad but it's on a voluntary basis.

  11. MattW

    Buy cheap, get cheap

    Why are people surprised that their 'too good to be true!' super cheap 'unlimited' broadband turns out to be too good to be true?

    You get what you pay for - go with Zen

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      re: Buy cheap, get cheap

      £22.50 a month (if you don't have an O2 mobile number) is hardly "super cheap"...

    2. Peter Kay

      Not likely

      Zen has only recently become vaguely competitive. For well over a year after I moved to Be, Zen were still stuck on a more expensive, capped, slower service. It's still a tenner more expensive than Be's top product and has a slower upload speed.

      Be's higher end products are definitely not too good to be true.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      Really quite simple

      It doesn't cost them any more to provide what they're telling and selling. Stop lying about it or upgrade your facilities if you can't download your pr0nz fast enough at headquarters.

  12. Digital Freedom
    FAIL

    Hyprocritical Advertising

    You see them on telly slagging off other providers then O2 announce 10Gb cap on usage?

    WTF?

    "Here sir, have this wonderful new car but be sure not to drive more than 10 miles per month..."

    Any ISP's seen to be "downgrading" limits are clearly in great trouble.

    As for Satellite broadband I got a mail saying BIG 2Gb allowance per month. Like 3G dongles nobodys going to buy into these until the limits are increased by 10x-20x times than present allowance.

  13. ElNumbre
    Stop

    TFFT.

    When I was shopping around for a new BB supplier at the tail end of last year, O2 were very high on my list due to their reasonable pricing of an unlimited service. There was also no mention of usage caps, just a 'we will tell you if you're using too much' kind of warning which made me more than a little suspicious of its ambiguity.

    In the end I've plumped for a connection from AAISP who let you purchase as much as you need for a reasonable rate, tell you whats going on when something breaks (usually BT) and are pretty open about what they do and how they do it. Perfect for an experienced tech hand, but they are more expensive than many of the equivalent rent-a-BT white-box shippers. Its worth it though because it is vary rare to see contention issues, total service failure or the other crap services that the rest supply. I suppose its like comparing Aldi with Waitrose - you get what you pay for.

    Plus, if you phone them (Office hours only :( ) you don't get put through to a script machine in Bangalore.

    But please don't all sign up with them, you'll knacker it up for us exisiting users!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "But please don't all sign up with them"

      Not a chance, their prices are double what I already pay Be and they impose a ridiculous "Daytime usage" limit as well as a separate "evening/weekend usage" limit. Total cack.

      As you say, 90% of all cockups are BTs fault anyway so I fail to see what benefit there is to be had here.

      Like everything in life, you can pay a premium for the good stuff (Be) and then you can pay a premium on top of that for mediocre crap with a good marketing gimmick (e.g. Bose, AAISP etc).

      1. ElNumbre
        Stop

        Not for all.

        Unfortunatly, BE isn't available everywhere (like my exchange) so I can't get service from them. AAISP at least offer service anywhere where BT IP Stream services are.

        Plus, I don't care about a daytime limit - I'm generally at work during weekdays, and if I am at home and using it, their unit based charging means that (provided you don't go mad for bandwidth hungry apps) it has a negligable impact on my utilization. Just have to remember to schedule large downloads overnight, when its more or less free.

        And I'm paying £24 a month - looking at the BE website, thats only about £3 more expensive than the BE Pro package which is the closest equivalent - not really double the price? I average about 86GB per month, so unless you download tones more than this, they're fairly equivalent.

  14. JP19

    Blame BT

    I have downloaded more than 10GB in a day with an LLU O2 connection costing less than an O2 access connection. Never seen a slowdown so their LLU network still has plenty of capacity.

    BT like they always have screw as much out of their customers as what's left of their monopoly allows.

    How can this be reconciled with our old (and new) government's dumb assertion that everyone needs ultra high speed broadband? So like they can use up their 10GB monthly limit in less than 15 minutes?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What it really costs

    Nice article from Plusnet on how BT charges ISP for wholesale broadband:

    http://goo.gl/Av4O

    Problem with O2 Access is that they never paid for more capacity as they gained more customers.

    As others have said you get what you pay for and with a competent ISP like ZEN you will get good speeds and reasonable download limits for what its actually costs!

    1. Rab Sssss
      Thumb Down

      @ac 00.02

      Wrong they have done buts probably a losing battle, they should kill the access package TBFH.

      A number of posters on here can't tell the differnce between LLU and a IPS connection, which is kinda disapointing.

  16. Myopic Aardvark
    Happy

    Still happy with Sky

    I've had a steady 1.2MB download speed since switching to Sky, despite plenty of other people in my area using the line and despite BT saying that my line couldn't handle any more than 500KB.

    I can stream HD from iPlayer without an issue and I can get Steam games downloaded within a couple of hours. And (after just checking my T&Cs), it is Unlimited. No caps, no nothing.

    Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BT engineers potentially going on strike soon

    good. I hope they strike for months on end until BT die a slow painful death and their infrastructure can be sold off to people where HasClue = True.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Calm down...

    To all of those raging over BT's high DSL costs:

    have OFCOM decided to stop ripping the rest of us off to ensure that LLU "succeeds"?

    It used to be, and might still be, that OFCOM forced BT wholesale to charge far more for IPstream and similar products so that LLU looked attractive to providers to build-out. That's why they can do so much with LLU and IPstream looks like the poor relation.

    Also, it's also far cheaper to run a network when you cherrypick the most profitable exchanges and leave the rest to BT. All this talk about a "monopoly" is ridiculous. If o2 wanted to build into every exchange in the UK, BT would let them (they'd be forced to). o2 just don't want to.

    (I speak as someone on a tiny village exchange where the chances of getting LLU are lower than Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister again)

  19. Uplink
    Grenade

    The monthly average you say?

    "consistently above the monthly average" is their reason? Is the monthly average the figure they use when they set up limits?

    In that case, I guess it's time for a little benign trojan that makes all users in the UK use more bandwidth, which would raise the average, which will raise the value of infinity a bit, right?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    just had a call from O2

    Been advised I downloaded 65GB last month and that was too much. Less than 40GB and I wouldn't have been called, but "40GB isn't a cap". Call centre droid didn't seem to understand that retrospectively telling people they're using too much and saying usage is subject to a fair usage policy where they can't define what constitutes fair use doesn't really help matters...

    Basically i'm being kept an eye on and if they see me using more than 40GB for the next 2 months then they'll terminate my contract and give me a MAC key to move elsewhere. Quite tempting seeing as their throttling during afternoons and evenings gives me less than 1 Mb. I asked if I could expect this throttling to be reduced seeing as people were bring told to cut back and the droid said "of course" - I'll believe that when I see it!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    10gig? That's news to me

    As an ex Access customer and o2 Home Broadband employee, I'm very surprised to hear this (although not surprised the powers that be haven't bothered to pass this on to us on the frontline). The average Access user goes through around 20gig of data a month, and as far as us call centre drones are concerned it's when users start hitting the 40gig mark that's when they get the call to request that they calm down on the downloading front. Most customers are actually happy to comply because they accept the limitations of the Access service.

    I do agree that o2 should have been more transparent when they brought out the traffic shaping policy, which has completely killed peak time Access speeds for everyone, but before that unlimited did mean unlimited as long as you weren't taking the piss. I've heard of customers managing to download in excess of a terabyte of data a month. How the feck they do it on the current speeds I don't know, but the people who are chancing their luck really are spoiling it for those who only want to watch a couple of videos on Youtube etc.

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