back to article BT doles out measly 2GB to customers in Dropbox-alike BT Cloud

BT Cloud, the telco's own Dropbox-a-like offering, was launched in February. But BT has only just gotten around to telling its BT broadband customers about it. Perhaps it's because it's only allowing them 2GB of free BT cloud storage space. Here's the BT announcement – but before you hit that link, cast your eye over these …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In all fairness, BT has to fund storage so that it can copy EVERYTHING someone does for the illegal raft of laws that our fascist (or communist depending on your viewpoint) government wants to bring in. You can't make a copy of 11 million people entire life and have spare space for peoples actual requirements.

    Or is it because they just fluffed all their money on BT sport?

    Certainly isn't because all their money is spent on decent internet roll out to the country (I mean the actual countryside not the UK)

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Meh

      Certainly isn't because all their money is spent on decent internet roll out to the country (I mean the actual countryside not the UK)

      The company offering this lack lustre storage service is 'BT Retail'. They are not responsible for the roll-out of physical infrastructure. It might sound petty but it's an important distinction if you want to try and put pressure on 'BT' to extend their roll-out. There's no point whining to or about your ISP - it's Openreach you want to be complaining to.

      Blame these people

    2. JDX Gold badge

      our fascist (or communist depending on your viewpoint) government

      Says it all about the typical ranty poster. Doesn't know what these words mean, just that the moment your government takes more control than you like over any aspect of your life, they must be one or the other. Probably better throw in 'evil' at the same time... that bunch of evil fascists.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And... it wouldn't be fair on the lads and lasses of GCHQ, they only have so many hours in a day to riffle through the personal storage of BT customers, and offering more than 2GB to each customer would make it impossible for them to get through everyones files.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Rifling through files

      especially when most of them are piccies of kittens/puppies/cars/toys (delete as applicable) and might just contain

      some secret information inside them using steganography. That picture of a sweet kitten might just contain the UK's Trident launch codes. Can't be too careful can one?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Rifling through files

        Aha! You're the one with the launch codes... the lads will be around shortly.

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. GregC

    Stick Ubuntu One on the list too

    Just another service offering 5GB plus referral bonuses.

    BT offering does look pretty poor.

  5. Philip Cheeseman

    Its in the same category as all the other value added services BT offer with my infinity connection - Unused. Wish they'd drop all this stuff and just concentrate on better connections....

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Stop

      Wish they'd drop all this stuff and just concentrate on better connections....

      Sorry to nitpick but 'BT the ISP' is not responsible for your connection. That would be a separate part of BT called Openreach.

    2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      re: Space unused.

      Me too, and since there are many people like us, that almost certainly means that the storage available in the BT Cloud is << (2GB * number of customers).

      Which I suppose means they should really be advertising up to 2GB ? Maybe we should all use our 2/5/10/50GB, just to see what happens? Start an upload script & go to bed?

  6. Sir Barry

    Tencent in China - 10TB

    Now that is impressive, but how secure?

    I guess the NSA can't rummage through your files there......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I guess the NSA can't rummage through your files there......

      I wouldn't bet on that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "I guess the NSA can't rummage through your files there......

        I wouldn't bet on that."

        But I wouldn't care. I just need 50GB and rising for my photos. If the Chinese will offer me that for free then they all big state stasi-eque state nose-pokers are welcome to riffle through my photo collection. In fact maybe that's a way forward for GCHQ and their useless spying chums - offer free cloud backup themselves. I've already paid these waster's salaries and kit costs, so I'd like 1TB please.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          In fact maybe that's a way forward for GCHQ and their useless spying chums - offer free cloud backup themselves. I've already paid these waster's salaries and kit costs, so I'd like 1TB please.

          You might be onto something there, you should raise an epetition.

        2. keithpeter Silver badge

          Public download?

          "If the Chinese will offer me that for free then they all big state stasi-eque state nose-pokers are welcome to riffle through my photo collection."

          Public download links? Any bandwidth limit? Might keep a customised debian live iso up there with all my statistics software pre-configured.

  7. Gareth 7

    I have 50GBytes Cloud Storage with BT

    I think you may be telling half a story.

    1. I Am Spartacus

      Re: I have 50GBytes Cloud Storage with BT

      Me too. But it is not Linux friendly. Also, no single file can be larger that 900 MB (They say 1GB, but it is a lie).

  8. adnim
    Meh

    On the one hand.....

    "It’s a free and safe place to store your files, photos and videos online."

    and on the other...

    "This service will be stopped and your files deleted if you don’t use it for 90 days."

    Not exactly safe then is it?

  9. jason 7

    I'm a BT customer

    and when I saw the email telling me proudly I could have the oh so generous 2GB... I chuckled.

    Ahhh bless.

    It's always amazing when large companies totally fail to recognise what all the others offering such services are doing.

  10. andreas koch
    Joke

    Now here's an idea:

    Why doesn't the GCHQ offer a free cloud storage plan?

    They're holding all data anyway and, on top of that, could use this to stop all this redundant double and triple storing of your cat pix. With only references to data held in the Cheltenham Doughnut internet traffic would be a lot less, and thereby the need to upgrade the broadband out in the sticks could be put off for another few decades.

    .

    Hey, it's Friday!

    1. LinkOfHyrule
      Joke

      Re: Now here's an idea:

      They might do, see my post further down! but keep ssshhh! about it ;o)

  11. shooi

    It depends...

    ...on the broadband package. I have 50GB storage...

  12. frank ly

    I've got 16GB of cloud storage .....

    ... in the form of a memory stick plugged into the little FTP server (NSLU2) that is connected to my home router. I worry about whether it could withstand a sustained brute force attack :)

  13. dale 15

    Read The Small Print

    And they have the right to delete your stuff if you don't access it for 90 days.

    Seriously - it's in the small print. Not sure how other clouds small print compares.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Alien

      Re: Read The Small Print

      Its what the Weathermen call

      Clouds breaking up (viz evaporating)

      much like what will happen to your files then.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Read The Small Print

      Not sure how other clouds small print compares.

      It's probably just as small.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cloud file storage or "NSA virus scanner" as they should be known.

    NSA virus scanning services - keeping your files free of terrorism.

  15. Suricou Raven

    I don't trust any of them.

    I made my own 'cloud storage.' It's actually just a bit of perl script and .htaccess trickery on a VM server I rent for IRC bots, website and minecraft.

    It doesn't take much to handle simple file uploading, if you're only doing it for one user and don't need to enforce advertising.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: I don't trust any of them.

      You realise that isn't cloud, and is barely even storage? One of the main benefits of proper cloud storage is the possibility for massive redundancy. I guess your provider would sell you backup services for your server but then that would probably just be using a proper cloud anyway :)

  16. LinkOfHyrule
    Joke

    I'm setting up a rival service!

    Me and some "strategic partners" are setting up GCloud-HQ!

    It offers "government approved security" features and a BT's ball busting 2.5GB of free storage space! Perfect for storing pictures of your cats, confidential business documents or intimate details of your sordid sex life! And not only that, but we promise to keep your data for ever, you know, just in case we, urm I mean you, need it at some point in the future - for example as evidence in a court case etc.

    Remember folks - GCloud-HQ for all your personal data storage needs!

    1. andreas koch
      Happy

      @ LinkOfHyrule - Re: I'm setting up a rival service!

      I claim prior art, see above.

      1. LinkOfHyrule
        Happy

        Re: I claim prior art, see above.

        But I came up with the sexy marketing and the cool name - yeah I should have read the full thread first but coming as I do from the Dragon's Den school of business - I didn't bother with any research or due diligence.

        Okay me and my business partner partner/handler will let you in on the deal if you give us £2500,000 for 10% of the company - you in or out?

        1. andreas koch
          Pint

          @ LinkOfHyrule - Re: I claim prior art, see above.

          Nah, I'll wait , , ,

          If it works out, I'll sue; if not, thanks for free testing!

    2. Tim Jenkins

      Re: I'm setting up a rival service!

      "intimate details of your sordid sex life"

      Isn't that what Tumblr is for?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Many others

    Mega.com

    Copy.com

    All infinitely better.

  18. Magister
    Windows

    My first hard drive..

    ...was 20 Mb in size; and I used Quarterdeck doublestor to increase that to a whopping 39.8 MB. The total amount of data I had then fitted on 3 x 5 1/4 inch floppies (720 Kb each.) I really didn't know what I was going to put on the rest of that drive.

    Kids today...

    1. Anonymous Custard

      Re: My first hard drive..

      Yup. I still find it quite amazing that today I have more storage capacity about my person (flash drives on keyring and flash/SD in my phone and tablet) than the entire Physics Dept that I studied for my degrees at ~25 years ago had at that time. And I can remember when the first GB hard drive arrived there.

      Suddenly I feel so old...

      1. Platelet

        Re: My first hard drive..

        Right.

        I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, I had to back my data up with parchment and a quill

        1. Magister

          Re: My first hard drive..

          Parchment & Quill? Luxury!

          We used to have to use a block of granite and a chisel!

          1. andreas koch
            Boffin

            @ Magister - Re: My first hard drive..

            Chisel, ey?. Newfangled modern stuff.

            I had some fingerpaint made from mud and a cave wall.

            And I had to walk 15 miles uphill to Mammoth hunting lessons, both ways!

  19. Arachnoid
    Pirate

    BT offering does look pretty poor.

    Yea you cant upload many fil...............family images on 2GB

    On a serious not its a paltry amount given whats available already and could only really be used for relatively minor priority storage

  20. Tanuki
    Happy

    Just Do It Yourself...

    Me and a friend have a neat "private cloud" approach using a pair of single-board computers (think pre-Raspberry-pi) 8-port USB hubs, and a handful of cheap 32Gb USB memory-sticks.

    The two setups replicate their contents via cron-jobs and scp because it's simple. We each have rights to half the space on our own system and let the other person use the other half.

    One of the systems is in Australia, the other in the UK.

  21. ChrisCabbage

    They're giving me 50GB on Infinity.

  22. banjomike
    FAIL

    Don't forget BT Digital Vault

    BT started sending threatening emails about closing their previous Cloud offering, BT Digital Vault, back in March. Vault was 2GB available to anyone, anywhere, forever, supposedly. They scrapped Vault and brought in Cloud which is only for BT Broadband subscribers. If you stop subscribing to BT Broadband you say goodbye to your data AND they ALSO say: "This service will be stopped and your files deleted if you don’t use it for 90 days". Sounds like a wonderful service that you can totally rely on.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Half arsed story...

    ...you may want to actually go to BT's website before putting such drivel.

    Note 2gb is for Infinity1 or less, over that it's 50gb.

    So article should read.

    If you have a lower package with BT you get 2gb, higher ones 50gb.

    Not so headline worthy.

    Bloody hell I've defended BT twice in a year, time to go and chip the ice of hell's front gate.

  24. Arachnoid

    Erm...............not quite

    You currently have 2GB of BT Cloud storage included with your BT Broadband. Want more space? You can choose to take a new contract for your BT Broadband and we'll upgrade you to 50GB of BT Cloud Storage at no extra cost.

  25. Alex Wilson

    Is there any software out there that aggregates all these paltry cloud drives?

    If it could be done seamlessly there's quite a large capacity available...

    I smell a business opportunity!

  26. Al fazed
    Unhappy

    BT OpenShut

    Think I miss spelled the title !

    Yes, You can upload your files but you cannot share them, if they are audio .was files. No reasons given, so two days wasted trying to access this free service, which doesn't like some browsers. Especially Internet Explorer, the default for your BT Account.

  27. Tezfair
    Thumb Up

    Try the other BT....

    BTSync

  28. Chris Mellor 1

    BT's press office sent me this note:

    How much free storage you get is dependent on what package you choose, Unlimited Broadband extra and Unlimited BT Infinity 2 customers get 50GB:

    http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/broadband/online-storage

    http://www.btplc.com/news/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=87EF70E6-C043-487D-9D0A-C17E79BA559E

    Chris.

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