BT limiting broadband speeds at peak times

Peter said on Tuesday, 02 June 2009

BT and other Co's need to wake up and stop whining about applications like the BBC iplayer which are here to stay. They and others also need to be more honest and open about there traffic management schemes. Customers likewise need to be aware that you get what you pay for so that super cheap package might not be as good a deal as it seems and may severely limit your enjoyment of media rich websites.

Patrick said on Wednesday, 03 June 2009

Well that isn't going to make much of a difference to me, i only get about 512kpbs, with option 1. They haven't even bothered to upgrade my line

Maggie said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

I doubt if I'll notice any difference either, because my broadband speed is so slow. I've complained about it, but all I'm told by BT is that it's not 'cost effective' to upgrade the lines in the far north of Scotland due to the small population. It doesn't seem to occur to them - or maybe I should say they just don't care - that because the north of Scotland *is* isolated, a lot of people have opted to try working from home and if you have a snail's pace download time it becomes impossible.

Ewoks said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

They always have, as far as I know. Also, they're not the only IP that do so. I know that an IP (that I shall not name here) who I used to get my boardband through also did/ does so.

Perhaps PCA should write an article on the worst providers who practice capping/traffic shaping/etc.

Ewoks said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

They always have, as far as I know. Also, they're not the only IP that do so. I know that an IP (that I shall not name here) who I used to get my boardband through also did/ does so.

Perhaps PCA should write an article on the worst providers who practice capping/traffic shaping/etc.

Ewoks said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

Sorry for the triple posts. They seem to have been caused by refreshing my browser.

PeTe said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

BT Cap my BB in the eve. I get 8mb in the day but come 5pm its lower than 500kb. I pay for 8mb so thats what i should get no matter what time it is!

simon willins said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

the comments are on two issues. 1/ that the band is narrowed at peak times which can be avoided by a better package and not the base line package and 2/ some commentors have mentioned that its not useful for work if its slow. this is after the peak limitaion comes in anyway but you should consider a business broadband package so thee are less sharing the line.

having said that; there is fibre optic cable outside my house that is still not connected to the exchange or my house WHY IS THIS?

Contax said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

Change to fixed charge for broadband with a meter for useage, I pay for an 8mbps connection from Virgin ADSL (BT wholesale) ok for 15 months got about 0.9mbps but over last few weeks keeps dropping to just over 0.3mbps, I know we suffer due to rural phone lines but that is not the whole problem. Would be great to be able to connect to iPlayer or social web sites but just not possible. I just downloaded SP2 for Vista it took 9 hours and while down loading it could not manage to receive email and this is when my connection is at it's best so stop moaning it's time we were all guaranteed a minimum connection speed before giving extra bandwidth to urban areas.

BonaFide said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

BT has been throttling download speeds for years during peak hours. The only time I can use my download speed to the maximum is between midnight and mid-afternoon. Between 3pm-12pm I get about 1/5th of my speed if I am lucky.

bt suck said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

BT are scam artists if you are with them you need to get away from them asap. I know of countles people who had their bandwidth throttled any time of day. They tell evryone it is the lines when most of the time it is not it is them. Get out now.

Bongo Bill said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

It's not only option 1, I have unlimited download option 3 and still get throttled despite paying a premium for the service. So the difference appears to be I can download as much as I like, therefore my limit doesn't need to be monitored, yet it costs more. Go figure! Can't wait til my contract runs out.....

Nocash 350 said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

Well I've always thought BT were absolutely useless, i get really slow download speed whilst all other customers from different ISP's have absolutely whizzing speed and streaming.

Paul Mantle said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

I Have just read this story and as i read this got quite angry, i have just recently moved to BT expecting to save a bit of money but still get a good service, the only time i get to use the internet is in the evening and this is the time i want my connection to be at it;s best, i understand about the amount of people using the internet at this time but i think ISP's should some how bost there service at these peak times. They are quite happy to take our money every month

cakeboy said on Thursday, 04 June 2009

bt has done this for at least 3 years.i was getting 30k down and 3.5k up from 4.30 pm till 12.00 for over 14months,and was paying the top price.i now have 19mbs down and 2.5mbs up and cheaper.easy to see why i left bt.

DrAT said on Friday, 05 June 2009

As far as I'm concerned, broadband and mobile phone suppliers made a mistake when they decided to have limited 'unlimited' accounts and terms that need a lawyer to unravel.
I usually have the very latest gear but I have a PAYG phone and 2Mb/s broadband. I can't see this changing in the near future. I simply don't trust the suppliers.
Incidentally, my 2Mb/s broadband is often as slow as my old dial-up connection.

British Telescam said on Friday, 05 June 2009

no difference to me-theyve never even bothered to update their lines up here in the highlands, so you need to connect long after midnight to get ANY connection! Lol. pity the money goes to the BT bosses instead of upgrading their lines.. and im in a CITY

Pal Al said on Friday, 05 June 2009

BT Vision?????? Bet that won't get throttled.

Mark Thompson said on Friday, 05 June 2009

I currently have a complaint in with Ofcom regarding BT and this issue. I'm on option 3 which I though was 'Unlimited'. I live in a flat with no access to Sky or Cable TV, but I was getting a decent 6meg connection initially, so signed up for the Skyplayer to watch Sky TV through broadband at a cost of £34 a month for the sky subscription.

It turns out that because of their 'Unlimited' broadband actually having a 100gb/month limit which is mentioned nowhere in the FUP, I am now being capped at 1meg between 17:00 - 00:00 making the Skyplayer unusable. To make it worse the cap stays in place for 30 days.

The BT FUP is unclear, unreasonable and if you read section 6 which states they don't throttle video streaming services for options 2 and 3, then you can see it is a blatant lie.

I'm hoping to get out of the remain 15 months of my contract at no cost to myself and feel very dissapointed in being missold a service by BT.

Squillary said on Sunday, 07 June 2009

This only goes to show the outright stupidity of people here. Do you also complain you can't go at 70mph on the M25 at rush hour? You're complaining that they put a 30mph restriction at these times, when the reality is you'd all be stuck in gridlock and going nowhere otherwise. Perhaps you're downloading lobotomies instead. I guess there's no cure for being terminally thick.

Lynne said on Sunday, 07 June 2009

I don't make excuses for BT as I think that they and all other ISPs should be more open with customers when they sign up. But I think that the popularity of the internet has grown exponentially. I first had dial-up and was happy with until about 2001. After limping on for a year or so, I upgraded to broadband in 2002. Now that the uptake of broadband has grown such that most people who 'can get it' have it. The ISPs ought to build in more capacity. I'm not technically articulate enough to describe how this could be achieved, but I think its mean spirited and greedy of ISPs to reduce anybodies download speeds, just because of the popularity of the product. Its suppy and demand. Customers damand, they should supply, for whatever was the price agreed up from and clearly in the beginning. If the service becomes less good because of the increase in demand then customers ought to get a refund. Thats my two penny worth anyway.

BonaFide said on Monday, 08 June 2009

Squillary your comparison holds no merit and are quite stupid to be honest.

martin said on Sunday, 14 June 2009

Its not just peak times bt are capping download speeds its any time of the day, why is it im getting speeds some days as much as over 1000 kbps, & then other days its down to a very poor 130 kbps which everyone knows that you hardly can do anything with, never mind streeming bbci player just forget it.

Mr Suit said on Friday, 26 June 2009

suit them for all the money they are making....

Ben said on Wednesday, 01 July 2009

You get what you pay for, this is true. but a basic package on other ISP's that use a BT connection for the last few hundred metres from the exchange comes in at 8mbps. so why would we want the medium packages or the high packages when we simply wont recieve anything higher then 6mbps in our location? it's a crazy thought. you'd have to pay for 20mbps broadband to get uncapped 6mb! im with sky connect, 6 in the morning, as soon as it hits 5. i get less then 1mbps!

David said on Thursday, 02 July 2009

They say they only do it to Option 1 Customers, well thats a lie, im on Option 3 and my speed goes from around 6mb/s to little under 500kb/s during peak times.