One in Four UK Broadband Users Hit by Excessive Use Warnings

The latest survey of over 550 www.ISPreview.co.uk readers, an impartial independent information and consumer review site covering UK broadband Internet Service Providers, has revealed that one in four Brits (25.1 per cent) have been warned by their Internet provider about excessive usage (downloading).

PRESS RELEASE

One in Four Broadband Users Hit by Excessive Use Warnings

14/04/2009 (www.ISPreview.co.uk, UK, London) – The results from 557 respondents to ISPreview.co.uk’s latest survey reveals that 25.1% of Brits have been warned by an ISP about their broadband usage and 45.4% would switch to a different provider if they received such a notification, while a further 41.1% were unsure whether or not they’d switch and just 13.4% said they definitely wouldn’t change ISP.

The results shouldn’t come as any great surprise, especially with broadband users being offered an ever increasing array of bandwidth heavy applications to use online. These include popular services such as online video sites (YouTube, BBC iPlayer) and digital distribution platforms like Steam, XBox Live and other applications.

“Broadband has allowed people to do a lot more with their online time than ever before,” said ISPreview UK’s Editor and Founder, Mark Jackson. “However, consumers need to remain mindful of any limits imposed by their ISP, especially where specific usage allowances or a vague Fair Usage Policy (FUP) has been applied. Failing to do so could land you in hot water with your ISP and potentially result in a service restriction or added costs.”

Some broadband providers that offer specific usage allowances are known to charge upwards of £2 per extra GigaByte (GB) of data consumed above the limit, while others may reduce your service speed until the following month. Sadly such limitations are often confined to the small print, which tends to be ignored.

“ISPs are at least partly to blame for such situations, with some of the largest providers – Tiscali and Virgin Media – continuing to promote their broadband products with wording like ‘unlimited downloads’. Broadband is a best efforts (shared) service that rarely plays well when an ‘all you can eat’ mentality is encouraged,” concluded Jackson. “Some will also employ confusing traffic management policies in the small print, which aside from sometimes being hard to find, can also confuse unfamiliar users.”

ISPreview recommends that consumers take the time to check up on their package details, hunting out any restrictions and, if necessary, contact the ISP to check up on your usage levels. Thankfully many ISPs frequently provide a website based members-only service, which usually allows you to check your usage levels and any extra costs. Should the service be unable to cope with your growing demands then don’t be afraid to change ISP or swap to a more flexible package on the same provider.

ISPreview.co.uk is a popular UK consumer focused Internet Service
Provider information site that reports on the daily happenings in the
industry, allows visitor to review their provider and freely helps
customers to resolve problems. The website has been running since 1999
and also offers a simple listings and price comparison system, among
other features. ISPreview.co.uk is complimented by a sister site,
Host-Review.co.uk, which covers UK website hosting providers.

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