subject: Is Your Broadband Unlimited? [print this page] Is Your Broadband Unlimited? Is Your Broadband Unlimited?
Fair Usage Policy, these are three little words that protect broadband providers from being overrun by users abusing the provider's unlimited broadband package.
Yet a new report has highlighted the fact that many unlimited packages have restrictions or what the providers call a fair usage policy, the report also showed just how easy it is to stack up the megabytes without even realising it.
Even if your broadband says unlimited on the box, then, it may not actually be unlimited.
Five years ago if someone told you that you will be able to watch your favourite programme on the internet, you would have laughed and then direct the fantasist to a fantastic new site called YouTube.
Yet in 2010 watching Doctor Who on your laptop whilst downloading the entire first series of Glee is part of everyday life, unfortunately the providers haven't quite caught up meaning at peak times some users are experiencing slow down even if they're on unlimited broadband deals.
To lay it out in megabytes to make it simple to understand consider that watching or downloading a feature film can use anything from 700 MB to 4 GB depending on the quality it's not hard to see that the mega and gigabytes soon stack up.
This relatively normal use of the internet has started to stretch providers to the limit so it will also come as no surprise that around 9 percent of broadband users have received warning letters or had action taken against them for exceeding the fair usage limit.
The action taken can range from have speed capped otherwise known as throttling during peak usage times to have their service suspended or even terminated. This really dose call into question as to why customers are paying extra for an "unlimited" service yet still having to deal with restrictions.
If current trends continue more and more users could experience throttling and even suspension.
Here are two ways to check how unlimited your 'unlimited' broadband deal is.
First, any users concerned should consult the provider of their broadband deals as to the stipulations of their fair usage policy.
Second, check out what other users are saying by looking at broadband forums and check out reviews on price comparison sites before you sign up.
