Are You One of the Eight Million Users at Risk From ISP Cut Off Due to Usage?

We’re not talking about being cut off the internet for something like piracy here – we’re actually talking about the latest survey from uSwitch which suggests that unclear Fair Usage Policies and restrictions placed by UK ISPs (often without any clear idea of what justifies fair use) could put as many as 8 million consumers at risk of limits and disconnections simply because they are completely ignorant of just what kind of usage they are ‘allowed’ on their provider.

In fact, around 38% of the country believes that their broadband is unlimited, despite many ‘unlimited’ packages are using some sort of traffic shaping of usage monitoring. The study found that around 2 million people have been personally contacted by the provider due their excessive use and around 350,000 users have been punished for heavy usage which could include gaming, streaming video or downloading files.

These usage limits could become more of a barrier in the future as the huge amount of bandwidth required to stream things in HD – a very popular activity online – could mean that even users that previously considered their net usage to be light will find themselves receiving letters about their usage.

The problem here is that so many ISPs don’t even bother to explain what their usage limits actually are, making it very difficult for consumers to follow them. The study points out BskyB and the Virgin 50 Mbps package as two examples of providers that are offering truly unlimited services right now, but there are hundreds more ISPs that aren’t – including Virgin itself on its 20 Mbps and 10 Mbps packages.

Generally most will cover themselves with a Fair Usage Policy that suggests users avoid “excessive usage” without explaining exactly what “excessive” is. Very few providers with fair usage policies will give customers solid numbers making it very difficult for consumers to judge their net usage. Hopefully this is something that will start to change in the future, but until then make sure to check up on packages and read reviews before jumping into a package you believe to be “unlimited” that then severely limits your ability to download or stream video.

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