Any plans on bandwidth caps being increased?

Aaron · Oct 13, 2009, 17:14:02

I was thinking how most of the caps on ISPs, IDNet and Zen for example screw us over on our access to digital content distribution systems, such as Steam which I recently got into. It's always a burden to constantly check how much I've downloaded and try to not overdo it until next month, 30gb feels really small to juggle around with.

Would there be any plans to increase this slightly, to perhaps 40gb a month? or do a system similar to Nildram's where they put unused bandwidth from last month into the current month? e.g. 20gb of 30gb cap used in September, then 10gb of that unused bandwidth is given in October giving you 40gb total to use for the month, and this could cap at something like 60gb to prevent people collecting too much.

edit: or at least we could be given extra bandwidth to use at the off-peak times, which I think most ISPs seem to do.

Lance · Oct 13, 2009, 17:16:21

There are no plans that I know of as the packages were reviewed with the introduction of the WBC packages. Incidently, the WBC packages do have more bandwidth so if your exchange has been converted that may be one option. Also, there is always supermax.

Simon · Oct 13, 2009, 17:19:47

You get a higher bandwidth allowance on ADSL2+, if it's available to you, but otherwise, no, we've not heard of any plans to increase bandwidth on the Max packages, and it wouldn't be cost effective for IDNet to do so. If you go over your allowance, they do sell additional bandwidth at more or less cost price, at £1 per Gb, whereas other ISPs charge nearly £5 per Gb. There's also the option of moving up to Supermax.

Or what Lance said!

Aaron · Oct 13, 2009, 17:26:26

Well I don't understand about BT imposing these caps on IDNet when an ISP such as Plusnet is able to provide unlimited bandwidth for £16-20 a month on ADSLMax, I don't know anything about how good Plusnet is though

Steve · Oct 13, 2009, 17:49:21

Plusnet as far as I am aware is owned by BT

Simon · Oct 13, 2009, 18:06:39

The caps aren't imposed by BT, they are part of Idnet's pricing structure. BT sell IDNet the bandwidth, and IDNet sell it on to us, at a price sustainable to the business.

Tacitus · Oct 13, 2009, 18:08:56

Quote from: Aaron on Oct 13, 2009, 17:26:26
Well I don't understand about BT imposing these caps on IDNet when an ISP such as Plusnet is able to provide unlimited bandwidth for £16-20 a month on ADSLMax, I don't know anything about how good Plusnet is though

I believe they use traffic shaping quite heavily. iDNet don't, which is one of the reasons you can still get good speeds after 5pm.

jrboden · Oct 13, 2009, 18:38:10

Can I please ask that in the future the following word is not used "traffic shaping" or "traffic shafting" as I like to call it because my doctor says it sets me back on my treatment.

Ex SKYBORG connect customer ))) been reading today that O2 has also started upsetting their customers with above word.

Must agree £1 a gb is a good deal for us on non LLU huts of string - anther reason I picked IDNET over others.......I was going to O2 because of my mobile deal but checked out forums and looks like they have gone as bad as SKY BORG

quandam · Oct 13, 2009, 18:39:25

Quote from: Tacitus on Oct 13, 2009, 18:08:56
I believe they use traffic shaping quite heavily. iDNet don't, which is one of the reasons you can still get good speeds after 5pm.

Tacitus

Absolutely spot on! You can get 40 Gb per month with Sky Connect but forget any useful use of the internet after 5pm

Aaron, be very careful as to what service you require especially after 5pm each evening.

dujas · Oct 13, 2009, 18:45:59

Plusnet traffic management quite harshly between 12pm and 12am. There might not be any download limits, but the speeds are set so low for the various protocols that you wouldn't be able to download anything substantial even if you wanted to.

There could be a price cut or download limit increase in January 2010 for 21CN customers, but Idnet haven't publicly stated what the BT Wholesale price cuts on WBC 21CN means for them.

Lance · Oct 13, 2009, 22:51:06

And also for a ISP the size of plusnet, they rely on lots of light users offsetting the heavy users. If all their users to to hammer their connections, the plusnet network would grind to a halt.

The reason go difference in Idnet packages between WBC and max is also quite simple. BT charge quite a bit more for max than they do for WBC, so there is more cost for Idnet to pass on.

Simon_idnet · Oct 14, 2009, 04:43:58

Quote from: dujas on Oct 13, 2009, 18:45:59
Idnet haven't publicly stated what the BT Wholesale price cuts on WBC 21CN means for them.

BT haven't released prices to us yet. Apparently the announcement that WBC prices were changing was a surprise to the BT managers of WBMC and caught them off-guard so much that they haven't been able to respond yet!
S

zappaDPJ · Oct 14, 2009, 06:24:47

Aaron · Oct 15, 2009, 01:27:48

Thanks for the feedback, decided to take the plunge and put in a request for Home Supermax

Wonder if the 60gb cap will take effect this month or only on next billing date (since my card was billed 3 days ago) as I'm on 24gb/30gb right now

Lance · Oct 15, 2009, 06:49:19

It will take effect as soon as Idnet have processed your request

Niall · Oct 16, 2009, 23:08:18

I was thinking that it might be an idea to add a bandwidth model that is 10gb higher at peak, and 15gb lower at off peak, but costs £5 more.

I really need a lottery win so I can just buy anything that takes my fancy. Looking for a new game to play via demos is hammering my bandwidth in the last two months!

Sebby · Oct 18, 2009, 23:07:55

I guess it must be hard being an ISP, as not all customers have the same requirements, yet they can't offer too many packages.

Technical Ben · Oct 19, 2009, 20:09:41

Am I the only one who thinks paying extra, or using off peak times for downloads is ok? I'd much rather pay Idnet for their great service than the likes of O2

But I need to figure out how to setup a download schedule on Steam, especially when I get my new pc.

doc_holiday · Oct 24, 2009, 20:02:17

Quote from: Aaron on Oct 13, 2009, 17:14:02
edit: or at least we could be given extra bandwidth to use at the off-peak times, which I think most ISPs seem to do.

Before I IDnet, I was on an ISP that had VERY generous off peak allowances. What this resulted in was their network being hammered real heavy after hours. Since their network generally attracted heavy downloaders because of their generous off peak allowance, it wasn't a whole lot better during peak even though the caps were much lower.

I decided to find an ISP that had lower caps, so that whenever I used my internet connection, I could expect high performance, peak or off peak. The trade off was that I had to live with a cap, but I felt it was something I could live with, particularly given my usage habits.

To have both high performance and high bandwidth, I have come to the conclusion I would have to settle for a business package.

Sebby · Oct 24, 2009, 23:29:34

It sounds like you might be talking about Entanet...