Guest J273 Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 Im considering migrating from my current isp Zen internet (512 connection at £24 a month not capped) to BT's 2meg service at the same price with a 15gig cap,what i want to know is with the download cap is this for what u actually download to your machine or does it include streaming media like i listen to interent radio alot through winamp is this part of the download or not :?: Also say if i go over the 15gig how do i get chraged for the extra gigs?,is it charged to your phone line or just taken out of your account per gig used,Thanks
Guest tudor Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 Streaming means traffic, and they mean 15GB of traffic. I have Telewest 1Mbps for £25 a month and unlimited traffic. You can get it cheaper if you have other services from Telewest.
Guest J273 Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 so streaming media is part of the 15meg usage then?
Guest Matt Kirby Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 Yup - any data downloaded to you machine, by any application, is taken out of your monthly limit. Streaming media, email (and attachments), webpages, any naughty downloads (warez, MP3s, P2P stuff), etc, etc. The limits ISPs are introducing are to stop people hammering the network by downloading warez or films - if you aint doing naughty stuff you're unlikely to hit the limit. If you do go over your limit your ISP will add the additional charges to your monthly bill so you would pay it with the monthly ADSL charge.
Guest mike-oh Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 The limits ISPs are introducing are to stop people hammering the network by downloading warez or films - if you aint doing naughty stuff you're unlikely to hit the limit. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not strictly true, if i'm doing lots of work on here i listen to 128k streams for around 8 hours a day. Plus any d/loads i might make eg Halflife 2 demo is 700mb! Also I often upload backups of my work to server and to transfer between here and uni. They can range to several hundred Mb. Then take into account there are 4 of us sharing the one connection, granted i'm probably the heaviest user but it can add up! Fortunately i currently have no cap, but i'm subject to "fair useage" which ntl say is around 30gb a month @ 750k connection. If i was to excede this value they probably wouldn't say anything unless i was consistantly well over. Even then they would probably just ask me to calm it down. Mike
Guest Gorskar Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 Dont forget a lot of ISPs count the cap as total data transferred, so probably include upstream traffic in that cap too. So if you use P2P apps or download a lot of game demos, listen to streaming media, run a game server on your connection etc etc you could find it uses a lot of data! As I work for Zen if you're on a Zen I can find out how much data you've transferred in the last month (ish) if you let me know your username in a PM. (well actually I can find out how much data you've used in a session - so if you've been continously connected since eternity I can't tell you anything!)
Guest J273 Posted March 15, 2005 Report Posted March 15, 2005 Dont forget a lot of ISPs count the cap as total data transferred, so probably include upstream traffic in that cap too. So if you use P2P apps or download a lot of game demos, listen to streaming media, run a game server on your connection etc etc you could find it uses a lot of data! As I work for Zen if you're on a Zen I can find out how much data you've transferred in the last month (ish) if you let me know your username in a PM. (well actually I can find out how much data you've used in a session - so if you've been continously connected since eternity I can't tell you anything!) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So do you know if zen have plans on updating there connections say 512 to 1meg service in the future or not,as i dont have any problems with zen at all just that im paying the same as my mate whose on a 2 meg connection and im on 512 :D also is the 1meg connection from zen i think its £29 capped at all,Thanks
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted March 16, 2005 Report Posted March 16, 2005 Not strictly true, if i'm doing lots of work on here i listen to 128k streams for around 8 hours a day. Plus any d/loads i might make eg Halflife 2 demo is 700mb! Also I often upload backups of my work to server and to transfer between here and uni. They can range to several hundred Mb. Then take into account there are 4 of us sharing the one connection, granted i'm probably the heaviest user but it can add up! Fortunately i currently have no cap, but i'm subject to "fair useage" which ntl say is around 30gb a month @ 750k connection. If i was to excede this value they probably wouldn't say anything unless i was consistantly well over. Even then they would probably just ask me to calm it down. Mike Mike-oh log onto ntlworld and get your cable upgraded to 2MB for free!
Guest Skeese Posted March 16, 2005 Report Posted March 16, 2005 hehe theres a way to uncap the ntl broadband and use the full bandwidth of the street. but thats illegal :D as you need another app :D
Guest Gorskar Posted March 16, 2005 Report Posted March 16, 2005 So do you know if zen have plans on updating there connections say 512 to 1meg service in the future or not,as i dont have any problems with zen at all just that im paying the same as my mate whose on a 2 meg connection and im on 512 :D also is the 1meg connection from zen i think its £29 capped at all,Thanks Not at present as far as I know (I cant say much about the future). Zen isnt really aiming to be the cheapest ISP out there, rather the philosophy is to provide simple high quality uncapped broadband services backed by first rate support (and I do actually believe that) If you are a light user who doesnt care much about the support offered if something goes wrong, then you might save money with one of the myriad of providers offering capped products.
Guest robbster Posted March 16, 2005 Report Posted March 16, 2005 I've been with Nildram who have just revised there broadband service and brought in caps. I used to pay £23 a month for unlimited 512k but have upgraded to the 2mb service for £2 extra a month. The 2mb service has a 50gig cap but is uncapped between the hours of 12am till 8am so any large downloads i shedule for that time. I wouldn't say I'm a real heavy user but do enjoy the occasional download and streaming radio etc. All in all i'm quite a happy bunny :D
Guest mike-oh Posted March 18, 2005 Report Posted March 18, 2005 Mike-oh log onto ntlworld and get your cable upgraded to 2MB for free! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I knew this was in the works but they've kept it fairly quiet. And it's free you say?!? I thought they were going to add a £25 admin charge?! Mike
Guest Matt Kirby Posted March 18, 2005 Report Posted March 18, 2005 A lot of ISPs are going to do this - PlusNet are planning to do it next month: "Existing PlusNet customers will be able to upgrade free of charge to the maximum available DSL speed. The changes enable the ISP to determine its customers' actual speed setting, instead of this being set at BT's local exchange." From the Register Its due to BT recently upgrading wholesale ADSL offerings to ISPs, so it looks like the market could move from charging for speed of connection to charging for data used. PlusNet are introducing limits, but only at peak periods to encourage off-peak use.
Guest mike-oh Posted March 18, 2005 Report Posted March 18, 2005 Personally i would rather keep a slower connection with no cap than pay per meg. Why have the speed when you have to worry about using it? For casual browsing anything 128k upwards is fine. You only really benefit from the extra speed when d/loading large files, which you'd be afraid to do as you would be capped! It's a bit paradoxial really.
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted March 18, 2005 Report Posted March 18, 2005 Mike-oh: i knew they were working on it too, found out about it from a friend. No charges that i can see....
Guest mike-oh Posted March 19, 2005 Report Posted March 19, 2005 (edited) MMMMmmmmm 2mb! Cheers mono! had to download some sizeable files just so i could test the speed! Googling around it would seem ntl dropped the upgrade charge. What i didn't think to check was if they've extended the contract for another 12 months :S They never said anywhere they would so i'll kick up a fuss if they have done! Edited March 19, 2005 by mike-oh
Guest mavisdavis Posted March 19, 2005 Report Posted March 19, 2005 You might also find like I did that they consider it as a new connection ( I dropped to 2mb after being on the 3mb connection) And I haven't been charged for this months BB connection :D
Guest mike-oh Posted March 19, 2005 Report Posted March 19, 2005 so are you saying that they will have extended my contract?! I hope not, i'm moveing out of this house at the end of term! will have to ring C.S. on monday.
Guest mavisdavis Posted March 19, 2005 Report Posted March 19, 2005 No I don't think they renew your yearly contract as after the 1st 3mths with NTL you can swap and change your tarriffs as often as you like. After the 1st year your also able to end the contract by the end of the next billing month yor no longer contracted for another year as your subscription pays for the equipment. Pretty much like any tarriff
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted March 19, 2005 Report Posted March 19, 2005 I'm on the 9 month contract btw...
Guest mike-oh Posted March 20, 2005 Report Posted March 20, 2005 That's good. We (house mates and I) siigned up for the 9 Month contract back in october 2003. We got an upgrade ages ago from 512 to 750k if i remember rightly. Although if u said it's like other tariffs if u upgrade u usually have another 12 months contract like with phones. However, like u said, equipment is paid for. So i see where u r coming from. cheers mike posted from my tasty jam!
Guest mike-oh Posted March 24, 2005 Report Posted March 24, 2005 OK, i just had it confirmed by a friend of mine who works for NTL There is a) NO upgrade fee :D NO extention to your contract. So all you ntl folks, go ahead and get added speeeeeed! (but note the Gb cap)
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