This morning I received the following letter (quoted in full for the benefit of anyone who hasn't had one):
Quote:
Dear x
We need to let you know that the average monthly usage on your broadband account across October and November was 64GB. This is in breach of our Fair Use Policy (please visit www.orange.co.uk/terms to see the policy_ and it heavily affects the performance for our other broadband customers.
When you signed up for Orange broadband, you agreed to our terms and conditions which say we can suspend or terminate your account if you breach the Fair Use Policy. However, we would much rather you reduce your usage, especially at peak times, so that you won't be in breach of the policy.
So we're writing to let you know that at peak times (6pm-midnight), we may start reducing your usage by cutting down your connection speed. We'll keep an eye on the usage for a while, and if we see that it's changed sufficiently to meet our policy requirements, we may restore your connection speed during those times.
We're doing this so that we can give all our customers the best internet experience that we're able to provide.
Thanks
Customer Support
This is the first "warning" I've had. I'm actually surprised the numbers were so high. But since I'm only on a fraction under 3mb/s, it makes me wonder how many people on faster connections must be getting these letters.
If Orange were genuine in wishing to help their customers, they would have implemented a usage monitor on their website. Nildram (my previous ISP) had that, and I was able to ensure I didn't exceed the 50GB/month limit they had (plus they had a carry-over policy for the previous month's unused quota).
Why haven't Orange provided a monitor yet? Surely not so that they can kick off heavy users in favour of signing up 2 or more "light users" to take their place and make more money? No, that would be cynical of me!
Is there any sign of them providing a monitor in the near future?
Let's face it, we all know that "Fair Use Policies" are a joke when they don't actually stipulate what fair usage is in explicit terms. And, of course, I don't know how anyone can offer "unlimited" broadband with limits (but I thought that way before joining Orange anyway).
I don't want to be cancelled on by Orange (at least until I know I won't be charged for my half price laptop!) so I'll be trying to stay within those wonderful t&c's. I'm going to try NetMeter to monitor my usage but if anyone has better suggestions that that utility, please let me know.
It also seems strange that they sent a letter quoting stats from 1.5 and 2.5 months ago, meaning I could already be in line to exceed the policy twice in a ro, putting myself at further risk of throttling. But that would me being cynical again, wouldn't it?
I got the same letter this morning too. We've got 6 people using the connection so without a monitor it's going to be really hard to keep usage below whatever unspecified limit they have. Here is the relevent part of the fair use policy:
Quote:
Am I likely to be affected by the Fair Use Policy?
If you don't use file sharing software or download large files from the Internet it's unlikely you'll ever be affected by this policy. If you do, all we ask is that you do so considerately, perhaps by downloading outside the peak hours of 6pm to 11pm.
What will happen if my use is very high?
If you only occasionally have very high usage, we're unlikely to be concerned unless it becomes a regular occurrence. If this does happen then we'll get in touch to help you find ways to reduce your usage.
If your usage continues to be very high, we'll get in touch again. Ultimately, if your usage still remains excessive despite our attempts to help you reduce it, we may have to suspend your service and possibly close your account.
We don't want to do that, and with your support and goodwill we'll work with you to see if we can avoid this happening.
Personally I only ever used said "file sharing software" overnight i.e. in the period they suggested, but i'm not sure they even care about that. Plus i don't see how this is a "regular occurrence" when they only state an average over 1-2 months, and threatening to teminate our account and cutting our connection speed isn't really the sort of "help" I would have liked.
I recieved one of those letters at the start of november last year saying i had downloaded too much in july and august and that they were going to cap my line between 6pm and midnite. Except they ended up capping my line 24/7 for about a month i called them on numerous occasions only for them to tell me there was a fault on my line which was a bare faced lie. Anyway i finally got my connection back at the start of december but i am still being capped between 6pm and midnite and honestly i can't be bothered calling them because their staff are about as helpfull as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Well the 24 hour capping had to be treated as a fault, least thats what I heard internally.
The downloaded figure is supposed to be an average over 2-3 months in order to try and make one off spikes not trigger it so much.
As for the FUP, the first paragraph quoted is generally pretty meaningless, it's simply a request, the second one carries all the weight. Generally it comes down to this:
If you use over a certain amount that Orange can and do vary then you are in breach of the FUP. AFAIK there is no consideration on at what times you download the data, simply the overall amount.
Since the capping trial got sorted it looks like the first step for anyone breaching the FUP is to be capped to 1/2 meg between 6pm and midnight for a minimum of 6 weeks.
Since the capping trial got sorted it looks like the first step for anyone breaching the FUP is to be capped to 1/2 meg between 6pm and midnight for a minimum of 6 weeks.
"Minimum 6 weeks"...so they make it up as they go along do they ?
Just how do they expect the capping fairy to know when to throw her magic dust over the connection to re-instate the original speed ?
Since the capping trial got sorted it looks like the first step for anyone breaching the FUP is to be capped to 1/2 meg between 6pm and midnight for a minimum of 6 weeks.
And guess what? They appear to have started doing that to me this evening, with no further warning since that first letter. How was I supposed to act to reduce usage for a period that had already passed? Regardless of the wording in the T&Cs*, it's unreasonable to throttle speeds when I was already past the point at which I could mend my "evil ways".
I'm now getting 500kb/s.
I've been using NetMeter since the letter and I haven't reached 40Gb so far this month, so hopefully they will restore my service quickly. But either way, I'm far from chuffed. Oh well, stage one towards examining my post-minimum contract options in 12 months time...
* I think it's important to note that the T&Cs imply that it's both down load and upload stats they include in the FUP, so if you run a website or use P2P software you need to be particularly aware of the issue.
Nildram only counted downloads in their 50Gb limit.
EDIT: Just checked with 5 minutes to go to midnight and I'm back to 2929 b/s for now
AFAIK it's only downloads but the details are few and far between.
Just another example of how conveniently vague the T&Cs are for Oranges's benefit. That way they can penalise both heavy downloaders and those who upload as well as download.
And with Orange being so wonderfully communicative, I may never know how much I'm supposed to have gone over the limit since that letter. I suppose I should count myself lucky that it's taken till 6 months into my contract for them to really start to annoy me.
I The Terms Of Use state that usage covers both Downloads and Uploads
15. Broadband Service
15.1 The Service gives you the ability using a computer of appropriate specification and the Equipment (or other independently purchased modem or router of the appropriate specification), to access the Internet at the Transmission Speed and to use the Service(s) to access the Member Service(s) and download and/or upload data up to any monthly Usage Allowance (if applicable). Such use is also subject to our Fair Use Policy.
_________________ The best & most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
My speed has been capped between 6pm and midnite for nearly Three months now and i'm certainly not downloading 40 gig a month. Seems once its capped you are stuck with it
well if you dont stick to the fair usage policy there are going to be implications. And if you want to challenge the amount you have downloaded then i strongly reccomend getting some sort of download monitor to monitor internet activity, other you wont have a leg to stand on.
40-50GB ( i think thats the fair usage policy limits ) are more than enough, unless you are pirating things or transferring large amounts of DATA, cant see how your average joe of a home user will use all that in 1 month.
If you have a job that requires you to work from home and transfer files from work to home then that i say get a business package or get your employer to get you one.
Fair usage is there for a reason. Its like going to safeway and them having 3 Bottles of coca cola for £1.50. Maxium of 6 bottles per customer. (Fair usage, so everyone has a fiar share)
Being a broadband user myself yes i can understand it maybe frustrating im on VM and get traffic management between 4-12pm every day, on 4mb speeds go down to 1mb and i pay £25/m. The reason i dont complain is i know that im in the wrong, but VMs limits are stupid though 350mb between 4-9pm and you get wacked with traffic management and speeds of 1mb.
Orange customers on the other hand dont get that done unless they go over fair usage.
Joined: 13 Aug 2006Posts: 1689Location: Marylebone Central London
It would probably be much clearer if they advertised their packages as 40 or 50g whatever it is instead of "Unlimited" its totally misleading to the average person, funny how the bigger the ISP the more dishonest they are in every aspect knowing that people will trust them, ide love to see how long they keep their customers on a 1 month contract instead of 12 and 18 lol.
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