I recently received an E-Mail from BT advising that they were unilaterally (And unrequested) going to increase the speed of the Infinity 1 Broadband service from 40MBps to 52MBps and that I would be charged an extra £3 a month for the privilege.

 

This week I received a follow-up E-Mail confirming that the upgrade had been made. The provision of a 52MBps service was confimed by me on visiting Broadband speed checker.

 

All seemed fine until 28th June, when  I  attempted to check my Broadband usuage via the on-line reporting tool in my BT Account. I was confronted with this:-

 

"Usage monitor

Sorry, the usage monitor is currently unavailable for a small number of customers. We understand how important it is to monitor usage, and as you're not able to view the usage monitor we will not charge you for going over your usage allowance this month. You don't need to do anything, we'll take care of that."

The same message is still there today.

 

Any body else had this with BT ? Given time, will it clear and the reporting tool re-appear as normal ?

 

My concern is that normally they charge £1.50 per GB of data usuage over my monthly allowance of 40GB - my average monthly data usuage is sub 30GB.

 

Having been a victim of BT's customer revenue ramping methods in the past, I just wondering whether the unrequested speed increase + denial of usuage reporting information is a less than subtle attempt to get me to buy the unlimited data usuage package (An extra £6 a month) which they've been trying to flog me for the last year, without result.

 

Obviously with current average monthly data usuage of under 30GB a month, the current 40GB a month package is a good fit and I really don't need the unlimited service

 

 

Nick

 

 

 

BT put my speed up for free.

 

It is an Infinity package and unlimited.

 

Aren't all Infinity packages unlimited?

BT put my speed up for free.

 

It is an Infinity package and unlimited.

 

Aren't all Infinity packages unlimited?

No. SWMBO is on Infinity and has a 40Gb cap.

 

You can access your usage by going into your home hub; type bthomehub.home directy into your browsers address bar

It's in 'Advanced Setting' under 'Broadband'. It shows your connection time and data transmitted and received. You'll need the routers admin password which is on the router.

 

Edit: Infinity may offer unlimited now but you'll need to sign up to a new contract to get that benefit.

boody hell I could use 40gig within hours! Get off them kind of packages they are just money stealing deals! All infinity packages are unlimted data (with fair usage policy).

I keep hearing people say BT Infinity is unlimited, but I also keep hearing from people who are on it AND CAPPED; a friend had Infinity 40Mb  from day one, as the international students he used to take used a lot of data, BT not only capped him, but charged him for going over the cap - on a product headlined as unlimited and costing MORE than my 80Mb unlimited package from a small ISP.

 

He is now looking to switch, just like some other friends are ditching their pathetic BT ADSL package and going mobile (they get 1/2 mb on a good day).

I think the key to it is this:
 

Sorry, the usage monitor is currently unavailable for a small number of customers. We understand how important it is to monitor usage, and as you're not able to view the usage monitor we will not charge you for going over your usage allowance this month. You don't need to do anything, we'll take care of that."

So, go nuts! Download everything you can and then blame it on having no monitor

I couldn't get fibre

 

Cabinet is maxed out. Waiting list now :moon:

The usuage report was restored yesterday.

 

Even when its operating properly, the reports are lagged by a couple of days at least.

 

No investment and a web account interface that's got progressively crappier as they tilt the balance towards attracting new customers.

 

It seems that, per the prevalent marketing model of this era, its all about the marketing abstraction of market share. I'm guessing (From the scale and enduration of the TV advertising) that a substantial part of the net customer revenue is pushed into advertising directed at new customers, offering them ridiculously cost advantageous loss-leader deals which are then cross-subsidised out of revenue from existing customers. Nice merry go round for marketeers., which they justify my saying, if you don't like it change, knowing full well that the most people will be put off by the complexity of any change, the delays and the risk of extended loss of service - as its all about market share most of them are not keen to lose even long-standing disgruntled customers, so, how easy do you think they will make it for them to change ? - |"Marketing man talks with forked tongue !"

 

Not a peep out of the regulator on this long running imbalance.

 

 

Nick

Edited 3 July, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

I think the key to it is this:

 

So, go nuts! Download everything you can and then blame it on having no monitor

Too late for that now the service has been restored. I did run the stream ( HD Live feed) from yesterday's  RNAS Yeovilton Air Day for about 4 hours yesterday, so that's got to be at least 6 gigs, but I think that service was operating by then.

 

Nick

Reporting tool today says I have used 7.5 Gigs since the beginning of the month - the majority of that being the 4 hrs HD streaming of the air day.

 

It seems that BT have  increased my monthly inclusive data allowance from 40 to 45 Gbps (12.5% inc) when they upped the max speed from 40 to 52Gbps (30% Inc) - I'm thinking that the data allowance should have increased by 30% of thereabouts, so as to maintain contractual equity, but of course, being Dim as Phuc, I shouldn't have an appreciation of  that.

 

Postscript

 

Judging by the download delays for web pages etc, the bulk of my internet downloads are probably the embedded graphics in advertisemnts on web pages (Toms' hardware pages being about the worst). Does any know how to turn-off or minimise downloads of embedded material on Windows PCs running IE - It can't be that difficult to do it, as my Blackberry Playbook tablet seems to have this facility on E-Mail.

 

Nick

Edited 4 July, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

Honestly just upgrade to an unlimted package, you shouldn't have to worry about data allowances these days.

Reporting tool today says I have used 7.5 Gigs since the beginning of the month - the majority of that being the 4 hrs HD streaming of the air day.

 

It seems that BT have  increased my monthly inclusive data allowance from 40 to 45 Gbps (12.5% inc) when they upped the max speed from 40 to 52Gbps (30% Inc) - I'm thinking that the data allowance should have increased by 30% of thereabouts, so as to maintain contractual equity, but of course, being Dim as Phuc, I shouldn't have an appreciation of  that.

 

Postscript

 

Judging by the download delays for web pages etc, the bulk of my internet downloads are probably the embedded graphics in advertisemnts on web pages (Toms' hardware pages being about the worst). Does any know how to turn-off or minimise downloads of embedded material on Windows PCs running IE - It can't be that difficult to do it, as my Blackberry Playbook tablet seems to have this facility on E-Mail.

 

Nick

 

I think you are confused, data usage is measured in GigaBytes (GB). SPEED is measured in Gigabits per second (Gbps); one of the many fudges used to confuse and confound non techie customers (1 Byte = 8 bits).

 

HDD makers use a similar con - making 1 GB = 1,000 KiloBytes, when it should be 1,024 KiloBytes, and 1 TeraByte = 1,000 GB (you can see how much space they are robbing you of as the scale increases)

Edited 4 July, 201610 yr by GentleGiant

I think you are confused, data usage is measured in GigaBytes (GB). SPEED is measured in Gigabits per second (Gbps); one of the many fudges used to confuse and confound non techie customers (1 Byte = 8 bits).

 

HDD makers use a similar con - making 1 GB = 1,000 KiloBytes, when it should be 1,024 KiloBytes, and 1 TeraByte = 1,000 GB (you can see how much space they are robbing you of as the scale increases)

surely you mean Megabytes? 1GB = 1024MB. 1MB = 1024KB

This company has no morals at all. Last time I was with BT, I refused to continue paying by direct debit about 1/3 way through the contract- it seemed they had a licence to pillage my bank account at will. As a result they are on my "never again" list, with Barclays, Aviva, AA and Bank of Scotland amongst others.

This company has no morals at all. Last time I was with BT, I refused to continue paying by direct debit about 1/3 way through the contract- it seemed they had a licence to pillage my bank account at will. As a result they are on my "never again" list, with Barclays, Aviva, AA and Bank of Scotland amongst others.

are you going through companies alphabetically?

It does look like it, but I fell out with AVIVA when it was still Norwich Union.

Twice.

Twenty years apart.

They won't get a third chance.

Edited 4 July, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

Limited broadband? That's still a thing? Amazing! I can pull 33GB an hour off the Internet at 80Mbps!

There are indeed GB capped infinity products as well as unlimited products, to be fair if you have a message like that telling you, you wont be charged, screenshot it and save it somewhere safe just in case, personally id be more interested in speaking with there retention's team (COT) to see if you can get an unlimited package without the extra cash.

Out of interest, how much are you paying per month (inc line rental), for your capped Infinity package?? Including the average with call costs would be nice; my friends average cost on a capped 38Mb package is £55, nearly £1 more than my unlimited 80/20 average of £54.03 - and I dont get free calls with my package!!

This company has no morals at all. Last time I was with BT, I refused to continue paying by direct debit about 1/3 way through the contract- it seemed they had a licence to pillage my bank account at will. As a result they are on my "never again" list, with Barclays, Aviva, AA and Bank of Scotland amongst others.

BT also on my list of never agains

1 year of breaking the draconian usage limit and no help phoning them up

Nothing (including the router) ever had my account number on it and they wouldn't disclose it hence discuss anything

Found out since its on the direct debit list but too late

Switched to Sky and never looked back

BT also on my list of never agains

1 year of breaking the draconian usage limit and no help phoning them up

Nothing (including the router) ever had my account number on it and they wouldn't disclose it hence discuss anything

Found out since its on the direct debit list but too late

Switched to Sky and never looked back

your account number is plainly visible when you log into your MyBT account. Account numbers aren't put on routers as it's a privacy issue. How would you feel if your router ended up in Cash Converters (there's loads in there) with your account number stamped on it for all to see.

 

Sky still use the Openreach network.

I never expected the router to have my account number on it

The box,maybe

The delivery slip in it,likely

As for any BT accounts or WiFi on fon network, never once could I access them

All history now, gone but not forgotten!

Out of interest, how much are you paying per month (inc line rental), for your capped Infinity package?? Including the average with call costs would be nice; my friends average cost on a capped 38Mb package is £55, nearly £1 more than my unlimited 80/20 average of £54.03 - and I dont get free calls with my package!!

About £42, incl weekend plan calls. I still think that's exorbitant, given that the main part of BT's infrastructure was bought and paid for years ago when it was the post-office - of significance is the fact that they were up before the PAC on more than one occasion for overcharging, most recently regardibg the charges for the extension of fibre to the "Last 10%". Probably a third of the bandwith you pay for today on landline or mobile is consumed by the download of unsolicited embedded advert graphics and vids. I remember the days when CompuServe Dial-up was £7 a month, you got what you wanted off the internet without all the extraneous crap, and, quite frankly, the speed of the browsers was far better.

I don't pay by DD (Per occasion electronic transfer), that's what I get done for. I wouldn't trust the barstewards.

Nick

Edited 11 July, 20169 yr by Clunkclick

About £42, incl weekend plan calls. I still think that's exorbitant, given that the main part of BT's infrastructure was bought and paid for years ago when it was the post-office - of significance is the fact that they were up before the PAC on more than one occasion for overcharging, most recently regardibg the charges for the extension of fibre to the "Last 10%". Probably a third of the bandwith you pay for today on landline or mobile is consumed by the download of unsolicited embedded advert graphics and vids. I remember the days when CompuServe Dial-up was £7 a month, you got what you wanted off the internet without all the extraneous crap, and, quite frankly, the speed of the browsers was far better.

I don't pay by DD (Per occasion electronic transfer), that's what I get done for. I wouldn't trust the barstewards.

Nick

 

I run NoScript and Adblock, so no ads being downloaded; but it does cause issues with THIS website (and no other); I regularly get Briskoda pages timing out, or failing to load properly - yet if I allow adverts and active scripts........ perfect (but slow - on a 80Mb connection!!)

 

I can remember taking 6 weeks to download several hundred MB of illicit .alt files via a Freeserve account - at 46Kbps.....

I run NoScript and Adblock, so no ads being downloaded; but it does cause issues with THIS website (and no other); I regularly get Briskoda pages timing out, or failing to load properly - yet if I allow adverts and active scripts........ perfect (but slow - on a 80Mb connection!!)

 

I can remember taking 6 weeks to download several hundred MB of illicit .alt files via a Freeserve account - at 46Kbps.....

Ditto your comments about this site, particularly the last few months.

With the giant providers like BT, Virgin, Sky, there's no access to a basic "Floor level" service because they got huge great corporate structures and salaries and the shareholders to support, so you have to buy the service with the expensive wiz-bangs. And their fixed charges for landlines are ludicrous as far as my usuage is concerned. I'll have to look around to see if there is a simple simon BB provider (Perhaps with access other than by LL) and ditch the LL for phones for a mobile provider.

Maybe that opportunity will present when the leccy start installing the smart meters ?

Nick

Nick