Anyone actually been cut off/restricted because of the Detrimental Usage?

Midnight Tboy · 09-06-2011, 14:51

Hi all,

Months back, I had a couple of the letters about the detrimental usage. I'm running on a 10mb connection.......mostly off at night but downloading early morning through till afternoon. The first letter took about 3weeks from the date on the letter to arrive conveniently, so meant I was already tagged for the 2nd one most likely.....and I'd set my downloads to only download within outside STM hours (which I thought was a more than fair compromise - but they dont see it that way it seems)

Since then, I begrudingly switched to overnight downloading for the most part (much to the other halfs annoyance as the pc is in the bedroom). I certainly can't see the reason to justify 'upgrading' just to have faster downloads when the 10mb is more than enough for what I need.....it would just mean the pc would be sat idle for longer, rather than slow and steady.

Anyways, now that its been a few months on, I'm curious...........has anyone actually ignored these letters, persisted, and then actually been cut off or gone to a restricted speed? I've done a few searches and of course a lot of people complaining about them and still battling to get real target amounts and controlling of speed etc....but haven't yet read if anyone has been cut off as a result?

kwikbreaks · 09-06-2011, 15:20

Quote:

just had a detrimental use letter, when i was getting these warnings on 20 meg i phoned virgin and asked if i upgraded would i be ok, i was assured yes that 50 meg was not limited in anyway, they even sent me the link thats proved its not applicable or limited in anyway, so i signed up, now 2 weeks later i get a letter saying there cutting me off for detrimental usage, so 1 i was lied too,

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...p/69958/page/2

2 minutes to find. I don't doubt that there are plenty more.

Dave9946 · 09-06-2011, 15:42

I thought the 10, 20 & 30mb speed are speed managed over a certain useage cap according to the fair use tables?. So how can anyone on the 10,20&30mb bb get these letters?.

Midnight Tboy · 09-06-2011, 15:57

not sure about others, but I certainly got them.

checking my dates now on old emails, and it was mid October that I received my first letter.

Like many others, I understand that fair enough, performance can be affected during daytime......and would not object to more stringent capping when their limits were reached...which should be auto managed....but stupid that they will not even give a limit for your area, or a target and you're expected to keep within it.

One of my friends who works in retentions at VM knows nothing about the whole thing either.

the thing that peeved me off about the whole thing was the saying "move a large proportion of your downloads to outside the 9am-9pm times.

So, with STM being, from memory, 10am-3pm 4pm-9pm, I set my downloads to stop at 10am, then to go between 3pm and 4pm, and resume as normal at 9pm.......so that was 2hours of the 12hour period daytime downloading which was NOT in their peak times as per STM.....definately moving "the majority".....but no that wasn't good enough and got the follow up letter (but like I said, it took a good 2/3weeks for the first letter to come through anyway).

What was odd though, the first letter was only sent in the post. The 2nd one I got by email to the ntlworld address. I got a letter, as per the email, about 2 weeks later.

Skie · 09-06-2011, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave9946

I thought the 10, 20 & 30mb speed are speed managed over a certain useage cap according to the fair use tables?. So how can anyone on the 10,20&30mb bb get these letters?.

Yeah, its odd. He would have to be downloading enough in the 2 hour period between 9am and 9pm that is not STM'd to trigger this.

Or uploading a significant amount in the 7 hour window.

Either way it sounds dodgy.

Midnight Tboy · 09-06-2011, 16:01

yeah for the 2nd letter, it was only downloading in the 2hour non-stm period (plus the fact that the first letter took so long to reach prob meant I was already triggered a 2nd letter before even started).

I don't upload anything, well not counting the other half occasionally messing with daytime use on facebook and the likes with photos etc but that would be marginal

AbyssUnderground · 10-06-2011, 11:06

It makes me laugh that people could get cut off for downloading on a connection they pay for. Isn't Virgin just risking throwing money away by cutting people off? Makes no sense...

qasdfdsaq · 10-06-2011, 17:13

Not if servicing those people costs them more than the money they're getting.

Simple business math.

Dave9946 · 10-06-2011, 17:41

I've seen a quote from a virgin employee on there own board who says they contact users who on average download 350GB in 28 day periods. I dont know how if this has changed as that information was posted late december.

That works out at about 12.5GB per day on average. Ok so in some cases that will be more bandwidth, but also less in others. If thats true and is still Vrigins official unofficial figure before sending out these letters thats HALF of the bandwidth that a 30MB user can do before they are speed managed (with no probably threat of these letters).

12.5GB per day, that can be 30 mins downloading or under 2 hours of HD streaming. Are Virgin seriously expecting thats a FUP that should be accepted by all (on average) 50MB customers who like to do some downloading and streaming?.

And Virgin staff and employees say thats covered in there terms and policy as fair use for 50MB customers?. To me thats certainly a detremental restriction of a customers connection on 50MB.

BeafSalad · 11-06-2011, 13:44

I was wondering if you want to get out of the contract then you could continuously rape the connection untill they cut you off. No service no payment. Wether they actually cut you off I wouldn't know as no one has said they do.

Dave9946 · 11-06-2011, 14:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeafSalad

I was wondering if you want to get out of the contract then you could continuously rape the connection untill they cut you off. No service no payment. Wether they actually cut you off I wouldn't know as no one has said they do.

To be honest thats not something most would prefer to put to the test

. Simply because it may well leave a person not being able to get virgin services in that address again in the same account holders name.

Just because they have sent the letters out it does'nt actually mean they have or will of cause. Whats to say that entire process is nothing more than a bandwidth limitation excercise?. But like I said we dont want to put that thought to the test to see

.

But I'm pretty sure if a person argues detremental restrictions against them (as admitted to me) then you could always argue for either a contract termination or a re-contracting of services to a better managed and stated limits package.

But I've been reading even the 30MB or even 20MB users have been threatened with the action too!.

BeafSalad · 11-06-2011, 14:37

With the state of the service at the moment maybe immediate termination of contract would not be a problem please see http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12...t-page-39.html for mine. To be honest I didn't think they would cut you off only restrict you as they still need your money rolling in. Contract, terms and conditions and all this legal sh*t in the most part is not to protect yourself or VM it is to deceive and swindle you into carrying on paying for a service that is nothing short of useless.

beasty54 · 12-06-2011, 03:13

I had a couple of letters back in October 2010 and i think its disgusting that they still advertise 50mb as unlimited. I often get stopped in town by VM reps and they still insist that if i signed up and went with 50mb i could download as much as i like 24/7. I wasn't going to take the risk so took notice of the letters, i'm glad i did because i have read threads from 2 people so far that claim to have been cut off.

What annoyed me the most about the situation was that my 2nd letter was actually dated BEFORE i received my first and after speaking to the rude idiots on the phone i was advised that i should consider myself lucky i got away with it for 12 months

I argued that i signed up to an unlimited package and was able to download as much as i liked for 12 months so why is it my problem that they have started to sign up too many customers and the service can no longer handle what i was promised when i signed up? Once again i was told there's no need to download so much and i should think myself lucky i haven't been disconnected

Disgusting attitude IMO but they have me by the balls so ive had to change my download habbits. It hasn't been a problem to change when i download but to have a service that only allows me to download for 30 mins while i'm usually awake is pretty pathetic.

lewisnadasurf · 12-06-2011, 06:11

Can literally all of you who have had warning letters tell me, you have not ever downloaded anything illegal? If not, i think it is truly disgusting the way VM are treating you, although i do find 350GB a month a scary amount!!

If you are downloading a little bit illegally, well then, tough

broadbandking · 12-06-2011, 08:19

Well I have never seen anyone get cut off because of detrimental usage, what I will say to everyone complaining that its wrong is, you should have read the FUP before you signed up, the unlimited arguement can go on for days but unless OFCOM or ASA demand ISP's to state any limits then its tuff, all companies will use it unless it has a bandwidth limit.

I still find it hard how someone can download so much in a month, there can't be that much legal stuff to download, and before any one says I use it for business then you will need a business connection.