BT Retail makes its unlimited products totally unlimited

[muppetman11]

BT Retail appears to have revamped its traffic management regime, with Unlimited Broadband, Unlimited Broadband Extra, Unlimited BT Infinity 1, Unlimited BT Infinity 2, BT Total Broadband Option 3 only having generic overall traffic management applied at peak times, where as products with usage limits still have in place specific traffic management targeted at peer to peer protocols in addition to the overall traffic management. (The relaxation on Total Broadband Option 3 only applies to new customers as of 1st February).

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5...medium=twitter

Too late i moved my BB to sky last month ,the speed management was absolutely ridiculous ,3-4mg usually for £54 a month with the cheapest phone deal

[craigj2k12]

Originally Posted by martyh

Too late i moved my BB to sky last month ,the speed management was absolutely ridiculous ,3-4mg usually for £54 a month with the cheapest phone deal

Well Sky doesnt shape anything so Sky is even better than BT

[dilli-theclaw]

I was almost excited there 'till I realised I am on option 3.

Originally Posted by craigj2k12

Well Sky doesnt shape anything so Sky is even better than BT

I know, it's great and so much cheaper

[Qtx]

Good news for BT customers

Is it just Sky and BT that have no speed limiting or traffic management? Maybe Plusnet too?

Would be nice if there was an easy way to quickly see and compare ISP's in those respects.

[craigj2k12]

Originally Posted by Qtx

Is it just Sky and BT that have no speed limiting or traffic management? Maybe Plusnet too?

Plusnet use STM and QoS

Originally Posted by Qtx

Would be nice if there was an easy way to quickly see and compare ISP's in those respects.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/caps.htm

[Chad]

Some more coverage:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ts-prices.html

“Customers are now much more aware of the terms of their broadband service, and are questioning why limits are in place,” said Baliszewski. Download limits and fair usage policies, etc, are becoming unpopular, especially as household data consumption is growing all the time. A truly unlimited broadband package is the only option for customers who want to fully enjoy the wide variety of content available to them over the internet.”

John Petter, managing director of BT’s Consumer division, said: “We believe we have boosted our broad bandoffering by moving our best broadband deals to totally unlimited. Customers told us that they wanted to be able to enjoy catch-up TV, streamed films and other bandwidth-eating applications without having to worry about going over their limit or being slowed down by their ISP.”

It's a great move from BT. More and more people are forming the opinion that a truly unlimited, unshaped and consistent broadband connection is much better than having speed that’s heavily managed.

I wonder how Virgin will react. Hopefully they'll listen to their customers and relax their traffic management policies.

[ferretuk]

Originally Posted by craigj2k12

Plusnet use STM and QoS

No they don't for their Unlimited product, and this has been discussed to death previously. They use a 'QoS like' priority setup on your downstream but no STM.

Bit surprised that Qtx can't remember

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by craigj2k12

Plusnet use STM and QoS


http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/caps.htm

Thanks for the link, really useful! Hope it continues to be updated.

Was aware of the QoS on Plusnet

---------- Post added at 18:03 ---------- Previous post was at 17:47 ----------

Originally Posted by ferretuk

No they don't for their Unlimited product, and this has been discussed to death previously. They use a 'QoS like' priority setup on your downstream but no STM.

Bit surprised that Qtx can't remember

I do remember the conversation but was questioning if Plusnet could be added to the list as they will slow down certain traffic when the network is busy. So they are not totally unmanaged like BT and Sky.

The problem is that virgin have made people very wary of wording these days due to having got away with the Unlimited claim for their broadband when they have multiple different limits. Plusnet isn't unmanaged and unlimited, just unlimited.

Still unclear from Craigs link if there are specific services from other isps which are truly unmanaged and unlimited as the sections seem to cover all the services offered by an isp. So not 100% sure if it is just Sky and BT.

[ferretuk]

Originally Posted by Qtx

I do remember the conversation but was questioning if Plusnet could be added to the list as they will slow down certain traffic when the network is busy.

For the umpteenth time, they do not "slow down certain traffic when the network is busy". Only in the event of equipment failure will they prioritise traffic within their network, not in normal day to day operation. I'd rather hope that other Unlimited providers had similar contigency plans...

[Qtx]

Maybe prioritise traffic based on values if congestion occurs would have been a better way for me to say it. Still traffic interfering though, so different to BT and Sky.

Any ISP would wish it could say it was unlimited and unmanaged, so far only two have had the confidence to do that. Plusnet would have done the same if they could, which is why in the last conversation I pointed out that I thought this was a lack of confidence in their network once more customers were onboard. There is no other reason I can think of that they didn't just do the same as Sky and BT

[ferretuk]

Originally Posted by Qtx

Maybe prioritise traffic based on values if congestion occurs would have been a better way for me to say it.

And that would still be wrong... I'm not going to rehash the same discussion you started last time. You clearly don't understand the approach Plusnet are taking or the benefits that it gives.

Originally Posted by Qtx

There is no other reason I can think of that they didn't just do the same as Sky and BT

The reason was explained many times in the previous thread and on the Plusnet blog... Time will tell whether they got it right

[Qtx]

QoS is traffic prioritisation...but I feel the same about going over it again. I do understand the benefits of it on a network under strain. Plusnet doesn't get to go on the Uber ISP list though due to it.

[ferretuk]

Originally Posted by Qtx

I do understand the benefits of it on a network under strain.

That's not what it's for though! Read the blog again!!!