1GB Cap Letter!!!!

[punky]

Originally Posted by blenky

I can't see ntl having the software to globally monitor each user to identify where anyone exceeds the 1 GB limit three times within a 14 day rolling period!

Actually, it is industry standard around the world. Most ISPs in Canada and Australia cap their BB usage, and customers always check through a web control panel. It may cost them a bit to install and run, but it is certainly out there. I've seen the stats page from a Canadian one (Sympatico, I think), and it was suprisingly detailed.

Originally Posted by blenky

I think they only respond to complaints of poor speed from individuals.

That's exactly what I thought.

NTL can make price changes (we dont like it if it goes up, but we dont deny that they can do it with the correct notice), so I suppose they should be able make changes to other aspects of service.


Yes they can make changes to the contract, I do not deny that, but I signed an unlimited use contract, if they want to change that, that is up to them, they have as yet to send me a new contract.
I get so fed up that some people seem to have difficulty grasping the meaning of the word " unlimited ".
If the service is slowing down because people are using the service as they want, which imo is what they are paying for, it is up to NTL to invest money instead of it going to your board members and directors.
It seems interesting to me that no member of the public has had their account ended, or other action taken against them.
Having sent out new t&c's to sign, they should also give you the option of ending your contract.
If it is such a bloody problem to NTL, let them sort it.
Sniping at people who are only taking what they are paying for is imo futile.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by punky

Actually, it is industry standard around the world. Most ISPs in Canada and Australia cap their BB usage, and customers always check through a web control panel. It may cost them a bit to install and run, but it is certainly out there. I've seen the stats page from a Canadian one (Sympatico, I think), and it was suprisingly detailed.

Metronet provide a service like this to their customers... ok so they need it because it is PAYG but the detail of information available is extremely good. You can display a record once every 1m/15m/1hr/6hrs/1day.

handy for making sure the g/f doesn't spend too much of my money on her internet

[punky]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

Metronet provide a service like this to their customers... ok so they need it because it is PAYG but the detail of information available is extremely good. You can display a record once every 1m/15m/1hr/6hrs/1day.

handy for making sure the g/f doesn't spend too much of my money on her internet

That's not very clear at all, I hope NTL make a better job of it. What you need is a little table with what you have downloaded since midnight, the current server time. What would be nice, is how many overuse days you have left in the next X days, or when the next one will become available, actual figures that indicate something, not really unclear low res graphs. That's what i'd want anyway, just to check and see: "Oh i've downloaded 700meg, and the server time is the same as my computer: 10pm. I want to download a 400meg demo, so i'll wait til 12:10am.". That kind of thing.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by punky

That's not very clear at all, I hope NTL make a better job of it. What you need is a little table with what you have downloaded since midnight, the current server time. What would be nice, is how many overuse days you have left in the next X days, or when the next one will become available, actual figures that indicate something, not really unclear low res graphs. That's what i'd want anyway, just to check and see: "Oh i've downloaded 700meg, and the server time is the same as my computer: 10pm. I want to download a 400meg demo, so i'll wait til 12:10am.". That kind of thing.

it does give you the table as well... tells you how much you have used per day... but didn't copy that part cos it was too much hassle to cover up all the personal details

[MovedGoalPosts]

Originally Posted by arcamalpha2004

Yes they can make changes to the contract, I do not deny that, but I signed an unlimited use contract, if they want to change that, that is up to them, they have as yet to send me a new contract.

By sending you the letter that is your confirmation, in writing that your terms of service have changed. Untill you get that letter, IMO you are entitled to argue your service is unlimited. I continually state that I believe it is unreasonable for ntl to claim that you have such a substantially changed terms of use from unlimited to capped, without specific notice in writing. However, in practice as until you get the letter ntl are disinterested in you, you still have unlimited use.

Having sent out new t&c's to sign, they should also give you the option of ending your contract.

By sending the letter, I beleive that is sufficient to trigger the significant change in service provisions of the contract giving you the ability to cancel it with due notice (30 days). As ntl seem not to wish to loose customers and to date nobody has publicly admitted to being cut off (and ntl deny that they have cut anyone off), 30 days notice on both sides is reasonable.

[poolking]

Originally Posted by Stop It

My god, reading this thread does open your eyes to some hugely dodgy bandwidth usage, and plain ignorance to the fact that if everyone overused ANY ISP's network, they would be brought to a halt.

Seeing people say they have downloaded up to 267GB a month and see nothing wrong with it is absurd, I mean come on, my HD is 200GB for example, within 20 days i would have filled it :O

The cap trigger isnt bad (its usally based on 3 days of +1GB or continued overusage over a longer period of time), and Ive occasionally hit up to 2GB a day, but then during the week my usage is near zero due to work,

I think ntl should make broadband medic mandatory, and put a bandwidth meter in it, that way everyone will know thier usage, and not complain when they get a letter through when they've downloaded 100GB of hooky software :p

Why should broadband medic be made compulsory? Have you actually tried to install any software from ntl? I wouldn't try to install anything from an ntl cd.

All braodband medic does is fix problems with your connection.

Not everyone downloads hooky software etc..

If ntl senior management had invested properly in the network back in the early 90s there would be no need for a cap now.

[etccarmageddon]

isnt this all a backwards step anyway... the whole idea of broadband was to open up the internet not have us watching clocks/graphs/tables etc to see how many ounces we have consumed. sod that - if NTL write to me telling me I'm using too much, then I wont be wasting my time looking at graphs etc. this is the 21st century!!!

[BBKing]

ntl senior management had invested properly in the network back in the early 90s

Yer what?

DOCSIS cable's only been around since 1998.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Yer what?

DOCSIS cable's only been around since 1998.

True, but surely most of NTL's networks were built before then.

Edit: I mean the actual cabelling in the Street and the network hardware for this.

[poolking]

Even if DOCSIS wasn't around until 1998, surely they could have forecast this and got the network in some sort of shape ready for DOCSIS.

There's nothing stopping forward planning.

Originally Posted by poolking

Even if DOCSIS wasn't around until 1998, surely they could have forecast this and got the network in some sort of shape ready for DOCSIS.

There's nothing stopping forward planning.

NTL inherited most of their local Network, they did not build it.

[poolking]

Originally Posted by Pem

NTL inherited most of their local Network, they did not build it.

Even so they could have got into some sort of shape.

[etccarmageddon]

with what money? and what does it matter what happened in the past?

[BBKing]

Even if DOCSIS wasn't around until 1998, surely they could have forecast this

Are they Mystic Meg? Forward planning is sometimes limited by human frailties. Who'd heard of mass-market high speed internet access in 1990?

The network had to be upgraded for DOCSIS to work, in many places. And of course ntl didn't build very much of it in the first place, so I don't think there can be much blame apportioned to people working for a different company seven years beforehand.