Broadband Usage

[milly143]

Can someone explain to me in simple terms, broadband usage. We currently have a limit of 10gb with Plus Net but most months I am getting billed extra for going over the limit.

Our internet usage is very basic. Most of my surfing involves facebook, this site and a couple of news websites. Dad sometimes watches music videos on youtube and he uses a games site called Fetch Fido most evenings. Do all these things really take up that much usage? I'm looking into getting a better deal, possibly a BT package with TV and phone included but I don't want to end up still forking out extra money every month.

[craft1948]

How much does it cost you milly?

[milly143]

Just for the broadband, at the minute I'm paying £10 per month plus usually and extra £5 now for going over the limit.

[craft1948]

I'm with BT and have unlimited downloads, broadband (up to 8mg), line rental and all calls (except international and to mobiles) for £35 a month. This includes a free BT Home Hub.

[milly143]

Do you have the TV bit included with that too?

[craft1948]

No Milly it's roughly £16 for the broadband and calls and £14 for the line rental plus VAT. They asked me if I wanted a different package to include the TV but I didn't want it. I'd just give them a ring and see what they offer.....

[barb1314]

Hi Milly,we have Virgin and pay £30 a month for unlimited broadband (quite fast but not sure of the speed),Large TV package and phone (which we never use) Some months it's a bit more if we've called someone abroad but that's it.

[hc4361]

10 GB should be more than enough for what you are using the internet for.
Are you sure nobody is downloading (or streaming) videos?

Apparently your overnight useage is ignored, so whatever it is is happening during the day/evening.

[milly143]

I don't think we can get Virgin where we are and we're not allowed to put a Sky dish up (it's a rented house).

When you say streaming videos, do yo mean watching TV through the internet, etc? I very occasionally will watch something on the iPlayer, although not often. As I say, Dad watches music on YouTube sometimes and if the nephews come over on the weekend they watch things on YouTube but Sunday to Friday it's just me and Pops and we are both out working throughout the day time.

[woofgang]

is your network locked? Could someone else be using your network? Would anyone be likely to have given away the router password?

[Buenchico]

Use these calculators to examine your broadband usage:
http://www.simplyswit...usage-calculator.aspx

http://www.which.co.u...and-usage-calculator/

https://ben.cheetham....data-usage-calculator

http://www.broadband.org/usage_calculator.html

(NB: Try them all. You're likely to get different results but at least you'll get an indication of what it is that's taking up the most of that 10Gb figure).

When looking elsewhere for a decent deal, remember to google to try to find out the 'contention ratio' for each ISP which you're considering, together with their 'traffic management' policy.

The contention ratio indicates how many other users you'll effectively be sharing your connection with. (The more users there are, the slower the connection speeds you'll get). Most budget ISPs have a contention ratio of around 30 to 1, with some providers (such a Virgin Media) only offering a 50 to 1 ratio. Ideally you should be looking for a contention ratio of 20 to 1 or better. (My ISP has a 7 to 1 ratio, but I pay 'business prices' to get it).

All ISPs (except BE Broadband) deliberately slow up certain types of internet traffic at peak times, in order to ensure that (for example) people who are file-sharing or video-streaming don't hog all of the available bandwidth, to the detriment of others. It's worth knowing what the policy of an ISP is before you sign up and then find that your internet service slows to a crawl at busy times!

Chris

[Buenchico]

I see that you've mentioned iPlayer.

1 hour of viewing a normal stream adds about 0.5Gb to your internet usage.
1 hour of viewing an HD stream adds about 1.5Gb onto the total.

[modeller]

I have Plus Net and get 10G for £6.49. It is only for broadband.
You can get 60G for £11.49.

I used to pay more £12 but I rang them up and complained and they said that was an old tarif but could be changed immediately to £6.49. Which they did.

[Wak]

You can download a FREE little program called "Bitmeter" which records your daily/monthly downloading and uploading totals and keeps very good records for viewing.
Google for it, at least you will know exactly how much you are using.

[albaqwerty]

Sky dishes apparently don't need to be put up anymore. A friend of mine who owns her property has her sky dish on a small post in her back garden and swears at it as she has to keep cutting the grass.

[modeller]

albaq. They never had to , mine is just leaning against the fence. As long as they can face the sky without obstruction in the east where the satellite is, that is all that is required .

Milly if you go onto your Plus Net account you can see exactly how much you are using each month and the time of day. Also what you are using emails, videos, browsing etc.

[milly143]

Thanks for the answers. It appears that there is no password on our wireless router at the moment so the neighbours are probably having a field day at my expense.

I checked out the breakdown of usage on my Plus Net account and 90% of usage was web browsing, the other 10% was streaming.

I have decided I am going to go for a BT package that includes TV, phone and broadband as the cost of that whole package works out to be roughly equal to what I pay currently for phone and broadband seperately. Now I just have to wait for Plus Net to provide my MAC key, which takes a week apparently.