30M : How unlimited is unlimited?

[MarkC1984]

As title says really. I had to call Virgin the other day as they tried charging me for a phone call that is covered by my 0845 and 0870 numbers being free for the first 250 minutes. This was the first time I had called one and they tried charging me for it. So that got sorted, and then they asked me if I wanted to upgrade the BB from 30MB to 60MB. I said no, and said that I had only literally 3 months ago upraded my BB package.

Then I got told that I was classed as a heavy user of the BB service, and they could see that between August 1 and when I called the other day I had downloaded over 54GB of stuff, and would I mind telling them what I used my BB for. I said yes I do mind telling you what I do online. I then said that I thought that it was unlimited usage each month, and the woman said oh it is. Until you go over 50GB in a month. So I said that's not unlimited usage each month then, from what you say there is a 50GB cap on the 30MB BB package.

This went round in circles for half an hour before I got fed up and hung up the phone. So is there really a cap per month, or is she just trying to talk me into upgrading and earning a bit of commission for the sale of a BB upgrade?

[Sephiroth]

If you are using Newsgroups or P2P connections to do your downloading, then you'd be traffic managed if you exceeded the limits set out here.

So it's unlimited by data volume but limited by volume rate. I suppose semantically that does limit your download volume and it is not unlimited usage per month.

I find it distatseful that every tome one calls them they try to upsell; indeed I had a call from them the other day which was a hard, unnecessary upsell attempt to get me to take another Tivo box that I need like a hole in the head.

[Vieil Homme]

Confused as posted on another thread I phoned CS to give notice that I was going to another ISP. The guy I spoke to informed me that I was using 59Gb and other ISPs would charge quite a lot and went on to say " Virgin is the only true unlimited service so think long and hard before leaving" so I retracted my notice and I'm still looking.

The CS rep said he was going to send me an email confirming the data used, but it never arrived.

Then the information on this thread...so confused

[MarkC1984]

Thanks, that is what I thought. I very rarely use torrent sites, maybe like once or twice a year.

It's mainly the fact that I have to download all the WWE stuff for my brother, which comes to about 3 to 4GB a week.

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by Vieil Homme

...Virgin is the only true unlimited service...

cough SKY cough Infinity cough

[Taf]

So why have I recently received 2 emails, and 2 letters, telling me that I am downloading "too much during peak hours"? (4 adults using the same connection, Shub says around 4Gb each full day). They already restrict speed if we exceed their "limits", so now they they want to "limit" data downloaded?

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/10...l#post35464805

[Sephiroth]

This is what they say on their site for the 60 meg service:

Fantastic for a few of you who have got lots to do online, fast.

Download music and HD movies quickly, seamlessly and often.


Totally at odds with what the OP has reported and what Taf says above.

[carlwaring]

Have they stopped him downloading anything? No.
Has his internet been completely cut off? No.
Or can he still download what he wants when he wants to? Yes.

So where's the problem, apart from a few words?

[Sephiroth]

That has nothing to do with the OP's question, which was:

"So is there really a cap per month, or is she just trying to talk me into upgrading and earning a bit of commission for the sale of a BB upgrade? "

[AbyssUnderground]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

cough SKY cough Infinity cough

cough BE*There cough

Download as much as you like whenever you like. If they (try to) stop you, then they're breaking their own contract. Remember, they put STM in place to negate the need to cut people off due to excessive use and protect the network from overload.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

That has nothing to do with the OP's question, which was:

"So is there really a cap per month, or is she just trying to talk me into upgrading and earning a bit of commission for the sale of a BB upgrade? "

Neither was your post; the one I was replying to

To answer the OP's question then... no and yes, probably.

---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

Download as much as you like whenever you like. If they (try to) stop you, then they're breaking their own contract. Remember, they put STM in place to negate the need to cut people off due to excessive use and protect the network from overload.

Of course, they haven't actually tried to stop him, or anyone else.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

This is what they say on their site for the 60 meg service:

Fantastic for a few of you who have got lots to do online, fast.

Download music and HD movies quickly, seamlessly and often.


Totally at odds with what the OP has reported and what Taf says above.

It seems I have to speak to Taf's and the OP's points again.

In other words, if the fanfare VM advertising says that if you've got "lots to do online, fast" and download "...HD movies quickly, ... and often" but the various STM/usage policies limit the meaning of the words "lots" and "quickly" then the OP has the answer to his question about what "unlimited" means in terms of Virgin Media speak.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Vieil Homme

Confused as posted on another thread I phoned CS to give notice that I was going to another ISP. The guy I spoke to informed me that I was using 59Gb and other ISPs would charge quite a lot and went on to say

59GB a month or a day? That's barely above the light user tariffs of most ISPs.

And yes, there are plenty of other totally unlimited providers (including fibre ones) and at least one unlimited and unshaped provider.

---------- Post added at 14:00 ---------- Previous post was at 13:57 ----------

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

the OP has the answer to his question about what "unlimited" means in terms of Virgin Media speak.

I would expect VM (and all ISPs) abide by ASA's guidelines on use of the term "Unlimited" rather than making up their own definition ("Virgin Media speak"):

Unlimited" Broadband Rules

* The term "unlimited" can only be used if the customer incurs no additional charge or suspension of service as a consequence of exceeding a usage threshold associated with a Fair Usage Policy (FUP), a traffic management policy or similar.

* Limitations that do affect the speed or usage of the service must also be moderate only and clearly explained in the advertisement.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

I would expect VM (and all ISPs) abide by ASA's guidelines on use of the term "Unlimited" rather than making up their own definition ("Virgin Media speak"):

As I pointed out on another thread, Virgin Media don't use the term 'unlimited' for cable broadband. Haven't done for months now.

They do however say:

No hidden charges
With all our Virgin Broadband packages, there's no limit to how much you can download every month.

[Sirius]

What annoys me is that many times i and others have asked for the tools to be able to check what we have downloaded and we never get them, its fine someone saying download this tool on to EACH pc and then you will know. Why not just give us the tool to be able to see the total used on the connection as a whole. They have never given us this ability then we find out that customer service staff can see what we have downloaded at the drop of a hat. WHY then can we not see that data as well. ?????