BT Total Broadband Usage Allowance Guidelines and Fair Usage Policy

Usage Allowances

1. What are BT's usage allowances?

On 1 July 2008 we increased the monthly usage allowances for all our BT Total Broadband Option 1 and Option 2 customers. This means you can now do more of your favourite things online without worrying about exceeding your usage allowance.

Please note that we've also changed our charges for exceeding your usage allowance. Excess usage charges have now increased to 60p for each GB (rounded up to the nearest GB) you exceed your allowance by.

If you bought our BT Broadband service before Oct 2005, your usage allowance remains at 20GB a month. But you can now switch at no extra cost to our BT Total Broadband Option 3 package with unlimited usage for the same monthly fee.

Please note that although BT Total Broadband Option 3 gives you an unlimited usage allowance, which means we do not charge you for overuse, our Fair Usage Policy still applies (see points 8-10 below).

2. What is a monthly usage allowance?

This is the total amount of data you can send (upload) and receive (download) through your broadband connection each month that is included in your monthly rental price.

3. Why does BT have usage allowances?

We offer a tiered broadband service that provides even better value for money the higher up you go - this allows you to choose the product that best suits your needs. Usage allowance is one of the distinctions between our broadband products and helps customers choose which package is right for them. The vast majority of our customers find that the usage allowance for their package is suitable for their needs. If we allow customers to overuse heavily then this will be to the detriment of all users, so we have these usage allowances in place to safeguard the online experience for all of our customers.

4. How does it work?

Everything you send or receive over the Internet is bits of data, whether it's a web page, an email, a music track or a video clip. Each bit of data has a different size and is measured in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). The average email is around 4KB, a digital photo is around 1MB and a music track is around 5MB (1MB=1024KB, 1GB=1024MB).
Your monthly usage allowance lets you download (receiving emails, web pages and files) or upload (sending emails and files) any data you want, up to the GB allowance you choose. Please note that separate to the usage allowances, all customers on any BT Total Broadband Option, including Option 3, are subject to BT's Fair Usage Policy.

5. What happens if I exceed my monthly usage allowance?

If you exceed your usage allowance for two months in a row we will charge 60p for each excess GB (gigabyte) you have used (rounded up to the nearest GB). We won't charge you for the first month's excess usage, but we will keep charging if you carry on exceeding your allowance in the following months. This charge will appear on your BT bill.

There is no monthly usage allowance for Option 3 customers and you can enjoy unlimited usage for no extra charge subject to the Fair Usage Policy.

6. How do I know if I have exceeded my monthly usage allowance?

We will email to tell you if you exceed your usage allowance and warn you about our charges if you do it again. If you exceed your usage allowance in the next month, we will email you again saying what our charges are (see point 5 above). If you choose to upgrade to a higher usage package after your first usage warning email, we will waive the charges. You can upgrade either online or by calling the number given in the email we send you.

7. What about watching on-demand TV content on BT Vision or making calls on Broadband Talk? Does using these services count towards my usage allowance?

Use of BT Vision via the V-box and BT Broadband Talk use does not count towards broadband bandwidth usage. So you can watch as much on-demand entertainment on your TV and make as many online calls as you wish and it will not use up your monthly allowance. BT Vision traffic also benefits from a separate allocation of bandwidth that protects it from general congestion at peak times.

Downloads from the online BT Vision Download Store will count towards your monthly usage.

8. My usage is higher than I expected. What can I do to reduce it?

The amount of bandwidth you use a month mainly depends on the kind of things you and other users in your household do online.

Activities such as browsing web pages and sending emails use little bandwidth. Video streaming and downloading music are medium usage. Downloading TV programmes and movies or using peer-to-peer file-sharing applications can be very high usage.

If you find your usage has increased a lot in a month, it’s worth checking what you've been doing online that you weren’t before. To reduce your usage we recommend you limit the amount of video content you download (things like films and TV programmes). If you use a TV download programme such as BBC iPlayer, check the file-sharing feature is switched off to avoid using bandwidth even when you’re not watching a programme (see the BBC help pages for more on this). We also recommend you reduce or uninstall any peer-to-peer applications such as Kazaa or Bittorrent.

You may want to monitor your usage by using a bandwidth monitor. You can download a monitor from the Internet if you search for ‘Internet usage meter’.

Fair Usage Policy

9. What is the Fair Usage Policy on BT Total Broadband?

The Fair Usage Policy is designed to ensure that the service received by the vast majority of our customers is not negatively impacted because of extremely heavy usage by a very small minority of customers. This is why BT continuously monitors network performance and may restrict the speed available to very heavy users during peak time. This applies to customers on all Options.

Note if you are a heavy user we will only restrict your speed. Service will not be stopped, so you will still be able to upload and download. We will not impose any restrictions outside of peak times. Only a very small minority of customers will ever be affected by this (less than 1%).

10. How do I know I’m a very heavy user?

There is no hard and fast usage limit that determines if you are a heavy user as the parameters that determine heavy use vary with the demands placed on the network at that given time. If you have a query about fair usage related restrictions on your line please call us on 0800 707 6044.

11. I have BT Total Broadband Option 3 , does the Fair Usage Policy apply to me?

Yes, the Fair Usage Policy applies to all customers on all Options, including Option 3. Option 3 allows unlimited downloads and uploads inclusive of the monthly rental price, so you will not be charged for over-use, however this does not preclude BT from restricting your speed at peak times if you are a heavy user. If you are an Option 3 heavy user this does not prevent you from continuing to use your service, nor does it cost you any more but it ensures that you do not negatively impact the majority of our customers who share the available bandwidth with you.

Peer to Peer (P2P)

12. What is BT's policy on P2P?

P2P is the sharing of files and programs between groups of people who are logged on to a P2P network. It consumes a significant and highly disproportionate amount of bandwidth even when it’s being used by just a small number of customers.
Because of this, we restrict P2P speeds if it's having a negative impact on the online experience of the majority of our customers.  We normally place restrictions in the evenings at peak time, but we do apply them during the day if a lot of customers are using P2P at the same time.
Without these limits all our customers using their broadband service would suffer, regardless of whether they are using P2P or not. It’s important to remember that P2P can be used at any time, and even when restrictions are applied it is not restricted completely, so is always available to use.

13. Does this mean I can't use Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications?

No, we are not stopping you from using any P2P service. P2P will just be slowed down in the evenings and during the day if a lot of customers are using it.

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