Sky Broadband Unlimited

You may have heard of the fair usage policy, it is a system that stops internet users from using their internet connection to downloading a literally unlimited amount of content online. It was put in place to prevent abuse of unlimited broadband connections such as Sky Broadband Unlimited.

Most unlimited packages have a restriction or cap on the amount of content you are allowed to download, and therefore an unlimited connection may not actually be unlimited. Many years ago it would have been unheard of to stream entire programmes online, and downloading something like a TV show would have taken days. However, these days we can watch a TV show streaming online or download it in under an hour. This high bandwidth use means that at peak times, some users experience a slowdown in their connection.

For example, to watch or download a film, you are downloading between 600MB and 5GB of information, depending on what level of quality you are requiring. This repeated over a series of films or TV shows, again repeated over a number of days and weeks means that you could be downloading Terabytes of information by simply watching the TV catch up service of your choice.
If you then consider that users are doing the same thing up and down the country, you can see how this can put a great strain on the ISP and their bandwidth allowances. Due to this, many users have received complaint letters from their ISP for unfair use or for breaking their fair usage policy, but downloading far more content than is acceptable.

All this considered, it is understandable how the unlimited services are highly priced, as those applying for such services most likely intend to use a high level of bandwidth regularly, and the ISP’s have to account for this in their pricing scheme.

If you are subscribing to an unlimited service such as Sky Broadband Unlimited and want to know whether the service you are subscribing to is truly unlimited, or even if you simply want to know what level of gigabytes your fair usage policy is set at, you should consult your ISP thus:

* Phone them on the number listed on their main website, asking for customer care, and requesting written information on their fair usage policy

* Check their website for and details on fair usage policy information, as it may already be available on their main site

* Write to your ISP, requesting a written response detailing their fair usage policy, or perhaps some pamphlets or similar literature on the terms and conditions linked to your service

Once you have tried on of these approaches, you should have a good idea of what your fair usage policy level is set at, and can surf the internet accordingly.