Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : Why do broadband ISP's charge so much?!

[zymic]

Hi,

I'm really confused at the state of the broadband ISP industry due to their pricing policies, especially here in the UK.

For example BT's "Heavy Usage Plan":
Up to 8mbit speed (try maxing that out, practically impossible anyway).
8GB bandwidth usage.
30p overage per GB (some providers charge £2)
£20.99 (around $40/month).

What the hell justifies £20/$40month for 8GB bandwidth?! I can get a server with 1000gb of bandwidth easily for $40-80, and yes I somewhat understand there are more technicalities to do with the way broadband is setup and routed to peoples homes, but come on other countries such as Japan and Sweden have 100mbit lines for cheaper than what we are paying.

They then have the cheek to bitch at streaming media websites, such as the new BBC's iplayer to "pay up due to heavy bandwidth usage" http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...ou-pay-up.html

The word monopolistic comes to mind, I'm just pleased the majority of the hosting industry is not like this.

[Emil]

As far as BBC is concerned if they are using so much bandwidth that they are affecting the use of the network for other people then they should pay extra.

From the article:

"Less than an hour [after hooking up the equipment], not only could we chart that 80 percent of the congesting traffic was P2P, but the traffic policy we activated instantly gave our on-line gamers and business users very high Quality of Experience," said network manager Palmi Sigurdsson.

But traffic shaping could be avoided should the BBC agree to pay the ISPs cash to help cover the cost of upgrading their networks. Negotiations on the issue are continuing.

[rghf]

Originally Posted by zymic

The word monopolistic comes to mind, I'm just pleased the majority of the hosting industry is not like this.

Yup you've got the right idea. In the DC world over fibre companies charge between £5-20/mo per 300Gb (mbit) (I know some are move/some are less but its a rough example). BT charges ADSL providers £195 per 300GB so hence why limits are low etc. Unlooped providers are a bit better off

[Echelon]

Simplistic answer -- Because they can. They know they can manipulate the market and make a large gain doing so.

[bdwarr6]

Originally Posted by Echelon

Simplistic answer -- Because they can. They know they can manipulate the market and make a large gain doing so.

If that ever happens here, I am installing a badass wifi router in one of our racks in Cyrus One. Pickup our web from there at home, I am sure you can broadcast wifi 12.1 miles

[IH-Rameen]

You should look for a provider using its own infrastructure at the Exchange. There was a law brought in a while ago (Local Loop Unbundling - LLU) which allows other providers to install their own equipment and cutting out BT.

For example with Sky, I pay £10 per month for a 16mbps connection, and usually sync at 14/15mbps. They don't implement traffic shaping until you hit about 300gb a month in downloads.

Be Broadband that offers upto 24mbps for £24 a month also uses its own equipment (company now owned by O2).. They also allow you to run your own commercial web server on that package and provide a static IP free too (can request more)..

TalkTalk (although I heard a lot of bad things about them) also do the same.

Another good contender is Eclipse Internet. They were my first provider.. They offer 8mbps for I think £14.99 per month with a 40GB per month limit.. But keep in mind they use BT Wholesale..

BT can charge what they charge because they know there are a lot of people that don't know much about the different ISP's and just don't want to use different ones. So they take the easy approach which ironically ends up costing the most.


So I wouldn't call it a Monopoly since a lot of competing providers have come along and cut out BT while offering a cheaper price for a better connection + service. BT just relies on consumer ignorance..

Personally, I hate BT.

[Joseph_M]

I'm with BeThere (Be Broadband). It is £18 a month (not £24 as Rameen stated), and does give up to 24 megs (depending on how far you are from the exchange). I usually sync at a rate between 22 and 24mbps. I can comfortably state that there is no traffic shaping at all!

[livinbig]

Because they can! In most cases the cable co. monopolizes the area, and they jack up the rate, or cut back their service over time.

[WHTer]

It's pretty cheap in United States, and it's usually capped at speed, not bandwidth usage.

[essexguy]

Hey its not expensive for me.

I'm with talktalk, have a 3Mbit connection (can't get any faster, i live in the middle of nowhere), 30 GB monthly download limit, all for £16.99 a month.

That price also includes my telephone line, call waiting, caller display and free calls to other talktalk numbers.

[Thales]

I can't fathom a soft cap on my home internet use. It seems nutty. I pay about $50 a month for 15mb/1mb cable. I also have a Kyocera KR2 router and Kyocera KPC680 Alltel DC, no traffic cap, free, thank God.

For you folks in the UK, how often have you gone over and had to pay overages? Also, what's the worst overage you've seen?

-fin
Thales

[FS - Mike]

Virgin Media do unmetered fibre optic for £9/mo (2mbps though). BT are a huge rip off, only problem for me is that where I live, I can't get fibre optic lines to my house without paying thousands for it to be done.

The ISPs in England are mostly rip-offs anyway. Basically they oversell their services and want to charge the BBC so they can upgrade their service and make even more money.

[aznganster94]

I'm paying only 9.99 a month for shaw cable

[rcpersons1]

It is not just happening over there.

This just makes my think about what is going on in Beaumont, TX where Time Warner is trying out there metering system offering 768kbps down & 5GB cap for $29.95 and $54.90 for 15 Mbps and a 40GB cap. Then those who go over have to pay $1 per GB.

It frustrates me. I would rather have the rates increased and not have a cap. At least where I go to school Time Warner isn't even an option and my parents are on Fios.

[Ryan - Limestone]

I have a 10mb line from Time Warner Cable. It is probably maxed out 80% of the time, and I havent gotten my first bill, but if they charge me some type of 'overage' fee I will not be a happy camper, and I will be very vocal about my stance on the subject with whatever unfortunate Time Warner rep happens to pick up the phone when I call.