Page 1 of BT Anytime my ars*!

The BT Anytime service is now changing...

"Since the launch of fully unmetered access during 2000, a small percentage of our customers have continued to use a disproportionate amount of network infrastructure. This either reduces the quality of access experienced by all our customers or threatens to force an increase in price. We believe that the fairest approach for all is to provide a limit suitable for the vast majority of customers. This will ensure a consistently excellent service."


"Calls to the Internet which customers receive as part of their flat rate monthly fee are now limited to 150 hours per month on Anytime and 120 hours per month on Surf packages."

"Once the limit is exceeded you will only be able to connect using the pay-per-minute number."

I personally find the above (latest) money-grabbing exercise by BT ****ing disgraceful. Am I correct in thinking that this is just BT forcing everyone of their internet users onto broadband!

I, for one, will be looking for another ISP after this, can anyone give me any good recommendations?

You would have thought that BT is fully capable of identifying the "small percentage of.. customers" who were abusing the system and kick them off but no...everyone else has to pay up for the mis-use of the system by the minority.

Can`t call the service "anytime" anymore - Time to call the Trading Standards me thinks...

ascomodog, i can heartily recommend surfanytime (nothing to do with bt) which have a weekly limit of 160 hours, (something which makes bts 150 per month laughable)
I hate bt with a passion and have never had anything but first class freindly service from surfanytime, so give them a try.

http://www.surfanytime.co.uk

This item was edited on Wednesday, 2nd October 2002, 17:31

yes mate try lineone now tiscali, i reckon the service is second to none!!!
no time limits, no being cut off after 2 hours or any of the other little annoyances that happen with freeserve/bt/aol etc...

Aye, I used to leave my PC on downloading stuff over night, but got a stroppy email from BT. Suddenly my `unmetered access` was being metered.

I don`t think anyone is taking advantage, more like BT can`t deliver what they promised.

Guys, you`ve got to get real about `unmetered` Internet connections.

There is no way on earth that any ISP can fund giving you an always-on dialup for £15.99 or the like a month. It costs them more than that to provide the line... How exactly do you expect them to make money ?! Basically, this move was forced on most ISP`s by the file leechers and P2P kiddies who left their computers online all the time downloading files they`ll never use.

It says "unmetered" - not "unlimited". You can get unlimited, you simply have to pay an appropriate amount for it, which I doubt you`re prepared to do.

I`m not saying that there aren`t valid complaints about BT as an ISP, but complaining when you have breached the maximum limit is not one of them.

Dan

BTW There`s not a leg to stand on complaining about the service name either - you *ARE* welcome to use it any time, just not for more than 150 hours a month...

This item was edited on Wednesday, 2nd October 2002, 21:29

I have recently switched to virgin after getting booted off bt, there are no usage restrictions (yet) and is cheaper, never had a problem connecting or anything like that

Dan,

The point is, unmetered access *was* originally billed as unlimited, 24/7 access (remember "Freeserve Unlimited"?) only the ISPs started getting stroppy when customers - horror of horrors! - took them at their word.

They really can`t have it both ways. They should either start advertising the service honestly (e.g. BT 150-Hours-Per-Month-Time) or be prepared to deliver exactly what they advertise.

Mike

This item was edited on Wednesday, 2nd October 2002, 23:57

With more and more people using the Internet more and more ISP`s who supply unmeterd access will impose restrictions for the simple reason they can`t cope and by the time they make improvements more and more people will be using the Internet and they still won`t cope

I feel it`s the beginning of the end for this so enjoy it while it lasts

We are going down the dangerous path of relying on technology to sort out/help with daily life. The problem lies is when you really need it you can guarantee it won`t work.

Dan,

The point is that ISPs such as BT have moved the goal posts. I for one don`t have a problem with their service, they are the 4th ISP I`ve used they`re easily the best (so far...)

Also, I`m a bit confused about the `line costing more than that` - it was there already for my phone.