BT logged usage being exceeded.

[Loose rivets]

The lady I'm house-sitting for in England has the BT system with the curved black thing as the, or next to the, router. In her office, so I don't probe.

When she stayed last time she came down and mentioned I was pretty near to the limits on usage. Downloads were a few Top Gear and University Challenges - oh, and one serial episode a week.

I have no idea about limits, and have no access to her paperwork of course. How does this measure up to typical usage? And does Skype eat up a lot of flow? I don't use a camera, but sometimes folk forget and leave theirs on. Pretty low-def, but still data I guess.

Is it a rolling total, so that I can carry on with a little less usage, or is it monthly, cut and dry? What would be a typical charge for another gig or so?

I feel a little uncomfortable about messing her about, but I'd be lost without my contact with the world - and a few moments of TV.

[Keef]

I don't know the BT limits (don't use BT), but when I was looking to change ISP a few months ago, most had a "value package" of about 3 gig a month. Exceeding that either meant the system slowed right down (no TV) or was shut off altogether unless you paid for more.

I suspect BT is 10 gig a month, based on what a pal of mine says.

I chose an ISP with 24 (or is it 25?) gig a month, and don't get anywhere near that, even when the family comes to visit. Most months I'm around 10 to 12 gig. Watching television does rack it up pretty quickly, but I don't do that: we have a television downstairs and I have a TV dongle in the PC - although I rarely use it.

[FullOppositeRudder]

I can only comment on Australian ISPs, but all of then allow the purchase of additional usage online using any one of a variety of payment methods. It may be different with BT but worth investigating.

[jimtherev]

Current usage allowance on lowest tariff is 10Gb per month. First month over that and you get a warning letter; after that it's (I think) a fiver per gig.
Next package is unlimited usage, typically about £5 more than the standard stuff per month.

[EGTE]

The BT policy on download allowances changed several months ago. Most BT packages now have no download limit. Now only the cheapest package has a limit - 10Gb.

A warning email was sent the first month that the allowance was exceeded and then the customer charged if they exceeded their allowance the following month. Now there is no period of grace. A customer is charged £5.00 for every 5Gb (or part thereof) that the 10Gb download limit is exceeded.

See here Learn about your Usage Allowance | MyBT Broadband (http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=33467)

[Loose rivets]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds workable - no great threats if I see a couple more university challenges.

Rushing to get to beach with nippers. Will return....