BSkyB battles rivals with broadband

**rolfw** · 22-09-2008

BSkyB is set to throw down the gauntlet to rivals with an ad campaign claiming it is the only company to offer truly unlimited broadband usage to customers.

The company is preparing the campaign after deciding to remove its fair usage policy, which caps heavy downloaders, from its top-tier Sky Broadband Max product.

It also said that because it does not "traffic shape" - regulate or cap broadband speeds at peak times to manage heavy internet usage - it can now claim to be the only UK company to offer "unlimited" broadband.

"Customers have told us that they want 'unlimited' broadband to be exactly that, so we've acted on their feedback," a BSkyB spokesman said.

"We believe that we are now the only major broadband provider to offer truly 'unlimited' broadband."

The BSkyB ad campaign, which will include TV, press, direct marketing and digital advertising, is timed to break later this month, with the company expecting it to spark a marketing battle with rivals.

"We believe that there is no other ISP that makes both of these promises, and we are going to start talking about this more openly in our marketing," said a BskyB spokesman.

"This is likely to open up a new front in the highly competitive broadband marketplace, where most advertising has so far focused on either price or headline download speeds."

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**Channel Hopper** · 22-09-2008

I see a user sucking the net down his broadband pipe ala the Hadron Collider taking in a small lump of France

So the limit will be what exactly ?

Speed of the modem/router ?
Exchange connections ?

Or is Sky offering it on a 'pay as you quaff' basis ?

**rolfw** · 22-09-2008

I believe that they would consider someone who downloaded more than 40GB per month exceeding the fair use limit.

**Topper** · 22-09-2008

Originally Posted by rolfw

I believe that they would consider someone who downloaded more than 40GB per month exceeding the fair use limit.

That does not give them 1 downloaded film per day then.... that's measly

**rolfw** · 22-09-2008

Sorry, it's the non-unbundled product which has the 40GB fair use limit. http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...industry-news/

For this product:

"While no fair use policy applies, Sky has retained a section in the terms and conditions that all providers have in one form or another, and that is that they reserve the right to protect their network and maintain quality of service for all our users. Generally this is interpreted as a clause allowing them to act if you are found to be using their mail servers as spam relays or similar malicious behaviour, but it could apply to people that for example saturate their downstream capacity every hour of the day for months on end."

But you'll always get someone who rips the backside out of it, I remember from the satellite internet days, people would leave their PCs going all day and night downloading, in the end they had to choke the service for everyone.

**Topper** · 23-09-2008

That makes more sense now, but yes there is always one trying to outsmart the system and be greedy, like the guy recently who let his wife use his mobile to download and gave himself a bill of about 11 grand in a month

**Channel Hopper** · 23-09-2008

Originally Posted by rolfw

For this product:

While no fair use policy applies, Sky has retained a section in the terms and conditions that all providers have in one form or another, and that is that they reserve the right to protect their network and maintain quality of service for all our users. Generally this is interpreted as a clause allowing them to act if you are found to be using their mail servers as spam relays or similar malicious behaviour, but it could apply to people that for example saturate their downstream capacity every hour of the day for months on end.

So it is just an advertising scam. E and OE and all that.

**rolfw** · 23-09-2008

No not really, I have never adhered to the argument that because it says unlimited, a user should be able to use their full download capacity continuously. If someone wants that sort of service, they should consider paying a commercial rate.

koansrc · 23-09-2008

Ever been on an "all inclusive holiday" ? Drinks and snacks and meals and everything in the price ? "Unlimited" food and drink ?

You could drink and eat yourself into hospital at no extra cost. I guess the problem is that there are always some people who actually will ...

**rolfw** · 23-09-2008

No, strangely enough I haven't, as I've never been a fan of package holidays, but I guess that if you had one family who ate so much that there was little food left for anyone else because there was a finite supply of food, something would have to be done about them.

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