You may think this makes no sense and to most of the people that grew up learning English when I did (some time ago) this will not by any definition make sense. But when you are looking to find a ISP (Internet Service Provider) then the rules have been changed for the better, better that is for the ISP.
You see, there is this thing about ISPs that most people don't get to find out unless they are a "power user" or someone that is connected say for 18 of the 24 hours of the day and maybe they are the kinds of users which like to download loads of content from the online content providers.
You may not be aware that there could be anything worth downloading other than a few desktop wallpapers or tunes for your playlist. That's all the better for the ISPs because they are looking to become your Service Provider and you will be the "IDEAL" user for their services.
There are so many commercials, adverts, posters, etc. that are advertising to these "low bandwidth" users - Unlimited Broadband for a ridiculously low price and they are making out like bandits, charging for an unlimited service that you could not possibly use all that is offered if you tried, even if you really, really tried! Look at it from their point of view:
We provide a service that most users will never be able to push to the "limit", oh there is a limit! So we can confidently propose to those users the fallacy of "unlimited" because they don't have enough Free Time to be able to use even a small insignificant part of the bandwidth which we provide, so they will never find out that there is actually a "LIMIT" and most do not ever consider the case.
Now, take a different scenario and look at this "Unlimited Broadband" con.
The main householder, "user 1", spends all day, roughly 10-12 hours actually connected to the internet and is not only downloading but also uploading content to the Internet on one or more websites.
There is another user in the household, "user 2", and they are at university but do all of their coursework and research for their course at home because they are disabled and find it more to their liking to do it all from home instead of traveling to and from campus everyday or living away with a full time carer. This user is also using the same connection through a wireless router and is online roughly 8-12 hours a day and downloading as well as uploading throughout the day everyday.
Then we have our next user in the household, "user 3", who just likes to listen to the online-radio stations and they easily listen to this all day long for roughly 8-10 hours a day.
So far we have three users pushing the "Limit" of the "Unlimited Broadband" but wait, we have a couple more users to add to make this even more complex.
The next two users work a job outside the home, "user 4" and "user 5", are online chatting with friends, downloading pics, downloading ebooks, downloading music to put on phones and portable devices, etc. These users are the only ones that the service was envisioned for:
the crowd - the ones that are out most of the day and when they do get home, only have a few hours to get online and use the "unlimited" broadband they got for such a good deal!
But one day the householder receives a letter from the ISP regarding their usage of the service and is told in no uncertain terms that their usage is in contradiction of the terms of the agreement and a clause has been broken in the contract and to remedy this they can pay for "unlimited broadband" and of course the householder agrees because otherwise there would be a disconnection.
The next month brings the next letter from the ISP, again the terms of the contract seem to still be in contradiction with the user's use, but this time the ISP is giving no more warnings and gives notice of termination of the service forthwith. Of course the users are all up in arms about how this could happen and a call goes to the ISP to query the termination. The ISP is not interested this time and quotes the clause of the contract that has been broken and is immovable on the decision.
The terms of the disconnection are such that it will take about 12 days to disconnect the line and there are no other ISPs able to give the user a broadband line, either unlimited or not because the first ISP has not actually disconnected the service yet, so the user has to wait until the disconnection is complete before they can carry on their daily activities and so too do the other users in the household have to wait.
Well, 18 days later and there are no signs of being disconnected so the user phones the ISP and enquirers about the length of time till disconnection and the ISP has no idea but that the order has been sent through to the appropriate department and it shouldn't take much more than a couple more days.
In the meantime the user sets up a new account with a new ISP after phoning all the other ISPs and enquiring as to their "unlimited broadband" accounts, which turn out to be the same as or close to the first ISP as far as actual usage of the account.
Finally coming to a relatively new ISP with accounts designed for “Power Users” and of course there are “limits” to the account, but the limits this time are far superior to the other ISPs and they are not afraid to tell prospective users the limitations of the service upfront and letting them decide if it fills their needs.
Happy days! They can finally get back to some sort of normality without being disrupted by threats of disconnection or actually being disconnected because they broke one of the terms of the contract, which when searching for the said clause in the original contract, was never found to be included! Make up your own mind.
As this all was taking place, a well known and trusted investigative programme on TV actually did an investigation into the very same question of "Unlimited Broadband" and found that while these ISPs touting the "unlimited" banner were actually misleading users into believing they would have free reign to use as much of the service as they could possibly use. The only thing that was keeping them out of court for false advertising was the fact that most people do not know the difference between "unlimited downloads" and "unlimited connection" and it is this unlimited connection that they are selling in their packages.
One more definition that pertains to all this is the "Fair Usage Policy" which turns out to be something along the lines that; as long as you are not using too much of the service during peak times then all is well and good, but if you are exceeding this usage then you're in trouble!
So at the end of the day, when you have a large household and you think you're getting a really good package from an ISP who quotes "Unlimited Broadband" make sure that you are not going to be exceeding their Fair Usage Policy or their limits for how many Gigabytes a month Downloading and Uploading otherwise known as “transfer amount” you are actually able to use within limits, or was that unlimits!
You decide, but make sure you don't make the wrong choice, You Have Been Warned!
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