Broadband speeds of streaming services throttled by BT

The throttle of bandwidth has been a major issue with many users for a while now and the latest provider to be found doing it is BT, with big bandwidth restrictions placed on any users going on at peak times and access services like the BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

The biggest issue most users have is that between the hours of 5PM at midnight when access to the internet is at its highest levels the speed of their broadband connection is reduced to speeds of as little as 1Mbps when they are in fact paying for an 8Mbps broadband service. To add to this the only way to find out about these restrictions is to check through the small print on the contract.

Broadband throttling is not just limited to BT as there are many more providers out there that limit users’ connection speeds. In fact it isn’t even the only provider to not clearly inform users of these policies, although due to BT’s policy on shaping traffic being questioned openly by the BBC it has become the centre of attention.

Other than the usual response to these claims being made by BT saying that the bandwidth cuts are made “in order to optimise the experience for all customers” there has been little in response to this policy although talks with the BCC to resolve the issue have been mentioned by the service provider.

With fair usage policies on almost every unlimited broadband package out there and each policy usually providing little more than vague information regarding the limitations put in place it is interesting to see the issue taken up by a company as large as the BBC. It is, however, more likely that the BBC are more concerned about the impact on their customer base rather than any implications to BT customers.