Fair use policy dropped by Sky

Communications giant Sky has taken the first step to satisfy its customers by removing the fair use policy on most of its packages.

For a number of years the fair use policy that is used by Internet Service Providers has been causing problems and concerns amongst industry officials and consumers, as many have felt that they are being mis-led by the advertising used by ISPs and the actual benefits that are received by the customer.

Many ISPs advertise unlimited broadband in order to entice web-hungry consumers, but the service is never actually unlimited as it claims. ISPs have a fair use policy in place, which does actually limit the download usage that consumers are able to get. Although the limits are generally high, and for the majority of users causes no problem, there is a minority that really feel the effects of the fair use policies in place.

There have been a number of arguments with regards to why ISPs should be advertising the service as unlimited when it actually is not, and Sky – which recently came top in a customer satisfaction poll – has taken the first step to give its consumers what they want by removing the fair use policy on most of its packages.

Sky’s broadband package was advertised as unlimited, and like many others did have a fair use policy in place with a download limit of 250GB per month. However, officials from Sky have said that this limit will now be removed on its Broadband Base, Sky Broadband Mid and Sky Broadband Max packages. Unfortunately, Sky has no control over the policy on its Broadband Connect package, as this is provided through a third party.

Some officials are now predicting that this move will set a new trend in the world of broadband, and with Sky having received the customer satisfaction vote and making this important move other ISPs may take similar steps in order to remain competitive.