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Originally Posted by RobC Personally I would never sign-up for a service that limits what I can do, however high the limit may be set compared to my current usage patterns. |
There are obviously lots of misconceptions about these 'limited' services.
They don't limit what you do.
All they do is make you pay for anything you use above the amount that comes included with the package you buy.
It's just like mobile phone contracts - your price plan includes so many minutes, and any more than that you use, you pay for. And if you need to upgrade to a plan that includes more minutes you can do that too.
Simple as that.
The reason deals like this are proliferating is that lots of people download colossal amounts of data, and to support these, the ISPs need networks that can accommodate the traffic. And if everyone pays the same, then the low users end up subsidising the high users.
So the ISPs are trying to limit things by making people pay for what they use. It's not rocket science, and it doesn't stop people using what they need. Now there have been one or two ISPs that have used unacceptable tactics to reduce some users' activity - they've done things like move people on to very slow connections for a few days if their consumption is high - but for the most part, it's just a question of paying for usage above a certain threshold.
Whether it's a good deal or not
for you depends on what you need. If you need huge amounts of data, get a relatively expensive unlimited deal (and even these are getting cheaper). If your needs are modest, a 1 or 2 Gig deal that you occasionally exceed and pay another couple of quid for, may well be just the ticket.
This is becoming particularly true since ISPs are realising that it's data transfer that they need to limit, not the maximum speed, so you can get very cheap 1 or 2 meg deals with 'limited' data transfer.