Heavy-use broadband

Heavy-use broadband explained

Heavy-use broadband packages are being offered by a number of broadband providers in a bid to capture the growing market of people who are downloading increasing amounts of data every month.

What is heavy-use of broadband?

Each broadband provider has a different way of defining what a heavy user of broadband or data is. Generally those using their broadband all day and in the evening to download large files such as movies, songs and video clips are heavy users.

Unlmited broadband

As communication, work and gaming increasingly move online, download limits are a constraint that no longer needs to be endured. As you’ve been browsing through the site, you’ve probably noticed a number of internet service providers (ISPs) that offer an ‘unlimited’ download allowance. Some providers, such as Virgin Media, Tiscali and Be, make this a feature of all their packages whilst others reserve unlimited downloads for the top-end options.

Heavy-users should consider:

• Family broadband where many people are accessing the internet on multiple devices at the same time
• Gaming broadband - no need to stop play when you hit your download limit any more
• Student broadband in shared accommodation
• Unlimited broadband - download as many films and songs as you want

Heavy-use broadband and fair usage policies

Many of these packages are subject to FUPs or Fair Usage Policies. These policies attempt to make sure that all internet users within any one exchange get fair access to the internet. They do this by restricting the speed of excessive users, following a warning, during peak times. Excessive users are a minority and include those who use Peer-to-Peer Software and download large files (such as movies) on a regular basis. For more information, refer to our guide "What is a Fair Usage Policy?".