Virgin Throttles Back Broadband Bandwidth Hogs

VIRGIN THROTTLES BACK BROADBAND BANDWIDTH HOGS
[SOURCE: TelecomWeb]
U.K. cable operator Virgin Media has become one of the first broadband providers in the world to disclose publicly its rules for how much data its so-called "unlimited" broadband customers can download. Those who download too much during peak hours will find their network speed slashed. The Virgin limits will apply to the 5 percent of users who download the most data during the "peak time" of 4 p.m. to midnight, Virgin says. "Our boffins [U.K. slang similar to US's 'geeks'] recently ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, just 5 percent of customers were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas," Virgin wrote in a notice to its customers. "And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases, the top 5 percent of users were downloading as much as 3 GB, just during peak times. That's around 750 music tracks in the space of a few hours." As a result, Virgin adds, "to make sure our service is fair for everybody," those who download too much will have to make do with slower speeds for a four-hour "time out." But it's not going to disconnect them entirely.
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/23147.html