Madasa usagefish Broadband

I've been with Freenetname (Madasafish) almost since they started. I used to be on the 5Gb limit but over a matter of a year my usage crept up and up from not going over the 5 Gb at the start to using 12, 13 or 15 Gb. The strange thing is my internet usage is very routine. Almost exactly the same daily use every week. I was doing nothing extra even though the usage went up month by month. Eventually I was paying up to £35 a month so I upgraded to the 20 Gb package. Guess what, I'm now using almost 20Gb per month and still doing nothing different. I've installed a router with a running byte count and in the last three days i've used 454.7Mb. My account on Maaf shows I've used almost 1.6 Gb. Maybe this is the fishy part of madasafish. I'm going to get my local trading standards to look into this. Anyone else had this problem. Of course I've also got the usual end of month/ start of month duplication.

I'm going to get my local trading standards to look into this.

Have you asked Madasafish to look into it?

If you are using a wireless router and in wireless mode make sure it is secure as you don't want folk piggybacking on your connection and using up the bandwidth.

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

If you are using a wireless router and in wireless mode make sure it is secure as you don't want folk piggybacking on your connection and using up the bandwidth.

It might also be a good idea to check for malware.... Trading Standards should be a last resort and not the first. Much better to get Madasafish to look into it, then if you can't get anywhere go to Trading Standards.

Couple of points :- I live in a remote cottage several Ks from the nearest neighbour and well away from the nearest road so nobody hi-jacking and of course, the discrepancy is between the byte count on the router and the amount shown on Maaf. Someone else using the wifi would still knock the byte count up. The other strange thing is that my average useage over the last few months on the 5Gb pack was around 12Gb. The first month after upgrading to 20 Gb was suspiciously ... 19.7 Gb and already at 11Gb this month. The download speed also dropped dramatically immediately after renewing the contract. For quite a few years the download speed was an average of around 2.2Mb and sometimes as good as 2.9. The best I get now is 1.6 and regularly at night down to around the 500k. Nothing has altered here and I dont believe in coincidences. It dropped almost immediately following the upgrade. Their tech support have been totally useless. Their suggestion is to contact BT. My line stats are good on the router and the connection rarely drops. Also I dont pay BT. for my Broadband. I pay Madasafish and they in turn pay BT for the use of BT's equipment so they should instigate any investigation. I intend to dump Maaf and go over to BT. At least then there can be no buck passing.

In reply to a post by meibion:

Also I dont pay BT. for my Broadband. I pay Madasafish and they in turn pay BT for the use of BT's equipment so they should instigate any investigation. I intend to dump Maaf and go over to BT. At least then there can be no buck passing.

Unfortunately that is where you are wrong.

BT Openreach supply and maintain your line.
BT Wholesale pay Openreach to let them use it for broadband. Openreach connect the exchange end of your line to the BT Wholesale DSLAM/MSAN.
BT (Retail) or Wholesale, (I still don't quite get this but it is irrelevant here), pay Openreach to let them use it for the phone service.

Madasafish pay BT Wholesale to provide broadband on the line. So do BT Broadband.

The split between BT (Retail), BT Wholesale and BT Openreach is down to OfCom regulation, with the express intention that BT Broadband gets no different treatment from BT Wholesale and Openreach than Madasafish.

The buck is still there to be passed, and passed it still is.

What you would almost certainly find however is that the CS and actual broadband performance from BT would be worse than from Madasafish. Though I agree that purely from your side of the story it is ludicrous that MAAF advise you to contact BT. You cannot contact Openreach or Wholesale about your speed or usage stats and it is nothing whatsoever to do with BT Broadband or any other division of BT (Retail).

You may find this comparison useful when deciding where to move to.

One should point out that Madasafish comes under Plusnet banner and is owned by BT Retail.

Perhaps OP should pm one of the Plusnet reps who post here Monday to Friday.

I agree a Plusnet rep could be useful, but not a BT one. MAAF is more a division of Plusnet, whereas Plusnet is arms length from BT Retail.

MAAF is more a division of Plusnet, ..........................

Yep, lower division with expensive up front BB packages (old), perhaps it makes PN BB packages look better value, especially as PN revise them now and again which hasn't happened to the maaf products since the takeover

I expect this company counts both download and upload in its dta allowance. Have you checke3d both on your router? Perhaps the compbined amount adds up to what Madasa are saying.