FTTC Value for Money

Hi was wondering why FTTC Monthly Caps are so low in comparision to the Speed/Price increase?

I'm currently on Zen active (Upto 20mbps (actual 4.5mbps)) 50Gb Monthly cap @ £25.52 (closer to £20 because I was going to move last year but got a discount to stay).

Ok now here's the thing Fibre active (40mbps (line estimate puts it at 36mbps)) 50Gb Monthly cap @ £36 not inc almost £100 connection.

Now the point is what's is the thinking of charging so much more for a product in which you can still only download the same amount in amonthly period? All this will do is hit the cap so much sooner.

Allegory time:- Full tank meaning 50gb monthly cap.

I Fill a Mini up with Petrol for £20 and travel 100 miles in say 2 hours.
I fill a Porche up with petrol for £40 and travel 100 miles in 30 mins.

I might get there faster but once the tank's empty what use is that 40mbps speed?

I really want to stay with Zen but the limit is brutally short as Fibre is meant to be fast and good for streaming/downloading but speed means nothing if you have an empty tank..

It's late and i'm partially drunk but this has been on my mind for a while.

My usage has not increased by changing to FTTC, but the speed of what I do has markedly improved. Not everything is about quantity of downloads, you know!

Paul

I know what you mean but i'm hitting the 50gb most months but that's because I consiously hold of downloading stuff.

No use in downloading faster in my sense i'm just going to hit the cap so much sooner.

Which raises the question why not stay on dialup?

The way traffic is charged for, means Zen to ensure they stay going long term generally need to charge the prices they do. This helps avoid horrendous congestion issues, i.e. keeps things downloading closer to what is technically possible on your line.

Now I know people will say that things don't slow down on BT Infinity, but for how long? Imagine if six months into their 18 month contract performance reduces to around that of an existing ADSL line.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Which raises the question why not stay on dialup?

The way traffic is charged for, means Zen to ensure they stay going long term generally need to charge the prices they do. This helps avoid horrendous congestion issues, i.e. keeps things downloading closer to what is technically possible on your line.

Now I know people will say that things don't slow down on BT Infinity, but for how long? Imagine if six months into their 18 month contract performance reduces to around that of an existing ADSL line.

That's FUD really. http://www.speedtest.net/result/1753989344.png

Ok now your just being too literal. Dial-Up is no good for gaming

You know what i'm getting at but the way in which the net is moving with most thing's gradually becoming download/streamed only it's only a matter of time before Zen starts losing customers.

Now I know people will say that things don't slow down on BT Infinity, but for how long? Imagine if six months into their 18 month contract performance reduces to around that of an existing ADSL line.

This is pure guestulation and scaremongering. Many peeps are well over 12 months into their 18 month contract with Infinity and have nothing but the best value for money deal to report on.

Imagine if peeps paid way over the odds for Zen FTTC and than found that Zen doubled the price, were taken over by TalkTalk and were under heavy attack by the Imperial attack forces that throttled them back to dial up speeds.

Imagine if Zen were highly overpriced TalkTalk resellers that took the first born of customers and offered then up as sacrifices.

Or worse still imagine if Zen offered hard capped, 12 month lock in 500GB services for over a thousand pounds per year against unlimited packages for a quarter of the price from household names.

Imagining is a game that anyone can play. The reality is imagining is a game that is a last gasp for those promoting providers that are seriously uncompetitive.

Edited by deleted (Mon 06-Feb-12 21:45:06)

Am I being accussed of promoting a provider that someone considers uncompetitive?

There should be nothing wrong with voicing what may happen, WBC has cost implications for the amount of data people use.

Zen has its limits, they don't suit everyone, but then there is a freedom of choice

It is a possible scenario, or do you feel it is impossible?

What does that speedtest show us? It could be a leased line for all I know. Its certainly not FTTC 40Meg

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

It is a possible scenario, or do you feel it is impossible?

No, it's fud.

What does that speedtest show us? It could be a leased line for all I know. Its certainly not FTTC 40Meg

It shows you are mistaken about a slowdown on BT Infinity.