If you are thinking of saving money by choosing a lower priced non-unlimited broadband plan you might want to think twice.
Reddit user Wildguess0 reported that his mother had switched to a 30 GB plan with BT and had not let them and their brother know when they returned for Christmas, only for them to build up a significant bill during December.
BT charged them a whopping £2.20 per GB over the 30 GB, which amounted to a bill of £350 in December alone.
Both my brother and I (also back just for Christmas) use our computers/phones a lot, stream lots of video and have used 192GB in December. BT is charging us £2.20 per GB over the 30GB limit, amounting to around £350 in December.
As another user mentioned in response, a Windows update alone can be over 30GB – meaning almost any Windows user could easily go over the limit just by using their computer in a normal way – not even downloading films, streaming or gaming.
The average light user probably does use way less than 30GB per month, but downloading a particularly large set of files such as a big game or software update could easily take you over the limit.
In our opinion although it is not ridiculous for BT to offer a cheaper package for light users, the usage limit exceeded fees are way to high. A simple cap would ensure that users are not overly penalised for usage above the limit.
A user on reddit’s LegalAdviceUK subreddit that claimed to work for BT chimed in to the discussion, stating that the user’s mother would have received three warning emails:
- Half way to the limit
- 2GB from the limit
- When you go over the limit
Yet not everybody reads their emails on a daily basis, especially older non-digital native customers. A text message or even an automated phone call could potentially have helped avoid this disaster.
We will reach out to BT for a comment.
