Rate Cap Revisited

In my last post I complained that I was being rate capped by Virgin Media. I said I didn't mind them having a capping policy, but it ought to be public. I also complained I wasn't getting the full bandwidth I was paying for.

Turns out I was wrong on both counts. Their rate capping policy is here. I did look for it before posting, and it could be easier to find. But its there, its public, and it says everything I would expect it to.

As for bandwidth, the "Large" package I am signed up for was originally for 4 Mbits, which is what I am getting. Virgin are currently upgrading their network to give everyone 10Mbits, and my region is due to be upgraded this month. However new customers get the full 10Mbits wherever they are. I just looked at their headline offer and assumed it applied to me as well.

So, I no longer have any issues with Virgin Multimedia.

Rate Capped

This is a screenshot from KDE System Guard showing my download speed for the Fedora Core 9 distribution DVD, around mid-day on Saturday. After downloading 1.8GB I was suddenly slapped down to 100 kBytes/sec, which translates to around 1 Mbit/sec with all the packet overhead. This happens consistently with various download sites, so I'm confident its my ISP.

I'm paying Virgin Media for their "Unlimited" 10Mbit service (although I haven't seen anything over 500 kBytes/sec, which would mean around 5Mbit in reality). I was never told that my download rate would be capped, although the fine print in the sign-up page points to their AUP, which says in Section 7 that they reserve the right to restrict Internet services in any way at any time.

However this post is not actually a complaint about rate capping. ISPs are there to make money by providing a service, and as a rule you get what you pay for. In theory if I want a better service all I have to do is switch ISPs, and possibly pay more money. Our email address is routed through a domain I personally own, so we don't even have to tell anyone else that our household has switched ISPs.

But how do I know that I'll get a better deal if I go elsewhere? All retail ISPs offer basically the same terms, which consist of a big headline rate accompanied by a fine-print disclaimer pointing out that you might never get it. If they have a rate-capping policy they certainly don't advertise it.

I don't actually want a faster headline speed (although I'd be very happy to get the one I'm currently promised). I don't even want a promise of "no rate caps": the ISP argument that heavy downloaders hurt responsiveness for all users is valid. All I want is to be able to look at ISP adverts and figure out where the best value for money is. That means the following information:

• Ratio of customers to actual incoming bandwidth.
  
• The rate-capping policy: e.g. capped rate and criteria for applying it.
  

Anybody know a UK ISP that actually provides this?