TIO Annual Report 2006/07

Case study - Internet data speed

The complaint

The complainant knew that his contract stipulated that if a user exceeded certain specified data download limits, then the service would be restricted so that slower speeds would apply.

However, he believed that his service had been prematurely “shaped” (or slowed down) on a number of occasions before he had exhausted his entitlement in terms of usage.

TIO response

The TIO decided to investigate this complaint as the customer said he had made enquiries regarding the shaping of his service to his internet service provider but claimed to have received no response. The TIO then requested the relevant documents from the ISP, which consisted of general information ­– such as the terms of the contract – and information particular to the service in question.

The TIO first assessed the ISP’s “Acceptable Use Policy” (AUP), which governs the conduct of its customers; most ISPs have an AUP, even when services are advertised as “unlimited”. An AUP is a means of imposing limits on internet usage in order to restrict “excessive use” by some customers, which can cause congestion and thereby reduce the quality of service to all users.

The ISP explained that, as a part of its AUP, it did not in fact employ “shaping” at all. Rather, all customers who exceeded the AUP were placed into a separate pool of bandwidth, so that their high usage did not affect the speeds of customers who used their service in a more restricted manner.

The TIO then considered the complainant’s actual usage, with a view to assessing whether or not the AUP had in fact been exceeded. It found that the user had downloaded excessively on a number of occasions, contradicting the suggestion that the speeds he had received were in fact slow. Additionally, the ISP advised the TIO that its customers were provided with a usage meter that was updated twice daily, so that they could monitor their usage and be aware when the limits were about to be reached or exceeded.

The outcome

The TIO advised the complainant that the usage reports indicated that he had exceeded his download limit on a number of occasions. As a result of exceeding that usage, he had been placed in a pool of bandwidth with other users who had also exceeded their allowance and this had caused him to experience slow speeds. We further advised the customer that the ISP had been acting according to its Acceptable Use Policy and that in the TIO’s opinion further investigation was not warranted.

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