What is Unlimited Broadband?

Unlimited broadband is a type of broadband without a specified usage limit. A usage limit is how much your ISP or internet service provider (the company you get your internet through) allows you to download within the month.

The most commonly available plans come with specified ‘capped limits’. This is where you are given an amount of data you can download each month. The amount of data usage you are given will vary per company and each of their plans. It can start of as little as 2Gb and works up from there. If you have an unlimited broadband connection, you are not restricted in how much you can download so in theory you do not need to worry when you start downloading lots of large files.

Unlimited broadband plans are typically the most expensive plans an ISP will offer, though some ISPs offer unlimited downloads on all their plans and limit the connection speed.

How is it possible?

Internet service providers realise that most people on unlimited usage plans aren’t going to try and download as much data as they can in one month, so for people who do use more than expected the norm it will be balanced out by people who are not as heavy internet users. Another technique is by placing Acceptable Usage Policies and Fair Use Policies which mean the ISP can limit a person’s internet usage if they start to abuse the service.

This is called overselling and when it is done correctly it allows for lower prices. However, when ISPs misjudge how much they can oversell your internet connection might suffer. This is in a similar way to airlines overselling seats – occasionally someone might have to catch a later flight.

Acceptable Usage Policies and Fair Use Policies

The majority of unlimited broadband users won’t need to worry too much about this as they shouldn’t be effected, but this is one of the biggest criticisms of unlimited broadband. Acceptable usage policies allow the ISP to stop or limit an individuals internet usage if they start to abuse the service (eg. use more than the ISP want them to use). ISPs do not generally make users aware of what is an unacceptable amount of usage, which means they could limit you to the same as one of their cheaper, capped plans.

The reason that unlimited broadband plans can get some bad press is because they are a bit of a marketing gimmick as not all ISPs truley allow you to make full use of your unlimited plan. They can limit you through the terms and conditions of the policy and your connection speed will dictate just how much data you can download in a month.

What do I get?

As most unlimited broadband plans will be the most expensive plans a provider supplies you will typically get a faster connection, a lower or no set up cost and hardware and you may get fringe benefits such as wi-fi minutes, free security software and so on.

Who supplies unlimited broadband?

Not all suppliers offer unlimited broadband, but Sky, BT, Virgin Media and Be do – along with a collection of others.  You can acess a full list of unlimited broadband suppliers here.