Unlimited Internet Usage" not actually "Unlimited

Yup, just as the title describes; Unlimited doesn't actually mean unlimited! I'm in the UK and of course, we have many different internet companies such as "TalkTalk" and such. i'm currently with a company known as "British Telecoms" (BT for short, a.k.a Bloody t**ts)

Now then, you've probably heard all these internet companies giving away "unlimited usage of up to MB broadband". As I recall, these can sometimes include "Unlimited Phone Line Usage" and of course, the cheap television service. Usually, I would be one to jump at the chance of being promised "Unlimited Internet usage for £18" but of course; theirs always a catch!!!

I used to be with AOL at one point, after the Asian telephone person told me the same technological bo**ocks over and over again thinking i didn't know he was taking the mick and hadn't a clue what he was on about! (which, to be honest, he sounded as confused as a cat with a bird on the other side of a window)

Now then, im currently on BT's "Total Brodban Option 3" which gave me the promise of unlimited usage with up to 20mb speeds... big emphasis on the "UP TO" (lets face it, i only know one person who gets just over 19MB and they life in the middle of no-where...) Now then, i recieved the most ridiculous email ever:

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Dear Customer,

We thought you'd like to know that your broadband usage in June is now above 80GB.

In accordance with our Fair Usage Policy, and to protect the online experience of all our customers, if your monthly broadband usage goes over 100GB, we'll restrict your broadband speed at peak times (typically this is between 5pm and 12am, but these times may change depending on the demands on the network) to 1Mbps for 30 days.

Please note: your service won't be affected in any other way - we'll restrict only your speed, not the amount you can upload and download.

We'll email you again to let you know if your usage exceeds 100GB. For more information, please see our Fair Usage Policy.

HOLD IT!! (Good ol' Phoenix Wright) I was promised that i would get unlimited broadband, surely that can't be right? well, looks like the fish is stuck in the net... I've been had!!

on BT's fancy lil web page, it doesn't mention anything about my downloading having a limit!!! oh but it does, i missed one tiny little problem... the little symbol next to each little detail. not many people want to read small print so they ignore those symbols (such as ^ and *) but, unfortunately you have to take note!!! so what did i do? i decided to flick through a few of the pages.. and when i found this "Bt Option 3" it didn't mention anything about a download cap! only that the offer was extended to date xx/yy... i even looked for this so called "fair usage policy" and in the end... my old friend Google had to lend a hand...

oh no what do we have here!!! monthly usage is still "Unlimited*" for my option... and the little * leads to a "subject to netwrok management"... no help at all! so is this email REALLY genuine? hmm well the email address states it is... but wait theres more!! if you scroll down to the "networkmanagement" section... it clearly states the following:

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BT Total Broadband Option 3 and BT Infinity Option 2 allow unlimited downloads and uploads within the monthly rental price, so customers on these products will not be charged for over-use. However, this does not preclude BT from reducing your speed if you are a heavy user in order to protect the experience for the rest of ourcustomers.

so now what? i wont get charged if i go over the "100gb" limit but i will get my speed capped for 30 days if i do... well kiddos, looks like the "Unlimited web usage and up to 20mbdownload speeds" is a arce... leave up some comments on what you think of this and ill gladly reply! why not leave a message about a bad experience withinternet providers and ill post it up in my next article and what i think?

source: Emaill
source: http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10495/c/346

Firefox: The official web browser of IBM

Mozilla's Firefox just became the official browser of IBM.

The announcement came on this morning and means that tens of thousands of new users will be downloading Firefox at work - and, quite possibly, many will do it at home as well.

Sutor is VP of Open Source and Linux in IBM's Software Group, so it comes as no surprise that he supported this move. But this isn't merely for his division. Or even for the Software Group. This is for all 400,000 IBM employees all over the world.

All computers - whether on Windows, Mac or Linux OS - will be loaded with the software from now on. Employees will be urged to - expected to - make it their default browser.

And IBM will encourage all its vendors of browser-based software to fully support Firefox as well.

Why Firefox? "Firefox is now the gold standard for what an open, secure, and standards-compliant browser should be," Sutor wrote. IBM has contributed toFirefox over the years, too, and will continue to.

Sutor cited the shift to cloud computing as another reason for the change. Cloud computing, to be successful, requires open standards to be used. After all, if everyone enters the cloud using different infrastructure, it's going to be difficult to share data and truly access it from anywhere.

The reasons Sutor gave for why he loves Firefox:
* Firefox is stunningly standards compliant, and interoperability via open standards is key to IBM’s strategy.
* Firefox is open source and its development schedule is managed by a development community not beholden to one commercial entity.
* Firefox is secure and an international community of experts continues to develop and maintain it.
* Firefox is extensible and can be customized for particular applications and organizations, like IBM.
* Firefox is innovative and has forced the hand of browsers that came before and after it to add and improve speed and function.

For a company the size of IBM to make this change and publicly encourage anyone and everyone to use Firefox as the default browser at home, too, is a huge boost for Mozilla.