Most people hate Fair Usage Policies, that’s because Fair Usage Policies are not FAIR enough.
Operators sell their plans as unlimited, only to restrict after a certain usage.There are thousands of debates on FUP on data services is required or not! But certainly it helps operators to keep their networks free from congestion and over-use/misuse.
We all saw how BSNL’s 3G data services choked following some users downloaded more than 500GB/month.So FUP has to be implemented, but it should not hurt customers/end users.
But there are some plans with 1-10GB usage cap at high speed and then speed is restricted to such a lower level you will be disgusted.Interestingly most operators sell them as UNLIMITED plans.
These plans must be sold as FLAT RATE Plans and there must be complete transparency regarding billing details.The broadband service providers, specially Airtel and recently BSNL also are offering such crappy plans.
8GB at 8Mbit/sec and then speed will be restricted to 256kbit/sec. It simply sucks for most of the users who are on high speed of 8Mbps.Operators must come up with data top up on wired broadband – Rs 100/GB is best value for money which is BSNL is offering as 10p/MB post free usage on limited broadband plans. I personally think there must not be any FUP on unlimited 256kbps and 512kbps plans. On 1Mbps unlimited plan FUP would be 50GB, 2Mbps plan can offer FUP of 100GB. For high downloaders, night unlimited plans are best, I guess. BSNL’s home broadband plans 500C and 500C+ are best sellers all over the country! Even operators can increse bandwidth during night hours, when traffic is less.
1.Should Operator Implement FUP ?
2.What should be the limit of FUP ?
suyashxp April 7, 2011 at 2:49 pm
U talk about FUP to Limit after 50 gb or 100Gb???
My Hathway Connection limit My 512Mbps Sped after 10GB Only….
Poor and useless,
Instead Of incresainfg the technology and capacity of Internet they are limiting the user to use it…..
My Frd In Us and uk enjoy 50 Mbps speed at 500Gb FUP !!!!
In India at least i expect 2-8 mbps speed with 50-100GB FUP…..
altaf March 29, 2011 at 9:21 am
i feel that if the operators will b transperant then they will be less profitable
when they use the word unlimited it should be unlimited purely without any conditions or a cap or a fup
trai knows all this and it is supporting the operators in this
trai pls wake up and help the consumers
sri March 28, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Most of the people who worry about FUP are torrent downloaders. It is always good choice for them to use VPS or Seedbox . I suggest this for those who are looking for 100GB…500Gb data transfer per month. With this method we need not worry about bandwidth limits and FUP problem with providers.But still some limit to data download depends on our Plan but we can escape lot of data transfer because torrent downloads.
The 3G/4G mobile Service providers or Broadband providers india should start providing VPS or seedbox as VAS which will get them good earnings. This is required for us in INDIA because our BB or 3G bandwidth charges are too high and lack of pure unlimited plans!
We, the end users can’t influence service providers to come down on 3G DATA charges but we need to find the alternate solutions like VPS…etc
sri March 28, 2011 at 6:22 pm
TRUE,AGREED!
MaNoJ March 28, 2011 at 6:00 pm
@sri
yes, instead of using “Unlimited” word and creating confusing FUP, operators must come with these types of plan. Even they can modify it according to their policy but the thing is clear, there should be fully transparency.
sri March 28, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Good plan, Same plan on my mind but starts from
RS10–100 MB
Keeping in mind the very less users also
2G or 3G or 3.1 Mbps/7.2 Mbps/21.6 Mbps…no worries …No confusion
Introduce free Bandwidth for high users like
Eg.
1GB–100MB free
2GB –250MB free
5GB—500MB free
10GB—2 GB free
20GB—5 GB free
50GB—10Gb free
100GB–25Gb free
I hope this will work better than most confused plans
The war will bring further down one fine day
The above are just thought after looked at and confused with various operators plans. I dont have any info on hand to calculate license fees, bandwidth charges….just based on their confused plan, I came with the above.
MaNoJ March 28, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Everyone want Unlimited internet Without any FUP with original speed.
But operator restricted to users by FUP
So the best solution is given in the post
“Operators must come up with data top up on wired broadband – Rs. 100/GB is best value for money”
Like
1GB 100 Rs
2GB 200 Rs
3GB 300 Rs
4GB 400
10 GB 1000
etc
rajiev March 28, 2011 at 1:15 pm
@Pratap Madgulkar what price should be
Pratap Madgulkar March 28, 2011 at 12:26 pm
500GB/month — it’s ok good FUP
otherwise people will use it for commerial use .
Mustan March 27, 2011 at 6:46 pm
@amit
Wow your attainable rate is 10x your sync rate.
Check out this link. whirlpool.net.au/wiki/DSLAM_speeds
I think that is what your modem is showing. I still dnt think our PSU’s have the infra to provide that kind of speeds
amit March 27, 2011 at 5:19 pm
@Mustan
here it is bro – i.imgur.com/oDMGm.png.
This is in morning/free hours, while in heavy traffic hours its near 16-18 mbps most of the time.
@mathew
what your propostion is that is fair being data @ 10rs/Gb after paying a certain maintainence charges.
Actually I’m completely pissed with most of the operators BB offers, moreover the direction in which these plans are heaving with higher speeds- lower FUP limits and the meagre 256kbps. Thats the reason why I critisized these ISPs in my comments.
the trend in data should be heading towards more consumption+ lower cost but the opposite is happening in india
Mustan March 27, 2011 at 11:20 am
@Mathew
Yes I know. Talktalk in uk gives upto 36mbps i think and they check a customers line and tell them what speed they will be able to get. there is no capping on speeds. The customer gets whatever speed his/her line can sustain taking into account the SNR and Attenuation.
Its just that I am surprised then amit says his modem shows such a high attainable speed. I have never seen this in india
Mustan March 27, 2011 at 11:17 am
Could you please upload it on another site. This image doesn’t show.
CALCULUS March 27, 2011 at 10:59 am
I’M ALSO DOWNLOAD 4-5GB DAILY WITH AIRCEL 3G NETWORK HACKING…IT’S A DIFFICULT PROCESS.
sam March 27, 2011 at 10:23 am
In navi mumbai there is a cable operator who gives 10Mbps for a year @10000 with no FUP and download limit i guess we all need nothing more than this….
Check fivenetwork.com
Mathew March 27, 2011 at 6:43 am
@Mustan
ADSL2+ is designed to operate at speeds like this, but the actual speed to the customer is restricted at the DSLAM.
My ASDL2+ modem shows a rate fairly close to this, and I actually get this speed – except I’m currently in a country where I pay only for data, not speed – and given that the price of data isn’t outrageously expensive as it is in India, I’ve often said I’d like to see this happen in India.
amit March 27, 2011 at 5:00 am
check my BSNL broadband attainable rate urself here – img26.imageshack.us/i/image000i.png
Mustan March 27, 2011 at 1:52 am
Could you please tell me how your BSNL broadband line shows attainable rate of 18000 kbps i.e. 18 mbps with an ADSL 2+ modem?
Does your BSNL ADSL 2+ modem show a downlink data rate of 18000kbps??
Mathew March 27, 2011 at 1:49 am
I personally think that providers should do away with speed plans altogether and just sell data – they can offer 256/512/1/2mbit/s of course, but it would be much nicer if I could just pay ~Rs300-500 for the infrastructure and then I just buy data at a reasonable rate per GB.
No FUP.
No speed limit (excepting what my line syncs at).
And if the data is prepaid, no bill shock.
No “2mbit/s at Rs1000 with 20GB FUP, 4mbit/s at Rs1200 with 20GB FUP”.
Is it too hard to ask for some simplification and clarity?
Mathew March 27, 2011 at 1:44 am
@amit
Hmm… how much does a submarine cable cost? I did a breakdown recently, and while Airtel *could* pay the equivalent of Rs1/GB if it opened up it’s lines, at the moment it barely uses them.
Because of this, Rs800-900/mbit/month is roughly what it costs at the levels which Airtel/BSNL/MTNL/Tata/Reliance etc are buying bandwidth, in some cases from themselves (cost per GB is worked out as being 256GB out of a possible 320GB @ 80% utilization), so it wouldn’t make a profit at Rs5/GB. Rs10/GB maybe, but otherwise no.
If it opened up the lines properly then the equivalent cost would come down – it could double the capacity it provisions to each operator and charge the same price, effectively halving the cost per mbit (how nice that would be) and still only be using 10% of India’s total cable capacity, but alas, it won’t.
Plus, there’s the cost of infrastructure, which compared to the cost of bandwidth, is nothing short of astronomical. Equipment and whatnot is cheap enough, but right of way, especially in the big metros, is hugely expensive. 50, 70, 80 lakhs, even 1 crore per km of laid cabling. Yes it sits in the ground for 20 years but it still has to provide a return on the investment.
Also unlimited plans are provided on the basis of average use. You’ve probably heard that “20% of the users use 80% of the bandwidth” kind of thing, so on an unlimited plan there are a significant amount of users paying the same amount but consuming much less… it’s a delicate balancing act.
What you also have to keep in mind is that by adding uploaded you’re not doubling the usage. A 1mbit/s symmetrical line is capable of some 320GB, but if I upload 320GB as well, that doesn’t mean I’ve used 640GB in a month… the amount I’ve uploaded hasn’t contributed any extra cost – the lines which the provider buys are also symmetrical.
**Source – starting a provider in India.
Mathew March 27, 2011 at 1:25 am
@kochikkaran
Operators don’t generally restrict speeds on 3G/4G – it depends on the network and what kind of base stations the operators are rolling out. General consensus in Sweden is that the 4G network puts out around 35mbit/s. In NZ, the 3G networks are designed to deliver 14.4mbit/s but deliver about 6mbit/s. In Australia, Optus has deployed 21mbit/s equipment but typically delivers 8-10mbit/s. Almost no mobile networks offer unlimited data (with good reason).
When I was living in Finland in 2008, I had a choice on wired access (DSL, FTTH or DOCSIS3 over cable) with plans ranging from 2 to 110mbit/s at a price of 14.95euro to about 55euro, and now 1gbit/s has been introduced for 99euro. Sweden, Portugal, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea are all doing 1Gbit/s as well with huge varieties in prices (Sweden is about 999SEK, Portual is a couple hundred Euros, Japan/HK/SK are all in the US$30-80 mark).
South Korea holds the title for the fastest average connection speeds in the world, but those seem to be mostly local speeds. Romania is fastest in Europe, edging out over Sweden. Europe is fairly well connected so in my experience Scandinavia and some parts of Eastern Europe have the fastest cross-border connection speeds, even compared to SK or Japan, given that many of the ISPs in those countries just connect directly to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London or Paris which are pretty much THE largest internet exchanges on the planet.
Some countries have FUP, others not. France, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Finland mostly don’t have FUP, Norway does, Belgium does, Spain does. Germany does sometimes. Portugal does sometimes. Ukraine does sometimes. USA and UK have FUP. NZ and Australia both have FUP. Japan and Singapore have FUP **BUT** they are very reasonable (One network in Japan has 30GB/day).
FUP is far from being an Indian invention – there are more countries *with* FUP than *without*, especially countries with high-speed access.
Mathew March 27, 2011 at 1:08 am
FUP is great under certain circumstances, but the FUP should probably be roughly in line with the plan speed and price – obviously a 50GB FUP for a connection worth Rs1500-2000 seems a bit stingy, but on the other hand, it seems to me like some of the higher plans are subsidizing the lower end plans a little bit.
My idea is to simply remove all speed limitations to the end customer and let the users just buy data at a reasonable rate (say Rs10/GB instead of Rs100, 200, 500 as it is now) – and then we can all stop worrying about this “minimum speed of 256k as prescribed by the TRAI” malarchy.
kochikkaran March 27, 2011 at 12:21 am
Hi TT, now it has been an interesting debate here… so we would like to know different plans and prices of different types on internet connections (wired, wireless, 3g and 4g) in other countries (esp. US,UK,Sweden,Japan,S.Korea,Finland,Norway etc)… Also it will be interesting to see which country has the fastest internet connection in the world..
If you can provide how these countries naming these plan… is there any FUP in other countries also etc etc.. I think India has invented the term FUP in internet usage..
saurabh March 26, 2011 at 8:30 pm
friends i will tell you interesting experience with airtel and how these big companies make fool of customers
i have been airtel broadband customer since 2yrs earlier there plan and service were good when it was unlimited but now they just want to loot the customers.
i recently changed my plan and was surprised to see that there minimum so called unlimited started at 799rs in which they offered 512kbps speed for first 8gb after which speed will be 256kbps.
so finally i decided to disconnect my connection but when i called customer care i was redirected to there so called customer retention department there i was told “aare sir you are so old customer of airtel why you want to disconnect we will offer you a good plan as you are old customer.thease plans are hidden plans only for old customers like you…etc.etc..”
and they gave me the same plan which i was using for 799rs for just 449rs surprising isnt it same plan for nearly half the amount.
so moral of story these companies just want to extract money from customer in the name of FUP but if you raise your voice,keep your eyes and ear open you will not fall in there trap
thankyou
sri March 26, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Forget about FUP
Just two versions -LIMITED/UNLIMITED
IF you guys need one more version for Lowering the bandwidth after the certain CAP, name it as some other word like CLIMITED……etc
Abhijit March 26, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Fair usage policy must be introduced but after 100GB per month usage but that too only for Wireless broadband only..
Wireline BB should not have any FUP it should be truly unlimited..
som March 26, 2011 at 6:48 pm
FUP is needed.one of my friend told me he used to download 4-5 GB data daily via BSNL3G but using 2G sim by hacking.when i asked him,why did he do this,his reply was very interesting.he said that i had BSNL unlimited connection but they provided very slow speed and ripped me off.so i did this to avenge it.i asked what speed they were providing you.only 256kbps was his reply.i informed that is the speed of unlimited plan;but then he did not say anything else.
this kind of people who wanted service but are not ready to pay for it,must be stopped.and this is possible only by FUP.that could not be ignored.but operators must think of genuine users also while deciding about plans.they must decide about plans which are not constricting around the neck.at least 100 GB must be provided at present speed of 2mbps.otherwise its very difficult for us to cope with.pvt operators also should think about bringing night unlimited plans like BSNL
Manoj Abhigyan March 26, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Agree with you but now Supreme Court has ruled that ‘Life term’ means life term i.e. till death. Its our government who releases a prisoner before that.
PD March 26, 2011 at 5:58 pm
We Indians can easily outwit/out-wink any rule(s) & regulation(s) either by hook or by crook. One will find that rules/regulations are made only to break (specifically by the maker themselves or by the powerful ones) adding conditions/clause and with exceptions having conniving connotations like – T&C apply, …. apply as stated above – PROVIDED …. etc.etc. Loopholes are added in the statute book itself to out-wink the very provision itself and to negate they very own purpose…!
Why blame the operators who are one step ahead of statute makers ? Why “FUP” ? Take the case of “prepaid” – You pay and get card only to pay recurring charges for most of their purposeful services that come in the garb of VAS. Unlimted limited indeed
Bipin March 26, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Hello,anyone will suggest me that which company provides fastest gprs2g speed in bihar@muzaffarpur.
plz reply who has experienced fast 2g
amit March 26, 2011 at 5:30 pm
@max
These rates are very much acceptable for 3G, but for wired BB its like selling a cup of tea costing 5rs. for 50-70rs.
I am putting all my comments from the persepective of cost to the company and final the price we pay. Atleast in BB some recent FUPed plans are nowhere fair from this perspective.(again not counting 3G in this as its diff. equilibrium)
sri March 26, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Shall we implement FUP in elections, earnings, savings, for every thing in our daily life?
FUP is a request for unlimited plan users and it is up to the users to follow it
When you call it “UNLIMITED PLAN”, why are these companies changing the meaning of it with FUP and limiting bandwidth?
The same corporate executives will go to STAR HOTELS for “UNLIMITED BUFFET” and will they accept if the hotel limits the quantity????????
The Indian Judicial System itself is key for all these derived meanings, eg. “Life term imprisonment” but it is limited to 12 years or less, lot of deals and discounts in that again. Then why it is called “Life term”. The system itself making us fools.
Service providers can request customers with unlimited plans by explaining the reasons how it effects every other user but cant be controlled by service providers.
“AFAIK TATAINDICOM first got this idea of bringing down the bandwidth after a cap is reached”
dingdong March 26, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I say 2 or 4 MBps with rs1000pm with unlimited download will be ok.In some countries data rates are cheaper than us.
max March 26, 2011 at 4:40 pm
these are the market requirement as per the todays price structure. bandwith will be 8Mbit for this
max March 26, 2011 at 4:39 pm
they can sell their plan on data/money basis. 1gb @ Rs 100/- 2gb@ Rs 200/- 3gb@ Rs 300/- 4gb@ rs 400/- 10gb @ rs 1000/-
Kanaga Deepan N March 26, 2011 at 4:37 pm
That is NOT TRUE atleast in BB case…
amit March 26, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Please read my earlier comment about bandwidth rates which i have explained in detail on page no. 2 and these are all facts.
Amit.G March 26, 2011 at 3:54 pm
@amit
Hmmm actually at that time new operators like uninor n videocon ll bag 3G licences. Uninor in its statement already told that it ll offer 3G when it feels that market is ready
ansh March 26, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Dear , you forget to consider operator is spending huge money for bandwidth
PD March 26, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Use is different and misuse is altogether different. In this era of IT boom many, especially students, use bb for – searching by surfing and download materials for project work. Therefore FUP if at all needed should implemented selectively. Now a days “unlimited” has lost its meaning, be it on data transfer/voice because of FUP.
amit March 26, 2011 at 3:33 pm
now thats fine bro….. take it with peace. Since u haven’t mentioned 3G in ur earlier comments, i took i for BB.
Hehe but there is one other catch too, sinc most of them are going to break even in 3-4 years, Next 15-16 years(ou of 20 years lincense) they will be making sheer profit if the competetion keeps low like as it is now.
Amit.G March 26, 2011 at 3:23 pm
@amit
Well i mentioned that price tagline to 3G data where the operators paid huge amount to obtain spectrum. And by the way they need to breakeven as 2round of 3g auction ll be held on 2013,and it ll be at cheaper price. At that time ter ll be tough competation in 3g data pricing. So even operators should get profit to run healthy business
amit March 26, 2011 at 3:20 pm
@Mustan
Ur r either a newbie or a person u doesn’t have enough info about networking ! Tell me if my BSNL broadband line shows attainable rate of 18000 kbps i.e. 18 mbps with an ADSL 2+ modem what saving does it make by giving me a 512kbps or 1 mbps or 4 mbps speed plan. The saving is the no. of GB, I can download with it. The cost of wiring is not going to change, becoz wire is capable of it, The DSLAM is bsnl exchnage is the Same, no expenses of the company, so would u rather clearify about how it costs more, since infrastructure is one time/fixed cost hich only needs a maintaince/upgrade after a certain time.
This is only a way these companies are fooling customers by saying u need to pay a premium for high speed. Go get ur info cleared first !
Mustan March 26, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Data is not all that counts here. you can say 20 gb, 60 gb , 500gb but the speed at which the 500gbs are delivers holds more sway over the price.
Anal Kundu March 26, 2011 at 2:58 pm
I’m 100% agree with it.
amit March 26, 2011 at 2:31 pm
You don’t any idea what it costs a operator to deliver. I bet Airtel could be making profit even if it has to sell data @ 5 rs. per GB. Since it alone controls nearly or above 10-15 tbps of International capacity & even more BSNL purchases BW from tata at roughly 3-4 rs. per GB so it would hardly cost airtel 1 rs./Gb.
& u wanna pay 1500 rs. for a download limit which would cost it 40Gb X 5rs. =250rs. or more modest 40Gb X 10 rs.= 400rs.
If this was not the case then bsnl would never sell 256kbps/unlimited@500 or Reliance 300kbps unlimited @ 450rs., on both of these plans one can download 35-40 gb every month easily by using 12-15 hours a day (without using torrent which would upload also making total usage GB nearly double)
ARJUN March 26, 2011 at 2:18 pm
BSNL IS TOTALLY USELESS IN TELECOM SECTOR, ONLY COVERAGE IS EXCELLENT BUT QUALITY TOTALLY WORST THAN ANY OPERATOR, IF YOU ENTER INSIDE IN HONEYWELL TECHNOLOGIES, BILEKAHALLI, BANGALORE YOU CAN EXPERIENCE THE REAL SPEED OF BSNL OVER THERE, TOTALLY USELESS NETWORK.
Anand Kumar March 26, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Fair usage policy ka upyog costomers ko bewkoof banane ke lie nahi hona chahiye.
If their is any fair usage for unlimited plans I should be represented as the cap value not as Unlimited.
dskushwaha March 26, 2011 at 1:59 pm
The operator should use the word “unlimited” only when there is no FUP. How can an operator decide “limit of usage by an user” (or Fair Usage Limit) when it sells the plan as “unlimited”.
I mean if operator cannot give really unlimited why should they use the word “unlimited” and the impose FUP.
Better the operator should give limited use plan with 10MB, 100MB, 500MB, 1GB, 2GB, 5GB, 10GB, 20GB, 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, 500GB, 1000GB, 2000GB, 5000GB, 10,000GB, 20,000GB, 50,000GB, 1,00,000GB and charge accordingly instead of giving false “unlimited” plans.
Amit.G March 26, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Yes their should be FUP. This will help operators to offer uniform quality services to all users. And 40GB per month for 1500rs will be a great deal and economical plan.
Raghu March 26, 2011 at 1:51 pm
@Raghu
sorry not 20 GB- 25 GB its 200 GB-250 GB.
ansh March 26, 2011 at 1:51 pm
i m using BSNL 750 unlimited 512 kbps plan. No fair usage policy. But i will use only 10-12 GB per month. I am getting true 512 kbps speed.
Raghu March 26, 2011 at 1:50 pm
there should be plans with high speeds -512 kbps-1 MBPs but if they want Fair Usage Policy they can keep it as 20 GB -25 GB per month after that they can charge 10p/MB but these guys just cheat the customers by saying unlimited and then if we go to their website and read terms and conditions in that they will write Fair Usage Policy. hence this cheating should be stopped by these operators and customers should be informed abt hidden Fair Usage Policy and customers should not be caught unawares of this. Hope TT takes this up immediately for the best interest of customers.
amit March 26, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Fair Usage policy should start from a plan of 2mbps or above with a min. limit of 200 Gb then speed halved after crossing the limit but only after seeing what they are charging for the same! Of course charging 3000-4000 for the same is insane.
And If FUP is to be implemented on any plan than it should be half of the original speed of plan subscribed and not what is enough to call it a Broadband.
Both Airtel & Bsnl have joined hand to screw the customers !
Jack41089 March 26, 2011 at 1:44 pm
As plans from every operator are very expensive…then there should not be any FUP….and if they want to apply FUP, then plans must not be this much expensive…operators are only thinking of making more and more profit…I think FUP should not be less than 150 GB…otherwise every plan with less FUP is useless…
Kanaga Deepan N March 26, 2011 at 1:21 pm
I hate FUP… It is better to go for plans with HIGH SPEEDS CONTINUING AFTER THE FREE LIMIT and extra usage to be charged reasonably like 10p per MB, than giving cr@ppy speeds of 256kbps (BSNL) or 128kbps (Docomo) or 156kbps (MTS) imho
riju March 26, 2011 at 1:18 pm
My plan is bsnl combo 500. day time 1.5 gb and 2-8 pm unlimited .my usage is more than 100gb per month @ 2 mbps
riju March 26, 2011 at 1:18 pm
My plan is bsnl combo 500. day time 1.5 gb and 2-8 pm unlimited .my usage is more than 100gb per month
Shafeeque March 26, 2011 at 1:01 pm
I have no objection with FUP. The bandwidth after FUP limit should be atleast 512 Kbps