Broadband

A download limit is also sometimes called 'capping'. A broadband download limit imposes a restriction on how long you can spend online, and how much information you can download or upload over a given amount of time.

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide reliable and high-quality broadband services, we have decided to introduce a Fair Use policy. This enables us to manage the network better and ensure we can continue to deliver the best possible service to our entire subscriber base.

A Fair Use policy means, for example, that we may introduce some form of network management if we feel that specific individuals are abusing their broadband usage beyond a level that would be considered reasonable. For example, using AOL Broadband 24 hours a day, every day, to continuously download large files is not a reasonable use for a residential service.

As another example, we might also manage the AOL Broadband service at peak times to ensure everyone is getting a stable, reliable connection across the whole network. We believe that this policy will help us continue to deliver a high-quality broadband experience and that the vast majority of our broadband subscribers will benefit from the existence of a Fair Use policy.

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide reliable and high-quality broadband services, AOL Broadband has a Fair Use policy on its internet services in the UK. This enables us to manage the network better and ensure we can continue to deliver the best possible service at all times to all our subscribers.

A Fair Use policy means that we may introduce some form of network management against specific individuals if we feel that they are abusing their broadband usage beyond a level that would be considered reasonable. For example, using AOL Broadband 24 hours a day, every day, to continuously download large files is not a reasonable use for a residential service.

As another example, we might also manage the AOL Broadband service at peak times to ensure everyone is getting a stable, reliable connection across the whole network.

With the increase in broadband usage and the increasing range of bandwidth intensive applications in use, it is necessary to include a Fair Use policy on the internet access service so we can ensure the network is protected and optimised for all AOL Broadband users.

A small handful of broadband users make excessive use of bandwidth intensive services such as Peer to Peer (P2P), harming the experience for others. The Fair Use policy helps us balance out the service for everyone.

We do not publish specific trigger levels. The threshold may vary but it is high and will only be triggered when a subscriber is judged to have made extreme use of the network. Only a very small percentage of subscribers reach this level of usage.

We suggest you download large files outside of peak hours and do not make excessive use of peer-to-peer services. Also, when you do use peer to peer or other file sharing systems, please remember that the unauthorised sharing copyright digital files is illegal and can result in account termination.

We will review the list of those who have triggered the Fair Use policy on a regular basis and remove from the list those that no longer exceed the threshold of what is deemed fair usage.

At present, the minority of subscribers that exceed the Fair Use policy will have speed limits placed on their connection during peak times. This enables us to ensure that all our subscribers get the best possible service during busier times. Peak times vary but are currently Sunday to Thursday evenings. If you continue to exceed the the cap, we reserve the right to terminate your AOL Broadband subscription.

Only those who download extremely high volumes of data are likely to trigger the Fair Use policy. If you do not make regular use of peer to peer services for example, you are unlikely to trigger the Fair Use policy. At the moment, you will know if you have exceeded the Fair Use policy as your download speeds will be temporarily restricted during peak hours. We are not able to guarantee that we will provide prior notice anyone who is speed limited as a result of unfair use of the network. However, the AOL Broadband terms of service do reserve the right to take this type of action in order to protect our networks. Also, the speed restriction is a temporary measure and each month we review the accounts that have been speed limited during peak hours.

An excessive online behaviour, not representative of a normal residential use, could be for example downloading over 12,000 music tracks, or 30,000 high-quality digital photos, or around 60 movies per month. This is a very large amount by any normal standard of usage.See How do we qualify excessive usage? for more information.

All three terms refer to the speed of your internet connection, with bandwidth being measured in Kbps or Mbps.

• Bandwidth - the capacity of your internet connection to send and receive data. Imagine your internet connection is a pipe - the bigger the pipe (or bandwidth) - the faster the information will flow.
• Kbps - stands for Kilobits per second. Kbps is used to measure bandwidth, the higher the number, the faster the information is sent or received.
• Mbps - stands for Megabits per second. Mbps is also used to measure bandwidth, with 1 Megabit (MB) equivalent to 1000 Kbps.

When you have broadband, your access to the interne