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[nomeames]

This seems to be a good deal with £7.50/month. Be has increased the download limit to 40 GB.

Be Broadband

I am with Zen at the mo with 25GB download limit for close to £25.00 per month (with VAT increase from next month). I have no problems whatsoever with Zen and am getting very good speeds and exellent service but a saving of £17.50 per month sounds tempting. From what I gether from ISP ratings and caps, Be is quite generous and there is no traffic shaping as well. Am seriously considering switching. Any feedbacks from Be users here much appreciated.

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

[roseway]

Although they don't say so explicitly, you need to be connected to a Be LLU exchange. You can check this here.

[HPsauce]

Be has increased the download limit to 40 GB.

They have IMPOSED a download limit, or more precisely will do from June 2010.
The previous version of the Value product had no download limit.

That's not to say it's not worth it, just correcting the information.

It's quite sensible given that new really heavy users will have to move to the Unlimited package; costs increase with extra downloads so it limits Be's commercial risks.

Existing users on the old "uncapped" Value package are not affected.

PS I'm a happy BE Unlimited user and have been for nearly 2 years. Previously with PlusNet (and happy) but the option of 20mbps as opposed to 8 was just too useful for my business.

[kitz]

This is the official press release announced today

BE Value now £7.50 a month with no traffic shaping, 40GB of download and speeds of up to 8Mb


BE Broadband, the UK's first ISP provider of ADSL2+ technology with real world speeds of up to 24 meg download, has become the only UK provider to offer a sub-£8 broadband service with no traffic shaping. The provider has responded to customer feedback to introduce its first limited service as a quality alternative to the services currently available to demanding customers.

Following popular demand for its half-price offer in 2009, BE has responded with a permanent refresh of the BE Value product. The price has been reduced to £7.50 from £13.50, with the introduction of a 40GB usage allowance rather than an unlimited service. This allows the provider to continue to offer no traffic shaping on its products and treat all traffic equally, unlike most ISPs who slow certain activities for individual customers or at peak times.

To develop the service, BE consulted with members over 6 months in online discussion forums and in face-to-face meetups across the country. BE members overwhelmingly favoured a limited service instead of a traffic managed service (where the ISP limits certain users traffic or certain types of download).

Tom Williams, Head of Operations at BE, said "The trends we're seeing are for no traffic management allowing more freedom and of course lower prices. Our members demand the freedom to prioritise and think for themselves, not have their broadband provider do it for them. We believe there a lot of customers that will leap at the chance to get a service that doesn't slow down based on the content of their downloads but don't use the internet enough to justify an unlimited product."

Customers will be free to download 40GB each month without any traffic shaping applied. BE plans to contact members if they use more than the allowance by email and post. It is explained during registration for the service that customers who consistently need more than the 40GB will be upgraded to an unlimited service.

----------------------

Q&As

Topline Messaging:
Most ISPs do traffic shaping because they 'rent' a portion of someone else's broadband network and that portion is at capacity or they have not invested enough in their own capacity As BE owns their broadband network, we can control our capacity more freely and so do not need to traffic shape. Instead, by fixing the amount of data means that we can launch a limited product that doesn't need traffic shaping.

Why have you reintroduced BE Value with a 40GB usage limit?
Some people are for looking a high quality broadband experience, but don't want to pay the cost for one of our premium products or who don't use the internet enough to justify an unlimited product. They buy into the BE philosophy of not having traffic shaping and like the idea of being a part of a small company. They appreciate good quality service even if the data usage is limited.

Are you introducing traffic monitoring hardware into the BE network?
Yes, we are investing in a system that will allow us to accurately track data consumption by members. However we will not be interfering with that traffic or your usage in any way.

How are you going to monitor when people hit the 40GB limit?
We will be adding hardware in 2010 to show customers how much data they are using. Until then, we won't enforce any automatic upgrades and we'll contact customers to let them know before it begins.

Why have you launched the product before the hardware is in place?
We wanted to launch the product early because the demand is there rather than wait until all of the hardware is in place. It's part Be's culture to react quickly to our members and the market demand. By taking this approach, we're also launching line bonding and a whole set of future products later in the year.

Will this impact existing customers on BE Value?
We want to reassure existing customers on BE Value, and also our Unlimited and Pro packages, that their service won't be affected as it's a separate product.

Is this traffic shaping?
No. BE is not traffic shaping on any of their products. The 40GB limit only applies to data usage, not what you use the internet for.

Is this the first step to traffic shaping?
No. BE is not taking steps to managing its traffic. Rather, this is a way to continue to maintain a premium service for members, but also cater for new BE members who want a value product without traffic shaping.

[kitz]

I'm a happy BE Unlimited user and have been for nearly 2 years.
Previously with PlusNet (and happy) but the option of 20mbps as opposed to 8 was just too useful for my business.

Ditto...  It was the possibility of 24Mb down and 2.2Mb up that drew me.

[HPsauce]

BE consulted with members over 6 months in online discussion forums and in face-to-face meetups across the country.

As someone who was part of that (but can't say much as I signed an NDA) I think it's fair to say that there wasn't much interest in traffic shaping.

Personally I think this makes commercial sense but there's maybe a slot for an intermediate service above the £7.50 and below the £18 or so of the Unlimited package.

[kitz]

>> Personally I think this makes commercial sense but there's maybe a slot for an intermediate service above the £7.50 and below the £18 or so of the Unlimited package.

Agree.. although tbh I dont mind a lil bit of traffic shaping on certain protocols as long as its not taken to the extreme.
This was brought home to me when Be had problems with some of their links about a year ago and I was seeing some very poor results for http.  
Yet the stupid thing was I could still open up multiple threads on usenet and near max out my connection.

In times like this its stupid that on a 24Mb connection I was getting around 1-2Mbps on just about everything aside from p2p and usenet where I could get around 20Mbps.
That is when traffic shaping is called for....  because as download speeds start to suffer all the heavies need to do is open up more threads to continue to get full speeds, whilst making everyone else slow down further 

[nomeames]

I donot understand the technicalities of how an exchange matters with regards to broadband services. My exchange code is SWMF and I assume Be's "Unlimited" or "Pro" package is not for me as the exchange is not "Up to 24 meg" capable? I guess the value package is the right one for me at the moment.

Zen although excellent is proving to be bit heavy for my pocket especially when I am out of work for past 4 months.  (25 GB for £25 / month is little too high considering the competition). Anyone knows if Zen is thinking of lowering prices to face competition? 

[HPsauce]

Hi nomeames, you misunderstand.

Be has it's own equipment in the exchange which is ALWAYS capable of (up to) 24mbps.
The speed you get (if Be is available) will depend on the length of your line etc. as normal.

This is irrespective of what BT offer.

Edit: Be is not available on SWMF (Milford Haven)