World Cup Concerns About Broadband Download Limits

With the World Cup starting on Friday, football fans should ensure that they will not breach broadband download limits if watching matches over their Internet connection.

As the World Cup kicks off on Friday many football fans will be tempted to watch live matches or use TV catch up websites over the Internet. Some may possibly use their mobile broadband connections to view important matches or goals.

As streamed TV counts as downloaded data, and one match watched in high definition consumes aroung 2.4Gb of bandwidth, there are concerns that consumers could soon breach their download limits or fair usage policies. Many ISPs impose bandwidth throttling or even fines if their customers breach their quotas, although most providers will provide at least one warning before imposing penalties.

Even ‘unlimited’ broadband packages from companies such as Sky are subject to fair usage penalties and contracts may well allow ISPs to impose download speed restrictions if excessive bandwidth is used by those eager to watch most of the World Cup matches over the Internet.

With most pay as you go mobile broadband products being offered with 3Gb of bandwidth, users could consume a £15 top up for one match, however connection speeds may make viewing high definition TV unviable.

So football fans keen to follow the competition via the web over the next few weeks should check their broadband download allowances, a point empahsised by Michael Phillips, product director at Broadbandchoices.co.uk, who advises:

“Any football fan who experiences speed throttling will find it seriously impairs their viewing experience. Furthermore those who breach the terms of their broadband download limit may find themselves paying anything up to £1 per additional GB downloaded* – with over 60 games to watch in total, this will mount up very quickly. We strongly urge any World Cup viewers planning to watch through their broadband connection to check with their broadband provider before downloading any content. Even if they have an ‘unlimited’ package there are still likely to be rules in place they must adhere to.”