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How many times have you been told 'life's not fair'? Well not here.

At Choose we're egalitarian folk and we like to see everyone get a fair deal, especially when it comes to their unlimited broadband's fair use policy (FUP).

Unfortunately, some providers are more fair than others.

What's fair use?

The basic principle behind all fair use polices is that when one user starts downloading massive amounts of data it slows down the other people sharing the network.

Therefore, broadband providers build a get out clause into their unlimited broadband contracts: use as much data as you like but don't be a bandwidth hog. Fair enough.

There are two problems, however.

First, there's no clear definition of a bandwidth hog. Every provider has their own take and many seem to make it up as they go along.

Second, throttling is traffic management's bluntest instrument. When providers do it badly users can find their connections severely slowed or, in extreme cases, cut off altogether even before they overstep the (often blurry) mark.

In short, we think it's worth heavy downloaders knowing which providers are the fairest of them all before they sign up.

Who's fair?

We've arranged the UK's biggest providers offering unlimited deals alphabetically below, along with a short explanation of their policy and whether we think it's a fair one.

Note that these are assessments for unlimited broadband deals only: where providers have both capped and unlimited deals we're only talking about the latter.

Note that we give providers thumbs up, or down, for fairness in our unlimited broadband comparison table.

All clear? Here's the list.

Be Broadband

We say: very fair

If this list was ranked, not alphabetically, Be broadband wouldn't move places.

This provider is exceptionally relaxed about downloads. There is a fair use policy in place for the very heaviest downloaders but it's a last resort and there aren't any specified peak times when traffic is managed either.

Be have a reputation for fairness among their (geeky) customers and its well and truly deserved.

BT broadband

We say: fair

BT claims to only limit the speeds of peer-to-peer software during peak hours: 4pm to midnight on weekdays and 9am to midnight at the weekend.

The provider no longer publishes a fair use policy and claims to have dropped the old 100GB/300GB soft limits for unlimited broadband users altogether.

They also specify that usage of the Vision+ box, BT Digital Vault and BT Broadband Talk will receive additional bandwidth so that they don't get in the way of normal browsing.

This is all very intriguing in light of recent research into traffic management which found that 74% of BT traffic was being slowed in some way.

However, the terms are fair and the customers seem happy so we've gone with a fair ranking.

Eclipse Internet

We say: very fair

Eclipse don't have a fair use policy as they either offer set download limits or truly unrestricted unlimited usage.

What they do have though is a policy on peer to peer file sharing.

P2P is throttled to 0.5Mbps during daytime hours, that's 9am to 11pm.

Eclipse say that anyone who wants to use P2P should do so between 11pm and 9am when they say it won't be restricted at all.

Sounds very fair to us.

O2 Broadband

We say: Fair

O2 share a network with Be and, like them, is one of the vaguest, but fairest, providers around.

After a brief experiment with usage caps of 100GB and 250GB for its All Rounder and The Works deals, O2 have switched back to advertising 'truly unlimited'.

A fair use policy is still in place but O2 do seem to stay true to the 'fair' part: no secret limits or reports of punitive measures here.

In addition, O2 manage the network to slow streaming and P2P traffic during peak times of 4pm to midnight on weekdays and 12pm to midnight at weekends.

Cheaper All Rounder is restricted most, to just 0.1Mb for P2P during peak, for example.

Orange broadband

We say: fair

Orange have been languishing in our 'unfair' list for as long as we can remember.

Earlier this year, though, they slapped a 'completely' sticker on their unlimited deals and said they were changing their ways. Early signs look good but we're keeping a close eye on this one.

Orange do manage traffic at peak times - that's from 6pm to 11.30pm on weekdays and 5pm to 11.30pm on weekends. During these periods they prioritise VoIP and gaming over other activities.

Primus broadband

We say: unfair-ish

Primus Max is the budget broadband provider's only unlimited deal.

Users are limited to 100GB a month and Primus operate a 'three strikes and you're out' policy to repeat offenders.

Go over the FUP after two warnings and the provider warns that they'll start, "reducing your capability to consume bandwidth at times of congestion and or peak hours, without any further notice to you."

Post Office broadband

We say: unfair

The Post Office's FUP takes us back to the bad old days: it's vague but users report that it's often restrictive.

Without setting any explicit limits, Post Office outlaw excessive use: going over this vague barrier two months in a row of five non-consecutive months in a year and you get a warning; 'excessive' use for three consecutive months or sixth months in 12 months and they cut you off.

In the past, we've heard from users facing letters after use of just 40 or 50GB a month. Those reports are a little out of date but, then, so is the Post Office's FUP.

Sky broadband

We say: very fair

Here's an easy one: Sky broadband unlimited doesn't have a fair use policy and doesn't manage traffic.

Since they bought this policy in, we've haven't seen a single substantiated complaint about it.

TalkTalk broadband

We say: fair

TalkTalk broadband's fair usage policy is in the form of a long but somehow still fairly vague paragraph on their website.

In the past, TalkTalk have always claimed just to throttle the top 0.5% of users and now they aren't publishing any upper limits or warnings at all.

The provider claims to slow just P2P traffic during peak periods of 6pm to midnight on weekdays and 6pm to midnight at weekends.

Virgin Media

We say: unfair

All Virgin Media's cable broadband deals are notionally unlimited but only their up to 100Mb broadband doesn't come with a fair use policy.

For everyone else, between 10am and 3pm:

• Size M customers can download 750Mb (0.73GB)
• Size L customers can download 3000Mb (2.9GB) And,
• Size XL customers can download 10000Mb (10GB)

Users can download half that in the evenings between 4pm and 9pm.

Once these limits are reached, connection speeds are cut by 75% (so if your speed is 10Mb, 2.5Mb). These reductions last for five hours, even if you exceed the limit 10 minutes before peak time ends.

50Mb XXL customers should only notice drops in speed from heavy uploading - upload speed will be cut to 1.75Mb.

This policy has got come in for some stick from Virgin Media customers, particularly gamers.

To sum up...

Over the past six months, most broadband providers have had to become a lot more upfront with their fair use and other traffic management policies largely because the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) started asking them to publish a standardised table of their restrictions.

However, we'll continue monitoring them here - 'truly' unlimited has come and gone before - and it'd be great to add your experiences so that we can give as full a picture as possible. Comment below or drop us an email, especially if your broadband provider has informed you that you've exceeded an unadvertised usage cap.

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