So we live in a country where a 10GB bandwidth limit per month is considered normal. Add to this the high price (close to 30-40eur per month), and you’ve got a recipe for complaints. As is the case with nearly every Belgian internet user. You have to think twice before downloading that awesome game demo of 700MB. Live streaming through youtube? Ho there, watch your download limits!
Belgacom ADSL go
Belgacom is one the biggest Internet Service Providers in Belgium, and their ADSL go-package can be considered an average internet-account. For this awesome account, you can use 12GB per month, for only 41,75eur! For this low price, you get a 400Kbps upstream, and 4Mbps downstream.
Now let’s do the math: say you could use that 4Mbps downstream to its full capacity, how long would it take you go use up your monthly limit? This means a maximum of 512 KBps in download speed (Note the difference in BIT and BYTE). You could consume it all in 24 576 seconds, that’s 6.8 hours. Wow, pretty fast isn’t it?
Especially when you look up north, in the Netherlands. You can have an unlimited amount of bandwidth for only 34eur per month (fair use policy applies, no bandwidth restrictions).
Telenet (Cable internet)
Another big provider in Belgium is Telenet, who provides its internet services via the cable. They have a package called “ExpressNet”, which they ironically describe as follows: “Superfast internet for those who like to browse the internet regularly, with the entire family”. If I were to browse it “regularly“, I sure as hell wouldn’t be satisfied with their current 12GB download limit. Granted, it’s fast. They deliver 10Mbps downstream (if you’re not too far away from their main centrals, that is).
So you read it, the same download limit as Belgacom, but at 2.5x its speed. That’s good news, now we can reach that limit 2.5x faster! You can totally destroy your montly limit in nearly 3 hours! Woohoo! I wonder if Google’s ISP Throttling Detector can warn for rip-offs like this.
So … now what?
Then what’s causing them to be this expensive? Bandwidth prices should be close to those in the Netherlands, after all – it’s our neighbouring country. They’ll probably have the same bandwidth providers too (Cogent, Level 3, …).
At a certain point, it will become cheaper to get an internet connection in the Netherlands, and use a leased line to transfer all that precious bandwidth to Belgium. Hell, share that leased line with your entire street, and you’re probably looking at a cheaper internet account than the currently most used ones here.
So what’s it like on your end? How much are you paying for what traffic limitations? Is “unlimited” bandwidth accepted in your area, or more a exception?
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In my home country (Macedonia) we used to have data limit, but that changed about a year ago and now we have unlimited bandwidth for 35 euro a month with 3mbit/s dowstream and 1 mbit/s upstream. 386 kbytes/s is a solid download speed and it satisfies the needs of over 90% of the people.
I moved to Belgium in February and I was surprised to learn that every internet provider in the country restricts the bandwidth. I have a Belgacom package (tv, telephone and 30 gb internet) for 80 euro a month. I use up all the bandwidth in 6-8 days. Then the connection drops to lousy 12-13 kbytes/s which makes me wanna pull my hair out because its too darn slow. Besides checking mail and browsing flash free websites, there’s absolutely nothing else you can do without getting the urge to break something.
What irks me beyond belief is the fact that Belgacom claims to have 1 million internet users, which is 5 times less than the biggest internet provider in Macedonia. Wait a minute, how is this possible? Obviously, the internet providers in Belgium are ripping off their customers, there’s no other explanation.
Trust me when I tell you, I share your pain. Its just frustrating to pay such a high price and get nothing in return.
I also agree with you about the release dates of the movies. I’ve noticed that its the same situation all over Europe, not just in Belgium. I have no idea why is that though.
Take care,
Dimitar
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I moved in brussels 1 month ago after living for 8 years in Italy and before that Romania , and it’s a nightmare having my internet connection limited to 20 GB /month .at 45 euros/month !!!. In Bucharest I had unlimited bandwidth fiber optic connection 20 mb/s internet (with 50 mb/s on within the city) at 30 euros/month and in Italy 20mb /s adsl 2 unlimited for 40 euros/month.So goodbye youtube days or live tv from Romania and Italy ,Goodbye free linux iso ,No more xbox or playstation live games , no more demo games download etc …But hey the external hard disk cost much less in belgium … I guess nobody really need one here .
If only that petition could really do something about that ..
I share your pain Stefan, I honestly do :-)
Guys, already at the time of writing of this article (one year ago), I had unlimited download from dommel for 41.95 per month (basic subscription + boost pack). I am using it happily already for 2 years. Also, I know that Scarlet also have unlimited ADSL offer at the moment. I hope that days of these damn bandwith limits in Belgium will soon be just a ugly memory from the past.
I wouldn’t push dommel too much. Customer service was horrible. I had used them for a year when they suddenly cancelled my account saying they had received a message saying Belgacom was disconnecting my phone line. Even if this were the case, they should have contacted me before disconnecting my DSL. Immediately they said they could reconnect me for a minor 75 euro fee. They cancel my account for no valid reason, without contacting me, and want me to pay a fee for reconnection?!?! This was simply the last of many issues I had with their customer service & billing, which if you get a response within 2 weeks from either you are lucky. They bandwidth limit is higher, but you certainly get little in the way of customer support.
Don’t get me wrong, Belgacom is no better with their bandwidth limits, but at least you can get someone on the phone. Is there no way in this damn country to get a real provider with unlimited usage like every other civilized country?
@PW; I agree, and after having been a Dommel customer for nearly a year now, I would trade it all for lower bandwidth any day of the week. I’ve had support-cases drag on for _months_, before a solution was reached, there are lousy packetlosses occuring during peak hours (which was a serious PITA during my WoW-addiction).
A more mature player like Scarlet is definately looking a lot better now.