Customers were informed by email this morning and the new limits will apply from today.

If you are on the Broadband Your Way Option 2 package you will now be able to download 15GB per month, compared to the previous 8GB limit.

Customers on the Option 3 deal will now get 30GB as opposed to 20GB, and Broadband Your Way Pro punters get 15GB instead of 10GB.

There will be no increase in charges, with Option 2 costing £14.99 per month, Option 3 costing £19.99 per month. The Pro deal also costs £19.99 per month.

The move was caused by PlusNet customers' increasing interest in video-on-demand services such as the BBC's iPlayer, according to product director Neil Armstrong.

"We've seen a big increase in streaming since use of iPlayer and other video sites has grown, which is contributing to increasing average broadband usage," said Armstrong, adding that the major reason for the explosion in the popularity of the iPlayer was the fact that it was now being promoted heavily by the BBC.

Other ISPs such as Virgin Media and Tiscali have expressed concern about the surge in traffic caused by services such as the iPlayer and have even suggested that the BBC pay a "tax" to help cover the costs of dealing with the increasing amount of data travelling on their networks.

But Armstrong told Web User that it wasn't a problem for ISPs to add capacity to their networks to cope with increased demand.

Though it does cost money to add the capacity, only ISPs making very low margins from customers on cheaper deals were likely to make a fuss about the explosion of video traffic, said Armstrong.

www.plus.net
www.mybroadbandusage.co.uk

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