BT apologies for ADSL throttling fiasco

BTopenworld has apologised for throttling the download speeds of files from peer-to-peer internet websites for its broadband ADSL customers.

Initially introduced as a network management tool earlier this month, throttling was swiftly disregarded by the internet service provider (ISP) after hundreds of users complained that their attempts to download music were reduced to a crawl. Download speeds of some files had been reduced by as much as 1000 per cent.

BTopenworld, alone among the 180+ ISPs reselling BT Wholesale's ADSL service in introducing throttling, has now apologised and insists that it won't reintroduce the technique.

Duncan Ingram, senior vice president at Btopenworld, told vnunet.com: "We shouldn't have done it. There are other ways to manage the network and it was a restriction that should not have been imposed. It was inappropriate and we have no plans to reintroduce it." There appears to have been no technical reason for BTopenworld to have limited access for its broadband customers, as it has only signed up a fraction of the number it hopes to attract.