BT slowing down iPlayer at peak times

Ever since the BBC launched the iPlayer there have been concerns from internet service providers over how much video streaming traffic it generates, and as the iPlayer’s popularity grows, so does the problem for the ISPs.

Now Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology correspondent, reports in his dot.life blog that an employee of the BBC, who just happens to work in the technology department, noticed that the broadband service from his ISP, BT, has been performing strangely during the early evening up until around midnight.

He is on the up to 8 Mbps Option 1 band yet during the evening the broadband speed is cut to around 700 Kbps.

Apparently this is because of a clause in the term and conditions of his contract that states that BT will limit the speed of all video streaming on Option 1 between the hours of 5pm to midnight every day.