Broadband speed restricted/throttled during off-peak time

[#1]

Since about 10 September my broadband speed, both upload and download, has been restricted during off-peak times only.  During peak times the speed is normal.  I am getting about 128kbps download and 32kbps upload, whereas normally I get upwards of 2000kbps download and 200kbps upload.  The restricted speed affects all usage and makes even browsing web-pages painfully slow.
My peak usage was between 2GB to 3GB, my off-peak was about 40GB to 50GB.  I'm on an old PlusNet package whereby I get 4GB peak usage and off-peak is midnight to 4pm (that's right, my peak usage is only 8 hours from 4pm to midnight).
Last Friday, 19 September, I telephoned the support line and had it confirmed that my off-peak broadband speed was incorrectly being restricted and that it would be looked into.  I've had no response, so today I have raised a ticket myself.
Today is the first day of my new monthly period and, not surprisingly, my download/upload speeds during off-peak are now back to normal.  I will watch to see when/if they get throttled again.
Has anyone else had this issue?
I'm posting this to raise awarness of the issue in case anyone else is experiencing similar problems.  I fully expect PlusNet to fix the problem with my account so that I don't experience it again this month.  I am only following PlusNet guidelines of keeping my main internet usage and big downloads to off peak times when usage is free.
John

[#2]

That's strange.
The only real restrictions that we would be likely to apply would be during your peak times and certainly not if you hadn't exceeded your usage allowance.
Ah - Having looked at your usage over the last two months, you've exceeded the usage allowance of 4GB, but this should only happen during peak times, unless for some reason, you're profile in our traffic management systems became stuck (this happens very, very rarely).
It does make sense that it would be back to normal now that your billing date has passed.
I'm sorry that this happened, and hopefully it shouldn't happen again.

[#3]

Yes, I admit I went slightly over my 4GB peak usage two months ago, when I did experience restricted access speed during peak times.
However, at the commencement of last months period, my peak time speeds were back to normal and my off peak speeds were fine up until about 10th September, when it suddenly was restricted.  If you are able to view my daily usage for last month you'll see the point it was restricted.  I no longer have access to this now I've moved into a new month period.
If the traffic management system became stuck I would have expected it to have kept restricting my peak time and not start restricting my off peak speeds half way through the following month period.  But then again, computer systems can do strange things!
We'll just have to see how my access speeds go during this month period.

[#4]

Hi again,
This is actually because you have exceeded 50GB off peak usage in your last month.  Broadband Plus carries a peak usage allowance of 4GB and an off peak allowance of 50GB.
This results in your connection being restricted to 128Kbps.  Would you be interested in looking at our Option 2 service?  You would get 15GB usage for the same price, although the peak hours would be 8am until midnight, but there wouldn't be any restrictions to your off peak usage.
Apologies for missing this first time round.

[#5]

Could you show where in the small print of my contract it states that my off peak usgae is limited at 50GB.  I must have missed that one, as I always understood that off peak was FREE.
Do you wish to take this discussion off-line?
John

[#6]

Hiya,
That information can be found here:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/archive/broadband_plus_archive.shtml#usage

[#7]

OK, guilty as charged.
Strange however that my usage last year far exceeded the 50GB off peak allowance for some months and my speed was never restricted.  Guess I was just lucky 😉
Thanks for clearing that up.
The option 2 you refer to isn't suitable as I rely on off-peak up to 4pm, so I guess I will have to put up with the 50GB allownace.
John

[#8]

Hiya,
Would it still not be applicable given that you would get almost 4 times as much peak usage, even though the peak times are different?
If you could gauge how much you're using between 8am and midnight, I reckon you should be able to make an educated decision, plus your P2P/Usenet speeds would also be better on Option 2.