> Like you, I am a UK Limewire user and I also feel hard done by the British ISPs

broadband was very late/slow in getting going in the first place here i think -- BT. i remember working in london in the early/mid 90s and BT were running work from home telecommute ads on the tube. the place i now live (less than 100 miles from london) broadband was only actually available at all a few years ago. dial up was the only option until not too long ago. that's over 10 years after they're running telecommute ads (for which you surely require broadband -- they were showing video conferencing i think in the ads). and the uk is what, the fourth richest country in the world? and it's densely populated and small compared with others so easier to cover. and we've been in a telecommunications revolution for the last so many years. and, BT have a communications network monopoly in the UK... stunning.

>Finally, I would like to know Ofcom’s position on P2P throttling, after all, they are the body that is supposed to regulate ISPs and protect the consumer from misleading adverts and arbitrarily imposed regulations.

yes, it's not the p2p throttling issue itself alone which is the key issue, it's that, in conjunction with the way the service/products is offered; a company can offer whatever product with as many restrictions as they want -- they just have to be upfront about it. and clearly tiscali, and i'm sure others, have not been upfront to many, many people. i suppose a lot of the people don't even know they're being restricted though, therefore isn't an issue for them.

it really is clearly a legal issue. as well as ofcom there's ASA, the advertising standards authority.