In the world of happy geeks the broadband services have no limits, all speeds are as advertised minus the "up to" point, you can download anything you want, your video streams are undisrupted and when you talk to your friends using VoIP, it does not suddenly cut off.

However if you expect all of this in the real world, I am afraid it's time for a rude awakening.

Welcome to the world of download allowances, fair usage policies (also known as FUPs), acceptable usage policies, and beautiful traffic management. Not sure what all of those terms mean? Then you're in the right place. Simplifydigital is here to explain all this nasty jargon.

While all these terms are interconnected, believe it or not, they are not here to bully you - they are actually here to prevent excessive usage from your local heavy downloader, protect ISPs from unlawful activities and ensure you get broadband speeds you paid for.

Download/data Allowance

This is quite straight-forward. It simply means how much data you are allowed to get your hands on in a month. Sometimes consumers don't pay attention to their data allowances, opting for faster speeds and consequently being penalised when exceeding the download cap.

Look closely in the terms and conditions that come with your package (this is the moment when you go... "Should have read those"). It should state the maximum you can download on a monthly basis. If you are a light user and use your broadband services simply to browse a website or two as well as check emails, 2GB per month is fine for you. However, if you secretly are the local heavy downloader - opt for much higher caps than that, starting with 10GB or going straight for an unlimited allowance.

Fair Usage Policy (also known as FUP)

This is a tactic used by ISPs to curb heavy downloading habits. In other words, broadband providers have the right to restrict you access if you go over your monthly cap, or even when you use the unlimited services but you got a bit carried away with the downloads or streams. This is because broadband providers cater for all their customers and think that all of them should have access to uninterrupted and fast internet.

Imagine you and your neighbour, Bob, both signed up for Great provider's Great new deal. While you are downloading a movie, Bob can't access his email - that's why the Great provider limits your access, so both of you can take advantage of the services fair and square.

Acceptance Use Policy

This is the policy ISPs can apply if they catch customers who like to download content illegally. This is connected to copyright law and refers to downloading music, TV and films, among others.

This can happen if you are a very heavy downloader too - your connection might slow down rapidly, however it will resume. Yet customers who have received warnings to stop their unlawful behaviour might be in deeper trouble, as the speed of their connections could not only be decreased but also the services could be terminated.

It's all in the terms and conditions too - and appealing such cases too can be difficult, especially if you have been previously warned by your ISP.

Traffic Management

Again, this is interconnected. To stabilise the broadband service between you and your neighbour Bob (see above) as a part of the FUP, broadband providers start to manage the traffic, in other words throttles or reduces the connection speed.

This happens especially to users whose guilty pleasure is downloading from BitTorrent. Also, ISPs may reduce speeds at peak hours - the time when everyone turns on his PC at the same time and surfs the web. Also while you download a big file (for instance a high definition film) expect your other online activities to become much slower.

Good to know: peak times are considered to be 5PM until midnight on a week day, and noon to midnight during weekends. Nevertheless, ISPs reduce speeds at other times as well when a sudden flock of users starts to surf the web.