telstra adsl speed problems

Each month after about 2 weeks I get the following notice from Telstra:

Dear BigPond® Member,

This email is to let you know that your BigPond Broadband service has been slowed to 64kbps because you have reached your monthly usage allowance.

Of course, you can't incur excess usage charges on your BigPond Liberty plan - but speeds will remain slowed to 64kbps until the end of the month.

An easy, quick way to check your current estimated account usage is with our Broadband Usage Meter - found in 'My BigPond' at www.bigpond.com. The Usage Meter gives you access to a record of your monthly and daily usage for the past six months and is an easy way to fill in the gaps between these email reminders.





The problem now being is at my connection seems constantly slow all the time now??

How do people know whether Telstras system is still in slow down mode as its friggen slow lately and I should technically be at the faster speed now?