Plusnet

mum2many

ok so we're all thinking of changing after todays email so here's another plusnet question.

if i change to the basic £5.99 package with wireless router will i be able to use it for my kids to play the xbox/wii online or will i need to pay extra???

cant seem to find anything on the plusnet website about this.

thanks

em x

mtc95

Yes you can use it for the Wii etc. You shouldn't have to pay any extra.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

As above, nothing extra to pay, but just be aware of the traffic shaping they use on this product.

See here.

mum2many

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

As above, nothing extra to pay, but just be aware of the traffic shaping they use on this product.

See here.

Please can you explain as this means nothing to me.:o

thanks

oldwiring

From another thread in this forum

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

It depends on what you do on the internet. They have many types of traffic management in place.

Over the years they've had good and bad times, but I've been with them for 7 years now.

They're now part of BT and their phone support is now based overseas.

I use their discussion forums for support as that's UK staff, most of who have been with Plusnet for a while. I actually got a call from one of them last week over an issue I raised on the forums.

Edit - You can check and compare their traffic shaping here.

MY self 6 years with them and the community forum is indeed good, with staff members chipping in very helpfully.

macman

mum2many wrote: »

ok so we're all thinking of changing after todays email so here's another plusnet question.

if i change to the basic £5.99 package with wireless router will i be able to use it for my kids to play the xbox/wii online or will i need to pay extra???

cant seem to find anything on the plusnet website about this.

thanks

em x

£5.99 price is only available on market 3 exchanges, on any other exchanges it's £11.99 after 3 months. Which are you on?
Gaming speeds can be affected by traffic shaping , especially in the evening when your kids are most likely to be playing.
Also there is a 10GB monthly limit on this package.

mum2many

can you explain traffic shaping please

I am in the cheap deal area:D

macman

mum2many wrote: »

can you explain traffic shaping please

I am in the cheap deal area:D

PFF's link shows all the info you need. Basically it means that some ISP's prioritise certain types of traffic at certain peak times. Usually gaming and torrents are given a lower priority than say email or surfing, so that chart shows you which categories Plusnet slow down or 'shape'.
If you need these services at peak hours then better to look for an LLU provider on your exchange, have a look at samknows.com exchange search.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

mum2many wrote: »

can you explain traffic shaping please

Apologies for not getting back sooner, but macman has explained it really.

If it helps, look at the Value package on the link as an example.
Say you get a normal connection of 5Mb, for surfing, e-mail and streaming you'd get your full speed at all times.
Any gaming is restricted to 2Mb, irrelevant of your actual 5Mb line speed.
Peer to Peer stuff is restricted at all times on this product and is reduced to 50Kb at peak times. Note that this 50Kb wouldn't be the speeds you get for downloading, it's the speed they reduce you to for the P2P stuff. In effect you'd be downloading at approximately the same speeds as you used to do on dial up modems years back, around 5Kb/second if you're lucky.

Hope this makes it a bit clearer.

Stompa

macman wrote: »

Also there is a 10GB monthly limit on this package.

What happens if you exceed it? Can you purchase additional GB?

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Stompa wrote: »

What happens if you exceed it? Can you purchase additional GB?

Yes, at 2GB chunks. Price is £2 per £2GB.