Plusnet Broadband

CrazyChemist_2

I'm about to go for Plusnet Broadband which is the Broadband Plus tarrif.

I intend to use a bit of VoIP with it but the speed on our line is supposed to be a max of 1Mbps... is this adequate?

Also they have a set up fee of £58.75 as we're on a monthly contract - we only need it till June so no point getting an annual contract.

Does this seem ok? Are there any other broadband providers at this price, with a monthly contract who don't have limits? I'm setting it up either tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks in advance

cwoodham

The MSE Internet Access Forum may be a good place to post this question. I know there is a good website http://www.ispreview.co.uk which should answer some of your questions.

Phonix

I intend to use a bit of VoIP with it but the speed on our line is supposed to be a max of 1Mbps... is this adequate?

Anyone know whether the "30 minutes idle" cuttoff policy affects a VoIP connection?

Cheers

Toon

I'm with Plusnet and can also only get 1meg here but I use VOIP with no problem. There's also no cut off policy on Plusnet.

Rex_Mundi

Phonix wrote:

Anyone know whether the "30 minutes idle" cuttoff policy affects a VoIP connection?

I was wondering the same thing. From what I've seen so far from this 30 minute idle policy. If there is no activity in 30 minutes, they disconnect your broadband connection. You have to reconnect to get another connection. Surely this will disconnect your VOIP as well?

Rex_Mundi

Toon wrote:

I'm with Plusnet and can also only get 1meg here but I use VOIP with no problem. There's also no cut off policy on Plusnet.

Massive arguments about this on the Plusnet forum over at ADSLGuide. They are introducing it in the near future. This has not gone down well with a lot of existing customers.

paul_h

Toon wrote:

There's also no cut off policy on Plusnet.

Not yet...

Like Rex_Mundi says, read the ADSLguide forums.

I use voip on a 512k connection with no problems, voip only uses about 100k both upstream and downstream.

The 30 minute idle cut-off which PN are intending to implement may be more of a problem - it could effectively prevent you from receiving incoming calls when you are not actually using your internet connection.

There are various software methods to keep an internet connection open, but as far as I am aware, they are all easily detectable by the ISP...

Stabilo

paul_h wrote:

Not yet...

Like Rex_Mundi says, read the ADSLguide forums.

I use voip on a 512k connection with no problems, voip only uses about 100k both upstream and downstream.

The 30 minute idle cut-off which PN are intending to implement may be more of a problem - it could effectively prevent you from receiving incoming calls when you are not actually using your internet connection.

There are various software methods to keep an internet connection open, but as far as I am aware, they are all easily detectable by the ISP...

So if Outlook checks for new messages every 10 minutes Plusnet will still disconnect you?

Phonix

There are various software methods to keep an internet connection open, but as far as I am aware, they are all easily detectable by the ISP.

This is annoying as it defeats one of the points of having a seperate adapter if you have to leave your computer on to recieve calls.

paul_h

Stabilo wrote:

So if Outlook checks for new messages every 10 minutes Plusnet will still disconnect you?

The disconnect policy is not being implemented yet, but I'd be surprised if was not enforced soon.

There are a number of things you can do to keep your connection open, as you say using Outlook to check mailboxes, also pinging sites, remote sites pinging you, etc., etc.

However, these methods can be detected as automated traffic and PN may or may not decide to disconnect upon detection - technically, you may even be breaching the t&c by defeating the automatic idle disconnection...

Stabilo

paul_h wrote:

The disconnect policy is not being implemented yet, but I'd be surprised if was not enforced soon.

There are a number of things you can do to keep your connection open, as you say using Outlook to check mailboxes, also pinging sites, remote sites pinging you, etc., etc.

However, these methods can be detected as automated traffic and PN may or may not decide to disconnect upon detection - technically, you may even be breaching the t&c by defeating the automatic idle disconnection...

How can checking email be against the t&c's, surely that is the most common use of an internet account?