Plusnet Broadband

Stabilo

Phonix wrote:

Stabilo if you signed up a fresh broadband connection to plusnet to take advantage of their 'unlimited offer' you'd want to leave if you found that your connection was being restricted when you tried to make use of the supposed unlimited nature of the connection. Also you'd be pretty fuming when you discover free connection morphes into a charge to terminate the service.

We have also touched on the disconnection issue which people have genuine concerns with as many assume they're getting an always on connection with broadband.

I think Tiscali offer much better terms.

Their 1mb unlimied package is £14.99 and 2mb £17.99 which I think is reasonable for the price and given that it's alot closer to an unlimied connection I think Tiscali is a better deal. However I have heard that plusnet has better peering.

I get a full 2mb and more than 4Gb last month with Plusnet for under £15. Only been with them about 6 weeks and I have read the posts about 'how bad they have become'. If you want true unlimited, unrestricted access feel free to pay £25/month but I am sure many users simply don't need it.

Stabilo

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I've been watching the Plusnet forums for a few months now, and have seen the endless complaints that have been made by Plusnets changes in their terms. I've also lost count of the amount of ex Plusnet customers that have been on other ISP boards looking forward to their forthcoming migration.

You can look yourself, either on Plusnets own forum, or the one at ADSLGuide. They are cram packed with complaint after complaint. These are 99% generated by the ridiculous changes that Plusnet keep making to their service (bandwidth shaping, 30 minute idle cutout, heavy user package throttling). It's getting to the point that other ISP forums are now joking about the woes of Plusnet customers.

Plusnet seem fine as long as you only want to surf the net a bit. For anything else, they've changed the terms to make it difficult to do (P2P, newsgroups etc). With the 30 minute idle about to start soon, I can't see how VOIP will work with Plusnet. How are you going to keep your line open if your broadband connection cuts out after 30 minutes inactivity?

They used to have a really good name, but have gone way downhill purely because they are changing the terms against their customers in the name of profit.

Do you consider 4GB per month just a bit of net surfing?

Stabilo

Phonix wrote:

Stabilo is well aware of this. Interestingly enough though, plusnet are one of the only ISPs to offer their own VoIP service which throws a slight spanner into the works if this is able to remain always on regardless of the 30 minute disconnection.

I also thought about this the other day. I am a big fan of VOIP and have a VOIP account with Plusnet (& Voipbuster, Sipgate, FWD, VOIPuser). Personally I don't think I will have a problem, but I stand to be corrected.

Rex_Mundi

Stabilo wrote:

Do you consider 4GB per month just a bit of net surfing?

When you consider that 4GB is only approx 5 hours downloading on a good 2Mb connection. Then yes I do. I've downloaded more than this while I've been at work during the day.

Stabilo

Rex_Mundi wrote:

When you consider that 4GB is only approx 5 hours downloading on a good 2Mb connection. Then yes I do. I've downloaded more than this while I've been at work during the day.

I would say execeptional rather than good for it to represent 5 hours. It would also mean that you wouldn't actually read any of the web pages you downloaded

Do you know what the average monthly throughput is of the 2 million UK broadband customers?

Rex_Mundi

Stabilo wrote:

I would say execeptional rather than good for it to represent 5 hours.

Do you know what the average monthly throughput is of the 2 million UK broadband customers?

It's not exceptional at all. If you have a decent 2Mb connection running at full download speed. Then you should be able to expect those sort of download times for a 4GB file depending on your source. This would not be possible for me (or you) on Plusnet because of their shaping/contention policies.

I'm sure the average download totals of most of the population is quite small. This depends entirely on how you use your connection.

I seems strange to me that when we are getting offered more services on the net (and the start of really fast connection speeds) that Plusnet are changing their terms to limit the way their customers can use them. I've got to say, I'm quite curious myself to see how the 30minute cut off will affect VOIP on Plusnet. I'm intriqued to see how this service change pans out. Broadband has always been advertised as an 'always on' connection. It seems crazy that Plusnet are the ONLY company out there taking a step back in this respect.

Stabilo

Rex_Mundi wrote:

It's not exceptional at all. If you have a decent 2Mb connection running at full download speed. Then you should be able to expect those sort of download times for a 4GB file depending on your source. This would not be possible for me (or you) on Plusnet because of their shaping/contention policies.

I'm sure the average download totals of most of the population is quite small. This depends entirely on how you use your connection.

I seems strange to me that when we are getting offered more services on the net (and the start of really fast connection speeds) that Plusnet are changing their terms to limit the way their customers can use them. I've got to say, I'm quite curious myself to see how the 30minute cut off will affect VOIP on Plusnet. I'm intriqued to see how this service change pans out. Broadband has always been advertised as an 'always on' connection. It seems crazy that Plusnet are the ONLY company out there taking a step back in this respect.

Fair comment Rex but I would still argue even a speed reader couldn't read 4gb in 5 hours.

Rex_Mundi

Stabilo wrote:

Fair comment Rex but I would still argue even a speed reader couldn't read 4gb in 5 hours.

I wasn't talking about newsgroups.

Stabilo

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I wasn't talking about newsgroups.

Neither was I, I meant if you downloaded 4GB of web pages (surfing) it would take longer then 5 hours to read all the pages (even with a few pictures thrown in).