Posted: 16th Nov, 2004 By: MarkJ
ISP
Plusnet has sent out usage warning letters to 250 customers, which have been using a "
disproportionate amount of the available capacity"; such users are now to be forced onto a more restrictive platform. The move is confusing because
Plusnet already has bandwidth caps, of a sort:
"It has been identified that a small proportion of our Broadband customers (less than 0.3 per cent) are using a significant amount of the available capacity (around 10 per cent). You are within the 0.3 per cent of customers identified above, which means that so far, the platform's configuration has allowed you to use a disproportionate amount of the available capacity.
We will be making changes to our Broadband platform that will take effect in 14 days' time, at which point you will be sharing platform capacity with other Broadband customers who have similar usage patterns to you."
One reader who received the email told The Register: "Ever since this email was sent to us heavy users, the user forum of PlusNet has been flooded with complaints of this. The users are really outraged. I don't really know what the true impact will be, but if all of us heavy users are stuck to one line, then I can only really expect terrible speeds."Plusnet offers a number of packages that factor in varying degrees of data consumption, thus we'd guess the problem affects their more expensive 'Premium' package.
Similarly we feel it unfair of
Plusnet to force such users onto a more restrictive platform without first giving them a chance to mend their ways. More @
The Register.