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Plusnet Download Limit Warning

hi there,

The reason we do not instigate a firm cap is because we are fully aware of the fact that our customers do have fluctuating needs, one month needing a lot of bandwidth, another not so much so. The 0.3% of customers affected consistently averaged more than 140Gb over 3 months (the most I saw was 620gb in a month). As our announcements advise, we could not sustain these costs, they were using 10% of our available bandwidth and to sustain those users as they were, would have involved an increase in all round subscriptions and we were not going to do that to 99.7% of customers because of 240 users.

All we ask is customers are aware of BT's pricing and the affects of heavy, consistant usage.

Kind regards

Luke
 
I see where your coming from Luke, and I totally agree with you ( I'm a happy plusnetter), but do think that charging for GB after a set limit as this seems to be fair to me, and this would also curb the small amount of line bashers.

What I mean is, they wouldn't be so keen to download 600 GB per month if they are going to be charged say £2.65 for every GB over say 100GB. To be honest, I think anyone downloading that amount of data must be using p-2-p and I cant see that amount of data being legitimate.

I would also say that as a Plusnet customer, I wouldn't mind paying extra for additional GB's after a prescribed limit has been reached.

Anyways I am pleased with Plusnet, (as are the peeps I have referred) and will remain a customer regardless of any limits that may be imposed in the future.
 
If you ask me, the people that are downloading that amount of software probably have a number of machines, all with dvd burners, and go to market on a weekend with a stall...
 
And Not To Be Forgotten

And don't forget ..... there is Microsoft Windows updates automatically, AVG Anti-Virus updates, webcam streaming, video conference streaming, website movie streaming, download, upload photos via email, msn messenger on file transfer. Most of it on p2p and some of it download from movie on the site which pay per year fee to guarantee top speed (better than p2p) and what we pay for Home Premier is the maximum prices per month that should be UNLIMITED, I am not saying that I am going to download 680GB in a month, how can I? My hard disk is only 40GB, won't fit into it! I averages download around 25GB a month (I think that Plusnet will allow it)

Finally, I had telephone plusnet and ask for the senior manager last time I spoke them on the phone but they repeat asking me a question "What manager ? Why you want to speak to manager, as we will not allow to pass you to the manager, you had to talk to me or speak to supervisor". They also told me that Home Premier does not capped on download.

So, I am going to accept what they are say and their rules are rules!
 
Hi Bulldog,

Firstly, we have an escalation process in place for any customer dispute. A manager should be available to take your call or we should take your contact details and someone rings you back. The fact this did not happen certainly is not good and if you could provide me with your username I will investigate further.

Secondly, as my previous post, we have not set any caps on the premier accounts, but we would like our customers to be aware of the new BT pricing model and how this affects, not just us, but all ISPs on the CBC platform and that we cannot sustain customers who constantly download.

kind regards

Luke
 
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keithcalder said:
What I mean is, they wouldn't be so keen to download 600 GB per month if they are going to be charged say £2.65 for every GB over say 100GB. To be honest, I think anyone downloading that amount of data must be using p-2-p and I cant see that amount of data being legitimate.
600GB is a Ridiculous Amount in my View but if you are thinking on capping, I would say a More Respectable 150GB P/M like Nildram Does/Did? as you know 2Mb burns up a Lot of bandwidth, and if you have Multiple machines like I do, (1 Server, 3 PC's, 1 XBOX) Bandwidth can get used VERY Quickly, I, However, Am NOT condoning such blatent Abuse of the Bandwidth supplied..

I would also say that as a Plusnet customer, I wouldn't mind paying extra for additional GB's after a prescribed limit has been reached.
Speak for Yourself m8 ;)

Anyways I am pleased with Plusnet, (as are the peeps I have referred) and will remain a customer regardless of any limits that may be imposed in the future.

So am I but for certain Aspects such as the Speed Issues and this whole shambled Experiment to try and curb the HEAVY users :(
 
TRIaXOR™ said:
So am I but for certain Aspects such as the Speed Issues and this whole shambled Experiment to try and curb the HEAVY users :(

This is valid TRIaXOR,

We have done a lot of work with BT to resolve the speed (load balancing) issue. The latest announcement regarding this can be viewed here.

The exercise we have recently performed with the 0.3% was essential. We have admited that the way we passed on the message was not the right way and for that we are sorry, but the actual exercise was necessary and for that we do not apologise.

kind regards

Luke
 
lhorwath said:
but the actual exercise was necessary and for that we do not apologise.

Fair enough, so we need to look to the future now, we need to set a target limit, to say that thier is no cap but you can only download so much is in fact an oxymoron, the old "your damned if you do and your damned if you dont" scenario so in my view, PN has to say, "right chaps/chapettes, the service is NO longer unlimited and there is now a limit of a MAX of XXX GB a month" (150 to me sounds fair for 2Mb) and when you near that level (say at 140GB) PN then Emails the User concerned, warning them such and advising that they would be charged xx amount for every extra GB used after they go over the limit, that way the Goalposts are set in stone and confusion (hopefully) ends :)
 
TRIaXOR™ said:
and advising that they would be charged xx amount for every extra GB used after they go over the limit
as Keith suggested beforehand may I point out
 
TRIaXOR wrote:
So am I but for certain Aspects such as the Speed Issues .....
TRIaXOR (or any other Plusnet user),
I don’t use Plusnet but do have an interest in them, so if you can spare a moment or two I’d really appreciate a brief rundown of the speed problem you referred to.
Is it a general problem for Plusnet users, does it last for long periods or at peak times, how long has the problem persisted, etc ?

I don’t go through the forum with a fine toothcomb, so I’m completely unaware of any complaints/reports regarding this matter.

Thanks very much.
 
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best people to ask are the plusnet reps :shrug: they can give you more info on that matter, in answer your questions, its been ongoing and seems to be a Capacity problem but BT/Plusnet are rectifying this as we speak as Plusnet are upgrading to 622Mbit Pipes, as for length of time, since BT changed the Limits on distance etc..

hope that helps
 
Thanks for the reply TRIaXOR.
Perhaps a Plusnet rep could follow your suggestion and give a brief description of the speed situation.

As an end user, would you categorise it as an occasional minor inconvenience, or as something less or more than that?
And would it cause you to consider swapping ISPs or perhaps not recommending Plusnet to friends?

Thanks again, I do appreciate your thoughts.
 
Last edited:
well at one point it was a major problem as my speed dropped down to near dialup speeds for near 12 hours but thankfully that was rare, more often than not tho the speeds fell to 1.2 - 1.65Mb but wether that was plusnets fault is another matter (I recently had BT repair my a fault in my line which according to the BT chappie I spoke to was an Underground cabling issue) but as we speak, [cross fingers] things seem to be running great [/cross fingers] :)
 
paul45 said:
TRIaXOR wrote: TRIaXOR (or any other Plusnet user),
I don’t use Plusnet but do have an interest in them, so if you can spare a moment or two I’d really appreciate a brief rundown of the speed problem you referred to.
Is it a general problem for Plusnet users, does it last for long periods or at peak times, how long has the problem persisted, etc ?

I don’t go through the forum with a fine toothcomb, so I’m completely unaware of any complaints/reports regarding this matter.

Thanks very much.

Read this - http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthr...=1425869&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0&fpart= , and this - http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthr...=1529112&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0&fpart= . :hrmph:
 
I feel sorry for Plusnet, they've got themselves into a no-win situation. On one hand they want to ensure their users have adequately fast broadband, but ADSL is a contended service so speed is dependant on how busy their customers are. The only way to better guarantee speeds is to limit the activity of the busiest users - i.e. impose download limits - but this then becomes a stain on the company, even if the majority of users won't even be affected by it.

The download limits on the first page are very high - claiming only 0.3% of users will notice is probably a fair statement. The only danger is if Plusnet decide to reduce this limit in the future - it's hard to introduce a cap to an uncapped service, but relatively easy to lower this limit...
 
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Thanks for sharing your experience of the problem TRIaXOR, and thank you Bob for the links to that very interesting information.

I couldn’t find any outstanding problem shown on the status page and to be honest I’m surprised to hear of the problem and the length of time it’s being ongoing, not to mention how much longer before the fix is implemented - it’s certainly all news to me!

On the positive side, Plusnet are at not burying their heads in the sand and at least there is a fix in sight (albeit another 6-12 weeks).

I shall keep a close eye on any developments regarding this matter, especially as is seems that nearly 30% of users might experience the problem from time to time.

Thanks again for your help TRIaXOR & Bob, I’m very grateful to you both.
 
Hi there,

The load balancing situation is not just affecting ourselves, but every ISP that mixes 155Mbps and 622Mbps pipes.

It has been a very long ongoing situation to resolve as BT could not identify where the problem lay. AFAIK they still can't and as such we are changing to just 622Mbps pipes which will resolve the load balancing issue. It is a shame that we can't mix the pipes, but at the end of the day we have to consider the majority of our customers. This is the same reason for managing the 0.3%.

Kind regards

Luke
 
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