I didn't raise the issue with Plusnet. It better to walk away.

Hi

I echo your observations. Most of the packages on PlusNet have an enforced 30:1 contention ratio at peak times, peak times being all the times a domestic consumer of broadband will want to use their connection. So an 8 meg sync'd line can be as slow as 256K, and upload speeds as little as 100K. How they ever get away with selling it as upto 8Meg I never know, it should be sold as "as low as 256K" which is what you are actually getting unless you are nocturnal.

PlusNet will argue that real-time traffic is at line speed and I'm sure that is true, which means a web page is delivered in a few seconds, rather and a few seconds plus an extra couple of seconds. Waiting hours though for a download to trickle down rather than 10 minutes may not be real-time to PlusNet, but it is my time, and is a real waste of my time.

I moved to Be almost a year ago and they are fantastic. I get 13Meg down and almost 1200K up 24/7. Today I've needed to download several Linux distros to try out and they whiz down at 1.5MBytes/sec, on a PlusNet throttled service it would be 32KBytes/sec and I wouldn't have bothered.

I've also noticed PlusNet are becoming the "Ryan Air" of ISPs, with cheap headline figures with a small asterisk, then in much smaller print the price is just for 3 months, then it goes up depending on where you live! They also state "upto" varies depending on where you live and a persons telephone line, however in PlusNets case the biggest factor reducing your speed is their throttling. You'd have to have a very poor line indeed for your telephone line to be the limiting factor on download speeds with PlusNet, as it's PlusNets own throttling that is the biggest factor in "upto 8" being nothing of the sort. See here for the Maximum you'll get with PlusNet on their various packages, yet this isn't linked to from the footnote regarding "upto 8" , I wonder why?

If you look at PlusNet Value and Unlimited packages that are sold upto 8 Meg, tell me how often a customer would actually get line speed and not be throttled? How PlusNet get away from selling these products at upto 8 Meg I can't comprehend. Their Value and Unlimited packages never see 8 Meg apart from 12am to 2am, and even at that time it just means you are not throttled but wouldn't be guaranteed line speed even then.

All in all I'm glad I've left them.

Regards

Phil

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Feb-09 22:28:18)

In reply to a post by pr100:

Did PlusNet ever explain your low speed to you?

Probably just normal performance.
If the 700MB OS system update was carried out from an FTP server, and was done after 2pm, Plusnet openly admit to throttling to 256kbps (which will result in a download time around 6-7 hours).

Hi

Plusnet openly admit to throttling to 256kbps (which will result in a download time around 6-7 hours).

I beg to differ that this is "openly" admitted to, it takes a bit of clicking to find that information.

As I pointed out in my first post in this thread, their footnote relating to "upto 8" only says speeds vary due to line conditions and where you live and mentions nothing about throttling and doesn't link through to the chart, why not?

When they have packages that will never be line speed except for the dead of the night, then I think it is very dubious and damn right dishonest saying it is upto 8 Meg when in fact it is a guaranteed as low as 128K in some cases and no more than 2Meg on unlimited packages, and that's assuming they're not having capacity issues and having to get the staff to chip in to buy another 155Mbits/sec of capacity, like that is going to make a difference across their entire customer base!

I used to be a loyal customer of PlusNet, I could never be one again.

Regards

Phil

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Feb-09 22:38:04)

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Plusnet openly admit to throttling to 256kbps (which will result in a download time around 6-7 hours).

I beg to differ that this is "openly" admitted to, it takes a bit of clicking to find that information.

Rubbish!......One click (on the right-hand side of their home page, entitled "Unlimited Broadband - The myth becomes reality"), scroll down about 2 inches on the new page.
Doesn't take a genius to find that (it took me several seconds, and I'm well below a genius IQ).

Edited by adebov (Sat 28-Feb-09 23:05:43)

In reply to a post by adebov:

If the 700MB OS system update was carried out from an FTP server, and was done after 2pm, Plusnet openly admit to throttling to 256kbps (which will result in a download time around 6-7 hours).

Your comment is based on wrong information. It started at 11.30am on a Tuesday and it was not FTP.

In reply to a post by adebov:

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Plusnet openly admit to throttling to 256kbps (which will result in a download time around 6-7 hours).

I beg to differ that this is "openly" admitted to, it takes a bit of clicking to find that information.

Rubbish!......One click (on the right-hand side of their home page, entitled "Unlimited Broadband - The myth becomes reality"), scroll down about 2 inches on the new page.
Doesn't take a genius to find that (it took me several seconds, and I'm well below a genius IQ).

That doesn't give the throttling for Value though. This does, and that is much harder to find.

yeah this is the problem with isps that throttle, they do so excessively.

8mbit down to 256kbit is a very knee jerk throttle.

throttling wouldnt have such a bad rep if throttled speeds were reasonable eg. at least a couple of mbit.

of course consumers need to learn you get what you pay for, would this ftp update be 256kbit on plusnet's pro package?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

would this ftp update be 256kbit on plusnet's pro package?

There is no throttling at any time on Pro.

In reply to a post by pje1979:

There is no throttling at any time on Pro.

Which is why it's no longer available ("Value" and "Unlimited" only, for new signups).