Plusnet Router

Is the router worth getting from plusnet, or shall i just buy my own, i was gonna get the router i was using before which is a speedtouch 585 v6, how does the router that plusnet supply compare to that one, plus the benefit of the speedtouch is you can tweak the SNR.

Hi there,

Not sure if it'll change things, but we now send out the Thomson TG582n.

Yeah, was just wondering how that compares to the speedtouch one i mentioned, which one syncs up better, as different routers can sync higher than others, hopefully someone will have an answer for me?.

Edited by tomxlisa (Wed 18-Apr-12 14:22:08)

Hi - they're simple and cheap - but usually work OK,

For the price of the postage, they are worth having even if it's just for diagnosing problems later so you can eliminate your own kit and use something they are familiar with...

Post deleted by tomxlisa

It seems to work OK but the supplied documentation is very poor. I've downloaded a CD image (582n-cd-be-rip261011) from the Be website which has an instruction manual on it. I'd still like more advanced information though. Does anyone know where I could get it from? (Technicolor website is no help)

Is this of any use?

I would not bother. If you take the cheap router you will be tied into a contract - Supply your own and no broadband tie-in.

In reply to a post by m0aur:

I would not bother. If you take the cheap router you will be tied into a contract - Supply your own and no broadband tie-in.

That isn't how it works. I won't bore you with the details but it's all on Plusnet's website.

Edit: Ok, I will bore you with the details:

In reference to www.plus.net/residential/faqs.shtml#contractSetup:

Standard broadband - 12 month contract: Choose a wired or wireless router (P&P £4.99). If you decide to leave in the first 12 months we'll ask you to pay back the cost of the router (£20 and £40 respectivley).
Standard broadband - No annual contract: You pay for your router up front, meaning you have the freedom to leave at anytime with just 10 days notice. A wired router costs £20 and a wireless router costs £40.

Edited by kasg (Thu 19-Apr-12 17:41:28)

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by m0aur:

I would not bother. If you take the cheap router you will be tied into a contract - Supply your own and no broadband tie-in.

That isn't how it works. I won't bore you with the details but it's all on Plusnet's website.

Edit: Ok, I will bore you with the details:

In reference to www.plus.net/residential/faqs.shtml#contractSetup:

Standard broadband - 12 month contract: Choose a wired or wireless router (P&P £4.99). If you decide to leave in the first 12 months we'll ask you to pay back the cost of the router (£20 and £40 respectivley).
Standard broadband - No annual contract: You pay for your router up front, meaning you have the freedom to leave at anytime with just 10 days notice. A wired router costs £20 and a wireless router costs £40.

I can also bore you with details. If you take broadband extra and the phone service, along with supplying your own router, there is NO tie-in to either the broadband or phone service. This is what I did as a customer and glad I did after another service outage today.

In reply to a post by m0aur:

I can also bore you with details. If you take broadband extra and the phone service, along with supplying your own router, there is NO tie-in to either the broadband or phone service. This is what I did as a customer and glad I did after another service outage today.

But there is still no unbreakable annual contract regardless of whether you take the router so it really makes little difference.

Edited by kasg (Thu 19-Apr-12 19:36:02)

No difference to all the cheapies. £25 activation fee, pay for router to, pay for caller display, limited download. Might as well pay £7 per month more for both unlimited services from BT..

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Apr-12 07:29:38)

What is this BT product for £7?.

£7 per month MORE for a decent complete unlimited service, that does not suffer the PN service outages. Are you not able to also check BT packages?

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Apr-12 07:31:51)

FYI it was a BT outage:

http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/mso.php

http://adsl24.co.uk/support/btoutages/


Edit: My BQM for yesterday with no outage:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/6cf75792878...

Edited by camieabz (Fri 20-Apr-12 08:23:44)

FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Nothing wrong with plain English) It may have been a BT outage, but it was caused by Plusnet selling it cheap and piling them high in their limited bandwidth.
"Most customers are now back online, however despite our best efforts some customers are likely to experience performance and speed issues following this. This is due to some areas of our network being oversubscribed whilst others are undersubscribed.

To further redress this problem, our engineers have begun work to balance the network, as a result of this you may notice a very short disconnection of your service whist we continue to do this work into the evening. We have also requested that our suppliers make some temporary changes on our behalf to help bring things back into balance."

It may have been a BT outage, but it was caused by Plusnet selling it cheap and piling them high in their limited bandwidth.

Not at all, the outage affected more than just us, so I really don't see how you can say it was caused by Plusnet?

The impact of balancing the network is something we do to ensure that everyone can get the best speeds possible rather than leaving some on crowded gateways when others are quieter.

More info on balancing is here.

Our connectivity works by having a bunch of physical machines with lots of ports into them. Each machine can carry thousands and thousands of customers on them. We've got these machines split between two sites. What happened last night was that the connectivity dropped at one of the sites, meaning all the customers (pretty much half of our connected base) disconnected and reconnected soon after. We balance those connections between the sites,so all those reconnections were spread between the two sites.

This means that we've suddenly got 2/3rds of our base on one side of the network vs 1/3rd on the other. Therefore there is less bandwidth available per customer on the congested part of the network leading to slower speeds. Therefore the platform is "out of balance".

We remedy this by changing the ratio at which customers connected to the less full half, (something which is easier on 21CN connectivity, than on 20CN) and by disconnecting customers on the more congested devices.

Edited by chrisparr (Fri 20-Apr-12 09:30:51)

In reply to a post by m0aur:

FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Nothing wrong with plain English) It may have been a BT outage, but it was caused by Plusnet selling it cheap and piling them high in their limited bandwidth.

Give it a rest.

You did spot the adsl24 link?

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by m0aur:

FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Nothing wrong with plain English) It may have been a BT outage, but it was caused by Plusnet selling it cheap and piling them high in their limited bandwidth.

Give it a rest.

Why should I. I am as entitled to an opinion as anyone else. Two PN outages in as many months and never one from another ISP. PN were the worst effected during this outage.
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/bt/t/4115074-re-bt-...

In reply to a post by camieabz:

You did spot the adsl24 link?

Yes, I am not blind. My point was, that PN were the worst effected and by their own admission of over subscription may well have been the cause of the BT outage.

I'm really struggling to see where you are getting these statements from? Half of our customer base was disconnected due to an issue at one of the core nodes we use, any ISP would have issues in these circumstances.

As a larger ISP, Plusnet would have had more customers, and hence would be worse effected (in the sense that more people would have had problems) to BT outages.

Regarding the balancing/subscription, as the outage happened, many would have done reboots, and I assume (someone more in the know can confirm of contradict this) Plusnet's networking would have allowed some of them to connect via other nodes/gateways, resulting in higher use of said nodes/gateways (less balance). Once the outage was rectified, the load balancing would have started.

Here's a graph showing Wednesday night's latency on my connection. Notice that the latency on the original link is far higher throughout the evening. Most likely due to more subscribers on the gateway (but again, I'm open to correction from others more in the know).

I'm all for having a pop at a supplier if they are at fault, but I don't think this specific instance is one of them.

In reply to a post by m0aur:

In reply to a post by kasg:

Give it a rest.

Why should I. I am as entitled to an opinion as anyone else. Two PN outages in as many months and never one from another ISP. PN were the worst effected during this outage.
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/bt/t/4115074-re-bt-...

You are entitled to an opinion but your relentless Plusnet-bashing (I thought you had gone away) is highly tedious and flies in the face of most people's experience and even when rebutted with facts, not opinions, seems not to make a blind bit of difference. If I were a mod I would have banned you long ago, they are highly tolerant here.

Edited by kasg (Fri 20-Apr-12 10:04:31)

Tolerant? - That's a joke surely. If you were half awake you would know I have been banned many times. They can ban me again for all I care, but I will still refuse to be told what to say or think by forum anoraks.

... but I will still refuse to be told what to say or think by forum anoraks.

I don't believbe anyone is telling you what to think.

They just wish you to think.

Ah - The High Priest of TBB - Mornin'

In reply to a post by m0aur:

Ah - The High Priest of TBB - Mornin'

This forum is here for people to be able to help each other. Please stop being nasty to users.

As I never ever fire the first shot of nastiness to other users, I trust you have issued the same warning to those that have taken a swipe at me, though I suspect not.

In reply to a post by m0aur:

As I never ever fire the first shot of nastiness to other users, I trust you have issued the same warning to those that have taken a swipe at me, though I suspect not.

There is absolutely no excuse at what you said. This is not a kids' playground and "but he started it" arguments wouldn't wash even if they were true. You are responsible for your actions.

seb

I think that probably was meant for, or should have included me, seb. It was irresistible at the time. Sorry.

I don't think he should be blamed for responding.

(Edit - and I hadn't seen the interim exchange until this edit).

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 20-Apr-12 12:03:22)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I think that probably was meant for, or should have included me, seb. It was irresistible at the time. Sorry.
I don't think he should be blamed for responding.

The rules apply to everyone. Two wrongs still don't make a right.

seb

In reply to a post by seb:

The rules apply to everyone. Two wrongs still don't make a right.

seb

I apologise for any remarks I made that provoked this.

So, back to the Plusnet Router, I have just installed the 582n to replace my original router, both supplied by Plusnet but can't say that it is faster or better in any way than the original but I have only had it installed for 24 hours but I don't expect it will get any better? Thanks to PN for sending it within 24hrs of me asking about an upgrade.
I was perfectly happy with the original Thomson 585 but I had a new laptop which was N technology so I assumed that it was going to be faster and a stronger signal (through the thick walls of my very old house).There was no problem with the original in any way, stable, strong signal, never disconnected or dropped the signal, with no interference from the many local "stations".

It also mentioned DNLA (edited - I meant to say Dlna) which I thought I might be able to connect to my Panasonic TV better than I can at present but will have to give that a try - any tips or guides to setting that up? I have a wireless dongle on my Viera TV and can "look at" my pictures & music & videos (some formats!!) via my router to my Laptop. I would like to be able to use BBC Iplayer and ITV player from the TV via my Laptop/Router but still haven't worked out how I can do this. Impractical to connect them together with ADSL cables - can only use wireless.
Does anybody have any tips for setting up the Technicolour 582n to do this?

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Apr-12 12:41:04)

What is DNLA

There are two main types of DLNA products: DLNA servers, such as a PC or a networked storage device; and DLNA clients. You need one of each to stream content using DLNA.

Suggest you look in content sharing area of the router interface options.

I was one of the users unaffected by the outage and hence on one of the gateways that was reported as being overloaded when many of those reconnecting came back on line. There's been a post on the community forums which enabled me to confirm that I was on one of the 'overloaded' gateways.

I haven't seen any slowdown.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

What is DNLA

There are two main types of DLNA products: DLNA servers, such as a PC or a networked storage device; and DLNA clients. You need one of each to stream content using DLNA.

Suggest you look in content sharing area of the router interface options.

Thanks a lot, I shall have a look at that and also at my TV Operating Instructions

In reply to a post by HarrysPlusnet:

I have a wireless dongle on my Viera TV and can "look at" my pictures & music & videos (some formats!!) via my router to my Laptop. I would like to be able to use BBC Iplayer and ITV player from the TV via my Laptop/Router but still haven't worked out how I can do this. Impractical to connect them together with ADSL cables - can only use wireless.

Try Serviio, it will transcode all sorts of video formats on the fly and stream them to your TV. Works a treat even with mkv files on my Samsung TV

Thank you Sir - All I ask is that we are all treated equally. Self flagellation administered.

Could you give me a link to this product, as the last unlimited BT product i looked at wasn't really unlimited, it had a 100Gb monthly usage.

Usage limits were removed on all unlimited products several months ago

How come when i looked at the T&C's it said there was a 100Gb limit?.

In reply to a post by tomxlisa:

How come when i looked at the T&C's it said there was a 100Gb limit?.

Link to the page please. The 100GB was ages ago. That was replaced by 300GB. That was scrapped in April 2011.

Typical, i cant seem to find where i saw it now, maybe it was on a old out of date piece of information then if it is truly unlimited now, i have just spoke to a BT person on the chat though and it is quite expensive, £40+ a month for broadband and phone.

But the totally unlimited service is much more capable than the more expensive Sky TV which is just one of the things an unlimited service can replace. Don't pay Sly!

Not sure what you mean by this?.

Edited by tomxlisa (Sun 22-Apr-12 05:17:10)

Not sure anyone can be that naive!

What has BT Unlimited broadband got to do with Sky TV?

It isn't as if the internet is purely for watching online TV.

That may be the source of his puzzlement, which I share.

Additionally, I don't think Sky broadband throttles P2P traffic, which BT does.

I know the Internet is not just for watching TV. My point of view is, that in this day and age of web delivered services, it is best to go for an unlimited broadband package and fully exploit it. You can then save cash on everything from phone calls to not needing to pay for Sly TV. For instance, I will be watching Formula 1 and soccer from Sly today without needing to pay them £50 per month for the standard package with all the sport channels added, Don't get me wrong, I supported Sky from the off with an analogue 16 channel Amstrad box, but they have simply got too greedy, making subscribers pay for a family package they don't want before being able to add sport channels. As a point of principle, I preferred to pay £300 for a Freesat box over being ripped off £10 monthly to record on my own Sky box. It is not always about money.

You have me confused now.

As I read your previous post you thought people should go for BT rather than Sky. Now you say Sky broadband gives you something you can't get from BT.

Or is there some way of getting F1 over the net that I'm not aware of, and not being on Sky broadband. Today I shall be listening to R5 on the radio, with (the indispensible even with TV) F1 Live Timing on my laptop. As long as the hackers don't close it down as they have said they will .

You should get out more dear boy! ... I mentioned Sky and Broadband, but not Sky Broadband!
http://www.vipbox.tv/
http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/42443/1/f1-grand-prix-bah...

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-Apr-12 12:24:12)

Why not just tune in to the Beeb highlights?

Not a lover of the biased BBC, but I would think that everyone watching just highlights would be the death of all major sports.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Why not just tune in to the Beeb highlights?

"with (the indispensible even with TV) F1 Live Timing on my laptop" .

And it can be difficult avoiding becoming aware of the result beforehand.

In reply to a post by m0aur:

You should get out more dear boy! ... I mentioned Sky and Broadband, but not Sky Broadband!
http://www.vipbox.tv/
http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/42443/1/f1-grand-prix-bah...

Excellent! Thanks . Now watching. LIve Timing won't load - I think the hackers are attacking it.

Rather that than filling the Murdoch pockets.

To be fair, i have a unlimited broadband service now, but i wouldn't say it is as good as having sky t.v just cause you can get some free links to some streams, (you don't get everything you do from sky do you) which is probably why i got confused as it isn't like having a sky subscription at all. And the reason i am moving from sky which unlimited to plusnet is cause i need to have good technical support when i am with an isp which i am not really getting from sky, but plusnet will do me anyways as it is unlimited during the night, if they had good technical support then i would stay, but that is more important to me than a totally unlimited product.

I don't think there is much on the likes of Sky subscription channels that I cannot watch for free. You just need to look around the web, you may be surprised what you find, though it depends on your tastes. Some sites that cater for mine.
http://www.blinkbox.com/TV/Series/480/Military-Aviation
http://www.justin.tv/directory/sports
http://mypremium.tv/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/extraordinary-genius-...
http://www.vipbox.tv/
Note to mod:- Despite liking a thread that meanders along like this, I realize it is not considered cricket in the world of fora .....wrist slapped !!