No new products or changed allowances in the near future

For a while we've been speculating that Plusnet would be refreshing their product lineup at the end of May. Today a post has been made on the community forums:

In reference to community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,104955.msg894526.html#msg8...:

I thought I should pop in here and clarifying the product refresh rumours.

At the moment we are working on a refresh of our product set, but this is in the very early stages and to set your expectations on it, there aren't going to be any changes in the short term. The refresh is likely to be happening later in the year. Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear but rest assured we are looking at it and taking your feedback on board.

Chris Parr
Plusnet Digital Care Lead

Especially for fibre users, the allowances are now looking very poor in comparison with other suppliers (including BT their parent company) so the news that nothing is going to change in the near future is not good!

For anyone who's been thinking of moving on, but has been holding off in the expectation that as most years there would be a Plusnet product refresh in April/May I can see no reason to delay making a decision (especially as the statement says it's only likely to be later this year, not definitely).

I thought that Plusnet would launch an unlimited downloads package, now that John Lewis is re-selling Plusnet with an unshaped, unlimited product.

Even the B.T. managed Post Office broadband is now offering an unlimited broadband package and an unlimited call option. They are also much cheaper than PN for many of us stuck on market 1 status. I for one am fed up with waiting on Ofcom to give market 2 status to my exchange that was TT unbundled last year.
The PN managed John Lewis is cheaper, but with a tie-in. Even PN are following the rest down the tie-in route with the years line rental upfront wheeze. Might as well go for B.T. proper if you can afford it. For those that wish to resist the tie-in, it may be time to move elsewhere.

In reply to a post by jelv:

... "rest assured we are looking at it and taking your feedback on board"

Don't think they really are to be honest - this has been a longstanding issue and many people were holding off till the (rumoured) April (then May) review. How much "looking at it" do they need?

How would it work, moving to John Lewis? Do you just request a mac code as usual and sign up with JL? (even though the backbone is still PN?)

Post Office, as in the one that has a 100GB fair usage limit
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5195-post-office-...

(especially as the statement says it's only likely to be later this year, not definitely).

I made the post as I thought it was better to set the correct expectations of the timescale instead of having people expecting a refresh within the next couple of weeks. It's most likely going to be Q3 when we perform the refresh, that's when it's currently pencilled in for.

Phoned PN up this morning, and they said John Lewis BB is traffic managed as well. Got offered an unlimited package to try out, so will see how that performs before deciding to leave or not - John Lewis doesn't seem to be the answer though...

In reply to a post by cleudo:

Phoned PN up this morning, and they said John Lewis BB is traffic managed as well.

Interesting, because the John Lewis website specifically says there is no traffic management at all on their Unlimited package:

https://www.johnlewisbroadband.com/faq/#whatspeed
http://i49.tinypic.com/t5j4lv.png

Perhaps Plusnet staff could clarify this?

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Interesting, because the John Lewis website specifically says there is no traffic management at all on their Unlimited package:

I know it indicates Line Speed for all protocols for unlimited broadband (like Plusne with the Pro add-on) but where does it say there is no traffic management?

In reply to a post by kasg:

I know it indicates Line Speed for all protocols for unlimited broadband (like Plusne with the Pro add-on) but where does it say there is no traffic management?

When things aren't artificially slowed down by traffic management they run at line speed.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

When things aren't artificially slowed down by traffic management they run at line speed.

Well that is one aspect of traffic management but I understood that it was not the only one. For example, there is still prioritisation of some types of traffic over others and that is traffic management.

In reply to a post by kasg:

Well that is one aspect of traffic management but I understood that it was not the only one. For example, there is still prioritisation of some types of traffic over others and that is traffic management.

So in effect Plusnet have messed around with the meaning of "line speed", just as various ISPs have messed around with the word unlimited? Tremendous.

The whole idea of OFCOM bringing in the code of practice, along with protocol/time/speed grids was to give customers a good idea of what goes how fast and when. If companies like Plusnet start saying "line speed, subject to prioritisation" it renders the effort useless.

But sadly, it's no surprise whatsoever.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

The whole idea of OFCOM bringing in the code of practice, along with protocol/time/speed grids was to give customers a good idea of what goes how fast and when. If companies like Plusnet start saying "line speed, subject to prioritisation" it renders the effort useless.

Sorry, but I don't agree with that at all. Traffic prioritisation works both in the ISP's and the customer's interest. Hopefully someone who knows a bit more about it than I do will chip in.

This says otherwise (it is taken off that very page):

Why do we manage traffic?

Our broadband service is provided over a shared network. Bandwidth (the amount of data that can be transmitted) is shared between everybody who's connected to the network. This industry-wide method allows us to provide a reliable, high-speed service at an affordable price.

As customer numbers and usage grows, we have to increase the capacity of our network to make sure there's enough bandwidth for everyone. When the network is busy, it's easy for things to get out of control. Peer-to-peer, video streaming and large file downloads can flood the network quickly and use up the bandwidth. If this happens, it reduces the speed of web browsing, email, gaming and other types of web traffic. Traffic management prevents this from happening.

With Traffic management we can do lots of useful things to make sure everyone gets a good, fair online experience. For example we can:
�Make sure things that need to be fast (like VoIP, VPN and gaming) are always prioritised - if these run slowly, they won't work properly
�Protect your interactive activities like web browsing and email from download traffic such as music downloads
�Provide a service relative to the amount each customer pays in terms of usage allowances and experience
�Flex the network in the event of unusual demands in traffic or disaster situations (such as a network failure)

Oh ok, it doesn't run at line speed at all times of day then, as advertised.

Thanks for posting that ~ helps me with my BE / Fibre choice. Still don't know what I'll choose, but not PlusNet. Probably stay with BE or move to Infinity 2.

There appears to be confusion by all discussing this as to what "prioritisation" means in this context.

It has always existed on BT Wholesale products, and is also present in the Openreach fibre DLM.

It is nothing to do with speeds per se. It is to do with what happens if there is congestion, where packet loss occurs.

The prioritised services are the last to suffer packet loss for that specific customer. It does not confer any advantage over any other user.

There's a lot of difficult description in SIN 472 (WBC) and 498 (OR), but both state this unequivocally.

Thanks Bob, probably worth reading this page as well for the Plusnet line on traffic prioritisation:

http://www.plus.net/residential/traffic_prioritisati...

In reply to a post by cleudo:

Phoned PN up this morning, and they said John Lewis BB is traffic managed as well. Got offered an unlimited package to try out, so will see how that performs before deciding to leave or not - John Lewis doesn't seem to be the answer though...

What do you mean they offered you unlimited to try?.

It is normal when being moved to a new package from a package which is no longer sold to allow you to go back to the old package within a month if it doesn't suit
I image that this is somewhat similar

Edited by deleted (Thu 24-May-12 16:41:16)

I don't suppose i could go to it then, as i have never been on the old unlimited package, i am a new customer on the new packages?.

Edited by tomxlisa (Thu 24-May-12 16:51:50)

Perhaps there's a retentions-only product with unlimited usage?

Quite likely.

As far as I'm aware, the Customer Options Team (Retentions) are the only ones able to offer legacy products such as 'Unlimited' (and will only do so where appropriate).

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-May-12 15:17:52)

What I meant was that there could be a new unlimited product available, but exclusively via retentions for the time being (i.e. to those saying they are leaving because they want unlimited). Product specs could match that of John Lewis.

I had been on FTTC with plusnet and even the 80/20 trial. I rang up to cancel as I wanted to reduce my prices and go back to ADSL with another provider.

I was offered the ADSL unlimited for 12 months at a good discount and I decided to stay with plusnet. I also have my phone line with them and was planning to move this as well.

Yeah, definitely sounds like the unlimited package is a retentions-only product, but no doubt it will be included in the product refresh when it happens later this year.

So if I sign up to Plusnet now, can I get onto the 80/20 trial and will there be an option to move to the new package when it arrives? Or will they leave you there for the rest of the 18 months?

My intuition tells me not to go back to BT, but 18 months is a long time whichever provider you get "stuck" with.

At present they are still accepting new entrants on the trial.
Once you are on FTTC I believe that there would be no restriction on moving between the various FTTC offerings either up or down but you can't move from Fibre to non Fibre

Thanks for the reply.

Somebody posted a chart for Plusnet bandwidth restrictions for streaming/torrents etc. on the different packages. Anybody know where I can find it?

Plusnet restrictions: http://usergroup.plus.net/prodcomp1.php

Thanks for the link, but the chart is blank on my iPhone, unlike the one I had seen on here before.

I will look when I get home.

You need to select from the 'Product' dropdown at the top of the chart (or it may be different on iPhone). You'll probably see ok at home.

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadb...

In reply to a post by StephenTodd:

You need to select from the 'Product' dropdown at the top of the chart (or it may be different on iPhone). You'll probably see ok at home.

No it's not different on the iPhone. I just wasn't looking properly!

Cheers for that.

Thanks