New PN Financial Year

Plusnet's financial year is 1 April to 31 March.

I wonder if new capacity has been on hold until now, and we may (I hope) get some very soon. The thought was provoked by this post, though I haven't gone looking yet for ADSLx complaints, to see if they are as widespread as the FTTC ones.

It wouldn't be surprising if they went well over budget in 2014-15, to cater for the huge increase in customer numbers, that won't yet have translated to much money in the bank. Too many give-aways and discounts for that. Fingers crossed!

I doubt very much if they'll ever restart the "capacity added" emails.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 02-Apr-15 16:22:48)

I wanted to get a reply in here early. We forecast capacity well in advance and have continually been adding this over the last year, regardless of how far through the financial year we are.

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

I wanted to get a reply in here early. We forecast capacity well in advance and have continually been adding this over the last year, regardless of how far through the financial year we are.

With that in mind why are people experiencing these problems and having to gateway hop etc?

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

I wanted to get a reply in here early. We forecast capacity well in advance and have continually been adding this over the last year, regardless of how far through the financial year we are.

That's good to hear but if there is plenty of capacity what's causing all these similar issues?

That's what we're looking at. There are problems reported by us and other ISPS in Manchester and we've also reported issues in Slough. I've mentioned in the thread on our forum that it's not as simple as 1 gateway=1 path through the network. Each gateway connects to various different paths, different hosts links, sites etc. So disconnecting/reconnecting is more than just changing the gateway router that you're connected. to.

Indeed but as a customer should I have to gateway hop in an attempt to resolve a problem that is obviously not an issue with the copper from my house to the cab or the cab to the exchange?

The problem, whatever it is seems to be getting worse by the number of people reporting a problem on these forums and your own...

The trouble is, having spent many years in hardware and application software problem sorting, once you get two or three concurrent problems affecting multiple customers at the same time it's very hard to split it down into the individual issues causing the problems.

At the moment there look to be possibly the two node type ones at Manchester and Slough, the bng gateway problem on IPv6, a general capacity imbalance within the Plusnet internal network, and the Openreach G.INP mess-up that appears to be affecting all ISPs.

Many of us are getting all those combined. For instance, I'm in south Manchester, supposedly on the IPv6 trial, my line recently got G.INP, and I can't get away from bng gateways most of the time.

Since getting G.INP on top of already odd happenings my line has been chaotic. But I do have sympathy with Plusnet staff trying to sort the mess out, despite the frustrations I feel myself about my connection at the moment. It is very difficult for the techies to see what is causing what on individual lines.

so what are the figures you added?

you knew this before as they used to be posted, surely its a quick email to the network department to ask for how much has been added since the last announcement? then we can judge for ourselves based on the users added if its still been added at the same rate.

thanks.

We know the amount of capacity added, however we're not going to be making the amounts public. The bandwidth has been added using the same rules as previously as far as I'm aware, so it's based on average usage, estimated increases in usage along with changes in customer numbers.

There were issues exactly the same as these we now that have been ongoing for a long time on and off* at peak times (*off was normally shortly after a capacity increase notification) that have been unique to plusnet customers , and they are still happening today, casting the blame from plusnet onto other parties doesn't cut it, as said the sunday and monday peak time issues have been ongoing for over 12mths long before BTW having issues in some areas, who's fault has that been?

Edited by tommy45 (Thu 02-Apr-15 19:28:29)

Maybe they were planning on G.Inp reducing their bandwidth requirements?

24 years as programmer so I do understand they are having issues that are seemingly unrelated.

G.INP sounds like little to no communication by BT.

But the rest has to be down to plusnet whether it be internal load balancing, peering/routing agreements or not enough bandwidth etc.

But as a consumer should I have to be concerned with this? It should, barring line faults "just work".

whats the reason for no longer making it public?

this wasnt an issue before so there must be a reason.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Maybe they were planning on G.Inp reducing their bandwidth requirements?

well a gimp is a kind of slave ,apparently,lol, looks like they got that wrong too

Edited by tommy45 (Thu 02-Apr-15 21:11:33)

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

whats the reason for no longer making it public?

this wasnt an issue before so there must be a reason.

don't you about you but i can smell something unpleasant from here

And now for slightly different topic:

PlusNet accounting:

Couple of years ago PlusNet made mess of their 'refferal' accounting, and then introduced
two part system:
Deduct part of it from the bill.
Pay reminder two weeks later to my bank account.

Is'n it time to fix that permanently ? Surely, it can't be that difficult ?
( I was a comp. programmer for 20 years )

In my case the amounts just about cancell each other out.....!

Regards,
Martin

and now this.

http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,1382...

more fun now.

And the relevance to this thread is?!

It's clearly commercially sensitive for them.

Name me another ISP in the UK that actively publishes their capacity details.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

whats the reason for no longer making it public?

this wasnt an issue before so there must be a reason.

We did ask a bit after it happened, and got some sort of reply from one of the reps. It should be findable with a search here.

As for the real reason, seeing as I'm not aware of any other ISP ever giving out such information, my guess is the new CEO stopped it as giving commercially sensitive information to competitors.

I'm amazed we still get the information that we do . For a while I've been expecting it to disappear at any time.

I've explained a ton of times across a bunch of forums how those proxies work.

and the plusnet guardian has made his way here now.

I dont care about other isp's I care about this isp, the fact is they used to publish the information, around the time they stopped publishing it performance has deteriorated, but you do please continue blaming exchanges and svlans.

Also please stop answering questions aimed at plusnet staff, its not your job to do their job for them.

Edited by Chrysalis (Thu 02-Apr-15 22:58:25)

are they designed to timeout valid requests then?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

and now this.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,1382...
more fun now.

Same as it used to be on BEthere, transparent proxy is the only way the IWF can filter _some_ sites. Only those on the IWF list go through the proxy, and only those pages with against-IWF content are filtered.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

are they designed to timeout valid requests then?

Probably means they're overloaded!

You really expect an answer as to why they're no longer posting commercially sensitive information?! Wow....

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

are they designed to timeout valid requests then?

Probably means they're overloaded!

bingo

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

are they designed to timeout valid requests then?

No - but if you recall my earlier comments on their design it will soon make sense why they may be overloaded at times, depending on what the IWF list contains.

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

You really expect an answer as to why they're no longer posting commercially sensitive information?! Wow....

of course.

you talking as if they never posted it, when they did.

Also how do you know thats even the reason, its as if you a paid shill, oh wait.

He didn't say it was the reason, he merely made the observation that it's commercially sensitive information, which I guess it is.

Whatever their reason they are under no obligation to post the stuff and 'We couldn't be bothered' is as good a reason as any so little point in worrying.

Erm they gave you a reason - you just chose to not like it.

Either accept it or move on.

you got the url?

the question is tho, why do you not like me asking?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

and the plusnet guardian has made his way here now.

Was that a necessary comment?

I dont care about other isp's I care about this isp, the fact is they used to publish the information, around the time they stopped publishing it performance has deteriorated

I end to agree with you there, hence my opening post. Since with some strikeouts in the light of ChrisParr's reply. I'm prepared to believe him and look elsewhere for what the cause of the degradation is.

Also please stop answering questions aimed at plusnet staff, its not your job to do their job for them.

Isn't it a public forum? Should we stop posting in this thread with our own opinions until he or another rep turns up tomorrow?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

Also how do you know thats even the reason, its as if you a paid shill, oh wait.

Ummm.

Having a bad day?

"until he or another rep turns up tomorrow"

They do turn up???

That's just childish.

And what exactly is your interests in plusnets affairs are you a share holder of an BT GROUP COMPANY ? or are you just a troll or corporate shill?

Edited by tommy45 (Fri 03-Apr-15 01:10:51)

And we are the customer , do we not count? after all without customers the isp is what ? we have been having issue after issue all are network related nothing to do with the bit from modem to DSLAM , the isp are who we have a contract with they are our provider, and have they have been failing to provide a reasonable standard of service, both in the bb services they provide, and their customer services ,
Are we not entitled to ask questions,? i think it be in their own insterests to provide us with full answers, If they expect to be trusted /belived, and we don't need their possibly paid shills defending /answering for them almost every time someone doesn't think they are wonderful and the best suck suck lick lick

Edited by tommy45 (Fri 03-Apr-15 01:21:24)

Tommy, does name-calling help?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Tommy, does name-calling help?

We both know the answer to your question, But his/her posts don't help us either,

Roberto look what he has been doing on the plusnet forum, he has a clear vested interest in shifting blame from plusnet, it has driven me and some others up the wall with his antics. He has probably added well over 100 posts from himself and people replying to his posts on that thread to get things sidetracked.

I find it quite funny how you still think I'm somehow connected to BT or Plusnet, despite the fact that I live and work some 750 miles from the UK.

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

I find it quite funny how you still think I'm somehow connected to BT or Plusnet, despite the fact that I live and work some 750 miles from the UK.

In that case you should be banned from the Plusnet and the BT forums.

Why? I am still a paying customer of both Plusnet and BT.

How can you be a customer if you live 750 miles outside the UK?

Because I still pay for the services when I am not living there all the time.

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

Because I still pay for the services when I am not living there all the time.

So you do live in the UK? Make your mind up.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Apr-15 11:48:03)

I periodically come back to the UK for a few days. I am not a UK resident.

All of this is irrelevant though as a few people seem to think I'm BT in disguise

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

I periodically come back to the UK for a few days. I am not a UK resident.

All of this is irrelevant though as a few people seem to think I'm BT in disguise

You don't seem to know if you are or not.

I think rather than set on AndyH here, it is apparent that something has changed. PlusNet always use to be about how we will do you proud. But I cant see anywhere the capacity notices they use to give out. Somehting has changed and how capacity can go from being not commercially sensitive to being commercially sensitive does raise alarms.

I suspect, as RobertoS has said, that the new management within Plusnet has made this decision. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Plusnet's margins and future growth trends based on their user count and capacity upgrades. In a competitive ISP industry, this is sensitive information.

It's not just the capacity statuses, but also the engagement from some of the product staff on the forum. Something changed towards the end of last year because some members of staff have been silent, yet they used to give technical details and explanations about how things work.

I would echo what RobertoS also said that I am surprised they still provide the number of users/gateway breakdown and bandwidth graphs. I'd be very surprised if they are still there at the end of the year.

Roberto look what he has been doing on the plusnet forum, he has a clear vested interest in shifting blame from plusnet, it has driven me and some others up the wall with his antics. He has probably added well over 100 posts from himself and people replying to his posts on that thread to get things sidetracked.

Not content with calling tommy (edit - and AndyHCZ) names more than once, you now start doing the same to me for no apparent reason other than I said I didn't like you doing that.

I honestly haven't a clue what you are on about in the above post. I don't even know which thread you are referring to.

Have you perchance mistaken someone else for me? Thread and the nick I am using there, please.

As for shifting blame, have you read my posts in this thread - including my OP? Have you seen any of my posts about the pathetic mess of their latest gateways not handling IPv6 properly?

???????

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 03-Apr-15 12:46:10)

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

I suspect, as RobertoS has said, that the new management within Plusnet has made this decision

Has the Plusnet management changed? When was this?

Andy Baker

CEO

Andy joined Plusnet at the end of 2013 from BT where he had been the CEO for BT Wi-fi, managing five million hotspots in the UK. Prior to this, Andy has worked across a range of businesses including: Dixons Stores Group; a Virgin start-up company; The Post Office and the house builder, George Wimpey. Andy is married with two children. He�s a sports nut but limited to spectating these days!

Link.

It will also be he that got rid of the dedicated Digital Care team, which is when the rep input here declined sharply.

But I haven't said this, as it is criticising Plusnet.

So the management are mostly ex-BT and BT owns all the shares

4-2.
I hadn't realised it was that high. I was basically meaning the CEO.

Question, why do they need an ex high-flier Financial Director, given where the money lies? And why did he join as Financial Controller?

Mind you, given his previous employer he may very well have genuinely wanted more time with his family.

?

by he I mean andyh.

not you.

and when did i call tommy names?

Oops, sorry.

I don't know how I misread your post to me so badly, but I certainly did .

As for you calling tommy names, you didn't.

I got some new specs a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I'll take them back as not fit for purpose.

You are not serious in expecting PN to care about a handful of its customers. I said I was considering leaving on a recent ticket and they simply replied "Good luck with your new provider"

They can get paying muppets any day, why care about any of them? Seems to be their attitude to paying customers, get real is my advice.

In reply to a post by fibrecereal:

... it is apparent that something has changed. PlusNet always use to be about how we will do you proud. But I cant see anywhere the capacity notices they use to give out. Somehting has changed and how capacity can go from being not commercially sensitive to being commercially sensitive does raise alarms.

It always was, but when Plusnet were a small player it didn't matter that they published it to their customers. No other ISPs were likely to be interested.

Once they got larger it did become useful information to competitors who were losing customers to them, either directly or from a third ISP when the competitor might have got the business.

When the emails stopped it looked to me as if the new CEO had become aware of them and quite reasonably from a wider point of view than ours put a stop to it.

whilst this reasoning is plausible it is also speculation, plusnet have never confirmed this as the reason.

It is also possibility related to the likes of talktalk stating BT's retails are loss leaders (and plusnet's published upgrades could have been evidence of that), but again this is speculation. Sadly it seems the timing of the announcements been stopped is too close to the performance drops.

Now there has been much made of as well with BTw's Manchester capacity issues, has this had a snowball affect to other parts of BT's network due to rerouting etc. (as people who have issues some are nowhere near Manchester), again who knows as we only get given droplets of information.

Would it be beneficial to let users know what the issue is and help placate people.

If you're delayed at an airport or train station not being kept up-to-date is very annoying.