Interesting. I think the difference is due to ActiveX.

In reply to a post by KellyD:

If a customer is signing up for any Residential Fibre Product they should be provided on the 80/20 product, irrelevant of downstream speeds

I've seen a couple of examples where this hasn't happened, but they've been manual errors, rather than automated provisions.

Hi KellyD,


I wonder if you could explain (or find out) what effect switching from the legacy Value Fibre 40/10 - 40GB download limit product for users unable to achieve anywhere near 40/10 would have if taking up the new 40/20 unlimited download limit service with phone that is actually 80/20, but with througput speed restricted?

e.g:-

Would switching to 80/20 force the connection to train up from a wide open profile again, as per a brand new customer with a new installation?

Would initially 'attempting' to sync at the higher 80/20 frequencies have any longer term negative effect on DLM's intervention during or after the initial 2 day training period & thus end up with sync speeds even lower than the 21 / 3.6 that my connection currently achieves?

FTTC was installed in June 2011 (initially 40/2) & as far as I am aware, I am now many months out of 'contract'.

I did achieve around 30 Mbps or higher stable sync speed following the repair of an intermittent external HR fault, but that has gradually dwindled to around 21 Mbps at best.
It is suspected to be due to increased crosstalk, but it has never been 100% confirmed that I haven't been put onto a 'stable' or 'super stable' profile (whichever terminology Plusnet use - different to BT's wording).

Apart from unlimited download limits (I have only exceeded the 40 GB once or twice - but got absolutely clobbered cost-wise), would I see any speed or cost benefit from switching product?

Would I be treated as a brand new customer & eligible for any introductory offers that may/may not be in place?


I have been with Plusnet/F9/Free-Online for many years (as those names suggest) & I have no current intention af switching ISPs.

However, I wouldn't wish to feel that my loyalty is actually costing me money in lost discounts etc.


Please let me know if you need me to PM any of my username(s) etc.

I had to switch from my main/preferred username when initially signing up for FTTC for some reason.

Would I end up losing any of my 'free' accounts and/or email facilities if I switched at this stage?

My billing date is currently 19th each month - just in case it's relevant.

So what I can gleen from the last few comments is that SD is more than enough for most current TVs and it is the broadcasters that suppress the quality. Is this to get us to buy Full HD and 4K TVs and then get charged extra by Sky for HD feed?

A mixture of that and trying to squeeze so many broadcast channels into the limited radio spectrum.

The cost of satellite broadcasts is being undermined by IPTV type solutions and can be cheaper for small channels to exist only as an IPTV solution these days.

Hi Bald_Eagle1,

I'm going to try and answer all your queries by quoting the question and then replying below:

Would switching to 80/20 force the connection to train up from a wide open profile again, as per a brand new customer with a new installation?

No. If your speeds are lower than 40/20 your speeds would be capped at this anyways and there would be no reason for you to take out the higher costing package.

Apart from unlimited download limits (I have only exceeded the 40 GB once or twice - but got absolutely clobbered cost-wise), would I see any speed or cost benefit from switching product?

Possibly a cost saving. The 2 FTTC products that we are currently offering are both Unlimited (whereas the previous lower costing product was capped at 40/10 and also had a 40GB usage cap). If you are currently on the 40GB package then upgrading to the newer Unlimited package would give you piece of mind knowing that you will not incur any extra usage charges, however, your speed would remain the same.

Would I be treated as a brand new customer & eligible for any introductory offers that may/may not be in place?

No, but you should give our Customer Options team a call on 0800 013 2632 or 0330 123 9197 to discuss any offers that may be available to you as an existing customer.

Would I end up losing any of my 'free' accounts and/or email facilities if I switched at this stage?

If you changed your Fibre package the only thing that would change would be your Fibre package. There would be no changes to your "free" accounts or email facilities.

Hope this covers all your queries.

Regards,

If one took a 40/20 broadband-only deal and then, after a few months, upgraded to 80/20 broadband-only would a new 18 month contract apply?

Thanks Linn,


It's quite likely that I'll be in touch with your Customer Options team within the next few days.

probably, its the same with smartphones, increases of pixel count year on year with no actual tangible benefits other than gloat rights.

LCD's do have the issue that a non native resolution doesnt look quite right, as is a physical pixel count which wont match to a lower resolution, the best way this is handled in my view is to use smart scaling where the pixel is mapped so there is no distortion of the image but this will create black borders which some people dont like. So if someone made a 480p lcd tv and it had a uncompressed SD feed to it. it would probably look pretty good.

I feel netflix is a good way to see this, they have horrific encoding bitrates for 360p it looks really bad, but 480p there is a noticeble jump and that looks way better than 360p, and in my view the gap from 480p to 720p on netflix is smaller than the gap from 360p to 480p for viewing quality. 720p to 1080p to 1080p super hd in my view is barely noticeble on netflix. Diminishing returns.

Because of the native resolution think 720p will look better on a 720p display than it does on a 1080p display. This means 1080p and 720p on 4k displays wont be optimal as pixels wont line up.

Hi 4M2,

Yes, as you would be switching package you would need to re-contract.

Regards,

In reply to a post by LinnPlusnet:

Hi 4M2,

Yes, as you would be switching package you would need to re-contract.

Regards,

Sound a bit harsh to me but I thought 40/20 change to 80/20 wouldn't not be re-contract because plusnet only change the speed at their end.

Edited by adslmax (Tue 08-Jul-14 10:57:28)