Bill,
That's only if you have broadband and are moving to them.
If like the OP you need a new broadband line, it's a 12 month contract.

Thanks for the clarification- good thing I put that rider on the end of my post

Looking at both AOL and PlusNet to can see a big difference in taking a new broadband line.

After a year with AOL you owe them nothing, and you have a wireless router.

After a year with PlusNet you still owe them

Far be it from me to set any sort of precedent by criticising any of Plusnet's policies....

p2p, usenet and gaming are all pretty useless on plusnet, on any package. Especially at peak time, though midnight to 3am is probably the worst time as everyone fires up their downloads.

As long as you stay on BT based service they seem to be able to manage (just) for basic internet stuff. Probably because it's little more than hooking up a router to a BT managed network. For anything more complex -- LLU, for example, run to the hills.

I would have to disagree with usenet as I am capable of maxing my connection from just after midnight most nights. Even during peak periods I can get around 2Mb.
I can't comment for p2p as I dont use it, but a friend recently used my connection to play CS for a while during peak and he said it ran so fast compared to his MaxDSL BT connection.....in fact he keeps asking to come over to use my connection now.

I`m on plusnet premier, and I game online a lot, and also download a fair bit on P2P so the statement you made is incorrect.

When I was with PN the P2P connection was anything but good during peak time and was heavily throttled by their network shaping down to 5kB/s. Ten minutes past midnight the traffic shaping would be removed and I would jump to 110kB/s. So I disagree with you. Web browsing was however never a problem for me.

In reply to:

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I`m on plusnet premier, and I game online a lot, and also download a fair bit on P2P so the statement you made is incorrect.

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These people are suffering and there are plenty of them. I am not for one minute suggesting that you are making these things up but it is a known fact that PN shape P2P and Usenet heavily during peak time due to limited bandwidth. If you are therefore not affected then you are a one of the lucky few.

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47641&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47171&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48813&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48489&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48517&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48024&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48030&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47710&highlight=p2p

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48026&highlight=p2p

As a test I have just started a usenet download and am downloading at 391KB at present. My line is currently limted by the BT BRAS at 4000Kb so I am not far off maxing my line....and I am browsing and using messenger at the same time.

In reply to:

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When I was with PN the P2P connection was anything but good during peak time and was heavily throttled by their network shaping down to 5kB/s. Ten minutes past midnight the traffic shaping would be removed and I would jump to 110kB/s. So I disagree with you. Web browsing was however never a problem for me.

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Totally agree with you about throttling,.
I left PN as I was getting 1 to 2kB/s, the same torrent I'm got between 25 to 40kB/s the day I moved over to AOL.