Plusnet to Be*?!?

Hi All

I have a question that I'm hoping that somene can answer. I've been with Plusnet (and still am) for over 3 years now and have been pretty happy with the service provided. I know a lot of people have had bad experiences from what I have read on the board. Apart from the throttling of some downloads until late in the evening, I haven't been affected too much.

My local exchange, Nailsea (SSNAI) was unbundled end of last month by Be* and have been considering moving for the faster (and not so throttled) connection. However, after requesting my MAC I was called a couple of days later asking why I was leaving. I was completely honest with the lady on the phone and that I was after the faster speed. However, I was told that Be* being LLU would be a slower speed than I am experiencing at present which I find hard to believe - hence the post.

I've just run a speedtest (speedtest.net) and here is the link to my test stats:

[IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/121840259.png[/IMG]

Also, here are the stats from my router (Netgear DG834G):

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 6976 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 33 db 9 db
Noise Margin 5 db 24 db

So, am I being led up the garden path by the Plusnet rep, or will I expect a slower connection if I make the switch?

Any view/facts appreciated.

Cheers

Andi.

ps. I accepted a month's free Plusnet whilst I investigate

I have seen this posted
http://www.beforum.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?f=2&m=3875

With your LA at 33db looks about right on max (Connection Speed 6976 kbp) at 7 Megs

On ADSL2+ looks like you will get about 11 Megs on average.

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

In reply to:

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However, I was told that Be* being LLU would be a slower speed than I am experiencing at present which I find hard to believe - hence the post.

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Was it PN staff that claimed this or someone else?

Edited by rsharma (Sat 05-May-07 08:34:21)

Hi

It was the representative from Plusnet. When requesting my MAC, one of the questions asked is which ISP I was requesting it for. When they called me to ask why I was leaving and I mentioned the speed aspect, the rep claimed that the stats on my line showed that LLU speed compared to what I have currently would be worse.

Can't see how it can be, but I wanted to get some facts before committing - so I agreed to have a free month whilst I did some digging.

If you were going to Sky or any other ISP, PN would probably have said the same.

Thats twice in less than a week, we have heard a similar story and tbh it was stated that this would be rectified, but obviously has not.

If you are going to get better value for money and are happy to give it a try, why not?

Good luck.

/shouts MKelly to reducate staff again.

Oh Dear,

Firstly and for a bit of balance moving from a BT wholesale supplier to an LLU supplier will allways carry a slight risk that you will end up with a worse line, you could end up with a better line, or as is most likely you end up with the same line characteristics. Every time a change is made to the exhisting setup there is a chance of things changing.

Having said that BE use ADSL2 which is more efficient than the ADSL1 that Plusnet provide, they don't throttle or shape the connection and they are not oversubscribed on bandwidth. With your stats I would be very surprised if you didn't see an improvement in sync speed, and you can download what you want when you want at full speed.

If somebody at Plusnet is claiming that LLU is slower then Mand's stick needs a serrious outing.

PlusNets LLU (from Tiscali) has a more conservative default min SNR of 12dB compared to BT Max's 6dB. As a result you will get a lower sync speed and thus throughput if you switched from Max to LLU on PlusNet, as I did.

If Be uses a similar SNR minimum then that will mean a lower sync rate if the connection was like for like so PN saying what they did is not completely wrong. As Be can use ADSL2+ this may then give you a better sync rate than Tiscali's connection would but how much better is impossible to say as line conditions can vary so much and it does depend on how well your router copes with ADSL 2+.

Edited by deleted (Fri 04-May-07 22:15:39)

I'm begining to wonder if they are basing their LLU vewpoint on their own experiences with Tiscali

Maybe Peter, but if it cannot be proven by Plusnet that the OP will get a slower rate, and it is quite obvious it cannot, then that alone should not be given to the OP as advice.

In my eyes, Plusnet have now planted doubt in the OP's mind and so therefore is morrally wrong. When PN can categorrically state thet they know the OP will be worse off, is the time they start giving those sort of facts, and not indeed fairy tales.

I know of no-one who has swapped from BT to any LLU supplier that has had worse speeds. Mine went up by approx 2mb.

It is another classic, lets lie to the customer to try and keep him to stay. If it was myself, I would take the free month, get my MAC and then leave. Show them to lie to me.

I think they have totally misunderstood any of their competitors deals or capabilities.

And I notice it was a female again, wonder if the same one?

No disrespect but stick to traffic shaping PN you have that down to a tee, but blatant lying, well I suppose thats to the tee as well.

Edited by soundsystem (Fri 04-May-07 22:20:46)