Would option 2 be suitable

Hi there

what is option 2 like for playing xbox 360 online ? i would also use the connection for email and browsing , and download a few file from the likes of download.com

is iplayer and c4 on demand classed as normal web traffic ? also are you able to see real time usage many thanks

Edited by backspace (Sun 12-Oct-08 01:52:08)

Option 2 would give you the same results as Option 3 and Pro. Mainly because Plusnet prioritise gaming and Voip on there network so you wouldnt see latency difference if thats what you mean. 4od and Iplayer are classed as streaming traffic, with regards to downloading the odd file from download.com it depends how flexed the network is at the time. The minimum speeds you would receive would be 1Mbps from download.com on Option 2, as seen here: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/speed.shtml?link_bbyw_view1=speeds#Option2speeds

Option 2 is described as: Moderate use, downloading and gaming
Hope this helps.

Edited by deleted (Sun 12-Oct-08 17:34:20)

lt567 that�s the maximum download speed, not the minimum.

Sorry for misleading, i did actually mean the person would receive 1Mbps minimum as im on option 3 and i get more than that if the network isnt busy

I believe on some products there is the ability to "flex" the network to allow greater download speeds than those advertised, in periods where the nework is quiet.

The Premier packages certainly allowed this (emphasis mine):

In reply to:

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Broadband Premier is different in that it will benefit from any spare capacity on our network, with less speed restrictions than the ones shown if more capacity is available. This could be as a result of less bandwidth usage on our network during quieter days of the week. As such, the speeds shown in the above table represent the lowest rate limits that will be applied at any time and they should be viewed as a worst case scenario, with available speeds often higher than those stated.

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Not sure if the BBYW Packages support this though.

As you say, the network can be "flexed". The expected speeds are neither a maximum or a minimum but a rough guide.

From this article on PN's Community site:

"The rate limits are also designed to be adaptable depending on how busy the network is, in the example above 3Mbps works when there are two customers, if a third starts downloading the ideal rate limit would be 2Mbps and if the available capacity increased to 9Mbps the ideal rate limit would then be 3Mbps again. The aim is to ensure that available capacity is split as fairly as possible between the customers using that type of traffic, maximising the available capacity with the least amount of dropped traffic. So for example on a Friday and Saturday evening some rate limits will be relaxed because the network is quiet. Over Christmas and New Year there was a lot of spare capacity that meant that virtually all the rate limits we have were removed or relaxed."

To answer the OP's question though:

BBYW Option 2 should be fine for what you're wanting to do. As has been said, PN prioritise interactive traffic and gaming is given a high priority on the network and isn't speed restricted, see this page.

iPlayer and 4OD are classed as streaming and also prioritised with no restricions.

As for your file downloads, if it's a download site it would be restricted to around 1Mbps between 4pm and midnight but would be up to line rate outwith those times, i.e. unrestricted from midnight to 4pm (usage between midnight and 8am also doesn't come out of your allowance and is logged separately on VMBU). You can see the list of affected sites here. The site you mention doesn't seem to be on the list, so you *should* get up to line speed all the time.

You can see your usage in the member centre - there's a tool called "View My Broadband Usage" (VMBU) which is updated regularly (about every 30mins or so).

Edited by paulby (Mon 13-Oct-08 13:21:35)