It would be,

A very brave person who would sign up with PN atm.

It might look a low price, but how can you get any feedback on the service?
As it's a completely different business mode, no good asking current customers.

Current customers can only base their views on a limited measured service.

Will it attract P2P users, other large file downloaders, and people who use to download overnight
will now just download at peak times.

What happens if after a month you find your browsing on the go slow. what can you do?
Wait another 17 months, then move.

Hi there,

You can get comparisons from customers upgrading (or will do over the next few days I imagine ).

I don't think the service will attract people who want to download P2P and Usenet 24/7, as the rate limits at peak times will not appeal to these types of customers.

Browsing and time sensitive protocols are prioritised on the new products as they are on all of our old products, so the slow browsing should not be an issue.

Hopefully there won't be any problems, but if you were so sure why put the terms up to 18 months?

No idea of their specifics, but in the face of people possibly using PN as a stopping off point until the next best LLU deal appears is it no surprise.

The competition has been slowly increasing, and even things like free laptops with mobile dongles are probably having an effect

You admit there are limits yet you still call it unlimited, interesting.

There's no point trying to hide the fact that there is management in place, no. What would the purpose be?

We've been fairly clear about rate limits and such like in the past, why would now be any different?

That doesn't change the fact that you can download as much as you like, and there is no usage cap.

Maybe it's time for contract lengths to be investigated?

Given one month is still available elsewhere, Ofcom will likely conclude it is just free market operation
i.e. better usage equals longer contract, more expensive equals shorter contract

Look at the mobile market, and has OFT/Ofcom moved on the vastly more complex and sometimes longer contract/rebate/lockin schemes that exist

I am sorry - I think 18 months contract is far too long for broadband. It okay for mobile phone cos they never had any problem with network issues but broadband can be a hell lots of problem.

mobile never have any issues with network issues yeah right....

I would suggest you consider this a warning - you appear to be trolling in an attempt to cause a fight - and that is not tolerated.

Mobile can have as many issues as fixed line broadband, I suggest if you are serious about this that you create a list of all the contract lengths from all the providers and present it to Ofcom with your concerns.

Only trouble is that now PN has withdrawn it's monthly contract competition will have decreased.

That doesn't change the fact that you can download as much as you like, and there is no usage cap.

Would have thought "download as much as you're able to" would be more accurate wording.

In reply to a post by mand_beckett:

and there is no usage cap.

There is a usage cap, it is capped by a simple formula: hours x maximum throttled speed which is very, very considerably less than hours x speed of connection.

I suspect Plusnet know that they've got a limited shelf life with this model, hence the 18 month lock in.

Unfortuately I doubt that.... If on a level three exchange and a bt line the "Unlimited" plan at £16 will attract a lot of new customers.... hey probably from BT that would be ironic. and the Value product as a headline will attract punters in droves...

Will probably change PN forever in the next couple of years.... May well lose a lot of "Savvy" exisiting customers in the process, unless they take heed of what customers are saying.

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Feb-09 09:30:31)

Will probably change PN forever in the next couple of years.... May well lose a lot of "Savvy" exisiting customers in the process, unless they take heed of what customers are saying.

The lack of response is (to me) a sign of nothing will change.

I was quite excited about the new products, thought unlimited was perfect for me. I avoid peak times for my work/downloads, never more than 4-5Gb in peak any month (usually 2Gb or less). Now because of the defaning silence, I'm actually worried about PN, and annoyed.

My investigations yesterday (see separate post) found a £28 signup bonus (cash back) for NEW customers for the 18 month contract! Luckily the same site showed me O2 were doing this too, but it was £50. MAC code being got today, £50 in my pocket from O2 plus saving £7 a month I think.

Make sure you email PN detailing why you are leaving...

All I would say is that PN have only just introduced the new products... U turns are never immediate. Theres a lot of feedback on PB Community that I'm sure those that need to know will be seeing.. The Plus Net I know (have known) would probably amend (u-turn) if you like the arrangements for existing customers... If they dont then they have changed...

I am out of any period, can go where I like with 30 days notice, however my service now is the same as it was last week and my exchange only has 3k lines.. LLU option is not available so for the moment Im fine... Plusnets reaction to the feed back will determine my future actions should I feel strongly enough at the time and have a suitable alternative, as will a reduction in service due to massive increase in customers without correct provision of capacity and the maintenance of customer service.

Unless they are Sky customers, and i guess they'll likely just let Sky do it all - it's easier.

Or BT retail customers when they'll be railroaded (sorry, "offered") total BB, Vision, the PDA thing and so on - all at a much lower cost than a Plusnet Value if you think about what you get - in terms of bang for buck. I know plenty signed up to that yet they didn't need any of the stuff they've now got.

In reply to a post by paddyclark:

Will probably change PN forever in the next couple of years.... May well lose a lot of "Savvy" exisiting customers in the process, unless they take heed of what customers are saying.

That's the idea. No ISP wants "savvy" customers.

Zen?

Zen?

I suppose it depends on what we mean by savvy.

It this context it is usually I think those who look at their usage both in volume and distribution over 24/7 and minimise their expenditure, whilst keeping speed and reliability levels that they are happy with.

The non-savvy are the vast majority who go on adverts, dodgy recommending sites that only consider their ISP advertisers, the price and the look of the web site they sign up from. Then proceed to use a fraction of their allowance and moan a bit to their other half when things slow down.

Zen and IDNet seem to have priced to handle the relatively moderate users and exclude the high downloaders, as have Newnet. But even those three would rather have a non-savvy customer base.

In reply to a post by mand_beckett:

There's no point trying to hide the fact that there is management in place, no. What would the purpose be?

The same purpose it serves now, to utilise the pipes to their maximum subscriber capacity by offering 'broadband' that is essentially a tiered 'narrowband' service.