In reply to a post by nomiswest:

All i wanted was a few answers from certain ISP users to help me. They are after all best placed to judge and comment on their ISP's.

There's a fine line between justifiably asking similar questions in multiple forums, and spamming... you came a bit close to that line, but neither Don or I thought you'd gone over it.

And you followed Don's request to post further queries in Which ISP.

End of matter...

If he had only posted in Which ISP I wouldn't have seen the post (I don't often look in other ISP forums).

If he'd posted in multiple forums "What are XXX like and would you recommend anyone else" he'd of been bang out of order, but as it is I can't see anything wrong with what he's done.

If you could post what you use the internet for (do you download lots, use P2P, watch a lot of streaming videos etc) and how much bandwidth you use we could comment better on the suitability of the Plusnet packages.

Might have been an isolated case or might have been genuine carelessness from plusnet but to the OP if I was to recommend Plusnet? (former customer here) I would say no. Had loads of speed problems with them and each time a fault was raised they said there was no fault (even after sending me a new router nothing improved infact things got worse) and I felt their customer service was very unhelpful and down right rude to be honest. Had to go to the ISPA to be released from my contract without a penalty (and that took a fair effort too) if it was me I would say no. Didn't think I would say this but BT have been a lot better for me since I came back to them.

In reply to a post by nomiswest:

Hello James,

Its using the Quidco site for cashback.

Depending on which package you are looking at, Plusnet are offering three months free. Featured on the uSwitch site, who incidently, also feature in the Plusnet awards section.

"Exclusive 3 months free

Get 3 months free value broadband and home phone with Plusnet. Enter promo-code "uswitch" at checkout to claim. Up to 8Mb broadband with free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines. Only £5.99 a month." uSwitch

The Value package is heavily rate limited though, don't expect to achieve full 8Mb downloads much of the time, if at all, even if your line is capable. Similarly, the Unlimited package is severely rate limited. Pro is not rate limited but is subject to traffic prioritisation, packets of certain protocols will be dropped if the network is busy, effectively rate limiting those protocols.

Edited by deleted (Fri 24-Jul-09 22:44:07)

Neither can I, I think it's the best way to find out if an isp is any good or not, nothing like asking actual users. I notice that the OP is a newbie, and is grateful to all who have helped with their informative replies, it's unfortunate that he was "told off" I know if that had been me a few years ago it would have totally put me off visiting the site again, fortunately I've toughened up

On Pro all traffic is Gold or better, i.e. at worst it is given the same priority as browsing and streaming for all other users. I'm on the old PAYG account which gets the same priorities and start asking what's going wrong when dip below 4/5 Mbps. Usually that's rare but there have been some issues in the last 3 or 4 weeks; more capacity is coming on-line RSN apparently. Quite frankly, for someone who's usage fits 15GB per month it is very unlikely that they will ever notice any speed issues on Pro.

I've watched and read this thread with interest and whilst I have no wish or intent to wind the moderators up (honestly, as they are supreme beings ), isn't this all a bit of a storm in a teacup?

I've posted on TB (or it's former adslguide.org) for awhile now and I didn't know the "Which ISP" Sub Forum existed!
My main focus is to seek info about the ISP I wish to join or the one I'm currently with. So in doing that I only frequent a few subforums on TB and may very occasionally visit someone like PlusNet if i'm looking for an alternative suggestion/recommendation for a friend.

To be fair to any new user or even seasoned user for that matter of TB, the list of sub forums is probably on the high side of any forum you'll find on the web. Whilst the ISP sub forums are excellent (imo) and are layed out in a clear manner, the other non-isp forums are a bit of a mess (imo) and I'm rarely interested in visiting them.

Whilst "spamming" forums can be annoying (plus i hate that term), isn't that a bit of an oxymoron when it comes to this site? OK, a specific sub-forum has been created to ask people's opinions on what ISP may suit them "(Which Isp"), but why NOT go straight to the Horses Mouth and ask there - I would!? You'll most likely get a far more accurate response from the people who may only ever frequent that specific ISP forum than those giving a "Generic View" on a sub-forum that those "in the know" may rarely frequent, if ever at all.

I doubt too that many posters who are genuinely looking for good accurate feedback would "Spam" more than a few sub-forums, as i would imagine by the time they are ready to move ISP, they would have narrowed down their choices to an ISP short-list. If it were me looking for feedback, I'd want to hear it from current customers, ie the good, bad and the ugly (that's the feedback, not the state of the customers )

At the top of this page it says "ThinkBroadband - YOUR guide to Broadband Internet", surely if you are polite and courteous, it doesn't matter how you have your question/s answered?

Edited by Vorlon (Sat 25-Jul-09 00:16:03)

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

The storm started with the unnecessary post by krazykizza. The two mods have since tried correctly to calm it without totally condoning what the OP did.

From where I think "nothing better to do" has taken over the discussion.

The reason the mods have to frown on it, which I am quite sure they would not have done if the kk post had not been made, is because if they didn't - once a discussion/argument had started - then others in future would try to justify genuine cross-posting crying "But teacher you let him do it!"

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

The storm started with the unnecessary post by krazykizza. The two mods have since tried correctly to calm it without totally condoning what the OP did.

From where I think "nothing better to do" has taken over the discussion.

The reason the mods have to frown on it, which I am quite sure they would not have done if the kk post had not been made, is because if they didn't - once a discussion/argument had started - then others in future would try to justify genuine cross-posting crying "But teacher you let him do it!"

I see.....

I do know multiple cross posting does annoy many on other forums when the question is singular and the aim of the cross posting is to speed up any response. And you are right it wasn't a mod, rather than a member that cried foul over a multiple posting which wasn't singular in it's nature and from what I can see was reasonable and genuine. Personally I find those type of posts, which are often current in any of the ISP sub-forums on TB really helpful, as often they attract good and more importantly current feedback as to how that ISP is performing.
With 21CN being rolled out here and there too and there being various teething problems with it, info and feedback can change on a daily basis.

Perhaps some people refer to when going clothes shopping with their wife/girlfriend/partner that they are going "Clothes Spamming"! 'Come On luv, that woman said your bum did look big in that size 14 in Principles, going into Dorothy Perkins and asking the same question is just plain Spamming!