Broadband capacity update - 13th August 2010

[#1]

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It's been a long time since we last blogged about an increase in our broadband capacity, so we thought it high time that we provided people with a quick update... With the exception of the Service Status announcements here & here, the last time we announced a bandwidth increase was back in April, after lighting in excess of 500Mbps of extra capacity!

Given the absence of any Community Site announcement, you'd be forgiven for thinking that we haven't added any more bandwidth to the network since then? Well, you'd be wrong because we've added plenty! Since the last announcement we've added no less than one and a half 622Mbps central pipes for customers on our 'Up to 8Mbps' 20CN network, and 900Mbps of additional bandwidth across our 'Up to 20Mbps' 21CN 'host links'. This can be broken down as follows: 1st June 2 x 155Mbps 20CN 'segments' which customers connect to via the gateway known as ptn-ag01. 1 x 155Mbps 20CN 'segment' which customers connect to via the gateway known as ptn-ag02. 16th June 100Mbps of additional 21CN bandwidth shared between the gateways pcl-ag02 and pcl-ag03. 1st July 300Mbps of additional 21CN bandwidth shared between the gateways pcl-ag02, pcl-ag03, ptn-ag1 and ptn-ag2. 16th July 1 x 155Mbps 20CN 'segment' which customers connect to via the gateway known as pcl-ag05. 30th July 500Mbps of additional 21CN bandwidth shared between the gateways ptn-ag01 and ptn-ag02. 4th August 1 x 155Mbps 20CN 'segment' which customers connect to via the gateway known as ptn-ag01. 1 x 155Mbps 20CN 'segment' which customers connect to via the gateway known as pcl-ag05. We'll try not to leave it so long before announcing the good news next time round!

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[#2]

I think this sort of summary is a good idea actually, the frequent posts that said almost exactly the same thing every week or two were a little unnecessary. Why not make this kind of capacity update perhaps a small monthly feature?

[#3]

Announcing the run of the mill Repairs and Faults is a necessary thing to keep your customers informed. The fact that they probably glaze over most of the time is a fact. But highlighting improvements to the PlusNet System is a very welcome action. Making customers feel good of being part of the PlusNet Community is a good thing. I already have told friends locally with other ISP about the fact that I am on 21CN. Mostly their knowledge of what 21CN means is non existent but improvement to Download Speeds is readily appreciated. Having recently migrated from Zen Internet to PlusNet and immediately found 21CN available is for me IMPRESSIVE. Please keep up the "Inform the Customers" policy. More basic explanations of "Pipes" and Broadband Width" and how it affects us the Customer is all welcomed information.

[#4]

I am sure it is helpful, but how can I find out what gateway I use?

[#5]

The gateway you're connected to can be established by browsing to http://usertools.plus.net/@gateway Alternatively you can run a traceroute to an external host, the gateway will be shown in one of the early hops, e.g. C:\Users\Bobby>tracert ntp.plus.net Tracing route to ntp.plus.net [212.159.13.50] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 6 ms 9 ms 1 ms gateway.low.road [192.168.1.254] 2 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms lo0-homesurf.***thn-ag3***.plus.net [195.166.128.81] << this hop shows you the gateway (asterisked) 3 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms vl303.thn-gw2.plus.net [84.92.3.178] 4 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms te3-2.ptn-gw01.plus.net [212.159.1.53] 5 19 ms 22 ms 18 ms vl55.ptn-lb01.plus.net [212.159.2.124] 6 18 ms 19 ms 19 ms cdns02.plus.net [212.159.13.50] Trace complete.

[#6]

Thanks for the update - its nice to see PlusNet keeping a keen eye on bandwidth requirements and adding capacity as needed.

[#7]

Clearly they aren't adding capacity as needed. My broadband stability and speed is atrocious these days, as is everyone I know in this area on Plusnet. My next door neighbour on BT is fine, as is SKY broadband the other side. I logged a call 5 days ago, but still no response to it. Heigh ho. mac code please...

[#8]

@AliJ, capacity has absolutely nothing to do with the stability of your line. Again, if your speed is consistently bad then it's not going to be due to a lack of capacity. If you can provide me with a ticket reference then I'll be happy to give things a nudge in the right direction?