Plusnet Pro? Satisfactory GB Or Not Enough? Poll

[#1]

Interesting, is that a peak rate (8am-midnight) thing or could you tier bandwidth?  For instance, 40Gb midnight-4pm and 20Gb 4pm-midnight?  I *think* what some Pro users want is more bandwidth during peak hours, you can't provide lots of bandwidth during peak hours without it impacting on the rest of us.  Giving Pro users an option of the current unlimited off-peak and limited on peak, or a flat rate off peak (with longer off peak) and very limited peak, would that be financially viable and more to the point, sellable?

[#2]

I think tiering bandwidth is much more realistic from the discussion and the poll surrounding this it looks like pro users would benefit from increased peak usage.

[#3]

Voting closes In a couple hours from now so hope Plusnet maybe take from this what they will, Thank you to everyone who has taken part and shared their Ideas, Let's hope It does not fall on deaf ears.
Cheers
Steve

[#4]

No problem Steve, I shall make sure this information is presented when considerations are made about changes to packages or new packages.
Happy St Andrews day too!
Adam

[#5]

Cheers Adam!

[#6]

Just thought I would bring this thread back to life, To the 30 voters In this poll who says that 20GB Is unsatisfactory I believe your going to be getting some good news on this package, The usage Is getting upped, I don't know anything else at this time but  keep a lookout on or around the 20TH of this month

[#7]

St Georges day is the 23rd

[#8]

HI Adam,
thanks for being true to your word and making sure the thread was included in the refresh line up.
Great to see an ISP being pro active.
podman
p.s looking forward to the update just hoping it's not going to cost a fortune.

[#9]

Given that BT charge differently per MB for 20CN/IPStream and 21CN and Plusnet are actively moving everyone to 21CN that they can, some bean-counter with a spreadsheet has probably decided that a critical point has been reached and they can offset the savings they are getting for having the 21CN customers to the 20CN/IPStream customers.
IOW, (numbers made up for convenience):
21CN Customer pays 19.99/mo for 60Gb, BT only charge* 14.99 for the customer on the new infrastructure.
20CN/IPStream pays 19.99/mo for 60Gb, BT charge* 17.99 for the customer because they are on the old network.
There are more people on 21CN now so the £3 they save can be passed back to the customers on the older products.
* BT actually charge for data transfered, not what PN expect the customer to transfer, so if you don't use all your bandwidth in one month, PN make more of a profit on your subscription than if you go over the limit.
I'm sure someone better informed will be along to correct me

[#10]

BT don't charge for data transferred. They charge for the total capacity on the 20CN pipes or 21CN host links.

[#11]

That's what I thought too, all charged for capacity rather than use.  Where PN have a challenge is ensuring they have just the right amount of capacity, not too little (we all get slow access) and not too much (they waste money).

[#12]

Wasn't there something said recently about the fact that an ISP had to order bandwidth across the core network too? Or is that covered in the cost of the pipes?

[#13]

When I ran a mini ISP here's what we did:
Each user had a BT Ipstream connection.
Our office had a 34mb central from BT, and a 2mb leased line to the Internet.  The ipstreams came in over the 34mb, authenticated against the RAS server, and if needing internet access, were supplied by the 2mb leased line.
We only paid standard monthly rental for all the lines, no traffic costs.  As it slowed we eventually upped it to 100mb central and 10mb intent.
Compared to what we use this is small fry, and compadres to plusnet irrelevant, but gave me a good experience of what it's like, the challenges faced etc.

[#14]

Hopefully this is the best of both worlds - Pro is dead!  You can now add Pro to any product (including Fibre) for £5 a month, and on a month by month basis.  See details below:
http://www.plus.net/addons/pro/
So for those of you that want more usage, switch to Extra at My Account and add the Pro add on.  For light users then switch to Value and you'll save a £5 a month.  I've been really keen to see this product added to give improved flexibility.  We've got a couple more improvements planned for later In the year as well.
Fletch

[#15]

Well, this looks like it's a change for the better! Thanks Fletch, I'll be looking into changing our package later tonight I think.