Plusnet & newsgroups suck

[#1]

Oh an beforre you start bleating on about faults/capacity,network management, training periods ,the price of oil and anything else you can think of blaming apart from Plusnet here is a BT Speedtest done at 11.41am
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    Your DSL connection rate: 8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  832 kbps(UP-STREAM)
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 6467 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.

If you are experiencing problems with specific applications, servers or websites please contact your ISP for assistance.

Your test has completed please close this window to exit the performance tester.

[#2]

Right, thanks.
I'll get Bob to try on his home connection and see what speeds he is getting atm.

[#3]

Just for the record, I've just set Grabit 1.7.1 to download headers for a single group (i.e. one connection only) from Astraweb & I'm getting 0.00 to 7.03 KB/s on a business account. 
More 0.00 than 7.03  
Current estimate is 10 hours to complete header download.
272KB downloaded so far. Only another 128633KB to go.
My experience of downloading from binary newsgroups is that it can be very variable. Mine is a business account, so usenet traffic gets a low priority, but sometimes it's fine & at other times it's unusable. These times don't follow the normal daily network congestion patterns, but it's more a case of good weeks & bad weeks.
When it's working ok, then I do get the normal variations you would expect - slower speeds at busy times of the day & blisteringly fast when things are quiet. But then there will be days on end when nothing more than single digit KB/s figures are available no matter when I try it.
Looks like a 'bad week' at the moment.
For unrelated reasons, I'm just about to reboot both my PC & my router. I'll post back if it makes any difference, but don't hold your breath.

[#4]

Simple answer is Plusnet is selling something it can't support, if all the users use their connections at the same time my guess is Plusnet would collapse and the only way they can run their backbone is by managing it in the most draconian way they can then hide behind misleading and unclear terms and conditions.
The sooner companies like this are cracked down on the better
Remember Plusnet you said it

Quote

Plusnet Unlimited is designed for serious Internet users and is ideal for all Internet activities.

Quote

ALL internet activities

? lets see what the legal people make of that statement

[#5]

You CAN use all internet activities.
But P2P/Usenet are restricted at various times of the day as per the page that you have seen.

[#6]

LOL since when has 0Kb/s been "using the internet" and yet again to quote Plusnet

Quote

Plusnet Unlimited is designed for serious Internet users and is ideal for all Internet activities.

When it says ALL internet activities shouldn't that really read All internet activities except for  newsgroups/peer to peer/downloading from ftp's (need i go on) ? cos when i was at skool All meant ALL

[#7]

After explaining the situation to a lawyer i have been advised the following
Plusnet are in breach of the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations 2008, in addition they are in breach of the misrepresentation act 1967
On top of that they are in breach of the supply of goods and services act 1982
So Plusnet you aint getting another penny out of me and i look forward to seeing you in court, unless of course you want to terminate my broadband account with a sensible amount of penalty fees not the £336 you are trying to blackmail me for!!!!
Any other Plusnet uses who feel they are being mugged off feel free to contact me about the legal position.

[#8]

I suspect most customers read the ToS and expected speeds before signing up 
B.

[#9]

Barry i did but i didnt expect 0KB/s at 11.30am this morning, but hey i guess thats me just being unreasonable 

[#10]

All the laws you quote mean nothing as first of all you complain to the supplier and give them the opportunity to rectify any problems in a reasonable time. Until that is done the courts wont be interested. You would all so need to prove the problem is with Plusnet and not your equipment, the Internet or the news server.
We are desperately trying to help  but you are refusing help and hurling abuse at fellow customers. Until you calm down and give us the facts like your equipment, the new server you are using and other details we cant help.
The forums could be produced in any legal proceeding and would show there are lots of people willing to help both Plus nets staff and fellow customers.
So if you would please tell us the new you are using you router details with stats and speeds you get for downloads from the web we can then start to solve your problems for you as others can test to see if they get slow speeds form the same server   

[#11]

Samuria for a moderator you really should try and understand the problem more, there is no technical problem with the equipment, line, exchange or anything else. If you had bothered to read the 2 speed tests from BT you should be abe to clearly see that, i can only guess you just decided to jump in and offer a pretty much worthless/pointless opinion which hasn't helped or solved anything.
I did give Plusnet the chance to resolve it and after using the connection for less than 6 hours and performing many comparison tests with the 3 other isp's i have at home it became clear that the problem was with Plusnet and the way they manage/cap/b/w limit my connection to the newsgroups, oh and if you had bothered to read the posts 0KB/s and 2.2KB/s with an overall average of 0.4KB/s at 11.30am is a little less than the expected speed published on the website ( I could download the same files from the newsgroups with o2, zen and pipex at full line speed)
I asked if i could leave but that was only possible if i paid £336 even though i had the service for such a minute amount of time.
Now you would think that any large reasonable company would say fair enough pay us a reasonable termination fee of say £50 or even £100 and we will let you move on....nope not Plusnet they want the whole £336
Unfortunatley for Plusnet it seems by the description that they have made on the website regarding the service they have shot themselves in the foot, if thats not the case ask yourself why they have still not replied to my request (apart from the automated one) in which i have asked to leave and cease the contract. If it was that cut and dried a simple "no" we will see you in court would of sufficed.
After reading thru the forums its quite clear it isnt just me there are a lot of other users who feel the same way and if i can help them get out of an unfair contract that they were unlcear about at the start because of the vague promises about unlimited downloads and expected speeds then great.
Anyway Samuria unless you have something constructive to say that could help me and all the other fed up Plusnet customers i woldnt bother posting on this thread anymore !!!

[#12]

Why don't you let us know which newsgroup you are using so others can check it to confirm that it indeed Plusnet traffic management.

[#13]

lol itsme...........this is getting tedious
I have checked it myself using 3 other isp's ...the same files from the same newsgroups and there was no speed issues, although speed is the wrong word to describe Plusnet ..non event might be a better way to describe it
Oh and if you need to check about the fact i have the other 3 isp's here at home the ip i post from is logged and easily checkable by the moderators !!!!!

[#14]

also trying to get a straight answer to a straight question is a none event from you

[#15]

Quote

Oh and if you need to check about the fact i have the other 3 isp's here at home the ip i post from is logged and easily checkable by the moderators !!!!!

The Moderators are not PlusNet employees and have no access to what you look at only what you post on this forum