topic 20Mb on Value in Community Announcements

20Mb on Value

Chris — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:56:29 GMT

This morning we've taken the step to launch up to 20Mb broadband across all of our current residential products, you can read more about it in the blog here:
http://community.plus.net/blog/2010/08/03/value-goes-up-to-20mb/

Re: 20Mb on Value

Oldjim — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:29:34 GMT

As I have been moved to 21CN but not ADSL2+ what happens next and is there an option for chickening out and then moving later

Re: 20Mb on Value

MisterW — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:34:12 GMT

That just MIGHT tempt me to move to 21CN, at least now there's possibly something in it for me in terms of increased speed. I'll have to give it some thought...
Chris, will it also permit uncapped upstream on Value ?

Re: 20Mb on Value

adamwalker — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:50:54 GMT

Oldjim,
Yes, assuming that you have a value account you'll be sent an e-mail which includes a link. All you need to do is follow the link should you wish to upgrade, ergo you can decide whether or not to do so and have a say in when that happens too.
MisterW,
If you follow the link and upgrade the upstream will default to 448kpbs as per our other products but can be upgrade to 1mb upon request.

Re: 20Mb on Value

Oldjim — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:01:46 GMT

Adam,
Does a move to ADSL2+ include a full retrain or do the present settings move across also

Re: 20Mb on Value

jelv — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:17:03 GMT

From the FAQs:

Quote
5. I don’t want to wait, can I get the faster service now?
If you raise a ticket to our customer support centre at http://contactus.plus.net we’ll check the likely speed you’ll get based on the rules in question 11 below. All you need to do then is reply to the ticket advising that you’d like to go ahead with the upgrade and we’ll arrange it for you.

err... check out the answer to question 11!

Re: 20Mb on Value

Chris — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:18:42 GMT

Bah, good spot Jelv. Fixed.

Re: 20Mb on Value

adamwalker — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:31:31 GMT

Oldjim,
Yes the line does need to retrain. The line settings don't move across but we've changed our approach to how we set these from the off.
For example:
If the ADSL2 speed is above 4mb we'll set interleaving to auto.
ADSL2+ is less than or equal to 4MB and the difference between ADSL2+ speed and IP Stream Max speed is greater or equal than 0.5mb we'll set interleaving to on.
Likewise if you we're provisioned on 20mb with these interleaving settings we can change them at request.

Re: 20Mb on Value

Oldjim — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:40:55 GMT

Thank you Adam,
Given that my line will probably sync above 4Mb/s initially but I would want interleaving applied could this be done at the changeover or from the widget in the control panel. If the widget would it be automatic or just a signal for someone to do it.
Alternatively would there be any deleterious effect of initially having interleaving on automatic - if the line is unstable is the first thing it does is to apply interleaving or to bump up the noise margin
Finally (I hope :-[) if I go to ADSL2+ can I force it back to ADSL1 via my router or does it have to be via yourselves - I appreciate that this has been asked and answered elsewhere but I am too lazy to try and find it

Re: 20Mb on Value

randpwar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:22:46 GMT

I was on the trial when ‘up to 20mb’ started so have been on Value and, presumably, have been receiving the ‘up to 20mb’ service for a while. If that sounds a little uncertain it is because my speeds did not alter at all. I re-booted the router each morning during what I believed was the training period, as per the usual advice, but speeds only fluctuated between 3.7mb (ish) to, at most, 5.3mb (ish). These speed changes would be exactly the same if I re-boot the router now when I am not going through a training period.
Sorry if this appears a bit dim but could +Net staff please check that I’m already on ADSL2+ and receiving the ‘up to 20mb’ service. Would you also please confirm what router settings (multiplexing, ADSL etc) on my Netgear DG834Gv3 are most beneficial on ADSL2+
Kind Regards
Rob

Re: 20Mb on Value

adamwalker — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:29:02 GMT

Oldjim,
The widget should create a ticket, however I know there are some issues with this at present so I would advise raising a ticket to anyone wanting to do that at the moment.
If you do go onto ADSL2 and want to go back to ADSL1 same advice again really, raise a ticket. We've not built any automation for this as we don't suspect there would be a big requirement for it.
randpwar,
Having a bit of trouble finding your account as I think your community username links to an old cancelled one. Can you PM me or reply with your details and I'll check the account for you. As for router settings you should not need to alter them from standard at all. If you need anything specific the support pages on the portal have what you need.

Re: 20Mb on Value

Be3G — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:34:48 GMT

randpwar, the speeds you indicate (which are also very similar to mine) are within the middle band of speeds that basically see next to no increase when upgrading to ADSL2+, so you most likely are on the upgraded service.

Re: 20Mb on Value

randpwar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:57:56 GMT

Adam
PM sent, or at least, I think it's gone but it doesn't appear in my 'Outbox'?
Rob

Re: 20Mb on Value

jelv — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:02:04 GMT

Did you tick the "Save a copy in my outbox" box? (NB There's an option to set the default for that box in your profile settings)

Re: 20Mb on Value

thisoldman — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:06:48 GMT

Be3G: as a great fan of your helpful posts could you please explain to me why anyone would upgrade if they wont get a faster speed.
As a non techie im having difficulty understanding this. Also i can not find anywhere any info on when and if my exchange will be upgrade.

Re: 20Mb on Value

Oldjim — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:07:51 GMT

Better upstream speeds is all I can think of
Re your exchange - this will tell you if there is a date fixed http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

Re: 20Mb on Value

randpwar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:07:57 GMT

Thanks jelv, profile updated!

Re: 20Mb on Value

Be3G — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:38:39 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
could you please explain to me why anyone would upgrade if they wont get a faster speed.

Many people will get a faster speed; have a look at the graph I linked to in my previous post. The blue ‘line’ (i.e. the top of the area shaded in blue) shows how normal ADSL1 speeds change with distance from the exchange, whilst the green line shows how the speeds of ADSL2+ change. As you'll see, there're many distances where the green/line area is somewhat higher than the blue line/area, which indicates that ADSL2+ will provide higher speeds. There's also the interesting little bit towards the end of the graph, at distances of about 5500m and above, where there's no blue line at all – i.e., one would get no service on ADSL1, but would get a small service on ADSL2+.
Then there's the middle band of which I spoke in my previous post. That lasts from about 3500 to 5000m, and you'll see that the green line barely comes in any higher than the blue line – in other words, for that range of speeds (approximately 1-5Mbps on ADSL1) there is very little corresponding increase to be found from an ADSL2+ upgrade.

Re: 20Mb on Value

adamwalker — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:13:52 GMT

Just to outline our policy on this. If for example a customer has an ADSL1 connection and receives a speed estimate of less than or equal to 4mb if the difference between ADSL 1 and 2 estimates is less than 0.5mb we wouldn't bother upgrading them. This is unless the customer makes an explicit request to do so for a faster upstream for example.

Re: 20Mb on Value

randpwar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:15:11 GMT

Hi Adam,
Did you get my PM?
Rob