topic Re: Christmas in Plusnet Feedback

Christmas

Laroc — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 19:00:18 GMT

Will PN be following other ISP`s (AAISP and Karoo) in offering unmetered hours over the Christmas period ?

Re: Christmas

Oldjim — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 19:29:48 GMT

Most unlikely - the ISP's you mention are primarily business ISP's and so their usage demand is dramatically reduced over Christmas.
Plusnet is mainly a home user ISP and hence usage increases over the Christmas period

Re: Christmas

Laroc — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:06:41 GMT

Seems a fair answer to me, many thanks

Re: Christmas

thisoldman — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:01:42 GMT

a fair answer?
plusnet already discriminates against eldery people and night shift workers by its free uasage from 12 to 8 am.
It seems to think eldery people can stay awake thru the night and denies night shift workers the same facilities as day workers.
It also goves no rebate on isage if you are ill or in hospital and dont use up all your monthly alowance so its not as fair as oldjim implies.

Re: Christmas

jelv — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:25:52 GMT

Plusnet offer free overnight because usage drops so much overnight that there would be loads of spare capacity, so they can afford to give it away. It also means that there will be a bit of a reduction during peak periods as people will defer downloads to the free period. We win and they win.
The only way Plusnet could make it equal for all people including the elderly and night shift workers would be to take away the free overnight. They'd probably also have to put up prices to buy more capacity as the downloads that currently happen overnight moved in to the peak evening period. Is that what you want?

Re: Christmas

thisoldman — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:32:07 GMT

txs for your reply jelv no thtas not what i want. i dont know what the answer to discrimination is but its unfair. Im also disappointed that when people use less than thier monthly usage thru no fault of their own ie illness holidays etc they get no rebate or are allowed to carry the balance forward, but if you go over your limit by even 1 kb plus net are down on you like a ton of bricks.

Re: Christmas

Laroc — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:50:49 GMT

Quote from: bures
Seems a fair answer to me, many thanks

Whoops, what I was referring to the comparison between business and domestic ISP`s
"They'd probably also have to put up prices to buy more capacity as the downloads that currently happen overnight moved in to the peak evening period. Is that what you want?" --------------I cannot see my suggestion for free usage over the Christmas period having any impact on the pricing structure
thisoldman - I agree with you entirely

Re: Christmas

jelv — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 10:02:56 GMT

I was replying to thisoldman (the convention on these forums is that if replying to the immediately preceding post you don't quote it, but if replying to an earlier post you do).
I didn't reply to your post as I would have said almost exactly the same as OldJim.
If you look at the performance graphs on a weekday evening you will see that usage is at it highest during the evening. AAISP are so orientated towards the business user that their support as daytime weekdays only and their usage rate is a lot lower during the evenings.

Re: Christmas

adamwalker — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:38:13 GMT

Quote
plusnet already discriminates against eldery people and night shift workers by its free uasage from 12 to 8 am.

I can only back up what jelv is saying here, we don't discriminate, our network is generally quieter between these times which is why we allow free usage during those times.

Re: Christmas

thisoldman — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:48:25 GMT

adam:........how can nightshift workers get free access? they cant....so thta is indirect discrimination.

i also asked a question which has been ignored ie why can people who have been ill or on holiday not carry forward their under usage to the next month. Surely thats not too difficult for your programmers to do?

Re: Christmas

orbrey — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:58:19 GMT

Hi Thisoldman,
Most people who use the overnight free usage aren't staying up all night, they're just queueing up downloads and leaving their computers switched on while they sleep.
With regard to carrying over unused usage, this isn't how our products were worked out but as we've said before we're not going to discuss the workings and economics of our products in public I'm afraid.

Re: Christmas

jelv — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:24:00 GMT

At the moment the products are priced on the basis that a significant number of people use less than their allowance. If you had carry over people would be using more of their allowance and it's very likely that the allowances would come down or prices would go up.

Re: Christmas

thisoldman — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:33:29 GMT

well i think thats a strange way to "sell" a product based on the hope that people dont use it to the full.

Re: Christmas

adamwalker — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:29:49 GMT

The aim is to make sure our customers get the most from our service. If we were to move the off peak hours to busier times this would not allow anyone to get the best from their service to all, this is as the way we operate our network is to ensure a better service for all and a more equal 'slice of the pie' for everyone.

Re: Christmas

nozzer — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:43:18 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
well i think thats a strange way to "sell" a product based on the hope that people dont use it to the full.

OK... you volunteer to pay double your current rate and we'll all have a slight reduction.

Re: Christmas

thisoldman — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:01:12 GMT

nozzer: you are either joking or you are a prime candidate for admission to broadmoor.

I once commented that i did not think it was a good idea to post plusnet dirty linen on these forum pages eg complaints but i was shot down by staff screaming transparency, and now we have a post from matt saying we will not discuss business models in public.
well thats fair but dont use transparency in the same breath.

Re: Christmas

James — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:03:32 GMT

Not so much.
We wouldn't post our key business models along with our financial modelling, etc. I'd be surprised if other companies did, mainly as they wouldn't want their competitors seeing
However, we do offer transparency by making sure our customers are informed when we're doing some maintenance work, something isn't working, etc.

Re: Christmas

gswindale — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:16:53 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
adam:........how can nightshift workers get free access? they cant....so thta is indirect discrimination.

The same way as I can. I'm asleep during the majority of the "free off peak" hours, so where is the incentive for me? If I worked a shift job; I'd stand some chance of benefitting depending on the hours I work.

Quote
I once commented that i did not think it was a good idea to post plusnet dirty linen on these forum pages eg complaints but i was shot down by staff screaming transparency, and now we have a post from matt saying we will not discuss business models in public.

Customer feedback & business models are not really comparable are they? One you can find out by just searching and reading reviews - the other is confidential information.

Re: Christmas

Laser — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:02:43 GMT

FWIW in my experience Christmas day is dead by comparison to normal traffic. I guess most people are preoccupied with other things. (Or too full of food & drink to move the mouse!)
From that POV it could be regarded as off-peak, but I suspect PN wouldn't have any incentive to have the hassle of allowing a one-day change to the accounting rules just for that.
What is interesting though, is the responsiveness of both PN's servers and the internet in general, even though I'm on an "unthrottled" package. It shows what broadband could be, if we didn't have all the traffic bottlenecking (artificial or otherwise).

Re: Christmas

TicnTac — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:40:28 GMT

Quote
With regard to carrying over unused usage, this isn't how our products were worked out but as we've said before we're not going to discuss the workings and economics of our products in public I'm afraid.

I could be wrong but me thinks you're a PLC Public Limited Company, which means every little detail of accounting is and can be made public, same with BT, reports are produced once a year if I am correct? So where is the harm?
If you did let us all know......
.....what would happen?
Would Plusnet be found out in doing something wrong which is why it won't go public?
Will there be masses of redunduncies, and slowly Plusnet will fall apart and get re-absorbed back into BT?
Would we all have to be shot after finding out such information?
Is the information as such that other ISP's would fall over in shock that they missed out on such a brilliant ~~con~~ idea
So............why? After all this is the Christmas thread - good will an all? Honesty? Little angels and pretty lights, nice stars, the birth of Jesus Christ...........forgive and forget etc. etc.................so come on, let Plusnet come clean this Christmas, be honest, let us in on it. It can't be that bad? You aren't conning us, you aren't lying to us, remember, this is Good, Honest, Broadband, so open up, let it all out...........can cause problems when you bottle things up you know
Merry Christmas Everyone