topic Re: The prices are the prices shock! in Plusnet Feedback

The prices are the prices shock!

God — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:18:30 GMT

I can’t help but notice how many ISPs quote headline monthly rates that on closer inspection turn out to be three months at that rate then it doubles, mostly only visible if you have a magnifying glass. That nonsense is verging on fraudulent.
Well done to plusnet for being crystal clear about their prices and what you get for your money!

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

pierre_pierre — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:57:14 GMT

you obviously havnt seen the recent thread on the pricing of the Essentials package

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

God — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:36:27 GMT

Ooops! Well at least they don't make a regular habit of it. With other ISPs you have to ignore virtually every headline price they publish.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

Alex — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:10:15 GMT

You'd think the ASA would clamp down on this kind of thing, wouldn't you?
It would be terrible if they weren't around, ISP's would be able to advertise 'unlimited' broadband, and get away with it.
Haaang on a minute

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

techguy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:39:07 GMT

none tech savvy users shouldn't have net access
Everyone knows that bandwidth is finite.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

God — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:52:16 GMT

That would rather limit the size of the market. I still find 9 out of 10 folks don't know the difference between Memory and Disk Capacity.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

Midnight_Caller — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:24:07 GMT

Quote from: techguy
none tech savvy users shouldn't have net access

What planet are you from?

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

scootie — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:24:43 GMT

im sure PN was thinking of doing a 3 month speacil price for the compare sites so they come up in the searchs when people search the compare sites for broadband under 10 pounds.
There was a theard on this if i rember with all PN's customers shouting NO at PN. dont know if they listend or not.
as for people not being tech savvy. i find the best way to explain the isp bandwidth serinro is to like it to the motorway at rush hour and quite times. ie only so many cars can fit on the motorway at any one time(ie not unlimted) and traffic jams happen(ie slow though put speeds)
and still some people dont get it.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

techguy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:43:29 GMT

Sorry, thought that might be a controversial statement after I'd made it.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it plays out as heavy users migrate to the 'all you can eat' type ISPs such as Virgin and Be/O2, when that happens the networks will start to slow and the complaints will start, more upstream capacity will be added which will be quickly consumed and the cycle will repeat until either
a) a company tries to dispose of an unprofitable broadband operation
b) They get tough on the bandwidth hogs.
c) They simply go out of business
It is the P2P crew that have landed us in this situation, there would be no need for FUPs if they didn't hammer the connection.
I think that its upstream bandwidth that puts the most financial pressure on ISPs which is why Virgin and Tiscali can run on demand services over their networks beceause the servers are on their networks and so the only link out from the network core is to the customer.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

Midnight_Caller — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:27:13 GMT

Your right about Virgin Media, I am with them. Virgin Media has a nasty habit of throttling the bandwidth, Virgin Media is lonshing 50 mg broadband, but you will be looky get 20 mg at some times of the day, it will be throttled and it is likely to cost £51.00.
I am paying £18 for 2 mg and it is throttled, you can see my broadband speed below.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

scootie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:22:46 GMT

simp;e question for midnight caller.
you on there adsl or cable product and why the hell havent you jumped off bransons ship yet.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

timlake — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:29:32 GMT

Quote from: techguy

It is the P2P crew that have landed us in this situation, there would be no need for FUPs if they didn't hammer the connection.

You can't really blame people for using the bandwidth any way they see fit though. If you opened a restaurant with one fixed price for eating there, you couldn't blame the fatties when the supplies started running out

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

techguy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:13:31 GMT

Yes you can, these people hammer connections 24/7 so should be charged for it, indeed they should be booted and told that hey really should be running a server and paying the appropriate rate for a dedicated server.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

Alex — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:11:22 GMT

People will do that, but my argument is that it shouldn't be allowed to be advertised as a 'use as much as you like' product.
As we all know, it's not.
Good job the ASA clamp down on that kind of thing (ha ha ha, raucous laughter).
But if you advertise something as being so, you can't blame people for treating it that way.
And there was me thinking that selling a product which is not as described, was against the law

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

Midnight_Caller — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:39:51 GMT

Quote from: ASBO
simp;e question for midnight caller.
you on there adsl or cable product and why the hell havent you jumped off bransons ship yet.

It is a Cable Modem from Virgin Media what was NTL, and still is at the end of the day, it is not Richard Bransons company, Richard Branson is leasing the name Virgin Media to NTL.
The ADSL that I have is with SKY, and it doesn't work, I am stuk with them until next year.

Re: The prices are the prices shock!

techguy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:19:19 GMT

I think Branson has about a 10% shareholding in the firm via Virgin Entertainment Investment Holdings Ltd, Gary (source: http://investors.virginmedia.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=135485&p=irol-ownershipsummary) so it does make it partly his company although he does indeed get a licencing fee for use of the brand.
Not bad for someone who started out in a record shop eh?