topic Re: Usage Limits & Speed in Plusnet Feedback

Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:35:18 GMT

Ok, so enforcing Usage Limits is perfectly fair, having just passed the 20gb limit for this month, my service has heavy restriction on things such as p2p but to paraphrase a PN email "browsing blah and gaming should continue as normal". However I am finding that this is not the case, the usage restrictions just appear to be an across-the-board speed cut. I'd say on average my connection speed is 2-3mb and with restriction at the moment it feels like dial up.... it took approximately 45secs to load the "create a new topic page". Anyway, just wondering if this is normal or whether something has gone wrong somewhere along the line (no pun intended ).
P.S. Exceeding the 20gb usage limit is very unusual for me, its just its the holidays etc so yeah....
Thanks

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:09:03 GMT

Hiya,
As you're on Broadband Premier, that put you onto Management Level 3. That should mean that you get about 500Kbps on your normal web traffic.
If you're thinking about sticking with us for a while, have you considered looking at our Unlimited product?

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:50:29 GMT

Thanks for the reply.
I find the usage restrictions to be highly detrimental on browsing activities so I'm now kind of concerned that something is wrong with the line or restriction settings on the account. Over the last few days we've been getting quite a lot of disconnects in the household as well. Is there any chace you could look into this?
Thanks some more

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:13:29 GMT

Hi there,
Are we talking about wireless dropping or the actual connectivity to the internet entirely?
Could be related to the poor speeds if the latter.

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:42:08 GMT

Connectivity entirely, the computer downstairs has the router next to it and is wired in. The windows fault checker shows everything being active except with no internet connectivity. I think a family member also mentioned that one time this happened, the router didnt even register there was a problem (no red light 😮 ). I used a speed checker mentioned in another thread and the reults came back at about 130kb/s. I'll go run it again now.
Thanks

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:45:31 GMT

Quote from: xiphlol
Connectivity entirely, the computer downstairs has the router next to it and is wired in. The windows fault checker shows everything being active except with no internet connectivity. I think a family member also mentioned that one time this happened, the router didnt even register there was a problem (no red light 😮 ). I used a speed checker mentioned in another thread and the reults came back at about 130kb/s. I'll go run it again now.
Thanks

Earlier today:

Just now:

In the earlier one I also noticed that the progress bar stopped moving for about 10secs halfway through (i.e. no download occuring :s )
Hopefully I'll have time to run one after midnight as well, or tommorow morning failing that.
Edit 2:

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:11:58 GMT

Sorry for multiple posts but currently the Speed Test above is showing my download speed to be 1.5mb, but my upload speed to be about 60kb. Also, I'm *trying* to play a bit of Counter-Strike but my latency is ~200ms, instead of the normal 50-60ms. I have no idea why but this is possibly related to the above problems?

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:19:53 GMT

There's something seriously wrong with your upstream sync (currently at 64Kbps) which I suspect is the entire cause of your problems.
Can you try:
- Changing filters
- Using different router
- Connecting your router into a filter, directly into the test socket behind the master faceplate (if you can't do this, use the master socket with all other telephony devices detached).
Let me know how you get on.

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:43:04 GMT

Just tried messing around with all the filters and did a speed check, came back at about 240kbps for upload. I'm wondering if one of them has a loose connection in it. I'll look into it more and see how I get on

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:53:16 GMT

Sounds quite possible

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

Oldjim — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:08:05 GMT

Still seems low - can you post your router stats, noise margin, speeds and attenuation

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

xiphlol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:32:19 GMT

I would if I knew how! Is there a sticky somewhere on how to find out these things?

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:06:26 GMT

No sticky. Just a James (and an oldjim).
I've attached the results to this post. It definitely is better, but the upstream sync speed should be 448Kbps rather than 256Kbps. I suspect that your line may have been profiled like that because of the previous problems.
Can we leave it for a couple of days to see if it corrects itself automatically?

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

Oldjim — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:23:29 GMT

Quote from: xiphlol
I would if I knew how! Is there a sticky somewhere on how to find out these things?

if you have a Thompson router this link will take you there http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?ce=1&be=0&l0=1&l1=0 otherwise check here http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

Mav — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:27:54 GMT

Just a little further info...
If you're on Premier 1 be aware that if you go over 20GB a second time then your line speed will be restricted 24/7 until you upgrade your package.
I assume that this hasn't changed since the product refresh and that an upgrade to Premier 2 would not be available?

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:49:15 GMT

That's not correct Mav.
Restrictions would get removed every billing month, regardless of how many times it has happened.

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

Mav — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:14:50 GMT

I'm sure it used to be the case.
Come to think of it, perhaps it was on reaching 30GB twice (as part of the SUPand possibly in successive months) that the restrictions applied till an upgrade was made. Never happened to me but I am sure I read it many years ago.
Tried to find the old SUP for Premier but the only link I have (https://portal.plus.net/support/broadband/network/sustainable_usage_guide.shtml) returns an error.

Anyway, just wanted to make the OP aware of the possibility of further restrictions - my apologies for the mistake

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

James — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:35:28 GMT

No need to apologise - I remember something similar, but I can't remember if there was one on Premier (there was on Plus).

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

Oldjim — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:50:13 GMT

Google is your friend
http://www.mmorpg.org.uk/showthread.php?t=695 - posted April 2005

Quote
It all started just before xmas. PlusNet (PN) the ISP that I use anounced a Fair Use Policy (FUP) this ment that their previous unlimited premier accounts would be subject to a 30GB a month cap that if you hit 3 months in a row your account would be throttled.
This was introduced due to the fact that BT had raised their charges for wholesale Broadband (BB) bandwidth and PN said that a small percentage of their users were d/ling 24/7 at high speeds and this could not be sustained.
Their was a lot of shouting from heavy users most of who left PN for pastures new and everything settled down until the FUP was due to come in last week.
The day came and nothing happend. We waited then were told that their had been a problem with the View My usage (VMU) system they were due to role out in conjunction with the FUP. This system allowed you to see exactly what you were d/ling, in GB per month and at what times. The reason for this is although you were limited to 30GB per month the limit only applied between the hours of 8am and 1am. You were basicaly allowed to d/l up to 250GB extra per month at night.
So, we wait and we wait untill yesterday when PN announce that the FUP policy has been scraped!

Re: Usage Limits & Speed

MauriceC — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:55:46 GMT

There were quite a number of changes to the SUP / FUP policies in 2006. It was before my time on Broadband so I cannot comment personally, however the product archives on the PUG site do hold much of the information.
See HERE and select the info you want from those available in the menu. HTH
NOTE: This is legacy data and has not been maintained - but neither has it been changed.
Maurice