topic Re: First month - very happy I switched. in Plusnet Feedback

First month - very happy I switched.

colaker — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 15:02:09 GMT

I was with Primus and though I had no complaints it was hard to find information about charges and contracts. What an improvement with Plusnet. I'm delighted with all the online support and despite the router appearing identical, the speed is up. There's also no 20 Gb/month limit, though I never used to reach that.
Only one niggle - the Primus router had a USB port into which I could plug a USB flash drive and store data that was then available over wifi to the house. There's no slot on the Plusnet router !

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

picbits — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:04:07 GMT

Good to hear another happy customer and thanks for taking the time to post.
There are plenty of alternative routers available which have one or more USB ports so maybe keep an eye open for a cheap alternative

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

Jaggies — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 01:09:37 GMT

You may be able to use the Thomson router as supplied with the USB port, although if Primus use an LLU service (not BTwholesale) then you may have to change more than just the username/password.
Assuming it isn't locked, change the following settings:

Broadband Username/Login name - username@plusdsl.net
Connection Type / Encapsulation - PPPoA /PPP over ATM
Password - The password you use to log in to this website
Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) - 0
Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) - 38
Multiplexing method - VC Based / VCMUX / VC-Multiplexing

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

davidj66 — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 08:43:55 GMT

I just have a shared drive set up on my main PC with photos/music/video on -can access it from netbook, or laptop connected to a TV to watch/listen remotely

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

colaker — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:07:47 GMT

Thanks for all the advice. I am aware of the alternatives but thought I'd mention the lack of USB port to help others who may yet have to decide and also stop Plusnet being too smug. I was going to try the old router and appreciate Jaggies settings - would have taken me a while to figure them out.
However there's also Ethernet ports so I expect I could add an HD server box that way.
I don't want to have to leave my PC on all the time hence the attraction of a flash drive.
This is another bonus - a community of informed people able to help. Any ideas why Plusnet is so much faster ? My line is now 30% faster than I was expecting based on Primus.
Thanks again.

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

picbits — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:34:20 GMT

Some people experience faster speeds, others experience slower speeds.
Some ISP's for the sake of an easy life may set your SNR profile to 9 or 12dB (stability etc but sacrificing speed) while others will try and squeeze every last byte of speed out of your connection - I've seen people running at a 3dB margin with no major issues.

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

leader — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 21:41:03 GMT

I agree with DomS with ISP's use of SNR margin levels.
You might want to have a look at a modem /router that allow you to control the SNR levels to increase or decrease speed.
The Netgear DG834GT was great and can be had for less than a fiver on that well know auction site.

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

Pettitto — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 08:25:42 GMT

Hi colaker,
Welcome to Plusnet!
Thanks very much for your feedback, I'll make sure it's passed on. I hope we see more of you on and around the forums

Re: First month - very happy I switched.

colaker — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 14:14:20 GMT

Thanks Doms and Webifs. I didn't know about snr and will have fun learning something new.
Might even get the netgear router to play with.
Later: of course, signal to noise ratio. It never occured to me I might be able to improve speed as it was never an issue. However seems a nice little project to get an adsl faceplate filter and tune snr. Mind you I think l plugged my filter to the bt master before anything else in house connects so not sure a faceplate filter will make a difference.