Effect on streaming rates if migrating from bbyw opt3 to Plusnet Extra

[#1]

Due to having a long rural line, I've got a connection speed which is just the right side of borderline for video streaming such as BBC iPlayer when the stream is set to 'low quality'. I notice that the throttling policy for PN Extra includes Video streaming.
I'm currently on Broadband Your Way Option 3, and I wonder if I'm understanding things correctly please;  Would migrating over to Extra lead to a reduction in streaming rate at peak times, which would likely push my video streaming rate to beneath the threshold which would give stuttering video etc?

[#2]

Looking at http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/download_speeds.shtml - it looks like only youtube is throttled 8pm-10pm, other streaming always runs at line speed.

[#3]

Before you leap, check your cabling.  I have PN Business Option 3 and thought I'd encountered throttling on the video streaming. To cut a long story short I discovered an unused unknown unofficial extension wired into the BT junction box before the master socket. Three quick snips created a much better service.

[#4]

Thanks for that link ejs - I've looked a few pages, but I'd not spotted that one!
It's a long time since I looked into the topic, since my service has been good enough, but those figures on that page make it look like PN's now doing capping to a max speed rather than throttling everyone's connection? If that's the case then I wouldn't expect to see much change during peak rates even on YouTube? (my current sync rate is 1,408! )
Thanks!

[#5]

Thanks  AlaricAdair, good advice!
I put in a lot of effort getting the line up from no service to the current speed, and one of the key improvements was indeed making sure that I no internal wiring was involved.
Our village is about a year away from getting fttc, so it may be wisest to hold off a bit on the move if it might cause problems.

[#6]

There would be absolutely no problem in changing to Extra now then upgrading to one of the fibre products as soon as they become available.

[#7]

Thanks walker23, implementation dates are necessarily subject to change in a big project like that, where there are likely to be a huge number of unknowns about the state of the existing ducting etc, so things could be quite considerably delayed! And BTW could decide that the route consisting of a 4.5 mile 500 pair bundle from the exchange to our single village cabinet is uneconomic for them, in which case the village has the funding in place to implement plan B (to do the fibre run anyway, operated under a residents co-op, but that would cost BTW much of their existing revenue). The plan B option could add years to the timescale.

My concern is still the one I posted originally; i.e. Would migrating over to Extra lead to a reduction in streaming rate at peak times?
I'm assuming the lack of response from staff means that it would be likely that I would see a reduction in my streaming rate?

[#8]

if you put the products in http://usergroup.plus.net/prodcomp1.php you will see that there is only limited throttling on Youtube but not on iPlayer etc.and in fact it is the same speeds but slightly shorter time than your current products

[#9]

Thanks Oldjim - another page that I hadn't seen, and that seems to deal with my question too! I've been finding it confusing to understand Plusnet's throttling/capping policy from the variety of help pages, that even seem on the surface to contradict one another occasionally! I guess I'm looking for a more in depth explanation; you can only please some of the people some of the time!
That very nice comparison tool does seem to show that there shouldn't be performance issues which would affect the iPlayer straming. Thanks to everyone for their answers, much appreciated!

[#10]

Hi between1and16cha,
Below is a brief summary of the expected download speeds for streaming traffic on both products:
Broadband Your Way Option 3:

• Streaming: Always at line speed.


• Youtube: Always at line speed except between 7pm and 10pm where this is rate limited to 2.5Mb/s.

URL: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/archive/bbyw_archive.shtml#downloadSpeeds
Extra:

• Streaming: Always at line speed.


• Youtube: Always at line speed except between 8pm and 10pm where this is rate limited to 2.5Mb/s.

URL: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/download_speeds.shtml
It seems you'd be slightly better off on Extra.  Hope that helps.

[#11]

That does indeed help - thank you!!