Extra usage, why so punitively expensive?

[#1]

This is my previous 3 months usage, the current month is likely to be larger again.

Date	Charged	Free	Total
10 Nov - 10 Dec	59.61GB	50.12GB	109.73GB
10 Oct - 10 Nov	58.7GB	15.76GB	74.46GB
19 Sep - 10 Oct	44.68GB	9.24GB	53.92GB

So apart from my semi annual venture into P2P during November, all this traffic is

• Web Browsing


• iPlayer


• VoIP


• Software updates


• Occasional ISO image downloads (like when Ubuntu 10.10 was released)

That's it.  No online gaming, no usenet, no FTP, hardly any P2P.  I guess in many respects my usage is unique in that I'm online 16 hours a day and I use VoIP a huge amount (often 10 hours a day) but I don't think I'm doing any exceptional in terms of what I use the internet for, I find it difficult to imagine how a family with 2 adults, 2 kids each with laptops and say 2 freeview/iplayer TV's cope, especially if (like myself) one of the adults works from home, as, as I live alone, I am able to change the times I sleep to some extent to take advantage of the free period offered.
I'm sure Plusnet know their overall customer usage better than anyone, but I'm clear from my own usage, the feedback of other here that there is clearly another beyond 60GB that Plusnet are not catering for, and with the advent of FTTP and FTTC (I find it laughable that the trailist are forced on to a 10GB pcm limit, my biggest day for bandwidth this billing month was 10.2GB alone).
Refer to what Mand said about bandwidth prediction... I find the comment that selling in 1GB increments makes it harder to estimate future growth doesn't stand up to critical analyses, perhaps selling in 1GB increments allows people to purchase more since shelling out even 5 extra £1's probably feels easier to the average consumer than shelling out 1 extra £5, in which case all that the 5GB increment will do, is suppress demand until the pressure becomes too much and usage lurches upwards, creating less smooth and less predictable future demand.  Sorry, but I can see no circumstances in which smaller increments make future use harder to predict, but can think of circumstances where it makes it easier.

[#2]

Quote from: bobboulby

Quote from: Mand Ultimately, we want people to be on the right product. If you're close to or over your limit every month then we would be looking to recommend you upgrade. I am on Extra and am now finding that 60Gb a month is just not enough. There is nowhere for me to go to upgrade. I wouldn’t class myself as a big user but I do have a family with laptops, smartphones, a PS3 etc. and our usage is increasing month on month. The biggest contributor to this growth is on demand video (iPlayer, YouTube etc.) and I can only see this continuing to rise. In my opinion, what PlusNet really need to do is launch a new product with a higher usage limit. Bob

I am expecting the same problem, I am looking into whether these FLV files can be downloaded to the iPod etc as they can on a PC so that we don't have to pay every time my kids listen to a music track.  For now I have restricted their access after a 1.2gb usage on Christmas day.  The other answer would be for PN to cache the video content used by the customer base and not charge for the download from "cache to client" in return for a fee from Google etc.  The Government has given the green light to this so it is only a matter of time before ISP's charge for such content.

[#3]

Quote from: fourfourdevon

This is my previous 3 months usage, the current month is likely to be larger again. Date Charged Free Total 10 Nov - 10 Dec 59.61GB 50.12GB 109.73GB 10 Oct - 10 Nov 58.7GB 15.76GB 74.46GB 19 Sep - 10 Oct 44.68GB 9.24GB 53.92GB So apart from my semi annual venture into P2P during November, all this traffic is Web Browsing iPlayer VoIP Software updates Occasional ISO image downloads (like when Ubuntu 10.10 was released) That's it.  No online gaming, no usenet, no FTP, hardly any P2P.  I guess in many respects my usage is unique in that I'm online 16 hours a day and I use VoIP a huge amount (often 10 hours a day) but I don't think I'm doing any exceptional in terms of what I use the internet for, I find it difficult to imagine how a family with 2 adults, 2 kids each with laptops and say 2 freeview/iplayer TV's cope, especially if (like myself) one of the adults works from home, as, as I live alone, I am able to change the times I sleep to some extent to take advantage of the free period offered. I'm sure Plusnet know their overall customer usage better than anyone, but I'm clear from my own usage, the feedback of other here that there is clearly another beyond 60GB that Plusnet are not catering for, and with the advent of FTTP and FTTC (I find it laughable that the trailist are forced on to a 10GB pcm limit, my biggest day for bandwidth this billing month was 10.2GB alone). Refer to what Mand said about bandwidth prediction... I find the comment that selling in 1GB increments makes it harder to estimate future growth doesn't stand up to critical analyses, perhaps selling in 1GB increments allows people to purchase more since shelling out even 5 extra £1's probably feels easier to the average consumer than shelling out 1 extra £5, in which case all that the 5GB increment will do, is suppress demand until the pressure becomes too much and usage lurches upwards, creating less smooth and less predictable future demand.  Sorry, but I can see no circumstances in which smaller increments make future use harder to predict, but can think of circumstances where it makes it easier.

FFD You are spot on, the smaller limit makes it easier because they would see linear growth and customers would benefit because they would get used to their monthly fee going up in small increments.  I would remove the limit and just bill pro rata of £1/1gb in 1p increments. From what Mand said it seems they run this business on "containing" rather GROWING, if I were running it I would ramp up the network to be able to cope with excess demand and SELL SELL SELL, they seem to have forgotten what business they are in and have tied themselves up in the technology restrictions.
It would take some investment but compare that to the cost of buying up small ISP's because they have leaked so many customers over the years.
I was interested in your mentioning the business package, which one are you going for?
Option3 which is unlimited seems good value, expecially the increased upload to 832kb, they quote £25 for option 3 but it is actually £35 for 12 months and £32 for 12 months in the exchanges that have no investment.
It seems to me anyone who is on EXTRA and is regularly using close to 60gb should look at Business Option 3 and get unlimited downloads, it might suit PRO users too.
I know they whinge on about breaking their terms to use it on a home line but it is very easy to say you work from home and they do tolerate this.  Worst case scenario is you change your home phone to a Plusnet Business line at £13 a month.
I think this is PN's best kept secret and chances are they will stick a limit on it in due course.

3 broadband options are available, suitable for different types of business users:
Business Broadband Option 1  10GB    - cost-effective broadband for the small office/home office, suitable for regular working from home. Option 1 is available with Up to 8Mb download speeds as standard (where available). It also comes with a 10Gb monthly usage allowance (free 12am-8am) and 240 VoIP minutes to 01/02/03 numbers.
Business Broadband Option 2 50GB    - a business-class broadband solution for small businesses with up to 10 staff needing to connect to the Internet. Option 2 is available with Up to 8Mb download speeds as standard (where available). It also comes with a 50Gb monthly usage allowance (free 12am-8am) and 360 VoIP minutes to 01/02/03 numbers.

Business Broadband Option 3 Unlimited   - a premier business service that offers reliability around the clock with one great-value monthly payment. Option 3 is available with Up to 8Mb download speeds as standard (where available). Includes IPStream Max for fast upload speeds and also comes with 480 VoIP minutes to 01/02/03 numbers.

[#4]

I've switched to Business Option 3, I've also upgraded my phone line to Business, however I will be downgrading my VoIP anytime to free bundled minutes in Option 3 (as most of my VoIP is to other VoIP and so free anyway) I'm in market 1 (I think, anyway, the cheapest) and because of the saving on VoIP anytime the overall difference in pricing to me is going to be very little.
Thankfully I do work from home, so qualify for their business products, but after all this manoeuvring to try and get a package that works for me, if they do introduce a cap, I will be forced to go back to someone like UKOnline, because whilst on the surface of it more expensive, they actually are not for my kind of usage, and when I queried with UKOnline whether they considered my usage excessive they said "no, your not anywhere near the levels we would consider abusive" and back then, as I was not deliberately trying to manage my usage down as I have been since joining Plusnet I suspect my usage levels were another 50% higher than they are at the moment.

[#5]

Business Option 3 at £25 is a bit too steep for me. Something with around 80 - 100 Gb per month would keep us going for the forseeable future - a bit like the old Premium product.
Bob.

[#6]

imo, the extra bandwidth is expensive in order to force people to move to the more power hungry packages, and to make some extra cash of course...
nowadays there're countless isp's out there, even tesco started their own isp and line rental...