Plusnet are you short on capacity again?

[#1]

I'm on PAYG so all my traffic is Gold. This evening I'm seeing significant slow downs - I've tried more than one gateway.
This very much has the feel of the run up to the purchase of Plusnet by BT when there was a definite lack of capacity, endless tweaking of Ellacoyas but no improvement until some (a) new central capacity was installed and (b) there was a significant drop in user numbers.
I hope I'm wrong, but I'm very much getting the feeling that Plusnet has over-reached itself again.

[#2]

Quote from: jelv

(b) there was a significant drop in user numbers.

I don't think it's going to be long before we see this again the way PN are treating their customers. I have no usenet again today (well at speed of zero to 1.8kB/s). I keep complaining on here but just get fobbed off with excuses about the iPlayer.
If PN can't support the amount of capacity their users want they should release them from their contracts and let them go elsewhere - I'll be gone like a shot, still got 6 months of this poor service to go

[#3]

Plusnet knew and saw iPlayer traffic growing massively prior to deciding that Unlimited was suddenly perfectly sustainable - so I personally don't buy the "iPlayer is crippling the network" argument.  iPlayer is a real-time application... they can't squeeze it.  If iPlayer can take up such a massive proportion of Plusnet's network now (over 25% of their total capacity according to this blog post - and that figure has now been beaten too!) - then what happens when iPlayer really becomes mainstream?  I can see iPlayer only getting stronger and stronger in it's effect on the network.

[#4]

Just had a look at Packet Drop by Gateway http://www.plus.net/support/network_performance/broadband_packets_drop.shtml
Is there an equivalent graph for the new products which shows drops in the various gold/gold plated/silver/bronze/best effort categories

[#5]

I wonder if the reason we are being squeezed at the moment is 21CN. 21CN isn't delivered using 622 gateways, so if Plusnet is planning large scale migration of users over to 21CN they wouldn't want to be ordering more gateways and associated equipment. I understand that there are financial reasons why Plusnet would like to move to 21CN and I wonder if the expectation that significant numbers of users would be moved over was part of the calculation which led to the recent product launch with the very keen prices for those on Market 3 exchanges.
However as anyone watching the trials will know, things haven't been going that well. I wonder if Plusnet have found themselves between a rock and a hard place?

[#6]

cheers jelv i was going to say the same as your last post but didnt get round to it last night.
I really do hope that it is the case as am not looking forward to the day the trailist no longer have exclusive acess to thn-ag2 are dumped back in with the crowd with these 20-40% peaks in packet drop.
I jumped on to unlimited straight away and was on the trial before the increase in packet drops started so i have no exprince of what speeds are like on p2p ect (like spotify has been running perfect on thn-ag2 this past week dread to think what it would be like on the other gateways)
any ways the dog cross his claws an hopes PN are just waiting for 21cn to be the main product instead of spending more on 20cn capicity
i still wonder where the suggestion that the  packet drop graph be made more clearer for the new products has gone to, last i heard it was on the list to be done and also can any one remember if any one from PN confirmed that thn-ag2 packet drop graph does indeed show the 21cn data as well as the remaining LLU customers
and thn-ag3 in that capture looks one of the better gateways out the lot

[#7]

Quote from: Liam

Plusnet knew and saw iPlayer traffic growing massively prior to deciding that Unlimited was suddenly perfectly sustainable - so I personally don't buy the "iPlayer is crippling the network" argument.  iPlayer is a real-time application... they can't squeeze it.  If iPlayer can take up such a massive proportion of Plusnet's network now (over 25% of their total capacity according to this blog post - and that figure has now been beaten too!) - then what happens when iPlayer really becomes mainstream?  I can see iPlayer only getting stronger and stronger in it's effect on the network.

It's worth pointing out that iPlayer usage has increased massively in the last couple of motnhs.  We broke 2Gbps when the tennis was on and it's not that long ago that the highest before then was around 800Mbps when Bolt won in the Olympics.
An extra 1.4Gbps of traffic is an insanely huge amount.  I'm not sure when we're next due to light a segment, but I can speak with Dave on Monday.

[#8]

I'd say that we've only just seen the tip of demand for streaming TV. I don't know about others, but I don't want to sit at the computer watching TV programmes, I want to sit on our comfy sofa and watch them on our TV. We can now do this using our PS3 but the PS3 currently only supports the BBC service.
I noticed this the other day http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a165634/ip-vision-launches-fetch-tv-freeview-box.html. Once this type of device hits the mass market, streaming TV will really take off.
Bob

[#9]

It's only a 19 days since this:
http://community.plus.net/blog/2009/06/30/plusnet-increases-broadband-capacity/
"We are pleased to announce that we have activated another 155Mbps segment of central bandwidth."

[#10]

The golf keeps stuttering again this morning.
Edit: thn-ag1 is looking better than pcl-ag2

[#11]

is it Raining at Turnberry

[#12]

How much extra BT Central capacity was turned on to allow for the RIN users being returned to the Plusnet network from the BT Retail network and the thousands of users being returned to the Plusnet from Tiscali LLU.
Quotes from Usenet p.s.c-f:
[quote=Bob Pullen][quote=Dean]Is this PN moving everyone off LLU altogether, just certain account types being switched or just me?
Everyone eventually, it's being done in a phased approach though. We've already done 1,500. Another 1,000 orders have been placed today.
Looks like things could be getting even slower.

[#13]

We're on forecast at the moment, if not slightly ahead.
However, we've had the LLU migrations, and a slower rate of migrations to 21cn than we (and most of you guys) would have hoped. As a result of this we're reexamining the forecast and allocations.
There's a new segment due in a few weeks IIRC.

[#14]

Then why are there so many reports of slowdowns at the moment?

[#15]

My opinion (and it is only that) is that what used to be exceptional occurences of massive spikes in bandwidth are swiftly becoming the norm (if you look at how quickly the record for streaming was broken for weeks in succession that backs this up).
That's why we're looking to reassess our forecasting and experience, and if this shows we need more capacity then we'll sort that. We're looking at the next segment, and possibly the next central.