The time has come . . .
, , the Walrus said.
But seriously guys, The time has comne for me to bid you all a fond farewell. I applied for, and received, my MAC code on Tuesday and at some point within the next 3-4 weeks I will leave this haven of the past 11 years and head of into the unknown for pastures new. Only this time, not even the famed persausive powers of the effervescent "Mand" (see here) can keep me in thrall.
Spectacular as it might seem I have no beef with PlusNet, no complaint, real or imagined, with the service, ether Customer Service or ISP service. And even more spectacularly - I've found a "Much Better Deal"
The issue is that my exchange is not FTTC enabled, and doesn't seem likely to be this side of the Rio Olympics. Neither does Mr R Branson care one jot that his magical gifts are not availble from Attercliffe - although it hasn't stopped his serfs from bombarding me with firelighting material extolling the virtues of those famed gifts. And so, being thoroughly fed up to the back teeth with my 2.3 at-a-push Mb service I am now officially jumping ship for the promised land of 24Mb downloads, no traffic shaping and no bandwidth limitations.
Digital Region has been availble for quite a while, but has been very poorly advertised and marketed , resulting in slow uptake and low subscriber numbers. This allowed BT to "get in" on a selection of Sheffield exchanges and flood the market with Infinity thus depriving DR of potential customers. Now that DR have placed management of the service up for tender, BT are actually one of the 2 preferred bidders to take over running and administering the service for the next 7 years or so. And by joining DR now, via Origin, I will get 'near BT' service and backup but at Origin contract rates. So not a bad deal methinks. And by the end of it all - standard fibre products may be available to me and PN might accept a returning prodigal with open arms (Well - a chap can dream can he? Wonder if Mand will still be here?;-))
Gonna miss this huge and hugely helpful community as I get the distinct impression that us Origin customers could hold a Xmas get together in a phone box. But if that's the price I have to pay for joining the 21st Century (BT slogan not mine) then so be it. So long and farewell PNetters - it's been good and it's been real. Keep the Faith.
BJ
But seriously guys, The time has comne for me to bid you all a fond farewell. I applied for, and received, my MAC code on Tuesday and at some point within the next 3-4 weeks I will leave this haven of the past 11 years and head of into the unknown for pastures new. Only this time, not even the famed persausive powers of the effervescent "Mand" (see here) can keep me in thrall.
Spectacular as it might seem I have no beef with PlusNet, no complaint, real or imagined, with the service, ether Customer Service or ISP service. And even more spectacularly - I've found a "Much Better Deal"
The issue is that my exchange is not FTTC enabled, and doesn't seem likely to be this side of the Rio Olympics. Neither does Mr R Branson care one jot that his magical gifts are not availble from Attercliffe - although it hasn't stopped his serfs from bombarding me with firelighting material extolling the virtues of those famed gifts. And so, being thoroughly fed up to the back teeth with my 2.3 at-a-push Mb service I am now officially jumping ship for the promised land of 24Mb downloads, no traffic shaping and no bandwidth limitations.
Digital Region has been availble for quite a while, but has been very poorly advertised and marketed , resulting in slow uptake and low subscriber numbers. This allowed BT to "get in" on a selection of Sheffield exchanges and flood the market with Infinity thus depriving DR of potential customers. Now that DR have placed management of the service up for tender, BT are actually one of the 2 preferred bidders to take over running and administering the service for the next 7 years or so. And by joining DR now, via Origin, I will get 'near BT' service and backup but at Origin contract rates. So not a bad deal methinks. And by the end of it all - standard fibre products may be available to me and PN might accept a returning prodigal with open arms (Well - a chap can dream can he? Wonder if Mand will still be here?;-))
Gonna miss this huge and hugely helpful community as I get the distinct impression that us Origin customers could hold a Xmas get together in a phone box. But if that's the price I have to pay for joining the 21st Century (BT slogan not mine) then so be it. So long and farewell PNetters - it's been good and it's been real. Keep the Faith.
BJ
I have just put my postcode in and it seems I can get superfast BB too, this is definately worth looking into as BT do not seem to want to do anything to give me the speeds I should be getting on my 29 attenuation. No fibre on the horizon and no virgin media.
Who is the other bidder, is it Kingston communications ?
Pretty steep on the phone line rental though
I have a new cabinet on the end of my road that origin would be using to give me 40 Mbits, who would have put this cabinet in DR or BT ?
I think I will wait, if BT get the tender then if the info about the new cabinet is correct I should get 69.9 Mb download, and hopefully PN will be able to give me that too.
Who is the other bidder, is it Kingston communications ?
Pretty steep on the phone line rental though
I have a new cabinet on the end of my road that origin would be using to give me 40 Mbits, who would have put this cabinet in DR or BT ?
I think I will wait, if BT get the tender then if the info about the new cabinet is correct I should get 69.9 Mb download, and hopefully PN will be able to give me that too.
Boo - and she didn't even ring me me to say goodbye 
Ah well - such is life.
@JamesM :-
If the cabinet has an "ATTxxx" number it was most likely placed by Digital Region - but I did hear that where they could, DR "piggy-backed" off some fibre that was laid by Virgin but not implemented for some reason. Either way the cabinet will be close to the cab your existing line goes to now. As far as I can make out they simply jumper from the existing copper-to-exchange cabinet and route you through the fibre-to-exchange cabinet.
As far as phone lines go I'm keeping the line with BT and not moving over just yet.
Ah well - such is life.@JamesM :-
If the cabinet has an "ATTxxx" number it was most likely placed by Digital Region - but I did hear that where they could, DR "piggy-backed" off some fibre that was laid by Virgin but not implemented for some reason. Either way the cabinet will be close to the cab your existing line goes to now. As far as I can make out they simply jumper from the existing copper-to-exchange cabinet and route you through the fibre-to-exchange cabinet.
As far as phone lines go I'm keeping the line with BT and not moving over just yet.