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Unlimited Broadband Usage

jodz83
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎24-09-2012

Unlimited Broadband Usage

I'm sure theres a feed on here somewhere with the same enquiry.  Anyone know if unlimited usage is a possiblity for the future?? Love Plusnet and that would be a BIG bonus to a great provider  Wink
51 REPLIES 51
Apprentice
Grafter
Posts: 645
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎04-11-2008

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Get on the phone to PN and ask to speak to the Customer Options Team suggesting to them that you will have to leave as the usage cap you have is not enough/too small and see what they will offer to retain your custom ..... at a price Tongue
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Plusnet don't announce product changes until they come into effect. However I'm sure suggested product improvements, such as this, will be fed back to the Marketing Team.
As mentioned in the previous reply, speaking to the Customer Options Team on 0800 432 0200 or 0345 140 0200 (weekdays 0900 to 1730) might be worthwhile if the current product range (or the Extra Usage option here) is not meeting your requirements.
David
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
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Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Hi there,
We are seeing a lot of requests for and mentions about an unlimited product on here so as always we are pushing this back into the business for you.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
LoneRanger
Grafter
Posts: 52
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎07-05-2011

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

This is something that Plusnet needs to address, and quickly.  A vast number of TV's are now capable of being connected directly to the internet for the sole purpose of streaming TV through the net.  Of course the times when Plusnet customers will want to watch streamed TV is during peak hours, not in the middle of the night!!.  It doesn't take many hours of HD Youtube or iPlayer to make a serious dent in your monthly internet allowance, even if on a 60gB contract.  We regularly end up on traffic management within a couple of weeks of the start of each contract period because of this.
What doesn't help is the TV companies continuously plugging their internet TV services enticing people to use them. Even my daughters school sets homework recommending that the pupils watch certain programs via the net. The infrastructure is in place over a large part of the country to cope with the increased traffic. A number of ISP's have recognised the requirement and are offering unlimited broadband.  Plusnet is being left in the wake of people such as Sky and Virgin  and really needs to do something about it before they start hemorrhaging customers to these ISP's.  It is a change I have considered making in the past and am again considering it now because I am fed up with the restrictions Plusnet imposes.
Personally I am fed up with only being able to use the internet how I want to for just two weeks of each month before being subjected to restrictions. I would welcome an unlimited service, even if it cost double what I am currently paying.
goldenfibre
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 3,286
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Registered: ‎01-06-2010

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

LoneRanger there is only sky that offer unlimited internet but problem is that you must take thier line rental to have it. Few other isp's do have unlimited but cost lot of money around between £50 and £100 a month. I think 120GB with plusnet as a request is more than enough for the whole month with 30GB per week.
I am happy with my current 120GB and don't need unlimited one (unless one of those who downloading lot eg: p2p file sharing!) Yesterday I watching skygo on pc and watch it for 8 hours and it was about 5GB on it.
LoneRanger
Grafter
Posts: 52
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Registered: ‎07-05-2011

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

goldenadsl, It may be adequate for you but it isn't for a lot of people.  There was a post on here a couple of days ago from someone who had watched 2 hours of HD programming on BBC's iPlayer streamed directly to their TV and in so doing had used up half of his monthly allowance.  So 2 hrs equated to 5GB in HD.  Take my situation, we have one Sky box and three people wanting to watch different programs at the same time.  We have HD TV's which are capable of streaming the internet directly on to them so why shouldn't we use it?  So if each of our family were to watch just 2 hrs of HD video via the internet each day that is potentially 75GB a week!!  So a 120GB cap is going to last half way into the second week.  I assume that the 120GB contract allows unlimited downloads overnight but unfortunately its not very convenient for me to watch streamed HD TV at 2 am when I have to be up for work at 6 am!!  Yes, in some cases it could be downloaded onto a PC and watched later but that kind of defeats the object of having an internet capable TV.
Whilst 120GB may be suitable for you it most definitely isn't enough for a large number of people.  The thing is I would be happy to pay, say, £50 per month for genuine unlimited internet.  It would work out far cheaper than having three Sky HD boxes on three Sky HD contracts.  Even with Sky multiroom it would work out cheaper and offer far more.
So Plusnet, how about it?  A higher cost contract that is genuinely unlimited for those that need/want it.
andy0487
Dabbler
Posts: 11
Registered: ‎19-01-2012

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

I see sky becoming very vicious in their tactics. I would like to see how standalone companies with limited usage caps will handle this.
PembsPanther
Grafter
Posts: 246
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Registered: ‎07-07-2012

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

I agree with Loneranger, some incredibly ridiculous comments from Goldenadsl, what a sheltered life you lead! And then to have the bare faced cheek to suggest anyone who uses more than you must be file sharing! There are words for people like you but unfortunately the word sensor on this forum is a lot more polite than me!
You even talk rubbish when you say only Sky offer unlimited, the 2 biggest players in the market BT and Virgin have virtually always offered an unlimited plan and not for telephone number money either. We discovered on another part of the forum not so long ago that John Lewis's broadband offering which is basically PN is disguise offer an unlimited plan.
So we have BT, then PN which is basically BT in disguise again and finally John Lewis which is basically PN in disguise which is basically BT in disguise, PN is like the piggy in the middle being the only one in the chain that do not offer an unlimited plan!
The speed and direction in which technology is moving means that in only 5 years time the "average joe" will probably consume a terabyte a month let alone a measily 120Gb, providing more data and unlimited plans is the only way people are going to be able to take advantage of what the internet now and in the future has to offer, and why on earth should we be expected to limit our use, sorry I will not do that and do not see why I should be expected to, PN and other companies with caps and ridiculous fair use policies will have to move with the time or move over!
goldenfibre
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 3,286
Thanks: 197
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Registered: ‎01-06-2010

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

I disagree with you PembsPanther, the usage allowance is never will be UNLIMITED, never is. If you want UNLIMITED, then u can ask BT to get you a leased line worth around £1000 a month with total UNLIMITED to u. Plusnet had to paid to BT for any bandwidth usage allowance charge. If you don't like it, I suggest you to look at other isp's. I am not here to arguement with you.
Plusnet isp is not UNLIMITED, it a value broadband, not a premium GOLD for you. Look at Zen usage allowance and few other isp's who also had a hard cap. There is no way of UNLIMITED!
BT doesn't have unlimited (they do have fair usage policy on it) and as for virgin media they do have traffic management usage allowance cap per day before reduce the speed to 75% throttling if they went over usage allowance on eg: 30/60 or 100 meg
quelquod
Pro
Posts: 668
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Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

It IS strange that John lewis can offer Plusnet's service on an unlimited basis although Plusnet themselves don't do this. And at a pretty competitive price too!  Surely a recipe for driving customers away?
I notice that it is only on a wired connection though - there's a limit of 100Gb on FTTC (presumably because the bandwidth is generally much greater) - again a different product profile to the standard PN offering. But I expect even this will become unlimited sometime soon as customers demand it.
Democracy - 3 wolves and a lamb voting about what to have for lunch!
LoneRanger
Grafter
Posts: 52
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Registered: ‎07-05-2011

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Thank you for pointing the John Lewis offer out.  I will be on to Plusnet tomorrow to get a MAC number and then onto JL to sign up.  Seems the best of both worlds, Plusnets service with no restrictions through a third party. Problem solved.
WWWombat
Grafter
Posts: 1,412
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Registered: ‎29-01-2009

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Quote from: PembsPanther
The speed and direction in which technology is moving means that in only 5 years time the "average joe" will probably consume a terabyte a month let alone a measily 120Gb, providing more data and unlimited plans is the only way people are going to be able to take advantage of what the internet now and in the future has to offer, and why on earth should we be expected to limit our use, sorry I will not do that and do not see why I should be expected to, PN and other companies with caps and ridiculous fair use policies will have to move with the time or move over!

Ah - the old chestnut of unlimited usage, without paying for it.
Basically, there are 2 aspects to your internet connection that cost money for an ISP to provide to you: The physical connection, on a month-by-month basis, and the volume of data you transfer (particularly the volume consumed at peak hours). It costs the ISP to supply it, so it should cost you to receive it, right? Basic economics.
But then the rules of marketing kick in - trying to make "simple" packages that consumers understand. Some places charge for the provision of the line, and perhaps making it more expensive for faster access connections, but then don't charge for usage. Some places charge a standard amount for access (no matter the speed) then make variable (or packaged) amounts based on usage. The US and Sweden tend to follow the former model, while the UK tends to follow the latter model. But, in general, you don't get both cheap/fast access *and* unlimited usage within one cheap package.
Then marketing kicks in again - this time for companies that can afford to do "loss leaders" (cross-subsidisation), or who attempt to corral their customers by bundling together packages of multiple service (phone, broadband, mobile, TV etc). This kind of company can afford to follow the cross-subsidisation to make one aspect cheap, while helping tie them into the overall service. Companies like Sky bundle services like broadband, not because it is cheap for them, but because they want to keep you on their (far more profitable) TV service.
Finally, marketing gets in the way again. To some companies you are indeed just a number. You are on their mailing list, and they make money from each & every person on that list by selling "marketing opportunities". A bigger list, to them, means more income. The value of their business is measured merely in how many subscribers they have. These companies don't really care about the service you get, or how good support is, etc. The service is a necessary evil, that they sort-of-have-to supply, but is really just a means of getting your name onto their list. These companies will be the ones that don't respond well when things go wrong.
Right now, the companies who offer unlimited usage on a basic package are NOT doing it because it is cheap to offer you unlimited usage. They are doing it for other reasons that are good for their business - and using the feature of "unlimited usage" as a net to trawl you in with. If your internet usage is high, but you can live with it being a secondary business of the supplier, then it is worth choosing - but you should make the choice knowing what is really going on under the surface!
On the other hand, if you want an internet service which is the prime business of the supplier, then you find that you have to pay for it - packaged either for the access speed, or the usage limits. A variety of suppliers allows you to choose one that matches your needs.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who don't care about the poor service, who don't really care for unlimited usage (but are too lazy to count), but are willing to go with the cheapest number, and don't mind becoming a marketing statistic (if it enters their mind at all).
Lastly, the limit on usage is also a way to control usage in peak hours. An ISP who puts unlimited usage onto a standard package has lost any way to control demand - in which case I wouldn't want *my* service mixed in with it. My internet is too vital to me for it to be (mis)treated that way.
But... I do agree that Plusnet *ought* to have an unlimited package. Just priced appropriately, and not that close to the standard packages. It certainly seems wrong for one of the *good* ISPs to be driving away their highest-use subscribers just because there isn't a suitably-advanced package for them.
Plusnet Customer
Using FTTC since 2011. Currently on 80/20 Unlimited Fibre Extra.
LoneRanger
Grafter
Posts: 52
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Registered: ‎07-05-2011

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

It is plainly stupid that I can 'buy' a Plusnet internet connection from John Lewis, get unlimited usage - and I quote from their web site "Simply put, there are no restrictions on how much you can download, allowing you to enjoy all the internet has to offer. Download as much or as little as you like, whenever you like", And it will cost me less than I am currently paying.  I also note that I can get a better deal on my telephone from them too than I am currently getting from Talk Talk.  So by switching to John Lewis I will save about £10 per month and get a far more useable internet service despite the fact that its from exactly the same supplier!!  Crazy but a no brainer.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Unlimited Broadband Usage

Far more usable service?
[quote=John Lewis Broadband]The fastest speed offered by our Unlimited Broadband is 16Mb, if you live in a high speed area. The speed you actually get will vary depending on a number of factors - the distance from your house to your local exchange, the quality of the wiring in your house, time of day and how many people are using broadband in your local area.
That rings alarm bells to me! Speeds might not be that great at peak times if they start to get loads of new users who want to download the internet.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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