38Mbps product now only 2Mbps upstream maximum

[#1]

Wow. Capping upstream @ 2M would pretty much remove 1/4 of the reason I went for fibre bearing in mind I used to get 1M upstream on ADSL.
I'm glad now I upgraded to Fibre Extra to avoid this even though peak time speeds on there are frequently disappointing.
I would certainly go if the Fibre Extra service was capped below 80/20 in either direction.

[#2]

Quote from: Townman

Quote from: I Of course they are not , probably trying to save after all the free cashback money and broadband they have been giving away. Mike, The point is well made - the recent trading model has never made sense - BB access for brass farthings with casjbacks giving back more than the first 12 month's revenue.  It could not last. For me the big question is will users actually notice any difference?  Is there real evidence that the BULK of users are saturating their UPLOAD bandwidth?  If not, it makes sound commercial sense for PlusNet to consider exploring the margins by not paying BTw more than is actually needed by the BULK of users. I expect that the majority of complains will come from gamers on lines which cannot get better than 40Mbps DS.  They are the ones who might find the 2Mbps US cramped ... in which case the 80/20 product remains available.  If you need the higher US, then it is available at a different price. Kevin

I am not on Fibre (except at breakfast ), but it appears that less than 10% of my total traffic is on the up side. How many who cannot get over the 38 divide can actually get anywhere near that 20 MB  upload speed? I've a hunch, very few, especially on impacted lines or subject to other faults. Consider also that except for gamers and the like one has to take in the time that is consumed with connected ancillary matters not involving traffic up or down.
I'll risk being staked out  in the burning desert: I don't think John Doe will notice that much!

[#3]

they may not get close to 20Mbps up, but they'll get much higher than 2Mbps!
upstream is not just about gaming... cloud services (especially on mobile devices) relies heavily on upstream just as much as downstream.
as i said, it could be the difference between minutes and hours.
if you're out for the day, take a load of photos on your phone, get home and they start syncing to your cloud service (be it google, icloud etc), it could take hours to complete at 2Mbps.

[#4]

@Mayfly
@jafreer
But your product will not change at the end of your term.  There is also no need ever to renew it - you just go onto monthly terms at unchanged (non-discounted) cost.
What happens if you sign up to the TV thing here and now, or later, I don't know. It may be treated as a bolt-on to your retained 38/20, or it may be a new bundle which would mean changing to 38/2 or 78/20. No doubt it tells us somewhere.
I don't think LRS affects anything, other than when you may be able to leave without having early termination charges.

[#5]

@Estragon - you are right, but there are a lot of buts in what you say...
Product won't change at the end of the term - true, but I like to renegotiate my contract to get the best deal. I have done this over the years and saved a heck of a lot of money by doing so. You are right that the 40/20 will still be available to me (as 40/2 is for new provisions only), but my strong suspicion is that no good deals will be offered on the 40/10 (or 40/20) products in order to migrate people over. I may be wrong on that, but wait and see - my prediction is that Plusnet will not continue offering good discounts on 40/20 (or 40/10).
If I sign up for TV now, I am tying myself into a contract that would expire after my fibre contract. So if I decided to move, I would have to pay early termination fees.
Same goes with LRS, I don't want to leave PN having paid for line rental I can no longer use.
So actually, when you add it all up, I end up paying more money than I normally would if I renew LRS and take TV, and decide to leave PN at the end of my fibre contract.
It all remains to be seen what happens, but I simply cannot imagine that PN will offer good discounts on the 40/20 (or 40/10) package.
Regarding the comments stating that upload speed is not too important. Like everything else, it depends on what you use the internet for. Some people don't care about ping, some do. Some people don't care (or even know about) the peak time slowdowns, some do.
One thing I do know, in time, upload speed will become much more relevant and important. Primarily because of cloud based services.

[#6]

I think this makes Plusnet unattractive for anyone who can't get over 40Mb. How much of the 2Mb upload would be used just for sending ACKs while downloading something at 38Mb?
Is this change related to the Ofcom decision to ensure BT maintains sufficient margin between its retail and wholesale divisions? Plusnet was included (separately) in Ofcom's analysis of pricing for that. So Plusnet either had to increase the price, or reduce the wholesale cost, which is what they did by changing to 40/2.

[#7]

Do you have a linky to OFCOM's analysis ejs?

[#8]

I found a couple of articles on ispreview:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/03/ofcom-impose-rule-to-keep-bts-fttc-superfast-broadband-...
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/06/ofcom-consult-on-btsport-tweaks-to-its-fttc-broadband-m...
I don't think I'll be reading much of the 292 page VULA_margin_final_statement.pdf - TLDR 

[#9]

Not sure what how much upstream would be used whilst downloading at 38mbps but when downloading at 75mbps it's around 1.2mbps maybe a bit more
But @ 2 mbps sync cap on a 40 mbps product is lame, annex m on ADSL was capped at 2.5mbps ,2mbps is a joke, the 40/10 product is what they should be offering  as there would be lots of people who would benefit who are currently on the capped 80/20 product(40/20) who are unable to sync much if any higher that that artificial plusnet cap, without them loosing too much upstream throughput, with a 2mbps sync  throughput would be around 1.8mbps, back in the dark ages,But plusnet is a BT group company, and BT don't care about upstream speeds do they?

[#10]

I began my "Fibre Life" on PlusNet with the Extra Product  (80/20) but changed to 40/20 about 4 months ago by mutual agreement when PlusNet  could no longer deliver it. If I could get 80/20, or thereabouts I'd subscribe to it.
I think that the new service of 40/2 has more to do with the lack of 80/20 availability than competing with similar products, after all, PlusNet could offer a cheap 40/2 as a "Basic" product as well as 40/20, couldn't they?
Maybe better would be just have "Basic" and "As Fast as it Can" since each is originally supplied by BTW at 80/20 anyway and PlusNet then "takes scissors to it".

[#11]

Quote from: ejs

I think this makes Plusnet unattractive for anyone who can't get over 40Mb. How much of the 2Mb upload would be used just for sending ACKs while downloading something at 38Mb? Is this change related to the Ofcom decision to ensure BT maintains sufficient margin between its retail and wholesale divisions? Plusnet was included (separately) in Ofcom's analysis of pricing for that. So Plusnet either had to increase the price, or reduce the wholesale cost, which is what they did by changing to 40/2.

So more unintended consequences of OFCOM's protection of the consumer?

[#12]

Quote from: MattyC

It's correct, not a typo.

The 2Mbps may not be a typo, but on this page, if you expand the Legal section, it hasn't been altered. Seeing as it is specifically the Legal section that could be awkward.  

Quote

† Fibre broadband speed is described as 'up to' because your actual download speeds will vary. We'll give you the best download speed available on your line up to 76Mb for Unlimited Fibre Extra and up to 38Mb on Unlimited Fibre, and upload speed up to 19.5Mb.

Please don't say 2 is less than 19.5

[#13]

Quote from: Estragon

Quote from: MattyC It's correct, not a typo. The 2Mbps may not be a typo, but on this page, if you expand the Legal section, it hasn't been altered. Seeing as it is specifically the Legal section that could be awkward.

Thanks for this. Messaging the right people now.
Matty

[#14]

Quote

Thanks for this. Messaging the right people now.

I imagine that some of those "RIGHT" people may soon be looking for new employment.
The latest Which report is pretty damning about the whole BB industry. This latest c*ck up by PN reinforces their argument.

[#15]

I see no cockup.
I see a perfectly reasonable product change, which doesn't affect any existing customers and is a marketing decision that makes sense in some ways. As with all marketing changes, only time will tell if it was a right or wrong one.
I also see a minor slip in the website updating, in that any relevant product page I have looked at has been updated, but a site-wide footer unfortunately missed :).