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Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Funk
Grafter
Posts: 30
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎22-02-2017

Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Hi,

 

I'm considering moving to Plusnet after an experience with another ISP has left a sour taste in my mouth vis-a-vis pricing (perhaps a tale for later...!).

 

Anyway, I would consider myself to be a heavy user and have read carefully through the Fibre FAQ and several of the threads on here.  I think I have the answers I need but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask before signing on the dotted line...!

 

1) 'Throttling' - I see that Plusnet don't restrict your connection based on usage, more accurately this looks like QoS for internal traffic - which is a good thing.  I understand that time-sensitive traffic will be prioritised over the the WAN.  My concern is that given the amount I download/stream (new 4k TV and an Amazon Prime account...!) I would want to ensure that my overall connection isn't restricted compared with other users on the exchange (ie. restricted from ~50mb down to 20mb for example).  I completely understand the QoS on a by-user basis and have no issue with that.  I'd just like to be certain that I won't have my total bandwidth artificially reduced due to usage?

 

2) I have a BT Smarthub 6 (fttc version) which, to be fair, is excellent.  I see that this can be used on Plusnet - a cursory glance at the SH6 GUI shows the settings to be locked - are they 'editable' when the SH6 is connected to the Plusnet network?  Ideally I'd like to keep using it as the wireless coverage in particular is very good.  The Plusnet router looks like it's the BT HH5 - I had so many issues with my HH5 it was untrue!

 

If I can be sure about the above then I think I'll hit the button and get the migration underway and look forward to being a Plusnet customer...!

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, I know it may be covering old ground for many of you but as I say, I'd like to put my mind at rest regarding these queries!

9 REPLIES 9
brookheather
Rising Star
Posts: 103
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Registered: ‎02-02-2016

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

I use up to 1TB data per month and never noticed any throttling or similar issues.

BT FTTP 500 + pfSense + Uniquiti Unifi 6 Pro
Terranova667
Pro
Posts: 1,511
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Registered: ‎19-02-2014

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Hi funk welcome to the forums, to answer your questions.

 

1. Plusnet don't reduce bandwidth for anything so your fine there, As your rightly pointed out they employ a QOS which basically gives the most bandwidth to the task that is deemed as most important ie if your streaming and someone in your home starts a download the stream will get higher priority and the most bandwidth so it doesn't buffer etc. 

2. Your correct about the Plusnet Hub-one It's just a Re-badged BT HH5A so if your experience of that has been poor I doubt your going to see any difference with the Plusnet one, as for the BT smarthub i'm afraid i cant help you with that I haven't used one so can't say for sure if will be editable maybe there is a member that has or is using one that can help you out. 

 

I hope this has been of some use to you and see you on the forums should you choose to join

   

Funk
Grafter
Posts: 30
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎22-02-2017

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Cheers folks.  Good to hear on the usage front, seems I'll be OK there then.  My comments on the SH6 came from reading this thread: https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/BT-Home-Hub-6-Smart-Hub-on-PlusNet/td-p/1349153

 

I might post there when I come to make the move.  Alternatively I might just buy a decent VDSL router outright...

Anoush
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 2,568
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Registered: ‎22-08-2015

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Hi there @Funk A warm welcome to the community first of all

  

Just to confirm what's already been said that we don't throttle traffic on our network. Internal traffic within your home is quite rightly prioritised so time sensitive things are given more bandwidth.

 

As for using a BT Smart Hub 6 with Plusnet, whilst I've personally no experience with this I think it is possible, from reading this post here: https://community.plus.net/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/Broadband/page/1/thread-id/306720

 

I hope you choose to join us and I look forward to seeing you around here.

 

If there's ever anything I can help with please feel free to let me know.

 

-Edit-

I see you've already found the thread I've linked, apologies I missed that.

This is my personal Community Forum account to help out around these parts while I'm at home. If I'm posting from the 1st March 2020, this means I'm off-duty with no access to internal systems.
If this post resolved your issue, please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
Funk
Grafter
Posts: 30
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎22-02-2017

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Actually I do have another question which you may be able to answer; I have my own private 'cloud' which I access up and down to via SFTP on a port in the 21000 range.  Can you tell me how SFTP traffic would be classified by Plusnet's QoS, ie. would it be seen as low, medium or high priority traffic?

 

Edit: to answer my own question about the SmartHub 6, I tested last night - disconnecting the router allows you to edit the username and password fields on the Advanced settings page.  I'm assuming the DNS and such will all pick up their new settings from Plusnet when I move over and use the Plusnet credentials.  BT's DNS is pretty poor, I actually set my browsers to use Google's DNS in preference as the preferred global DNS couldn't be edited in the SH6 that I could find...

Anoush
Aspiring Hero
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Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

I'm not entirely sure what impact the traffic prioritisation would have on SFTP traffic.

My colleague @scrookes may be able to answer that one?
This is my personal Community Forum account to help out around these parts while I'm at home. If I'm posting from the 1st March 2020, this means I'm off-duty with no access to internal systems.
If this post resolved your issue, please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
Funk
Grafter
Posts: 30
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Registered: ‎22-02-2017

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Thanks Anoush.

scrookes
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎29-04-2013

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Sorry for delay in responding, I am in a meeting at the moment.  I believe It will be classed as Medium priority as per this link:

 

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/about-traffic-prioritisation/

Funk
Grafter
Posts: 30
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎22-02-2017

Re: Before I sign up to a 12 month contract....

Thanks scrookes.

As it is, I live on my own so all traffic will only be from me anyway.  So as I understand it if it's only my machine doing an FTP upload or download and there's nothing else that requires higher priority, I'll get full line speed at all times.  If I then stick my phone on the wifi and do a voice call, Plusnet would identify that my wifi call will need higher priority than the FTP and drop the FTP back accordingly?  How hard does it drop the Medium priority traffic back when this prioritisation takes effect and how quickly after the High priority requirement ceases does it return the Medium priority to full speed?

 

I'm sorry if I'm being a bit of a pain with this; I just want to make sure that I don't commit to a new contract and find myself frustrated by connection speeds etc - better to ask first and have full knowledge!  Bottom line is that traffic prioritisation is only on your OWN line/traffic and not degraded to benefit someone else's from another premises?