Staying on legacy PAYG better than upgrading?

[#1]

Hi,
Sorry if this has been asked before. I am currently on a legacy PAYG product with 2Gb allowancw which I regularly go over (up to 10Gb per month) so I have been looking at upgrading to Value which would actually save me a few quid per month.
However, while looking at the product details before clicking to go through with the upgrade I eventually found that (according to the blurb on the PN website) the PAYG product is not subject to traffic shaping and gets "line speed" at all times of the day, whereas Value is heavily restricted.
On top of that, I also have 250Mb of webspace and a hosted domain name. I couldn't see whether i would keep those if I upgraded.
Finally, the thing that set me off looking to upgrade was that although my exchange is DSLMax enabled, I am currently only getting download speeds of 1800-ish bps. I am sure I used to get more than this (almost 4000). I have done the speedcheck over a few days and my IP profile is set to 2000. Is this a limitation of my current product or a seperate issue altogether?
Regards,
Digsy

[#2]

Quote from: Digsy

On top of that, I also have 250Mb of webspace and a hosted domain name. I couldn't see whether i would keep those if I upgraded.

Yes, you'd keep them.

Quote from: Digsy

I have done the speedcheck over a few days and my IP profile is set to 2000. Is this a limitation of my current product or a seperate issue altogether?

It's not a limitation of your current product, so will be a separate issue.

[#3]

Hi Bob. Thanks for the VERY fast reply. 
So... Can you just confirm that legacy PAYG is definately not traffic managed in any way? If so then its a no-brainer to stay as I am.
Also, can you help me begin to resolve my linespeed issue? I believe you should be able to access my speed checker results if I send you my PN username or phone number (which I'll obviously do via PM or e-mail).

[#4]

Quote from: Digsy

Can you just confirm that legacy PAYG is definately not traffic managed in any way?

Your traffic still passes through the traffic management switches, but there are no rate limits applied like with other accounts.

Quote from: Digsy

Also, can you help me begin to resolve my linespeed issue?

Your downstream SNR is very high, so I've reset it. This should increase your sync rate however it will take a few days before your actual throughput/IP Profile follows suit.

[#5]

Oh...! Somehow you know who I am. I thought the Forum login and my PN username weren't linked. Its been ages since I posted on here 
Yes, you are right. My noise limit is very high but I had got the wrong end of the stick and thought that higher was better? I thought I had seen posts from people asking for their SNR limit to be increased to help them get a higher sync speed?
Anway, I'll check it out and get back to you in a few days to see if my speed has increased.
Thanks for your help so far.

[#6]

Quote from: Digsy

I thought I had seen posts from people asking for their SNR limit to be increased to help them get a higher sync speed?

Each 3db increase typically shaves about 800kbps off your sync speed.

[#7]

@Digsy,  can you tell us whether you are connected to a "Market 1", "Market 2", or "Market 3" exchange, as that might influence which product is best for you.
You can find out which BT Market type by using the Plusnet Exchange Checker

[#8]

If you want to move to a product with increased allowance but without rate limits you could consider switching to Value and choose the Pro Addin once active. The latter costs £5 per month on top of the Value charge.
The UserGroup Product Comparison Tool gives a pictorial comparison of the products.
At the moment you have a static IP with your PAYG product. Value does not allow static IPs, but I don't know if that is retained alongside other goodies on an upgrade.

[#9]

Quote

Value does not allow static IPs, but I don't know if that is retained alongside other goodies on an upgrade.

Yep, I still retained my static IP when I changed from PAYG to Value

[#10]

Quote from: purleigh

@Digsy,  can you tell us whether you are connected to a "Market 1", "Market 2", or "Market 3" exchange, as that might influence which product is best for you.

Hi,
I'm on market 1.

Quote from: spraxyt

If you want to move to a product with increased allowance but without rate limits you could consider switching to Value and choose the Pro Addin once active. The latter costs £5 per month on top of the Value charge.

The combination would then cost roughly the same as I am paying now, so no point in moving. Plus I do need my static IP (just in case it did get removed).

[#11]

So Value Pro would give you near identical performance and allowance (including top-ups to 10GB on PAYG) and save you a few pounds.

or FOR THE SAME COST as 'Value Pro', you could go for 'Extra' which still has good performance BUT you get 60GB allowance.

In the end it depends whether you are using P2P, FTP, and VPN during peak evening times as to whether 'Extra' is suitable, as web browsing, gaming, and email will be the same performance as you have now.

[#12]

My PAYG costs £17.79. Value would be £12.99 after the first three months + £5 for the pro pack, so actually a tiny bit more than I pay now.
Moving would only save me on the very odd occaision that I go over my allowance, but since on legacy PAYG you pay £1 per Gb in 1Gb chunks (not 5Gb chunks), we are literally talking about £1 every odd month.
If it would have helped my connection speed I'd move, but hopefully that can be resolved through sorting out my line. WIll check that tonight.

[#13]

That sounds fair enough 
Have you tried plugging your router into the TEST socket behind the master socket faceplate to see what the fastest speed your line will sync at ?

[#14]

If you find the downstream attenuation from your router http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php will give you a reasonable estimate of the sort of speed you should expect.

[#15]

Hmmm....
Either soethings wrong with PlusNet or somethings very wrong with my connection.
I now have a much higher sync speed (4704) ad my IP profile has gone up to 3500 but my Speedtest result is now under 1000!
According to my router, my downstream attenuation is 40dB and my noise margin is 7.7dB,
What's happened and why has my connection got slower?