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New Usage Allowances!

New Usage Allowances!

New Usage Allowances!

Product Refresh time again! As is custom here at PlusNet, April tends to mean a re-jig of our product set. Last year saw the introduction of Broadband Your Way, and this year we've gone for some simple usage tweaks to make the products more attractive in the current market. Yes, I know technically it's not April anymore, but we almost snuck it out in time. Wink We believe the Your Way product set is well placed, however changes in usage patterns with applications like the iPlayer, have meant that you can get through your usage allowance much quicker than you perhaps would have 12 months ago. As such, the following usage allowances will be effective from today: BBYW Option 2 will increase from 8GB to 15GB BBYW Option 3 will increase from 20GB to 30GB BBYW Pro from will increase from 10GB to 15GB Options 1 and 4 will remain unchanged for the time being, and Option 4 is no longer available to new customers. All existing customers will have the new usage allowances, and will be sent an email if they have paid for extra usage (along with a way to claim this back if necessary). We'd like to hear what you think about these changes, and any suggestions for future product improvements, so please feel free to add comments here or head over to the forums. Regards Mand

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35 Comments
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35 Comments
geewizz1
Not applicable
What's not to like? Thanks Plusnet for a welcome bonus. Smiley
eldad
Not applicable
Option 4 customers should have been moved to Option 3 where they may be better off. It used to be the case that if you used 30-40Gb/month you'd be better off on Option 4. Now users in that range would be better off in Option 3, and no-one will be worse off in Option 3.
Kelly
Hero
Option 4 customers can downgrade to Option 3 if they want to. We didn't want to force a change on any current customers.
imroberts
Grafter
It should be noted that Option 4 is subject to different traffic management to Option 3. As such customers may prefer to remain on Option 4 despite it being cheaper to have a 40GB allowance on Option 3.
mitchell20
Grafter
I still dont think this is fair for Pro users only getting half the allowance as option 3 users for the same price.
Kelly
Hero
@James: But Pro customers have an entirely different traffic management experience. They are paying a higher amount for this.
Andy7
Interested
What about Option 1 customers? Why does "you can get through your usage allowance much quicker than you perhaps would have 12 months ago" not apply to everyone?
beano
Grafter
I'm on option 2 and I'm delighted. I figured when you started talking about reworking the limits maybe it would go up to 10, 12 tops, but 15 is brilliant.
mitchell20
Grafter
Pro pay more my Gb than other users yet they get the smallest increase? Why?
James1
Not applicable
No they don't. Pro pay £1.50 for an additional 2GB whereas other BBYW customers pay £0.75 for 1GB.
mitchell20
Grafter
£1.50 per additional 2GB is the same as £0.75p per additional 1GB?? I talking about monthly cost divided my allowance: Pro £19.99/15Gb = £1.33 per GB Opt 3 £19.99/30Gb = £0.66 per GB Opt 2 £14.99/15Gb = £1.00 per GB
eldad
Not applicable
According to this page: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/traffic_prioritisation.shtml Option 3 and Option 4 have the same traffic management. If this is true then Option 4 customers are now paying an additional £2.50/month more than 40Gb Option 3 customers - for no benefit.
imroberts
Grafter
Mark, if you look at this page: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/speed.shtml you can see that Option 3 has tighter restrictions during peak hours.
Stephen_Tordoff
Not applicable
James, whilst Pro customers pay more per GB, their speeds are not restricted at any time. Other options have P2P, usenet, external FTP, download sites etc. limited during peak times. It may be useful to refer to the following table: http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/plusnet_shaping.htm
Chris_
Not applicable
Some good news there Mand, however I am very very disappointed that there has been no increase in the Option 1 allowance. Even a modest increase to 5GB I am sure would have seen most Option 1 customers (me especially!) well pleased. With the garbage that comes downloaded on most web pages these days (not PN's own pages), it would be so easy to use up the 1GB allowance browsing without caution. If say one month, you knew you would need extra usage, you could have pre-paid say a full 7GB (£0.75/GB) total for the month only 25p more than Option 2 for the same (old) allowance - fair enough then. Using the same analogy as James Mitchell above - Opt 1 £9.99/1GB speaks for itself, add 7GB £15.24/8GB = £1.91 /GB nearly twice what Option 2 customers are now paying for 15MB. I'm not interested in watching TV on BB so don't need regular higher allowances, but even these prices look a bit OTT when you compares to say O2 customers "unlimited" at £7.50!
beano
Grafter
Chris FFS there's more costs to Plus Net than just bandwidth costs. The fact is that it'll cost the guts of a tenner just to supply ANYTHING. You can't expect option 2, 3, 4 customers to subsidise your extra bandwidth when you've the option of upgrading to Option 2 if you want more bandwidth. All this has done is made that upgrade option even better value.
dejjones
Rising Star
Yes, increased allowance is very welcome, but it seems totally illogical and unfair not to include Option 1. As other people have said, it's very easy to exceed 1MB just browsing, these days, with all the advertising videos etc. on some websites. Now Option 2 has 15 times more capacity than Option 1!
Anotherone2
Not applicable
@Nerd - I think you could moderate your tone, even if it is abbreviated. WHY do you think many of us came to PN in the first place (and by the way it costs a lot less than you think) however I don’t see why I should subsidise the heavy users (watching TV possibly), which is what it amounts to (I don’t know why you think they are subsidising Opt 1 customers). As PN have already blogged, the challenges the ISP’s (not least themselves) face in providing the bandwidth that will be required for increased usage of BBC iPlayer and the like, are significant. But it might also mean a degraded service in the short term for light users such as myself. I do not need the BW of Opt 2 at this time (nor wish to budget the cost) but might occassionally need more BW, another advantage of BBYW and being with PN, apart from their brilliant CSC. I can only agree with Derek Jones’ conclusion.
Mand
Grafter
I appreciate what you're saying there guys, but Option 1 is an entry level product, and has very tight margins as it is (we've blogged about the costs of providing a broadband connection previously, you can see the detail here). Don't forget you still get overnight usage free on Option 1, so you can get significantly more than 1GB in reality for your tenner a month.
Chaldon1
Not applicable
Mand - I am currently on Option 1 + 1GB i.e. I pay £10.74pm, and normally this is adequate for me. Very occasionally I go over the 2GB and pay the extra - £1.00 per GB. However as previous posters have pointed out there is now quite a lot of 'garbage' coming down from some web sites and is becoming all too easy to use up the BW allocation. Surely it would be good PR for PN to offer Option 1 users even as small an increase as 1GB i.e. doubling the existing basic BW? I appreciate that I can use the 'free' BW between midnight and 8:00am but this does mean waiting until midnight before connecting to iPlayer, and not everyone wants to stay up so late. Furthermore if one leaves a download running, the KHost and KService programs will be left running which will use even more BW because it is being shared with other P2P users. I hope the BBC will eventually provide an option to schedule when iPlayer is to start and stop.
andrew_wilson1
Not applicable
this is blatant discrimination,option 1 should have been upgraded as well.I urge option 1 customers to look elsewhere.tiscali & 02 have better usage allowances at a fraction of cost.maybe if people leave they will soon change their tune !!! a disgrace. you should hang your heads in shame.I pay £12.99 for 5 gb,which is frankly ridiculous.
MICKY1
Not applicable
Im on option 1 and i use my allowance in 2 days so ive switched to option 2 just as they added the extra allowance im happy ,giggery ,giggery.
MICKY1
Not applicable
Im on option 1 and i use my allowance in 2 days so ive switched to option 2 just as they added the extra allowance im happy ,giggery ,giggery.............all right
CBrodie
Not applicable
@andrew wilson Why not pay the extra 2 quid and get 3x the BW?? Then you dont need to worry about your usage?? Option 1 is only for very light users, which if you use 5GB p/m then your are obviously not. Checking email/ using ebay every now and again or maybe amazon and making sure you have a reliable service on option 1 is why it's so cheap... If you want a shitty service then change by all means. I have been with many ISP's over the years Including Pipex (when it was the best - £15 p/m for dial up, then calls on top of that!) Plusnet is by far the best I have dealt with in all areas.
MikeE
Newbie
I'm disgusted! Fine for option 2/3 customers. I've already complained that option 1 should be increased to 2GB to stay attractive compared to competitors. I don't game or videostream, but I surf a lot and it's easy to get to the 1GB threshold these days. If I wasn't tied in for a year (by the free kit) I'd seriously look at moving.
RodM
Not applicable
I agree with those who advocate a higher allowance for option 1.I am, currently,on option 1+1gb;£10.74 a month.This is quite a lot for a pensioner to pay. I rarely use a lot more than 1gb,but pay for the extra amount as a safety barrier.I don't download large files;mainly as I can't afford to. I do feel that an extra 2gb or so would not be amiss;after all,we only pay £4 a month less than option 2,and they get 15gb.
Banishit
Not applicable
I have been with plusnet for over 5 years now, and am truly disappointed that we as PRO users get nothing !! I got it for the children and myself for gaming Xbox and the like , our bandwidth is low for the amount of usage I appreciate the non throttling of the service but since moving from my unlimited account for the last 4 years I dont think the pro thing has made a jot of difference ? maybe just me but come on give us something rather that all to NEW customers dont forget the LOYAL ones either
Neil_A1
Not applicable
@RodM & MEpstein Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your frustration. Ian from our Product team gave a good answer to why we haven't increased the allowance on Option 1 at the moment "We would have loved to improve Option 1 in the most recent refresh, but the reality is that we can’t change much there at the moment. When you consider that after VAT we pay nearly all of your subscription straight to BT in fixed costs, you can hopefully understand why that is the case. See http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/02/28/how-uk-isps-are-charged-for-broadband-the-cost-of-ipstream/ for some details. I’m hopeful we will be able to improve Option 1 in some ways later this year, but it just wasn’t something the bean counters would let us do at this point in time! Ian" @Banishit I'm not sure I'm following you? We have increased the usage allowance on BBYW Pro from 10GB to 15GB and this is for existing customers as well as new customers.
TrippiHippi
Newbie
I've got an old package - Premier Option 1 (£21.99 per month), do i get any extra allowance?
PL1
Newbie
Pretty disgusted that option one users have been left out in the cold. Using £10 as a baseline with 1GB included, option two customers have had their cost per included GB reduced from 71p to 35p. Option 1 see their mandatory included and elective included costs unchanged. "but it just wasn’t something the bean counters would let us do at this point in time!" If your beancounters can't come up with a more equitable way of sharing the cost cuts you need to sack them and hire some who are a bit better at simple arithmetic!
JH2
Not applicable
I am also annoyed by the dismissal of option 1 customers 'They pay nothing so they get nothing'. If it is true that option 1 is a loss leader provided at cost then why don't PlusNet adopt the following solution. If anyone on option 1 pays extra for a further 1gb of data then they would get 2 or 3gbs extra for the same cost. PlusNet are getting more than the base cost and the user is also getting something. Do it now PlusNet, before you alienate even more customers.
andrew_wilson1
Not applicable
Spot on JH,time they got their act together, regarding option 1.if that's the best the 'bean counters' can come up with,i suggest they look for other employment.
Rich4
Not applicable
These "new" download limits are still unacceptable in the current environment. What with TV moving to the internet and masses of films to download as well as games; 30Gb max download is nothing. Come on PlusNet, stop lagging behind - lets get back to true unlimited download limits for those that want it............ Can we have a package that does not include any "additional" extras as well ie. free broadband phone mintutes and phone packages, etc. I just want a broadband connection with unlimited download - nothing else. BT phone line only used for broadband, i have 800 free telephone minutes / month on my mobile to use up........
Dan4
Not applicable
Rich, I totally agree with you. I am a fairly new customer to PlusNet but am already considering changing. With my 15GB limit I can easily hit that in a few weeks and that is watching what I download. PlusNet better up their usage allowance soon else I am off. I could change to other providers, save myself £5 each month and get up 10Mb - 20 MB download speeds. The only reason why I actually have a phone line these days is for broadband and don’t even have a phone plugged in! On the plus side the service and reliability from PlusNet has been great. PlusNet please heed these warnings and become more competitive else others will be jumping ship!
Yogi1
Not applicable
OK, so what about an older service at £22 per month, Force9 Broadband Premier Option 1, what does that allowance go to?