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Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

mmmm Maybe BT can reduce the price it charges itself then, or maybe Plusnet could be unlike every other ISP despite what BT does? Now that would be a step forward and unlike any other ISP - or maybe those that don't reach the UP TO speeds could get a refund, or a larger usage allowance?  Roll_eyes However, it is all BT at the end of the day - so - service will always be poor, speeds always rubbish, and things will always go wrong!  Undecided
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Quote from: TicnTac
mmmm Maybe BT can reduce the price it charges itself then

It is BT Wholesale who charge for the capacity. OFCOM rules say BTw must treat BT Retail (and their subsidiaries such as Plusnet) exactly the same as all other ISPs so they cant reduce the charges without OFCOM approval.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
WebDude
Grafter
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎11-03-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Well, although I'm probably not on the same exchange as BorgWales and suffered a drop to 160 kbps after the rain on Monday evening, I can understand some of the frustrations of poor speeds (yippeee, I am back up to 750 kbps, about all I am able to get on a good day!)  - but not sure why traffic was stuck below 250 k until after lunchtime today (based on seeing the incoming data - the PN 'data transfer speed' has shown 750 kbps whenever I checked over the past 3 days)
Quote from: TicnTac
maybe Plusnet could be unlike every other ISP despite what BT does?

and lose money ?  Hardly see any point in suggesting a lower fee - they must have their Accounts / Marketing people at war most of the time over the discounts (4 months free, promotions, for example) and have some of the lowest prices (for the data allowances) in the market, unless you have O2 / C+W / Sky offering LLU at your exchange.  60 GB for under 15 quid (and 10 GB for under a tenner) are both good deals for the majority of users (on Market 3 exchanges).

Quote
or maybe those that don't reach the UP TO speeds could get a refund, or a larger usage allowance?

the larger usage allowance is a bit of an ironic suggestion though as it might be awkward to hit any existing limit without running your connection 24 x 7 (which was part of what BorgWales was complaining about).  Although, even on a somewhat limited (1 Mbps max) connection, my traffic has gone from 3 MB one day (rain stopped broadband) to 4.44 GB (in the 0800-2400 time slot - 6.25 GB total for the day) so maybe I was being too flippant to dismiss a larger allowance!
What I hate at the moment (nothing to do with PN) is the BBC iPlayer (I have to download, cannot stream) when it wipes a show (600+ MB) saying it has "expired" and I have only just downloaded the thing.  It's a bug, I know, but makes at least half of what has been downloaded a stream of binary going straight into the bit-bin ...
David_W
Rising Star
Posts: 2,305
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎19-07-2007

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Quote from: TicnTac
because most PN customers won't have a chance in hell of ever being able to download that in such a short period of time;D Sorry, still feeling sore over my saga with BT  Roll_eyes

I'm up to 104Gb this month and still have almost 2 weeks before my connection is reset.  In fairness I do connect at 8Mb and schedule my downloading to take place off peak, also in fairness I'm on a grandfathered product which has my "peak" hours at 4pm-midnight.  I am however strongly thinking of stopping downloading until my bandwidth is reset because I sort of feel like I'm taking the [censored]  Crazy
WebDude
Grafter
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎11-03-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Despite my (this month so far) maximum download speed being 750 kbps, [with 0 kbps for several days and maybe 2 of the 3 weeks at 250 kbps or less], I have reached near 44 GB, but that's because I've been downloading 24h/day (to pull some BBC shows on iPlayer).  However, because of a bug in iPlayer where most are being deleted immediately as 'having expired' I have switched back to getting some items off USENET, and been listening to radio a bit.
Fortunately, BT came (after I reported the faulty line for about the 6th time this month) and under "wear and tear" they have not only replaced the drop cable, but fitted a new master socket in a far more convenient place (near power, instead of under a radiator in the hall with no power sockets in close proximity, unless one had a cable from one side of the hall to the other meaning anyone going in or out would be at risk of tripping / damaging said cable).
Line sync (with 21db and 15 db SNR for upstream/ downstream, so possible speed improvents may still be possible) gave me over 1700 kbps when first connected, and then 1856 kbps during the afternoon, and since just before midnight - leaving it connected now so BT end can adjust data throughput up from 128 kbps, with a few days and a bit of luck, of course).
I just hope BorgWales gets some higher speeds, as I suspect switching ISP (if there's an exchange problem) will just raise his boiling point...
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

140Gb  Roll_eyes 750k download  Roll_eyes
Angry try about 22.3kps or less  Undecided goes to a huge 3.2kbs sometimes  Roll_eyes
I can't even have a decent Skype! I've had better dialup speeds and faster ISDN speeds than what we're playing with now.  Roll_eyes
Still, for our little fault and a half we'll just have to wait and see  Undecided
WebDude
Grafter
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎11-03-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

750 kbps is slow compared with many (was green with envy when I saw a Usenet post about someone getting 32 Mbps now that the area has FTTC, though BT/Openreach had sent her wrong kit and she was initially only getting 8 Mbps).  {and not that it's much consolation, but I think the other poster mentioned 104 GB not 140 GB [!]}
Right now, I do feel your frustration over poor speeds - I've been locked down at 135 kbps for days now, and a good chunk of last week wasn't much faster either, when I actually had a working connection.
David_W
Rising Star
Posts: 2,305
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎19-07-2007

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

I'm up to 141Gb, peak+off peak and 500mb away from getting throttled.  100Mb a day for the next 5 days, I'm so going to hit 13Gb.
WebDude
Grafter
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎11-03-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Was that an intentional "red rag to a bull" comment ?
You can imagine it hardly "wins friends" when other people are unable to stream video at all.
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Grin
Thing is, it is proof, that it is a lottery when joining BT for an ISP (Plusnet Included) - or any ISP that uses BT, which is almost everyone unless they are an LLU or have the name Virgin in their company name!  Roll_eyes
It also goes to shows how unfair it can be, for the same money, you can download, stream, make phonecalls, reach your Gb limit, or for the same money, you can't phone, have a decent phone conversation, have drop outs, low sync speed, no chance of downloading or streaming, or surfing the Internet in an efficent manor  Shocked Really does suck.
So red rag or not, it has highlighted an important fact, that life on the net is just totally unfair!  Roll_eyes Esp. if you're a BT Plusnet customer!  Angry
Roll_eyes
David_W
Rising Star
Posts: 2,305
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎19-07-2007

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

If I go over my 13Gb I can't stream video either, nor download, nor actually really use my internet for anything other than browsing.  There was a time (I think it was Windows 7 beta) that I messed up the downloads and hit my limit at the start of the month, a whole month being rate capped was quite nasty.
It's not a lottery though really, if you live closer to the exchange you get faster speeds, I moved last year so my speed has decreased a little bit.  I've also seen speed testers of people downloading at 50Mb/sec, crazy speeds, people on FTTH will get faster speeds, Hong Kong gets 1Gb links, I won't be on ADSL2+ for a very long time due to my exchange being so rural.  Although in Finland I have a friend on a 2Mb service even though Finland has 100Mb lines easily, they do charge by speed so having an 8Mb line where she lives (Forsa) would cost a large fortune compared to 2Mb.
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Got a friend who married and now lives in Canada, $15 / month for 50Mb TV Phone all inclusive of phone calls too  Roll_eyes Saying that, I have a friend working with VSO in Uganda, 2Mb connection, always stable, when there is power that is  Roll_eyes The UK just seems backwards compared to the rest of the world  Sad
WebDude
Grafter
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎11-03-2010

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Quote from: TicnTac
Got a friend who married and now lives in Canada, $15 / month for 50Mb TV Phone all inclusive of phone calls too

What part of Canada ?  I'm almost tempted to move there Smiley
I have seen all sorts of costs and speeds (sometimes high cost, low speed) in North America.  As for Hong Kong (earlier post), I thought theirs was 100 Mbps with a limit of 40 Mbps for anything international (not that they might ever get that speed, of course, just a cap in case there was no other international traffic, perhaps).
David_W
Rising Star
Posts: 2,305
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Registered: ‎19-07-2007

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

HK 1Gb/sec  apparently it costs HK$199/month, roughly £17 a month.  You can download a DVD in 38 seconds, or 1875 songs in a minute. 
They also guarantee (on their 200Mb connection) a download speed of at least 160Mb/sec, downloads and uploads.  How far is the UK behind the rest of the world when it comes to the internet?
A pigeon flies faster...
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: Bandwidth being throttled during the day ?

Please don't forget that we're retrofitting a Victorian era voice communication system for data so we're not doing too badly at all.
When you consider the investment required to connect even just the cabinets to a fibre backbone runs into multiple billions, I'm not surprised that FTTP products aren't yet prevalent.