Christmas

[#1]

Will PN be following other ISP`s (AAISP and Karoo) in offering unmetered hours over the Christmas period ?

[#2]

Most unlikely - the ISP's you mention are primarily business ISP's and so their usage demand is dramatically reduced over Christmas.
Plusnet is mainly a home user ISP and hence usage increases over the Christmas period

[#3]

Seems a fair answer to me, many thanks

[#4]

a fair answer?
plusnet already discriminates against eldery people and night shift workers by its free uasage from 12 to 8 am.
It seems to think eldery people can stay awake thru the night and denies night shift workers the same facilities as day workers.
It also goves no rebate on isage if you are ill or in hospital and dont use up all your monthly alowance so its not as fair as oldjim implies.

[#5]

Plusnet offer free overnight because usage drops so much overnight that there would be loads of spare capacity, so they can afford to give it away. It also means that there will be a bit of a reduction during peak periods as people will defer downloads to the free period. We win and they win.
The only way Plusnet could make it equal for all people including the elderly and night shift workers would be to take away the free overnight. They'd probably also have to put up prices to buy more capacity as the downloads that currently happen overnight moved in to the peak evening period. Is that what you want?

[#6]

txs for your reply jelv  no thtas not what i want. i dont know what the answer to discrimination is but its unfair. Im also disappointed that when people use less than thier monthly usage thru no fault of their own  ie illness holidays etc they get no rebate or are allowed to carry the balance forward, but if you go over your limit by even 1 kb plus net are down on you like a ton of bricks.

[#7]

Quote from: bures

Seems a fair answer to me, many thanks

Whoops, what I was referring to the comparison between business and domestic ISP`s
"They'd probably also have to put up prices to buy more capacity as the downloads that currently happen overnight moved in to the peak evening period. Is that what you want?" --------------I cannot see my suggestion for free usage over the Christmas period having any impact on the pricing structure
thisoldman - I agree with you entirely

[#8]

I was replying to thisoldman (the convention on these forums is that if replying to the immediately preceding post you don't quote it, but if replying to an earlier post you do).
I didn't reply to your post as I would have said almost exactly the same as OldJim.
If you look at the performance graphs on a weekday evening you will see that usage is at it highest during the evening. AAISP are so orientated towards the business user that their support as daytime weekdays only and their usage rate is a lot lower during the evenings.

[#9]

Quote

plusnet already discriminates against eldery people and night shift workers by its free uasage from 12 to 8 am.

I can only back up what jelv is saying here, we don't discriminate, our network is generally quieter between these times which is why we allow free usage during those times.

[#10]

adam:........how can nightshift workers get free access?  they cant....so thta is indirect discrimination.

i also asked a question which has been ignored ie  why can people who have been ill or on holiday not carry forward their under usage to the next month.  Surely thats not too difficult for your programmers to do?

[#11]

Hi Thisoldman,
Most people who use the overnight free usage aren't staying up all night, they're just queueing up downloads and leaving their computers switched on while they sleep.
With regard to carrying over unused usage, this isn't how our products were worked out but as we've said before we're not going to discuss the workings and economics of our products in public I'm afraid.

[#12]

At the moment the products are priced on the basis that a significant number of people use less than their allowance. If you had carry over people would be using more of their allowance and it's very likely that the allowances would come down or prices would go up.

[#13]

well i think thats a strange way to "sell" a product based on the hope that people dont use it to the full.

[#14]

The aim is to make sure our customers get the most from our service. If we were to move the off peak hours to busier times this would not allow anyone to get the best from their service to all, this is as the way we operate our network is to ensure a better service for all and a more equal 'slice of the pie' for everyone.

[#15]

Quote from: thisoldman

well i think thats a strange way to "sell" a product based on the hope that people dont use it to the full.

OK...  you volunteer to pay double your current rate and we'll all have a slight reduction.