Plusnet Removes Broadband Internet Traffic Prioritisation

[#1]

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@Townman wrote:

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@JonoH wrote:

Most people shouldn't notice any difference with their connection,

@JonoH,

In the petty ASA ruling - https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/plusnet-plc-a15-292223.html

They [Plusnet] said removing traffic prioritisation would have more than a “moderate” impact on some consumers’ overall internet user experience, especially those who had purchased lower broadband line speeds.

Hi this was before work was completed on the "new network" since then there have been significant changes and we're confident that the majority of users will not be impacted.

@Townman wrote:

Are you able to obtain an explanation of how the investment in the core network removes the need/benefit derived from a traffic flow control, who's objective is to mitigate the limitations of exchange to property bandwidth?  The core network might have more capacity and deliver it edge to edge quicker, but it's still the same limitation of slow speeds over much of BTOR's wet cotton local network.  

There have been significant upgrades that we've completed recently like network caching that should improve the service that customers receive however as always because of network security I'm not able to talk about network specifics.

[#2]

Hi this was before work was completed on the "new network" since then there have been significant changes and we're confident that the majority of users will not be impacted.

When a customer saturates their line on the "new network" (now without traffic prioritisation), with a mix of different apps and service, will time critical apps and services be impacted ?

[#3]

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@JonoH wrote:

@goldenfibre wrote:

• What if a customer wants to continue with traffic prioritisation?
Any customers who do want to continue to use traffic prioritisation can do so by ringing 0800 432 0200. 

@goldenfibre wrote:

I rang them up and they say there is no option to enabled traffic prioritisation back on, there isn’t. Told me it only for business only. Yes you are right Oldjhim, it didn't say on plusnet page either!

That's because as stated above we no longer offer the service, it cannot be reactivated. If you require traffic management because this change has adversely impacted you we will apply the Pro add on

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Goldenfibre is quoting from the media announcement on the demise of TP - see http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/06/uk-isp-plusnet-removes-broadband-internet-traffic-prior... [Plusnet’s Traffic Prioritisation Q&A]

If this is incorrect, then may be someone in the press office could ask ISPreview to correct their copy ... in the meantime is there a need to update the front line support folk that the media have got it "all wrong"?

[#4]

I think people care more about prio at the consumer facing bottleneck that internal network upgrades.

Removing QOS there will be noticed by some.

Looking at the new traffic management page I see streaming is still listed - but it was the case recently that streaming was not marked.

Has this been fixed?

If not then on pro it will get high (other)? This (along with different "high" classes) would hurt gamers more than the setup we have just lost - so your offer of temporary free pro "to see if any difference is noticed" is somewhat biased as it's not the same as it was before.

On 67 sync FTTC I have graphs (somewhere) showing youtube blipping to 80ms every few seconds in a sim of game traffic (this was when I lost QOS for a while after switching to the new network). When QOS came back the blipping was gone.

OK so 80ms is not that bad - but for those on lower syncs/ADSL I expect it would be worse - and longer "blips".

[#5]

Previously, did traffic prioritisation apply to upstream traffic as well as downstream ?

[#6]

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@bill888 wrote:

Previously, did traffic prioritisation apply to upstream traffic as well as downstream ?

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Not AFAIK/saw (from a customer POV, I don't know if it got marked for PN internal use).

Upstream QOS is important - you need to do it yourself with settings on the router, this can be tricky!

Thinking more about my previous post about the pro add on - maybe streaming just gets seen as http anyway, so wouldn't end up as high - but would get blatted its self by P2P, unlike with the previous setup.

[#7]

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@JonoH wrote:

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Hi this was before work was completed on the "new network" since then there have been significant changes and we're confident that the majority of users will not be impacted.

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Are those of us with fixed IP addresses still on the original network (migrating us to the new network was seen as a challenge) more likely to be impacted than those on the new network?

I guess we have to (reluctantly) accept the implication that fixing the back haul by some form of black magic also fixes the slowest part of the network?

However light bulbs are starting to turn on here ... TP responding specifically to an individual's line saturation would have to imply monitoring within the exchange or an inference of congestion on the last mile made within the PN network - specifically within PlusNet's data centre.  With the new network doing RAS at the edge, I guess that it is possible that much of the traffic does not touch the PN data centres and is therefore not capable of being TP'd.  On that basis not offering something which can not actually now be delivered makes far more sense!

...the above is guess work, I'm sure that there are others around here in the know who might be able to fill the gaps? @ejs ?

[#8]

I have another question - has there been any change to the traffic prioritization provided by ADSL Max Premium? It may be coincidence, but I've experienced quite a few hiccups with downloads and Skype today.

[#9]

Max Premium is basically Annex M, I don't believe is related at all to traffic prioritisation.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules.

[#10]

ADSL Max Premium service is described as offering a prioritised delivery of traffic over the BT network compared to traffic from non-'Premium' customers as well as an elevated upstream speed.

Although it offers an elevated upstream speed like Annexe M does, it isn't Annexe M as that only applies to ADSL2 and ADSL2+.

So my question still stands - does the removal of traffic prioritization change the ADSL Max Premium service at all?

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules.

[#11]

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@Gandalf wrote:

Max Premium is basically Annex M, I don't believe is related at all to traffic prioritisation.

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When Plusnet staff who should know better post utter rubbish like this I know I did the right thing when I moved on.

Max Premium is 20CN - ADSL1 only.

Annex M is 21CN - an extension to ADSL2+

[#12]

Yes, my concern is whether I can expect to get an answer I trust. Few (if any?) of the support staff I have ever spoken to know anything about ADSL Max Premium - most have never heard of it.

Although to be fair, Plusnet are one of the very few ISPs that offer it (although there is no longer any trace of it on the Plusnet website so maybe they do no longer sell it?). Unfortunately, AAISP don't provision on 20CN any more, so they are not an option for me.

If the traffic prioritization has been removed then I will have to look elsewhere, as even with it I can't watch iPlayer in the evenings without buffering even on low res. If I hit problems in the daytime (I work from home) then it would be the end of Plusnet for me.

[#13]

OT: If your slow speeds are down to your exchange (20CN) and the length of your line, you are unlikely to see anything different from a different ISP.  Your problem is a function of your phone line.

[#14]

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Your problem is a function of your phone line.

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I don't think it is the phone line per se. I have the full theoretical maximum sync speeds, high SNR, and few line errors (approx 1 CRC error an hour generally). However, in the evening I can't use iPlayer or similar without frequent buffering. The line speed is not maxed out as I use low resolution since high resolution requires more bandwidth than ADSL Max can provide. My internal network is professional grade (Vigor and Ubiquiti), and having been in the telecoms and computer industry since the early 1980s I have a clue as to how to configure it.

The looks to me to be congestion somewhere, which the traffic prioritization of the ADSL Max Premium is supposed to mitigate. I can live with that, but If traffic prioritization is now going away (and I'm still waiting to hear whether or not ADSL Max Premium is affected by Plusnet's change) then I can only expect things to get worse.

[#15]

Max Premium looks to still be available on the website where it has been for the last few years: https://portal.plus.net/wizard/?wizard_id=20