512k or 2Mb for initial set-up?

Broadband will finally be arriving in my village on August 4th and I'm
planning on ordering a 2Mb service with a managed conversion, probably from
Plusnet.

I currently have Home Highway and live approx half a mile from the exchange.
The availability checker on the BT site states "Our initial test on your
line suggests that you should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that
provides up to 2Mbps download speed".

Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package and hope
that the line will be good enough, or should I just sign-up for 512k and
regrade after the first month? I know that 512k would be the safer option,
but I'd be interested in other people's opinions and experience.

Thanks,

SLP

On 19 Jul 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, "SLP" wrote:

>Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package

If you would regrade as quickly as a month later, then yes, it seems a lot
easier to go for conversion from HH direct to 2 Mbps... after all, if it
fails, you will be back on HH the same day and can submit a fresh order,
either yourself, or speak to PN Customer Services. I've not gone down
this route (conversion from HH) nor gone to a higher than 500k service
from PlusNet but have used them for over a year, and if the conversion
fails, I'm sure you'll find the staff respond to any queries in quite a
friendly manner. (If you've not been recommended to PN by someone else
then I'd appreciate it if you used this link <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz>
- it might me one day save a little off the monthly charge :-) Peter

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, SLP
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Broadband will finally be arriving in my village on August 4th and I'm
> planning on ordering a 2Mb service with a managed conversion, probably
> from
> Plusnet.
>
> I currently have Home Highway and live approx half a mile from the
> exchange.
> The availability checker on the BT site states "Our initial test on your
> line suggests that you should be able to have an ADSL broadband service
> that
> provides up to 2Mbps download speed".
>
> Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package and
> hope
> that the line will be good enough, or should I just sign-up for 512k and
> regrade after the first month? I know that 512k would be the safer
> option,
> but I'd be interested in other people's opinions and experience.
>
> Thanks,
>
> SLP
>
>
>
>

Hi,

I'd recommend going straight for 2Mbps if that's the speed you want
because if the line check does fail for 2Mbps we can just resubmit an
order for 512kbps. It'll take an extra week but you'd still have the ISDN.
The regrade fee is only £14.99 now to switch for 512kbps to 2Mbps (on an
annual contract) so it wouldn't cost much to upgrade if you did go for
512kbps first.

--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet plc @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

On the Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, SLP uttered forth the
following...

>
> Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package and hope
> that the line will be good enough, or should I just sign-up for 512k and
> regrade after the first month? I know that 512k would be the safer option,
> but I'd be interested in other people's opinions and experience.
>

Yes... I am in a similar situation, small village, 187m from exchange &
I have the 1Mb service and it works a treat. Living in a village isin
fact better then livinig in a residential area as the line will take a
far more direct route to the exchange. BTW I also had HH and booked the
whole thing through the Plusnet site. BT did the conversion and left me
with a sync on my router so it was all very smooth.

"poster" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 19 Jul 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, "SLP" wrote:
>
> >Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package
>
> If you would regrade as quickly as a month later, then yes, it seems a lot
> easier to go for conversion from HH direct to 2 Mbps... after all, if it
> fails, you will be back on HH the same day and can submit a fresh order,
> either yourself, or speak to PN Customer Services. I've not gone down
> this route (conversion from HH) nor gone to a higher than 500k service
> from PlusNet but have used them for over a year, and if the conversion
> fails, I'm sure you'll find the staff respond to any queries in quite a
> friendly manner. (If you've not been recommended to PN by someone else
> then I'd appreciate it if you used this link <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz>
> - it might me one day save a little off the monthly charge :-) Peter

I was going to ask on here if anyone wanted me to use their referral code,
so I'll use yours when I sign up in the next couple of days.

SLP

"PlusNet Support Team" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, SLP
>> Hi,
>
> I'd recommend going straight for 2Mbps if that's the speed you want
> because if the line check does fail for 2Mbps we can just resubmit an
> order for 512kbps. It'll take an extra week but you'd still have the ISDN.
> The regrade fee is only £14.99 now to switch for 512kbps to 2Mbps (on an
> annual contract) so it wouldn't cost much to upgrade if you did go for
> 512kbps first.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> | Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
> | Technical Support for Home & Business
> | PlusNet plc @ http://www.plus.net
> + ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

Thanks for the info. I'll go for the 2Mb - I've waited over two years for
broadband, so I guess an extra week or so won't matter too much.

SLP

"Sean" <snm_uk(CUT)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) T...
> On the Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, SLP uttered forth the
> following...
>
> >
> > Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package and
hope
> > that the line will be good enough, or should I just sign-up for 512k and
> > regrade after the first month? I know that 512k would be the safer
option,
> > but I'd be interested in other people's opinions and experience.
> >
>
> Yes... I am in a similar situation, small village, 187m from exchange &
> I have the 1Mb service and it works a treat. Living in a village isin
> fact better then livinig in a residential area as the line will take a
> far more direct route to the exchange. BTW I also had HH and booked the
> whole thing through the Plusnet site. BT did the conversion and left me
> with a sync on my router so it was all very smooth.

That's good to know. The other advantage of being in a village is that there
should be far less broadband users connected to your exchange.

Oh, and also a £250 grant from the council aimed at getting local businesses
connected to broadband is nice too...

SLP

PlusNet Support Team wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, SLP
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
..
> I'd recommend going straight for 2Mbps if that's the speed you want
> because if the line check does fail for 2Mbps we can just resubmit
> an order for 512kbps. It'll take an extra week but you'd still have
> the ISDN. The regrade fee is only £14.99 now to switch for 512kbps
> to 2Mbps (on an annual contract) so it wouldn't cost much to
> upgrade if you did go for 512kbps first.

Sorry but I must disagree (if the upgrade option is easy) as if you fail
your conversion for 2meg you will have to be re-appointed (1-2 weeks for
another visit from BT) for the managed conversion to take place again (more
time of work etc) as it can't & won't be done on the same day. If that's no
problem then fine go for the 2meg straight away, but if, like me you're at
work 5-6 days a week with only limited opportunity in getting time off then
go for the safer option & upgrade (that's if you can of course, but you
should be able to find that out when the engineer does his APTS test)....

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:02:21 +0100, "SLP"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Broadband will finally be arriving in my village on August 4th and I'm
>planning on ordering a 2Mb service with a managed conversion, probably from
>Plusnet.
>
>I currently have Home Highway and live approx half a mile from the exchange.
>The availability checker on the BT site states "Our initial test on your
>line suggests that you should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that
>provides up to 2Mbps download speed".
>
>Is it worth talking the risk and going straight for the 2Mb package and hope
>that the line will be good enough, or should I just sign-up for 512k and
>regrade after the first month? I know that 512k would be the safer option,
>but I'd be interested in other people's opinions and experience.
>

I went with the eclipse flexi package. They install 1Mb
then throttle it down to your package, you can pay by the
hour for higher speeds or "upgrade" with only the higher
rental