Plusnet 'Bad Boy Pipe' - Revisited

Plusnet have recently alluded to the fact that it has imposed extra traffic
management or restrictions, rate limiting, on it's top 6% of 'heavy users'.
These users are within the caps/limits imposed by usage policies but have
been singled out merely because they are within the top 6% in terms of data
downloaded.

It is not clear how far these restrictions go, as Plusnet have not made it
clear, nor do users know whether they are one of the 6% or not, as Plusnet
have not officially informed anybody.

This is reminiscent of an episode when Plusnet placed the top 10% of heavy
users all on the same pipe together, this became known as the 'Bad Boys
Pipe'.

Now with use of the Ellacoya, these new 6% of users are having their
connections restricted instead of being placed on a 'special' pipe.

> It is not clear how far these restrictions go, as Plusnet have not made it
> clear, nor do users know whether they are one of the 6% or not, as Plusnet
> have not officially informed anybody.

This is nothing new - when I was on dialup ("unlimited") I was told
(funnily enough the day AFTER I closed the account) that they wanted to
close my account as I was an "abusive" (bandwidth) user.

I'd closed the account because i'd been moved to a heavily restricted
connection which dropped regularly and gave a throughput of ~2k max, and
would take 15-20 mins each time to reconnect - and had been told that
even if I left them and came back as a new user, both I *and* the line
were blacklisted and I could never have a normal connection with them
again.

This was despite one of the directors giving me his personal mobile
number after i'd helped them identify and remove a scam site (this is
from when they were every couple of weeks, not every couple of minutes
via spam) in case I came across another site within their network that
needed taking down in a hurry.

In article <4581d9e0$0$97256$(E-Mail Removed) ews.net>,
Will G <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Plusnet have recently alluded to the fact that it has imposed extra traffic
>management or restrictions, rate limiting, on it's top 6% of 'heavy users'.
>These users are within the caps/limits imposed by usage policies but have
>been singled out merely because they are within the top 6% in terms of data
>downloaded.
>
>It is not clear how far these restrictions go, as Plusnet have not made it
>clear, nor do users know whether they are one of the 6% or not, as Plusnet
>have not officially informed anybody.
>
>This is reminiscent of an episode when Plusnet placed the top 10% of heavy
>users all on the same pipe together, this became known as the 'Bad Boys
>Pipe'.
>
>Now with use of the Ellacoya, these new 6% of users are having their
>connections restricted instead of being placed on a 'special' pipe.

According to a recent Ofcom letter, this trick breaks PlusNet's own
T&Cs so the official complaints channels will be buzzing - and one or
two hardy souls might finally be persuaded to take these 3-card trick
artists to court. They are so short of bandwidth that they are
re-writing the rules at the drop of a hat.

Get out before the Christmas meltdown - even their web users have been
complaining of strangulated browsing, and that's in the allegedly
untouchable traffic queue.

Alternatively spend Christmas chopping wood and going for long walks.

Stan

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when "Will G"
<(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:

>Plusnet have recently alluded to the fact that it has imposed extra traffic
>management or restrictions, rate limiting, on it's top 6% of 'heavy users'.
>These users are within the caps/limits imposed by usage policies but have
>been singled out merely because they are within the top 6% in terms of data
>downloaded.

I and others said this would happen sooner or later...continual 'top
slicing'.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

Will G wrote:
> Plusnet have recently alluded to the fact that it has imposed extra
> traffic management or restrictions, rate limiting, on it's top 6% of
> 'heavy users'. These users are within the caps/limits imposed by
> usage policies but have been singled out merely because they are
> within the top 6% in terms of data downloaded.
>
> It is not clear how far these restrictions go, as Plusnet have not
> made it clear, nor do users know whether they are one of the 6% or
> not, as Plusnet have not officially informed anybody.
>
> This is reminiscent of an episode when Plusnet placed the top 10% of
> heavy users all on the same pipe together, this became known as the
> 'Bad Boys Pipe'.
>
> Now with use of the Ellacoya, these new 6% of users are having their
> connections restricted instead of being placed on a 'special' pipe.

Yes, I went over the monthly useage and thereafter the service became
unusable, even offpeak.
This was not the service they advertised or I paid for, so I've sent a
letter of complaint to Ofcom.
I recomend all other effected Plusnet users do the same.

I left them a couple of days ago and my connection is now "smokin" :-)

Slatts

>> Plusnet have recently alluded to the fact that it has imposed extra
>> traffic management or restrictions, rate limiting, on it's top 6% of
>> 'heavy users'. These users are within the caps/limits imposed by
>> usage policies but have been singled out merely because they are
>> within the top 6% in terms of data downloaded.
>>
>> It is not clear how far these restrictions go, as Plusnet have not
>> made it clear, nor do users know whether they are one of the 6% or
>> not, as Plusnet have not officially informed anybody.
>>
>> This is reminiscent of an episode when Plusnet placed the top 10% of
>> heavy users all on the same pipe together, this became known as the
>> 'Bad Boys Pipe'.
>>
>> Now with use of the Ellacoya, these new 6% of users are having their
>> connections restricted instead of being placed on a 'special' pipe.
>
> According to a recent Ofcom letter, this trick breaks PlusNet's own
> T&Cs so the official complaints channels will be buzzing - and one or
> two hardy souls might finally be persuaded to take these 3-card trick
> artists to court. They are so short of bandwidth that they are
> re-writing the rules at the drop of a hat.
>
> Get out before the Christmas meltdown - even their web users have been
> complaining of strangulated browsing, and that's in the allegedly
> untouchable traffic queue.
>
> Alternatively spend Christmas chopping wood and going for long walks.

Forgotten to take your medication again have you?

Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote:

> > According to a recent Ofcom letter, this trick breaks PlusNet's own
> > T&Cs so the official complaints channels will be buzzing - and one or
> > two hardy souls might finally be persuaded to take these 3-card trick
> > artists to court. They are so short of bandwidth that they are
> > re-writing the rules at the drop of a hat.
> >
> > Get out before the Christmas meltdown - even their web users have been
> > complaining of strangulated browsing, and that's in the allegedly
> > untouchable traffic queue.
> >
> > Alternatively spend Christmas chopping wood and going for long walks.
>
> Forgotten to take your medication again have you?

Forgotten to take your reality pill have you Peter ?

Graham