Plusnet revised Terms and Conditions

According to an e-mail received this morning, Plusnet have updated
their T&Cs with, amongst other things, the following two additions:

(1) "Introduction of 'idle time-outs' for Broadband Plus and ADSL Home
Surf customers. This means that we will disconnect any sessions that
are inactive for a period of thirty minutes. As long as your
connection is in active use, you will not be disconnected. If you are
disconnected you will be able to reconnect straight away."

(2) "Introduction of traffic prioritisation techniques to all
broadband accounts. This will ensure that we can continue to deliver
an excellent and consistent service, particularly at peak times, for
customers using time-sensitive applications such as VoIP, email, web
browsing and gaming."

Whilst not intending to start a *Plusnet at it again* type thread as I
don't have any particular problems with the proposed changes at the
moment, I was wondering what peoples thoughts are and what the
implications of the above changes might be.

In respect of (1), it would appear that my *always on* connection will
no longer be *always on* (so I would hope that any reference to
*always on* has also been removed from the sales blurb !) but I don't
really see what real benefit there is in disconnecting sessions ala
dial-up except perhaps to assist in load balancing. In respect of
balancing it should be a good thing although it will obviously mean a
delay while a new session is started/authenticated which could well be
a bit of a PITA.

In respect of (2), hmmmmm, not sure exactly what this is going to mean
at all but I suspect it covers a multitude of possible sins ! In
principle it all sounds like a good thing but seeing that the list of
time-sensitive applications seems to cover just about everything is it
really just marketing speak for something rather more unpleasant than
the words imply i.e. BW limiting P2P or similar ? (not that it would
have any negative affect on me if that is the case)

--
Mike
email: mikeb <at> twowheels <dot> plus <dot> com

"MikeB (Look At End Of Message For Real Address)" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> In respect of (2), hmmmmm, not sure exactly what this is going to mean
> at all but I suspect it covers a multitude of possible sins ! In
> principle it all sounds like a good thing but seeing that the list of
> time-sensitive applications seems to cover just about everything is it
> really just marketing speak for something rather more unpleasant than
> the words imply i.e. BW limiting P2P or similar ? (not that it would
> have any negative affect on me if that is the case)
>
> --
> Mike

Mike

Do you read plusnets own forums?

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewforum.php?f=2

A thread is almost certain to pop up there which will answer your questions!
The one about two users being kicked off plusnet is a good read as well!

Ben

On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:55:40 +0100, "Benje"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Do you read plusnets own forums?
>
>http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/viewforum.php?f=2
>
>A thread is almost certain to pop up there which will answer your questions!
>The one about two users being kicked off plusnet is a good read as well!

Thanks for the reply and link Ben. Must admit I don't as previously
all I have found on Plusnet's own Forums/NGs is much whining and/or
rather biased responses etc. but I will check them out in a mo to see
if anything interesting has appeared. Erhm, I have just realised
after reading the details again that the session time-out isn't going
to affect me at all (yet ??) as I have a Premier A/C (it only applies
Plus and HomeSurf A/Cs) but the prioritisation will apply to all.

If the *bad boy* stylee thread is much whining from BW hoggers being
*invited* to go elsewhere then I have to say Plusnet has my support in
that area ...... but as I'm bored at the mo and it could well be an
*entertaining* read I might just be checking it out anyways

--
Mike
email: mikeb <at> twowheels <dot> plus <dot> com

MikeB (Look At End Of Message For Real Address) wrote:
> According to an e-mail received this morning, Plusnet have updated
> their T&Cs with, amongst other things, the following two additions:
>
> (1) "Introduction of 'idle time-outs' for Broadband Plus and ADSL Home
> Surf customers. This means that we will disconnect any sessions that
> are inactive for a period of thirty minutes.

But my router (and everyone else's I would think) is set for 'auto reconnect',
so how will this help Plusnet or 'hinder' the users ?

Am I missing something here ?

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver wrote:
> MikeB (Look At End Of Message For Real Address) wrote:
>> According to an e-mail received this morning, Plusnet have updated
>> their T&Cs with, amongst other things, the following two additions:
>>
>> (1) "Introduction of 'idle time-outs' for Broadband Plus and ADSL
>> Home Surf customers. This means that we will disconnect any sessions
>> that are inactive for a period of thirty minutes.
>
> But my router (and everyone else's I would think) is set for 'auto
> reconnect', so how will this help Plusnet or 'hinder' the users ?
>
> Am I missing something here ?


The majority of the low end users are probably using USB modems though, I
would think.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Mark Carver
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>MikeB (Look At End Of Message For Real Address) wrote:
>> According to an e-mail received this morning, Plusnet have updated
>> their T&Cs with, amongst other things, the following two additions:
>> (1) "Introduction of 'idle time-outs' for Broadband Plus and ADSL
>>Home
>> Surf customers. This means that we will disconnect any sessions that
>> are inactive for a period of thirty minutes.
>
>But my router (and everyone else's I would think) is set for 'auto
>reconnect', so how will this help Plusnet or 'hinder' the users ?
>
>Am I missing something here ?
>
From comments elsewhere

a) The resulting "churn" of connections allows the automatic load
balancers to keep rebalancing the pipes by allocating "new" connections
to the most lightly used pipes?

b) A high proportion of the Plus customers probably have USB modems?

Regards
--
Peter R Cook

Mark Carver <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

: But my router (and everyone else's I would think) is set for 'auto reconnect',
: so how will this help Plusnet or 'hinder' the users ?

The news item on asdslguide.org.uk says that this will not affect router
users too much. Presumably it stands a chance of clearing down modem
users and freeing resources.

Peter R Cook wrote:
> From comments elsewhere
>
> a) The resulting "churn" of connections allows the automatic load
> balancers to keep rebalancing the pipes by allocating "new" connections
> to the most lightly used pipes?
>
> b) A high proportion of the Plus customers probably have USB modems?

Thanks to you, and the others for the responces.

I'd be interested to know what the split of modem to router users is on
PlusNet. I'd expect that mass market 'household name' ISPs like AOL, Freeserve,
and BT would have a big modem base, but PlusNet, Zen, and Pipex are more likely
to have 'router types' as subscribers. Maybe not ?

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

I have no gripes with Plusnet as I have never used them, but what springs to
mind is the saying "always on connection" guess that will not include
plusnet anymore.

I will keep an eye on their adds to see if they mislead future customers.

Can't you set a USB modem up to auto connect on disconnect? network
connections then modem properties/options tab/ and "redial if line is
dropped"


"Brian McIlwrath" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dek6i0$1jo$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Mark Carver <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> : But my router (and everyone else's I would think) is set for 'auto
reconnect',
> : so how will this help Plusnet or 'hinder' the users ?
>
> The news item on asdslguide.org.uk says that this will not affect router
> users too much. Presumably it stands a chance of clearing down modem
> users and freeing resources.

It's Me wrote:

> Can't you set a USB modem up to auto connect on disconnect? network connections then modem properties/options tab/ and "redial if line is dropped"

I don't see the line dropping, more the PPP session being terminated.
Not sure how different kit will handle that.

presumably people will just sit and ping something, so they aren't
"idle".

Phil