Plusnet subscription due for renewal - what to do?

My 12 month contract with Plusnet is up for renewal, I was paying the
£32.99 all inclusive start up package, modem, activation etc.

Now. Plusnet do ADSL Home Surf £18.99 which does not support file
sharing (peer-2-peer) software or binary newsgroup articles.

Can they actually stop you using say WinMX & Giganews etc if so, how?

They also offer ADSL Home £21.99 which is basically what I am already
on less the setup fees etc

The service has been good all round, but can I do better?

If I dump Plusnet and go elsewhere will I have to pay the fees all
over again! (activation etc)

Do Plusnet offer dynamic ip yet on ADSL?

Gracias.

"Peter" <#@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My 12 month contract with Plusnet is up for renewal, I was paying the
> £32.99 all inclusive start up package, modem, activation etc.
>
> Now. Plusnet do ADSL Home Surf £18.99 which does not support file
> sharing (peer-2-peer) software or binary newsgroup articles.

No, I am on and would recommend the 21.99 service which is still excellent
value.
>
> Can they actually stop you using say WinMX & Giganews etc if so, how?
>
> They also offer ADSL Home £21.99 which is basically what I am already
> on less the setup fees etc
>
> The service has been good all round, but can I do better?

I don't know but you'd be hard pushed to find better support, services and
cost balance I think from what other people get, usually for more money as
well.
>
> If I dump Plusnet and go elsewhere will I have to pay the fees all
> over again! (activation etc)

Yes you will definatly. I would stay with plusnet.
>
> Do Plusnet offer dynamic ip yet on ADSL?
>
No, I belive this is the case with most isps though, you get the same ip
each time. I don't see this as being a problem, you should have a firewall
as standard now days.

Sam

> Gracias.
>
>


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Peter <#@hotmail.com> wrote:
: Can they actually stop you using say WinMX & Giganews etc if so, how?

Presumably, like any ISP, by blocking IP traffic on the specific ports
used by these services!

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 12:11:51 +0100, Peter <#@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Can they actually stop you using say WinMX & Giganews etc if so, how?

Hi Peter,

We stop the use of filesharing on the Home Surf account using a
combination of port blocking and packet shaping and when I have tested
this in the past I have not been able to get it working.

>If I dump Plusnet and go elsewhere will I have to pay the fees all
>over again! (activation etc)

In a word, yes (although some ISP's may waive the activation fee and
include this in the monthly price). Any time you move to another ISP
(be it a migration or a cease and re-provide) the ISP is charged by BT
for the work that has been performed.

>Do Plusnet offer dynamic ip yet on ADSL?

At the moment we still do not offer a dynamic IP address but due to
way in which people use ADSL (staying connected for long periods of
time) the value of a dynamic IP address is severely reduced - the best
thing to do is run a decent firewall.

We do not want to lose you as a customer and I would say that we are
still able to offer one of the cheapest ADSL accounts around for the
quality of service that we can offer, especially when you take into
account the additional features on the £21.99 account.

Regards

Josh
--
| Josh Berry Unmetered & ADSL solutions
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd @ http://www.plus.net
----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----+

PlusNet Support Team wrote:

<snippy>
> We do not want to lose you as a customer and I would say that we are
> still able to offer one of the cheapest ADSL accounts around for the
> quality of service that we can offer, especially when you take into
> account the additional features on the £21.99 account.
>
> Regards
>
> Josh
>> Josh Berry Unmetered & ADSL solutions
>> Technical Support for Home & Business
>> PlusNet Technologies Ltd @ http://www.plus.net
> ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----+

Does anyone else find this a wee bit disarming? I'm not sure why it is, but
to me this feels like being caught out by the teacher. Made me smile.

On the other hand, who better to get this information from but your own ISP.

--?
Sieue

*..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:- Let there be goats...
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Peter <#@hotmail.com> wrote:
>They also offer ADSL Home £21.99 which is basically what I am already
>on less the setup fees etc
>
>The service has been good all round, but can I do better?

If the service has been good, do you really want to risk moving just to
save £3/month? If you use the service quite seldom you may benefit from
Metronet's PayGo at £10/month if you download <5GB, but other than that
savings will not be great, and as you suspected you'd have to pay fees to
set up a new account - check how many £3's you'd need to save to offset
that!

Zane.

> Does anyone else find this a wee bit disarming? I'm not sure why it is,
> but to me this feels like being caught out by the teacher. Made me
> smile.

Hehe yes; actually it was seeing plusnet staff posting in this newsgroup
while I was frustratedly trying to get a reply out of BTO on their own
newsgroups that lead me to try them out :-)

PlusNet Support Team enlightened the world by saying on 29/09/2003 18:44:

> We do not want to lose you as a customer and I would say that we are
> still able to offer one of the cheapest ADSL accounts around for the
> quality of service that we can offer, especially when you take into
> account the additional features on the £21.99 account.
>
> Regards
>
> Josh


I doubt the original poster is goning to get anything better than the
PlusNet deal. For £21.99, and the package you get, it's a stunning
deal. I have been with them for a month now, and entered a few support
requested. I am impressed by the knowlegable staff, and prompt replies.

What more does he want? The moon on a stick????

Out of interest, why would anyone actually WANT a dynamic IP address? I
see no advantages, only disadvantages....



--
"My life is based on a true story."

"Zapp Brannigan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:YC2eb.3059$(E-Mail Removed)...
> PlusNet Support Team enlightened the world by saying on 29/09/2003 18:44:
>
> > We do not want to lose you as a customer and I would say that we are
> > still able to offer one of the cheapest ADSL accounts around for the
> > quality of service that we can offer, especially when you take into
> > account the additional features on the £21.99 account.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Josh
>
>
> I doubt the original poster is goning to get anything better than the
> PlusNet deal. For £21.99, and the package you get, it's a stunning
> deal. I have been with them for a month now, and entered a few support
> requested. I am impressed by the knowlegable staff, and prompt replies.
>
> What more does he want? The moon on a stick????
>
> Out of interest, why would anyone actually WANT a dynamic IP address? I
> see no advantages, only disadvantages....
>

using stolen credit cards to sign up for kiddie porn sites would make you
near intracable as they couldn't trace you back with your IP address....

"Major ChrisB" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Nt4eb.3139$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Out of interest, why would anyone actually WANT a dynamic IP address? I
> > see no advantages, only disadvantages....
>
> using stolen credit cards to sign up for kiddie porn sites would make you
> near intracable as they couldn't trace you back with your IP address....

If you think that I would like to see you try it (only joking!)

ISP's keep track of how has an IP address at any particular time.

Thus if asked they can tell which account was using a particular IP address
(dynamic or not) at any time

Regards
Sunil