~ unlimited broadband - from myth to reality ~

We report this morning in the wake of what could be Plusnet's most talked about product refresh ever, as "Unlimited" sees a return to the residential sales pages.

Three products are key to the new line-up - replacing the nearly-2 year old 'Broadband Your Way' product range.  Plusnet also become the first non-LLU ISP to introduce geographical pricing. This means keener prices are available to customers connected to the busier telephone exchanges - resulting in stiffer competition with LLU.  In quite a change to the 'norm' for Plusnet, the launch also sees the introduction of 18 month and 12 month commitments - and the removal of monthly contracts altogether.

Here's a quick run-down of the new offering :-

Plusnet Value - 10Gb included usage - "The UK's cheapest broadband"
£5.99 (price for first 3 months)
£5.99 per month thereafter (market 3 exchanges) - £11.99 per month thereafter (remaining exchanges)
Bandwidth intensive protocols rate limited (24/7 in some cases)
18 month minimum-term commitment
25p referral value

Plusnet Unlimited - Unlimited usage
£11.99 (price for first 3 months)
£15.99 per month thereafter (market 3 exchanges) - £19.99 per month thereafter (remaining exchanges)
Bandwidth intensive protocols rate limited during busy parts of the day - 24/7 2Mbps Rate Limit on VPN / SSH
18 month minimum-term commitment
50p referral value

Plusnet Pro - 15Gb included usage
£19.99 per month
(no market 3 pricing or initial 3 month offer)
All traffic prioritised as per current Pro product
12 month minimum-term commitment
50p referral value

Additional usage can be added to Value and Pro, but only in 2Gb blocks which cost £2 each.  All additional usage is post-paid, there is no pre-pay option on these new products.

The inclusion of an "Unlimited" product will likely come as a shock to some, as it did to us, because Plusnet have in the past been quite vocal on their thoughts regarding unsustainable "Unlimited" broadband being a 'myth'.  There is no "Fair Usage Policy" with Plusnet Unlimited but Plusnet do insist they can offer this sustainably.  With the management of bandwidth intensive activities such as P2P or Binary USENET, combined with the prospects of 21CN access in late 2009 / 2010, Plusnet are confident the product will perform well.  Only time will tell as to how the network will cope but Plusnet seem sure that the product will "do what it says on the tin" - with the 18 month tie-in - we certainly hope so!

More about market 3
The prices charged by BT Wholesale to Broadband Providers in the UK have historically been fixed by the regulator, Ofcom.  However, in some areas, Ofcom deem that there is now sufficient enough competition from other operators (those with their own equipment in the telephone exchange) to 'de-regulate' the pricing - meaning that BT Wholesale are free to negotiate their own pricing on an individual basis with each ISP (or rather - the other way round!).   These exchanges are known as "Market 3" exchanges.  You can find out if your exchange is a Market 3 exchange by using: Kitz's Line Checker at http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php; www.samknows.com; or by using the updated line checker on the Plusnet website.  Because in these areas Plusnet have been able to negotiate reduced prices with BT Wholesale, they can pass additional savings on to customers connected to these exchanges. You can read more about this over on Kitz's website.

Product movements
Unlike the current Broadband Your Way Products which are based on monthly contracts and allow you to switch every 30 days, the new products carry commitments which may be restarted or carried forward depending on the change you wish to make. 

Product downgrades will involve the restart of the 18 month commitment whilst product upgrades will retain your existing agreement (and it won't restart).  So if you upgrade from Value to Unlimited or Unlimited to Pro, you will remain on your initial 18 month contract.  If you downgrade from Pro to Unlimited, or Unlimited to Value, however, a new 18 month commitment will start from the day of the downgrade.  Existing users who wish to switch to one of the new options will, unfortunately, be required to enter into the minimum-term commitment just as new users do.

It should be noted, though, that Plusnet will cover the cost of one free house-move under these commitments.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts over on the forums!

See also :-

• Plusnet Community Site
• Plusnet Homepage
• Product Comparison Tool

Good news! a major success for Plusnet in the Business Services market.

BT Wholesale have announced teaming up with Plusnet to deliver a new way of managing Business Users.

This is the Plusnet Partner development recently trialled and now about to fully launch into the market, ( See Grab your partner ). It represents  recognition from a major player that  the solution has the right attributes for a wider market.

As a 'reverse delivery'  to BT, this success serves to enhance the status of Plusnet  and encourage investment from their BT Retail owners with benefit to business and residential users alike.

Congratulations to the Business Development team on a splendid achievement.

More on the BT Wholesale announcement here

The Plusnet UserGroup  (PUG) is pleased to welcome Madasafish users to the site.  Please feel free to browse the site and join in any of the Forums.

The UserGroup works closely with both Plusnet and the Community site to represent a general user view for all Plusnet VISP's, its products and any problems / issues that we feel need some attention.  We are an unpaid group of Users who take an interest in helping other users and Plusnet as a company to maintain its reputation as a good ISP.

We have a formal Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Plusnet which affords us a preview and input to many of the products being developed and frequently gives us access to Beta versions of the Code and documentation.   So, much of what we do is behind the scenes, but we do try to get user input into the process as soon as we are able to under the terms of the NDA.

So now that you've found your way over what should you look at?

• The About Us pages which set out our Rules and Charter and lists the members of the Group

• The Forums  to check out what's happening
•  A visit to PUGIT our Issue tracker system to record / progress things with Plusnet.  Linked with PUGIT is a set topics in the  forum Pugit Comments which is where  Users give their input for each item.

You will need to Register for the PUG Forums separately from your Community login and if you want to use PUGIT, you will need to set up your Username / Visp in the 'Prefs' option.

If there are any questions please 'shout up' and we'll do our best to get you an answer.

MauriceB
Chairman (PUG)

PUG gets an honourable mention in this article about Plusnet in Information Age.

Nice to see the Journals picking up on the contributions made by PUG and the Community

Following last months request for potential new PUG members to step forward, it is with some pleasure that we announce two new members of PUG and one lost sheep returning after a sabbatical.

One is a familiar face with a long standing pedigree of posts both in PUG and in Community  -  xpcomputers  (Mike). 

The second is a much more recent Plusnet member - Mal08 (here) or mal0z (on Community^*)  (Malcolm).  Though new to Plusnet, Malcolm has over 25 years experience with PC's and has been using the Internet since 1995, with a variety of ISP's.  Given his short period with Plusnet Malcolm has already made a significant number of helpful contributions to Community.

And finally, we are happy to see RogerLoxton (AKA Chemical Brother) return to PUG.  Roger should also be a 'familiar face' having been a long time Moderator on Community.

It is particularly pleasing to have both recent Plusnet user Malcolm and long standing F9 user Mike joining the team with the returning Roger as this will help PUG present a more balanced user response to Plusnet challenges.  We hope that you will welcome all three new PUGers to the team and help them find their feet in their new role.

* Malcolm also accesses Community as Mal08 but that connection belongs to a charity.

Maurice  

It is now nine months since PUG began its revival by reviewing and updating its Rules of Association and recruiting a number of new members.  Much has gone on behind the scenes in getting people up to speed and building bridges with the Community mods but, as with all good intentions, things never move as fast as we would like.

One area that has not had the attention it deserves is our News page (this one) where the flow of new articles has, sadly, been limited. Could you help us in this area? The requirement is more for someone with the ability to source and write the articles - raw technical skills will be an asset, but not a necessity! We are not expecting anyone to commit vast amounts of time, but preferably a reasonably regular slot to help us keep the News page up to date and fresh.

Interested or want more details, or even better, want to volunteer? Don't have journalistic skills but feel you could help in other areas (not necessarily technical) - don't be put off. In either case please visit this topic "New members wanted" in The PUG Place forum or send a PM (Private Message) to MauriceB with some details of what you can offer PUG and we'll be in touch.

Maurice (PUG Chairperson)