Kitz Forum

Broadband Related => Known Network Issues + MSO's => Topic started by: waltergmw on June 23, 2010, 04:01:05 PM

Title: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on June 23, 2010, 04:01:05 PM
Gentlefolk,

Plusnet have just announced
23 June 2010 15:57:03 GMT+01:00
that they have moved to
Plan B (high demand operation)

I wonder what's going to happen in 2012 with this thing called the Olympics ?

Kind regards,
Walter
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: silversurfer44 on June 23, 2010, 04:31:56 PM
No need to worry Walter we will all be on high speed unlimited connections by then.  :lol:
At least Plusnet have a plan B, how many more will have one?
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on June 23, 2010, 06:00:40 PM
Panic over now.

K R
Walter
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: kitz on June 24, 2010, 02:11:58 AM
This isnt anything new - theyve been doing it for years.

At times of high demand, they give additional priority to time sensitive traffic, and anything like p2p etc gets slowed down further.
Priority is given to things like VoIP, gaming and surfing.

>> I wonder what's going to happen in 2012 with this thing called the Olympics

There were times during the 2008 Olympics when 'Plan B'  came into operation and a few other occasions such as the tennis.   
During this same period all other ISPs reported a slow down of traffic too.   The ISPs which shape just give priority to those apps which need it.

TBH there have been times with my present LLU ISP when I wished they were able to do this..   p2p can swamp the more time sensitive apps.
For instance last year my speeds dropped from 24Mb down to 2Mbps... and I was really noticing jitter.   Yet I could open up Usenet- set about 20 threads going and get near full speed.
So some things became painfully slow..  yet p2pers and binaries sucked more and more bandwidth up. 
As speeds slowed down..  open up more threads for p2p/binaries..  and woahh   general surfing then starts to become painful.

I have no objections what so ever in ISPs doing this...  just as long as its not abused...  and done too often.
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: kitz on June 24, 2010, 02:15:35 AM
Here you go..  more info about what plan B is.

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/abnormal_load.shtml

Plan A (Normal operation)
Plan B (High demand operation)
Plan C (Disaster situation)
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on June 24, 2010, 10:12:48 AM
Thanks Kitz for the information.
It's re-assuring when an ISP does report how they are coping with a peak load.
It is hoped that high priority traffic such as VOIP will continue through these conditions.

There are some interesting articles on the TBB site here:-

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/4282.html

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/4283.html

What was concerning me was, just with this evidence of a mainly national interest, how our communications infrastructure will cope during the Olympics.
It's possible that much Olympic traffic will escape from the UK direct via satellite links but I suspect that there will still be overwhelming and un-tested traffic routed through the UK infrastructure?

We've read of the immediate infrastructure being installed to link the many Olympic activity sites, but I wonder who decides (pays for and maintains) the whole of the National facilities which will almost certainly produce unprecedented peak traffic? Given that we're still some way off the date, newer video devices such as smart phones and touch pads will increase over the intervening period, are the affects even on mobile networks being given sufficient attention ?

Kind regards,
Walter

(PS sorry this is slightly off-topic so perhaps should be elsewhere ?)
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: silversurfer44 on June 24, 2010, 10:35:36 AM
We may be going off topic somewhat but I think it stands the merit of being discussed, seeing as it affects everybody.
To my mind regardless of the money, willingness and resources that are put into the infrastructure it's highly unlikely there will be enough bandwidth to cope with all the devices and the hunger for those devices. There is only so many fish in the sea so to speak.
At times I myself are somewhat unfair in the comments made about the providers, not always though. When we take a look at the infrastructure of the telephone network we tend to forget it was installed in the main to cope with the pots system many, many years ago and in a piecemeal fashion. I don't think it was ever designed with the future in mind. Things could be made better by replacing the entire copper/aluminium wiring wit the fibre optic. Ouch! the expense of that.

Rant over.

P.S. If the mods wish to separate this into another thread b all means do because hopefully there is more to be said.
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on June 24, 2010, 10:51:14 AM
Gentlefolk,

Quote
Things could be made better by replacing the entire copper/aluminium wiring wit the fibre optic. Ouch! the expense of that.

NTL & Telewest etc. attempted to do just that, but only in high density areas, and just with co-axial cables into every house.
There were several company restructuring events as a result of that investment.
However their network is probably still more robust than the "Super-fast broadband" being deployed by BT which has to include the "up to" health warning.

Kind regards,
Walter
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: silversurfer44 on June 24, 2010, 12:08:31 PM
The way I see it is unless the entire wiring, whatever it is, is upgraded even to coaxial then somewhere along the route every connection runs into copper/aluminium. Now unless the cost of broadband a connection goes up by a considerable amount then no-one is about to invest. I can't see BT giving any other company permission to replace their cabling via their poles, cabinets or anything else they now own. The monopoly has to be broken for that to happen. Ooooh! I could go on with this. But I won't.  :)

Fibre to the Cabinet seems the way forward at the moment. At least that leaves the door open for getting fibre to any premises that want it in the future.
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: BritBrat on June 24, 2010, 02:21:14 PM
Well I think I have been on plan C for a few weeks. :)
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: UncleUB on June 24, 2010, 05:59:33 PM
I have just come past Plusnets new offices,  :o

So whether its plan A,B or C they can't be doing too bad out of the old broadband service

http://careers.plus.net/our-offices/

Couldn't stop too long to have a look as its only a couple of buildings from The South Yorkshire Police HQ  :D
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on June 24, 2010, 06:42:09 PM
Gentlefolk,

This link provides an interesting vision on broadband speed developments but I'm puzzled as to Virgin's overall plan.

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/virgin-media-already-looking-to-400mbps-broadband-698361

Given that their 50 Mbps service is throttled now, it would appear that significant investment would be needed for a 400 Mbps service.
From many potential user's viewpoints, these speeds are pointless if the local infrastructure is missing for 50% of the nation.

It is also apparent that BT's local network would have great difficulty achieving 400 Mbps even though they still carry a significant proportion of the total UK traffic.

Kind regards,
Walter
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: HPsauce on June 24, 2010, 07:31:04 PM
I have just come past Plusnets new offices,  :o
"Our modern three storey offices" are only part of the building..... :P
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: BritBrat on June 24, 2010, 10:19:31 PM
Gentlefolk,

This link provides an interesting vision on broadband speed developments but I'm puzzled as to Virgin's overall plan.

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/virgin-media-already-looking-to-400mbps-broadband-698361

Given that their 50 Mbps service is throttled now, it would appear that significant investment would be needed for a 400 Mbps service.
From many potential user's viewpoints, these speeds are pointless if the local infrastructure is missing for 50% of the nation.

It is also apparent that BT's local network would have great difficulty achieving 400 Mbps even though they still carry a significant proportion of the total UK traffic.

Kind regards,
Walter

I bet those with fast connections will get it and those with slow connections may get a bit faster and those with no broadband will still not have any.

Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: UncleUB on June 25, 2010, 07:03:47 AM
I have just come past Plusnets new offices,  :o
"Our modern three storey offices" are only part of the building..... :P

Yes,and your point being  ???
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: kitz on November 13, 2010, 10:58:36 AM
>> "Our modern three storey offices"

Just as an aside, they do indeed utilise 3 floors on the Velocity building which is part of a larger complex.
Having been to their old premises many times over the years, it was clear that the old place was no longer large enough to accommodate all their staff which had to be spread over a few locations in the city, so it made sense to get new premises so that some staff werent spending time travelling between 2 different locations.

I think most ISP's that are still going these days, have had to upgrade their premises to accommodate the growth in UK broadband customers.
I was lucky enough to be at the Zen Buildings when they celebrated the opening of their new shiny new premises a couple of years ago.

Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: waltergmw on November 13, 2010, 11:11:51 AM
@ Kitz,

Being a little mischievous, I wonder how much of the expanded office space is being required to deal with the wonderful interfacing with BT W and BT O ?

Kind regards,
Walter
Title: Re: Plusnet on Plan B
Post by: kitz on November 13, 2010, 01:39:25 PM
They moved into Velocity before they were taken over by BT.  Prior to that they had the main premises at Terry St and also had 'Internet House' at Victoria Quays. IIRC it meant that some staff would spend 20mins going between buildings.   Not to mention that some of the Network equipment was at a third location in Sheffield, (4 if you include telehouse london, locations) so you can imagine a lot of time was wasted 'travelling'.

More space was needed purely for more staff as the ISPs took on new customers. 
When I joined PN in early 2003 iirc they only had about either 60,000  broadband customers, as adsl was in its infancy and considered a luxury and when theyd not that long been in Terry St and the core CS relations team headed by Ian Wilde only had about 6 staff.  (There were plenty of others doing other things)

Ive not been to PN Towers for a while, but last time I was there, there was a dedicated team for dealing with BTw escalations, probably taking up about 8 seats?

IIRC Zen went through a similar phase as well with locations, and Im sure theyve been through about 3 moves in the same period.
I was pre-reg'd with Zen but went with PN in the end mainly because of support + hours (and the freebie cgi webspace).

Most ISPs will have seen similar growth, and I should imagine that the demand for broadband in the late 00's meant more staff needed which in turn requires more space....  and of course more network equipment. :)