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[Adder]

Hi,

I've been having a look around the forums for advice, but have a few questions...

I've been thinking about moving from Plusnet to Be for a few weeks now because I can't take any more throttling in the evening and being restricted to modem speeds once I hit 13GB on a £22.99 package 

The only thing is that my connection has always been really stable and never drops on ADSL Max. My current router stats are:

Up Speed: 448000
Down Speed: 7616000
SNR Margin: 10 or 10.5
Loop Att: 22.5

According to various ADSL calculators, my ADSL2+ speed should be anywhere from 17-20Mbps or 14 according to the Be site, all of which would be great, but I've read some posts where people are having slower speed on ADSL2+ than they were originally.

Has anyone had experience when moving from these kind of stats and being disappointed with the speed?

Also, my router is a Draytek 2800G and when using the calculators, I've been putting the Loop Attenuation of 22.5 in the 'Download Attenuation' field, but as the router doesn't define if this is download attenuation or not, I'm not sure if this value is correct?

Finally, a lot of posts seem to say not to use the supplied Thomson router that Be supply, but then I've also read that the Drayteks have problems too, so I'm a bit confused at to whether to make the jump? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks! 

[HPsauce]

Should be a good move, I went from PN to Be a while back (nothing wrong with PN for me, I just wanted ADSL2+ speeds) with attenuation 21dB and get about 20mbps.

The BeBox  (Thomson) is fine for normal use. I like many technical Be users choose to use a Netgear DG834GT, but then I already was using it, know it well and they work very well with Be exchange equipment.

[Adder]

Thanks very much for the advice HPsauce. The main reason for the move isn't anything to do with the Plusnet network, it's because with my usage and my children playing online games and downloading through Steam and the Playstation network, I've been hitting the 13GB peak time usage within 2-3 weeks over the last 3 months, (and that's with restricting them as much as possible and trying to schedule the downloads after midnight).

I knew that I had a couple of new ADSL2 routers somewhere, (one of the benefits of being a technical network engineer  )...I just found them and one is a Billion BiPAC 7402G and the other is a Netgear DG834G, (non Sky branded - just a standard Netgear), but not a GT. Is the only difference the wireless speed and would this be suitable, or should I look at trying to get hold of a GT? Is it something to do with firmware?

Thanks!

[stevie]

Quote "but I've read some posts where people are having slower speed on ADSL2+ than they were originally."

Is it going to matter that much, I get far less speed than Be quote you & have easily done more in a 24hrs period than you do in a month, its unlimited & no throttles.

Go for it & I use the BeBox....AKA Thompson 585v7 it works fine, but I do have a v6 as a backup.

[HPsauce]

one is a Billion BiPAC 7402G and the other is a Netgear DG834G

Billion have proved problematic with Be though some models have I think been made to work OK.
What version DG834G do you have? V4 is ideal for Be, others work but are sub-optimal as they do not have Broadcom chipsets.

[Adder]

Thanks for the replies.

Is it going to matter that much, I get far less speed than Be quote you & have easily done more in a 24hrs period than you do in a month, its unlimited & no throttles.

I'm like you - although I mentioned 13GB, that's what I try to keep under in their 'peak time', which, as I have an old account, is between 4pm and midnight, (their newer accounts set this between 8am and midnight which would mean reaching the usage limit in no time at all at weekends)... I download a lot of things after midnight as this doesn't count towards the allowed usage, but this isn't very convenient and also, if we want to stream anything or play online games, we're restricted to do it before 4pm which means that this only happens at the weekends.

The only reason I stayed with Plusnet this long was because I've been with them for over 8 years and made so many referrals that every month I get a discount of £7.50, (although this still only brings the price to just below Be anyway ). I emailed Be to ask them if they have any plans to traffic shape or throttle in the near future and they said that they don't currently, but they can't guarantee that won't change, which is fair enough - I expect they don't want to make any promises....

@HPsauce I'm not sure which version the router is, I'll have a look tonight.

[HPsauce]

You'll still get your referral payments if you ask them to drop you to a "dial-up" account. I do.  

Note that the basic Be package has a "soft" download limit which will be implemented probably in June, but I think all that will happen is that they insist you move to an "unlimited" package if you regularly exceed it.

[Adder]

You'll still get your referral payments if you ask them to drop you to a "dial-up" account. I do.  

Now you've really got me interested!! How does that work then? Does that mean I'll get to keep my email addresses and how do you request the MAC key while retaining an account, don't they cancel it? Also, with a dial-up account, don't you have to keep accessing it so they don't cancel it?

The Be account I'm looking at changing to would be the unlimited one anyway. I'd consider Pro if I thought there was a benefit in having the increased upload, but apart from usual demo and game downloads from Steam etc and online gaming, I don't know whether it's worth losing some download speed in favour of the increased upload..?

[HPsauce]

I've still got my PlusNet email address, an account in the Member centre, a Forum account (where I still participate due to professional interest) and get my referral payments (you have to do a bit of minor admin to record your bank details). I left nearly 2 years ago.
Many others do the same.

At some point, if BT's ADSL2+ ever gets to my Market 2 exchange (no date) I may consider moving back. At present Be meets my needs better but I still recommend PN where appropriate.

[Adder]

Thanks HPsauce - I've just been reading the Plusnet migration and cancellation terms to find out how to request this. It doesn't mention what happens to referrals, but one of the replies from someone at Plusnet to somebody else asking this question was that as long as the DD details are still intact and correct on the account, they should still remain active.

I've also checked my exchange and it's a market 3 because there are 5 alternative providers. It shows that the 21CN WBC status is RFS on 31/03/2010. (although in the history, it was supposed to be RFS on 30/9/2009, so I don't know whether it'll change again). When it does become active, I don't know whether that means I could get ADSL2 from Plusnet straight away or whether they're still trialling.

I think I'll still change to Be because the peak time limits are the main reason for moving anyway and this doesn't look like it's any different on their ADSL2 service.

[Adder]

What version DG834G do you have? V4 is ideal for Be, others work but are sub-optimal as they do not have Broadcom chipsets.

It's a V3 unfortunately 

[roseway]

You might find this helpful.

[HPsauce]

V3 would be reasonably OK nonetheless.
I'd start with the BeBox then once happy with speed etc. try the Netgear and compare.
There are some settings Be can "tweak" if you decide to use the V3 long-term for whatever reason.

[Adder]

Thanks very much for the link roseway, that's a really helpful guide  and thanks for all of your help HPsauce, I'll try that and if the speed increase between the BeBox and the V4 Netgear is fairly good, I'll either track one down or buy a DG834GT 

[HPsauce]

The BeBox will probably be very similar in speed to the DG834Gv4 or GT, they have the same chipset (or very similar).
It's just that some people prefer the Netgears and also many (like me) go for the optional 3rd-party firmwares (DGTeam especially).

You can pick up ex-Sky DG834GT's very cheaply, though "unlocking" them has a slight risk of failure as it's a bit of a brutal process (well documented and usually works OK).

With the right wireless adapters the GT has theoretrically double the normal capacity and can run a single device up to 108mbps.