Talktalk rubbish - Plusnet decent?

ringo747 · 22 Mar 2011 at 15:45

Things like iPlayer and watching streams would use a fair chunk - that will all be done during peak times.

I work from home a fair bit and if downloading MSDN images I want them NOW. In saying that with a 2Mb connect it takes hours anyways. What download speeds should be normal for a 2Mb line?

I was speaking to Zen too and they sounded slightly more professional on the support side of things.

I would say there isn't too much difference really.

Snapshot · 22 Mar 2011 at 16:19

I've been on Plusnet for seven years. Yes, they had the odd wobbly patch when they expanded too fast but have been solid since being bought by BT. I'm on a very old and probably overpriced Pro account which gives me 250MB web space - the newer accounts don't give as much space. I've no idea what my download limits are but I'm never likely to reach them. They also host & manage my domain for £1 per month. I don't see the need to go anywhere else.

Engram · 22 Mar 2011 at 16:44

ringo747 said:
I use SSL usenet. Can it be shaped too?

I'm not sure. But I do know that SSL Usenet on port 443 is classified as HTTPS traffic by their usage tracking tools (in the members portal).

In the end it doesn't really matter, because with their top package you can use Usenet at full speed whatever the time of day (until you use up your daytime allowance). There's no advantage to hiding the traffic from them.

stoofa · 22 Mar 2011 at 17:20

For every ISP you mention there will be:

1. Those that have used them and think they are great.
2. Those that have used them and think they are rubbish.
3. Those that have used them and think they are "so, so".
4. Those that have never used them but jump on the "they are great" bandwagon.
5. Those that have never used them but jump on the "they are rubbish" bandwagon.

I personally have never had a problem with Talk Talk.
I'm on their up to 24MB business connection through LLU.
I get 18MB down, 1MB Up and a Static IP address.
I've had about 1hr of downtime in the 2yrs I've been with them and honestly I cannot fault them - but as others have already said, some find them not so good.

ringo747 · 22 Mar 2011 at 17:39

I talked to Talktalk Onetel earlier and they said they don't throttle usage but they really must do as it is impossible to use between 5 and midnight. I think there are maybe 2000 addresses served on this exchange. Is that a lot? They kept trying to suggest that it is slow because too many people are using it.

jake9891 · 22 Mar 2011 at 17:47

I moved from O2 Broadband to TalkTalk and my service improved a lot. Before was getting around 1-2 Mbps now it's around 5-6 Mbps, so I am really satisfied. Only had problem last night, my Internet connection was down, but was back up this morning.

ringo747 · 22 Mar 2011 at 22:19

My internet seems to be fine tonight but some nights it is just unusable. I don't know what the story is.

FoxEye · 22 Mar 2011 at 22:51

TalkTalk is fine for the price you pay. Honestly, if you want to download 100+ gig each month, you need to be paying a lot more than TT charge.

Horses for courses. TT are great for tightwads like me

pespro · 23 Mar 2011 at 01:15

Parents looking to move from Sky to Talk Talk and i was very concerned about the fair usage policy. Lady on the phone said no we dont have one, then had to change her story when i said look on your website. Had to ask twice when i asked what the maximum download was a month, and both times said we are not sure its not a set ammount. We will only do it if its affecting other users.

Which is a fair use policy...

Thing i loved about Sky was truely unlimited. Just got Sky to double the speed of the line too, since made changes to phone line.

kennethsross · 23 Mar 2011 at 09:23

andy_mk3 said:
I've been with TalkTalk and Plusnet, never had much problems with either. I think it depends on your location with a lot of ISPs.

+1 from me!

bobpullen · 23 Mar 2011 at 16:40

ringo747 said:
I use SSL usenet. Can it be shaped too?

Yes

Whilst my opinion would obviously be biased, I'd be happy to answer/clarify the answers to any questions you may have?

Best rgds,

Cuchulain · 23 Mar 2011 at 16:49

Plusnet are and always have been rubbish.

2 customers this week I've needed to do remote sessions with have had to be told to complain to plusnet as their transfer speeds are so low (one was averaging 2k a second) it made it impossible.

Just because they've spent money on a crap TV advert doesn't mean they've improved their service in any way.

Get on Sky, it's cheaper, it's properly unlimited and it's far more reliable.

bobpullen · 23 Mar 2011 at 17:00

Cuchulain said:
2 customers this week I've needed to do remote sessions with have had to be told to complain to plusnet as their transfer speeds are so low (one was averaging 2k a second) it made it impossible.

If you know the usernames of those two customers or can provide me with the references numbers from their support tickets, then I'd be happy to take ownership of their problems and see them through to resolution?

Rgds,

.:SAmSuNG:. · 23 Mar 2011 at 17:08

Iv been with aol aka talktalk and they totally sucked. rubbish in the evenings. Have been on plusnets pro service which has been great. Evenings have no slow down that iv noticed and leave all my downloading till the unlimited times which truly are unlimited. Iv downloaded 200GB in a month which other adsl companies would frown upon due to the fair usage policy.

If you have the option of adsl2 then there may be better options but out of AOL, talktalk, O2 and Plusnet im by far happiest with them.

I cant comment on the speeds of the lower packages but the Pro package is very decent.

KIA · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:56

Cuchulain said:
Plusnet are and always have been rubbish.

2 customers this week I've needed to do remote sessions with have had to be told to complain to plusnet as their transfer speeds are so low (one was averaging 2k a second) it made it impossible.

Indeed. They classify a lot of traffic as P2P.

ringo747 · 31 Mar 2011 at 11:41

Just an update on this. In the end I moved everything away from TT Onetel and moved the broadband to zen. Today was my activation date and I noticed on speedtest.net that my ISP was still onetel but noticed speed differences.

This is the end result. Could someone explain how it is possible? Zen mentioned that an engineer would maybe have been involved in the migration. Below are the stats:

OLD

NEW

So my connection speed is now 3392 compared to 2272 - why would this be? Is this a 3Mbps connection now? My download speeds are now a fair bit better so it's all good. Looking forward to using this new service.

KIA · 31 Mar 2011 at 14:07

ringo747 said:
So my connection speed is now 3392 compared to 2272 - why would this be? Is this a 3Mbps connection now? My download speeds are now a fair bit better so it's all good. Looking forward to using this new service.

SNR decrease.

ringo747 · 31 Mar 2011 at 14:13

OK, so does this mean I'm officially on a 3Mb connection now as opposed to the 2Mb previously?

KIA · 31 Mar 2011 at 20:20

ringo747 said:
OK, so does this mean I'm officially on a 3Mb connection now as opposed to the 2Mb previously?

Yes. You might be able to squeeze a little more downstream speed out of the line if you force the SNR to 6. You should be able to do it as you have a Netgear router.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/dg834GT_targetsnr.htm

The article refers to the DG83G but it might work with other models of Netgear routers.

Troezar · 31 Mar 2011 at 20:30

I'm on Plusnet Pro and despite my poor speed, miles from the exchange and no ISP will guarantee more than 2MB here, I've had no problems with them. BT Infinity is in the area but typically it stops somewhere in the 100's of metres short of where I live grrrr