Plusnet Discussion Thread

just that your second hop is a little high.

Second attempt...

Code:
C:\Users\Admin>tracert bbc.co.uk
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    65 ms    99 ms    99 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
  2    21 ms    16 ms    16 ms  lo0-central10.ptw-ag03.plus.net [195.166.128.197
]
  3    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  link10-central10.ptw-gw02.plus.net [84.93.248.82
]
  4    15 ms    15 ms    15 ms  xe-7-2-0.ptw-cr02.plus.net [212.159.1.22]
  5    16 ms    15 ms    16 ms  ae2.ptw-cr01.plus.net [195.166.129.4]
  6    16 ms    15 ms    16 ms  kingston-gw.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.6]
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8    16 ms    58 ms    16 ms  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
  9    17 ms    16 ms    18 ms  132.185.255.60
 10    15 ms    16 ms    15 ms  212.58.241.131
Trace complete.
C:\Users\Admin>
 
just that your second hop is a little high.

ICMP traces don't really work like this. Each hop pretty much shows the round-trip-time to/from your machine to that particular host. If you get decent ping responses from the destination host then in most cases any intermediate hops are irrelevant.

Routers have a habit of favouring the actual routing of traffic rather than attributing resource to responding to ICMP packets. That's why the first hop's so high. The 582n de-prioritises ICMP packets. If you were to run a UDP or TCP trace you wouldn't see that.

As above I had Plusnet Unlimited Fibre installed yesterday.

It's profiled at 40/10 at the moment rather than 80/20. Does anyone know if this will get fixed automatically, or do I need to chase it?

That's part of a know problem that was actually fixed this morning (ref: 74168). If you can provide me with your account username or a recent support ticket reference then I'll get it sorted for you.

Best regards,
 
ICMP traces don't really work like this. Each hop pretty much shows the round-trip-time to/from your machine to that particular host. If you get decent ping responses from the destination host then in most cases any intermediate hops are irrelevant.

Routers have a habit of favouring the actual routing of traffic rather than attributing resource to responding to ICMP packets. That's why the first hop's so high. The 582n de-prioritises ICMP packets. If you were to run a UDP or TCP trace you wouldn't see that.



That's part of a know problem that was actually fixed this morning (ref: 74168). If you can provide me with your account username or a recent support ticket reference then I'll get it sorted for you.

Best regards,

I know that, but I'm interested if hes on interleave or fast-path, but without an unlocked modem, you can never tell, unless you are on infinty where the first hop is around 5ms.
 
One question I have is: how will Plusnet prioritise things on their core network if the congestion appears there.

Currently as I understand it, if the core network is idle:
- p2p and usenet run at line speed when the end user is doing nothing else
- p2p and usenet will slow down sufficiently to ensure that gaming and VoIP enjoy a good quality of service where required. But they won't drop to an arbitrary slow speed "just because"

So if the core network is congested and one user tries to torrent or use usenet..what speed might they expect? Below what threshold would Plusnet begin to take interest?
 
Looks like the first plusnet hop is in London (based on name, and latency on subsequent hops), so it's hard to tell if it's 8ms of interleave in one direction (ie 12-13ms first hop) and 3-4ms of transit from the midlands to london

OR

no interleave, 3-4ms transit, and 7-8ms of BT mystery network shenanigans.

I would love it if it were the first, but probably the second.

Or he's not in the midlands at all and this piece of information is throwing me off! :)
 
I'm considering this service for phone and Fibre when I move house in a couple of months but just wanted to check something...

I know a new modem and router will be provided... which will be fine, however, I currently use an old netgear wifi router as an access point will I still be able to use this? And indeed will I be able to use my existing network switches?
 
I know that, but I'm interested if hes on interleave or fast-path, but without an unlocked modem, you can never tell, unless you are on infinty where the first hop is around 5ms.

Can you elaborate on this? Infinity uses the same wholesale network and relies on a WAN connection from a Home Hub to the same VDSL modem so I'm struggling to understand how you've drawn the conclusion?

FWIW though, my line is fastpath (certainly on the downstream). Here's a trace:

Code:
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     3 ms     3 ms     3 ms  home.gateway [192.168.1.254]
  2    16 ms    22 ms    16 ms  lo0-central10.ptn-ag04.plus.net [195.166.128.193
]
  3    16 ms    15 ms    16 ms  link3-central10.ptn-gw01.plus.net [84.93.248.228
]
  4    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  xe-10-1-0.ptw-cr01.plus.net [212.159.1.44]
  5    16 ms    15 ms    28 ms  kingston-gw.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.6]
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7    15 ms    16 ms    15 ms  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
  8    16 ms    19 ms    16 ms  132.185.255.60
  9    17 ms    16 ms    16 ms  212.58.241.131

Trace complete.

So if the core network is congested and one user tries to torrent or use usenet..what speed might they expect? Below what threshold would Plusnet begin to take interest?

Bandwidth is provisioned so that there are no significant slowdowns affecting lesser priority traffic. We'd take notice should this ever not be the case.

Looks like the first plusnet hop is in London (based on name, and latency on subsequent hops)...

Clue is indeed in the name:

Code:
  2    21 ms    16 ms    16 ms  lo0-central10.ptw-ag03.plus.net [195.166.128.197]

'ptw' is Telehouse West meaning the edge router bremen1874's connected to is based in one of our data suites down in London docklands.

Best regards,
 
Code:
Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.70]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  READYSHARE [192.168.1.1]
  2     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  217.32.144.162
  3     6 ms     6 ms     5 ms  217.32.144.206
  4     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  213.120.181.50
  5     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  217.41.169.207
  6     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  217.41.169.109
  7     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  109.159.251.211
  8    16 ms    18 ms    12 ms  core1-te0-12-0-6.ilford.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.
51.133]
  9    15 ms    13 ms    12 ms  peer2-xe11-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159
254.130]
 10    13 ms    15 ms    14 ms  194.74.65.42
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13    14 ms    14 ms    13 ms  ae0.er01.telhc.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.109]
 14    15 ms    14 ms    16 ms  132.185.255.148
 15    12 ms    15 ms    15 ms  bbc-vip115.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.70]

my second hop which is pop site/node is 5ms, if I was on interleave this would be about 15ms.

If my connection didn't route to Sheffield it would be much better to London.
 
Last edited:
Ah I see. That's the hops across BT's 'Retail Internet Network'. You don't see the equivalent with a Plusnet connection.

A few years back we did have a number of customers provisioned on BT Retail's network as part of a trial. I saw similar traces from my connection back then.

Ultimately, whether fast-path or not, ISPs have little control over FTTx interleaving at present (hopefully that will change). With copper it's easy to turn on/off etc.

Best regards,
 
Looks like the first plusnet hop is in London (based on name, and latency on subsequent hops), so it's hard to tell if it's 8ms of interleave in one direction (ie 12-13ms first hop) and 3-4ms of transit from the midlands to london

OR

no interleave, 3-4ms transit, and 7-8ms of BT mystery network shenanigans.

I would love it if it were the first, but probably the second.

Or he's not in the midlands at all and this piece of information is throwing me off! :)

I should have mentioned that those trace routes were from Nuneaton. According to a tool I came across I'm currently connected to ptw-ag03 in Telehouse West.
 
Just been upgraded to Fibre Unlimited this morning and wow! what a change!!

Fully maxing out my line for torrents and anything else! for the price and support you simply cannot beat it!!

I have had VM and Sky FTTC and now PlusNet and honestly say that I am finally happy where I am now! :)

These services have all been in the same area of Cheltenham.

Thanks
 
Bob, could you look into the status of my cabinet? its been delayed since december 2011 and i dont know whats going on and if theres any developments about a date? looking at it, theres the old cab and a street light next to it so i assume it isnt that hard to do.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=go...d5GYQ4FpVB2FpBh8C4bYcg&cbp=12,234.55,,0,21.65


Ah I see. That's the hops across BT's 'Retail Internet Network'. You don't see the equivalent with a Plusnet connection.

A few years back we did have a number of customers provisioned on BT Retail's network as part of a trial. I saw similar traces from my connection back then.

Ultimately, whether fast-path or not, ISPs have little control over FTTx interleaving at present (hopefully that will change). With copper it's easy to turn on/off etc.

Best regards,
 
Last edited:
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