Ping FN

Did you see the reply that Paul Boyd got in

pmj...

plusnet.service.customer-feedback when he asked PlusNet customer support
about unplugging a modem for an extended period?
Seems it shouldn't affect the speed at all.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Sure did see it. Then the question is, why did mine drop after being off
overnight when it booted up OK, and was immediately synching well in excess

Rabbit...

Oh that's just 'cos they are all out to get you :-)

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

And *all* those other PN customers too. :(

of 4000 kbps? I shall wait with baited breath to see what happens with
yours. Remember it apparently onlly takes one incidence of bad synching to
drop the speed and quite a few days of good synching to return back to your
optimum speed. Between 5 and 6 days in my case.

MCC...

I reckon you've still got, or had, a problem. My router gets unplugged
every night for at least 3 or 4 hours. When I plug it back in it *always*
synchs at 8128/448 kbps.
And don't forget I'm in darkest Cornwall. If I lived in a city like you do
I reckon I'd be jumping up and down on somebody's desk by now, in an
attempt to get a better service.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Well my line to the exchange is about 2½ km long, and being in a city I
reckon that my contention of 50:1 is fully used up, whereas in darkest
Cornwall you're probably the only one on Plusnet connection so contention is
irrelevant. :(

datasmog...

The 50 - 1 contention is applied by BT, not PlusNet.
Once you reach the ISP's system, PlusNet, there is a further contention
ratio applied.
So if like me you are on a PlusNet Premier account with a contention of
30 - 1, there could be 80 of you sharing the bandwidth.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

I'm a little confused now Ray. When i first joined PN they said my
contention was 20:1. Subsequently PN emailed me (10/02/2005) to say they
were changing that to 50:1:

datasmog...

That's the contention on the PlusNet network.
The contention on the BT wholesale broadband network is 50 - 1 set by
BT.

So you share the connection to the BT network with 49 other people.
When you hit the PlusNet network there's another 49 to share with.
As I understand it, those other PlusNet customers needn't even be in
your town, they could be anywhere.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

I would have thought the PN customers I share with they would all have been
connected to the same hardware in my local exchange, whereas the BT
contention sharers could be more spread out. I'd like to see the
circuit/wiring diagram though. :)

As you may be aware, all PlusNet broadband products for home are based on a
contention ratio of 50:1. When you signed up for PlusNet Broadband Home Lite
2Mb (Annual Contract, No Modem) there was no 2Mb 50:1 connection available
and your broadband was activated at a contention of 20:1.

A 2Mb 50:1 product is now available, so in 7 days time we will be moving you
to the 50:1 product free of charge.

As I understood it at the time, I could keep the 20:1 contention but my
monthly fee would have been considerably increased.

If you would like to remain on a 2Mb product with a 20:1 contention, take a
look at our Teleworker Pro range. To change to Teleworker Pro for free,
please raise a ticket within 7 days. If you don't raise a ticket, we'll then
move you to Broadband Home 2Mb with a 50:1 contention.

And I would be suspicious about the honesty of my router if it always,
without fail, reported a sync at the same speed, especially if that
figure were at or very near the maximum possible with MaxDSL.

MCC...

The exchange is 310 metres away, as the chough flies :-))

I have no reason to doubt my router's synch speeds - I have seen them lower
when I made the mistake of leaving a modem plugged in when I didn't oughta.

Unless I lived in or on the doorstep of my exchange and no-one else
connected to that exchange had an internet connection :-)

pmj...

Rabbit...

I saw it :-) *But*( stoopid question alert) as an extension of that does

pmj...

This *isn't* actually a "stoopid question"!!!...

What *would* be "stoopid" was if someone *didn't* stop to think
about this sort of thing...

anybody know ( you should be able to tell us eventually, Mike) does the
router hold the settings if it's switched off for an extended period, like a

pmj...

Yes.
It *does* hold the Settings.

jolliday or is there something we should do to ensure it holds the settings?

MCC...

Dunno the answer to that one - watch this space on 20th September :-)
But you'll have to ask the question again then because I'll have forgotten
it

pmj...

Nope.

Almost all decent, normal Routers, which incorporate an ADSL Modem,
(such as your Belkin one), Save their Settings either into CMOS
(that's Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Memory, or if they
don't use CMOS Memory, they use some kind of Flash Memory.

CMOS normally needs a Battery to keep the stuff Active, but the
Battery is normally a Lithium one, designed to last the lifetime of
the thing, or (possibly) a Rechargeable one - either way, you aren't
expected to do anything to have to make it keep the Settings.

& if it uses Flash Memory, (which I think many of them do), then that
is not Volatile anyway & it stores the Information until it's ReSet
or Wiped.

So, going away on Holiday & UnPlugging the Router (even for several
Months!) won't mean the Settings in it get "forgotten".