Traffic Prioritisation

Why do we have to manage traffic on our network?

Like other ISPs we deliver our broadband service over a network which is shared amongst our customers. This means we have to manage our network to ensure we provide a sustainable quality broadband service to all our customers.

The principles of Plusnet's network management policies

• To make sure that time-critical applications like VoIP and gaming are always prioritised.
• To protect interactive applications like web-browsing and VPN from non-time sensitive download traffic.
• To flex the network under demand to cope with normal peaks and troughs from day to day and month to month.
• To flex the network more gracefully than other ISPs in the event of unusual demands in traffic or disaster situations such as a network failure.
• To provide a service relative to the amount each customer pays in terms of usage and experience.
• Provides a 'quality of service' effect, meaning multiple applications running on the same line interact with each other effectively, and use of high demand protocols like Peer-to-Peer doesn't swamp time-sensitive traffic such as online gaming or a VoIP call.

Use of traffic prioritisation will have an overall effect on the speeds you can expect to receive at different times of the day.

Expected speeds for residential broadband products

Expected speeds for business broadband products

You can also see the effects of traffic prioritisation in real-time and what would happen if a data-intensive application like Peer-to-Peer was allowed to saturate our network, by checking our broadband usage graph.

For more detailed information about how manage our network please read Managing our Network Under Abnormal Load

How do we manage traffic on our network?

Different types of traffic have a different priority at all times on our network, with time-sensitive applications such as gaming and VoIP having the highest priority. This table below shows you how we manage our network in general.

Think of it this way, the broadband network is like a motorway. When the traffic is light, all vehicles can move at the national speed-limit. Some lanes of the motorway have been reserved for important traffic, such as buses or emergency vehicles. During rush hour, most vehicles are forced to slow down. However, the traffic on the reserved lanes can continue to travel at their full speed.

How traffic is prioritised - Plusnet Value, Plusnet Pro and Plusnet Premium

Any application not using its standard port may not be identified correctly by our traffic management systems. It may be classified as 'other' traffic in which case a lower priority may apply.

How traffic is prioritised - Business Broadband Option 1, Option 2, Option 3

How we keep you up-to-date about your usage

Residential customers - We'll email you when you've used up 80% and 100% of the monthly broadband usage for your product. You can also keep track of your monthly usage at any time by going to View My Broadband Usage.

Business customers - If you're a Business Broadband Option 1 or 2 customer, we'll email you when you've used up 80% and 100% of the monthly broadband usage for your product. (Broadband Option 3 customers don't have a usage limit).

What happens if you go over the included usage for your account

Residential customers - If you run out of usage you'll get the option to 'pay as you go'. This means you can buy extra usage for £2 per 2GB block as-and-when you need it up until the end of the month.

Business customers - If you run out of usage you'll get the option to increase your Data Transfer Watch limit, or 'pay as you go'. This means you can buy extra usage for £1 per 1GB block.

This page last updated 10th September 2009