Plusnet's new gaming package gets mixed reception

By Lorrie Kelly Staff Writer Tuesday, 16 October 2007

How does Plusnet's gaming package compare to Be? The Plusnet BYWP package The Plusnet BYWP (for gamers) package details are: £19.99 per month Up to 8Mbps download speed Prioritised gaming traffic Low latency and ping 10GB peak-time usage allowance Unlimited overnight usage 1-month contract only Free router if you stay for 12 months The Be Pro package The Be Pro package details are: £22 per month (was £40!) Up to 24MBps download speed Up to 2.5Mb upload speed No download limit 3-month contract only Free static IP address Free 24/7 customer support The Be Unlimited package The Be Unlimited package details are: £18 per month (was £24!) Up to 24MBps download speed Up to 1.3Mb upload speed No download limit 3-month contract only Free 24/7 customer support

BROADBAND Your Way Pro – the new dedicated gaming broadband package from Plusnet – is receiving a mixed reception from gamers who believe the package may still need a few tweaks to really be first choice for online gaming.

PlusNet has fine tuned its new Pro package to not only offer speeds of up to 8Mbps but also to allocate exclusive bandwidth to gamers or those using broadband telephone or VoIP applications.

The Plusnet Broadband Your Way Pro (BYWP) package places all gaming and VoIP services in their titanium queues and designates all other traffic to their gold queue, thereby providing gamers with much more consistent response times.

Plusnet’s nearest competitor in the broadband gaming market, Be, may not offer priority to gaming or VoIP streams, and is more expensive at £22 monthly, but what Be does offer is unlimited bandwidth, much to the consternation of PlusNet users who currently have to pay more for exceeding their 10GB primetime monthly cap.

Some of PlusNet’s current subscribers have balked at the 10GB cap limit stating they could easily use it up before one month and would really be paying in excess of the stated £19.99 – with extra 2GB packs costing between £1.50 and £1.80.

Some popular, large-scale games require weekly service packs – some exceeding 500MB - which must be installed prior to playing, and a normal gameplay session can exceed 400MB.

The difference between the allotted 10GB peak hours limit and an overage of 7GB per month would take Plusnet BYWP users’ monthly fees to £25.24.

Although PlusNet offers unlimited downloads during off-peak hours, between 23:59 and 08:00, using off-peak hours for either game play or service pack downloads is not a workable solution for many subscribers.

According to PlusNet, the benefit of their BYWP package is that data packets are not in a queue with other users’ email or YouTube streams, and therefore gamers will experience far less lag.

PlusNet also states that their in-house research shows 10GB is more than enough for 80% of their current gaming subscribers. However, PlusNet subscribers are quick to point out that diehard gamers are also high consumers of P2P and bit torrents and the research does not consider non-gaming usage, therefore it gives a distorted view of monthly usage levels within this target market.

PlusNet has conceded that their marketing tact may have been slightly misguided with regards to certain gamers but the offering is still in its infancy and the real target market will reveal itself in the future through further research, forming a perfect fit for Plusnet BYWP going forwards.

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