Nildram kerfuffle !

[Scott]

After a recent traffic management implementation followed by an 'after the fact' notification of their customers via the AG Forum, UK ISP Nildram have finally made a formal announcement and are trying to claw back some of the damage imparted on their marketshare and reputation.

AG Article here...interestingly this is almost identical to the manner in which F2S shot themselves in the foot following their takeover by Pipex, and a massive (and alledgedly deliberate if scuttlebutt is to be believed) traffic shaping exercise that mainly saw the heaviest users jump ship. Mutterings on the Nilly forum are pointing toward this being very much a likely reason for the NNTP & PSP traffic management, however Nilly, unlike F2S have relented on their initial plans for shaping across the board and limited it's impact to those heaviest users...Something of a u-turn !

[Rik]

Just as an afterword - having started my second month with IDNet. I left Nildram not because the shaping affected me, but because I considered their actions a gross breach of trust. I know of other light users who left during that period for the same reasons, and many of them are here now.

Yes, we are paying more than we did to Nildram, but in return, we are getting real customer support and a sustainable business model.

Ultimately, we can have "free lunch" ISPs, and put up with what that brings, or we can pay for quality. I have no doubt that I made the right choice, and it's interesting to note how Nildram has slipped in the ratings chart on ThinkBroadband (formerly ADSLguide). Consumers are becoming wiser, I believe.

[maxping]

interestingly this is almost identical to the manner in which F2S shot themselves in the foot following their takeover by Pipex, and a massive (and alledgedly deliberate if scuttlebutt is to be believed) traffic shaping exercise that mainly saw the heaviest users jump ship.

The problem at F2S was the shaping hit all users , i and many others who were not  heavy users saw the  speeds drop to 500kbps max on a 2mb connection,we all left around the same time and many came and still are here.

[Nerval]

Always does, it seems.  The ISPs have too little capacity and the ellacoyas or whatever just throttle people indiscriminately.  They seem unable just to slow down the big users - and in Plusnet's case at least, that wouldn't have been enough.

[jupiter]

  They seem unable just to slow down the big users

Exactly right and a large part of why I left Metronet after its takeover by Plusnet.  Throttling was said to limit only certain types of traffic, but it virtually killed web browsing when exchange contention hit in as well.  What didn't help was the further failure to lift throttling when a new billing month started - and than to deny that it was still in place!

The few pounds a month extra for IDNet is one of my better decisions.

[Inactive]

I suppose that I am lucky really, I was on Plusnet Premier @ £21.99 a month, I rarely use over 5GB a month so I went for the IDNet £17.99  Max package that includes 2GB, so I may actually be in profit some months.

Oh it looks like Zen are going to bring in limits next March as well.