The consumer-friendly version of DPI

What PlusNet customers now do is choose at sign-up the level of performance they want to buy, in terms of quality and quantity, Armstrong said. “We explain the different performances they should expect – here’s what a $20 account gets you, here’s what a $30 account gets you, etc.”

(To see how PlusNet helps customers figure out what they need, go here: http://www.mybroadbandusage.co.uk/)

PlusNet also clearly spells out the type of speeds customers can expect, depending on the type of application they are using. The highest levels of service are reserved for VoIP and gaming, followed in the service hierarchy by video and Web browsing, Web downloads and email, and finally Usenet and peer-to-peer. “We apply different rate limits to different types of traffic at different types of the day,” Armstrong said. The Arbor system enables that kind of granular treatment of traffic by providing the subscriber and application information.

“We make sure people understand they will see different speeds at different types of day – peer-to-peer and UseNet will be quite restricted in evening busy times,” Armstrong said. “VoIP and gaming will never slow down.”

(PlusNet keeps a blog about its traffic management here: http://community.plus.net/blog/category/traffic-management/ )

When a customer uses up their allotted capacity, they have the choice of buying more usage allowance increments, Armstrong said. Through the Subscriber Service Portal, consumers can see exactly how much bandwidth they are consuming, by application.

“With the ‘View My Usage’ tool, they can get, at any time, a graph that shows exactly how much they have downloaded and breaks it down by a dozen different protocols,” Armstrong said. “They can see how much video streaming, how much email, how much web browsing, how much peer-to-peer they are using. When they have used up their allotment, they can choose to buy more or stop working.”