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Welcome to the latest edition of Plus, the
PlusNet newsletter.
Plus is 20! Well, this is the 20th issue anyway. We've crammed it full of information and news from the past 4 weeks to make sure that you're getting your regular dose of what's going on at PlusNet HQ.
We've got news of some very exciting changes that are taking place at the start of next month. Read on to find out what's happening to our current logo and website!
You can also find out more about our plans for faster broadband speeds, how you could get your name in a national newspaper and see the first episode of PlusNet TV.
Carol Axe
(Customer Support Manager and Plus Editor)
Contents
- What's the difference between PlusNet and a 'Marathon' bar?
- Faster speeds are on the way
- Volunteers needed
- Community site nominated for an award
- Is free broadband really the future?
- PlusNet TV – The first interview
- Other news
1. What's the difference between PlusNet and a 'Marathon' bar?
Answer: PlusNet isn't going to change its name. It will, however, be changing the way it looks next month.
In a few weeks we'll be making some bold changes to the way the PlusNet website looks. It's not just the layout of the new website: after 8 years of faithful service the current PlusNet logo is being retired. In its place, we'll be launching a new website and with it a new logo.
Why? Over the last year PlusNet has been strengthened, invested in and awarded as the best overall broadband provider in the UK. To build on this, we decided it's a good time to refresh the website. The new look site will bring our products, the Member Centre and our beloved Community site together better than before.
For more detailed information check out our Read this blog to find out more.
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2. Faster speeds are on the way
When we published our plans for 2008/09 back in April we talked about delivering higher broadband speeds using new technology called ADSL2+.
We've been working on the plans for the next generation of broadband services for a long time now and are finalising details of how we'll deliver them to you. Testing is planned to begin behind the scenes later in the summer with customer testing starting in the autumn.
This is a massive project as it has the potential to give you faster speeds and enhance your online experience. As websites become more interactive and watching TV and videos on the Internet becomes more common faster speeds will let you do more with your connection.
You can read more about ADSL2+, our testing plans and find out the expected date for your exchange to be switched over on the Community site.
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3. Volunteers needed
We're often approached by journalists asking for information on a variety of subjects. From time to time we get asked if we have any customer examples or case studies to feature in the articles.
We'd love to get a group of customers who’d be happy to take part. It'll be really simple, and of course you don't have to talk about anything that you don't feel comfortable with. We want customers of all levels of expertise, so don't feel like you have to be a techie to join in.
Click here for the original announcement.
If you're interested in reading more about this and seeing an example of a previous customer case study then check out this blog.
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4. Community site nominated for an award
Just over a year since it was launched the Community site has been nominated for a leading industry award.
The ComputerWeekly.com IT Blog Awards 08 are reader nominated and we've made the shortlist of ten. It's great to see that people are reading and enjoying the articles and blogs that we're publishing. We've got plenty more lined up for the Community site – including more blogs from different people across the business, more open source applications and video interviews with PlusNet staff.
We’re up against some big names like Microsoft and LG and it would be great to win the ‘Best Company Blog’ award. Have a look at this blog for more details and find out how you can vote for us.
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5. Is free broadband really the future?
It's around 10 years since broadband was launched in the UK. Over the past decade the broadband landscape has changed a lot. With over 16 million broadband lines in the UK fixed-line broadband is reaching saturation, speeds are increasing and mobile broadband is really taking off.
Back in 2000 people were paying £50 for quality broadband and since then prices have dropped really quickly. These price drops, combined with increasing speeds and quality of service, have led to the broadband boom that we've seen in the last couple of years.
So what’s around the corner? Where is broadband going next?
Our Products & Marketing director Neil Armstrong has given his view of the UK market, the changes that he expects to see and how we can continue offering a great service.
You can read the full article on the Community site.
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6. PlusNet TV – The first interview
We've been talking to customers in forums for years, and been blogging for more than 12 months now. So we wanted to find some new ways of letting you know what's going on here at PlusNet.
YouTube and iPlayer are really popular now, so we thought we'd give videos a try.
The first video is an interview with Dave Tomlinson from our Products Team. He's our traffic management guru, so if you want to know more about traffic management and how it affects your service, have a look at the video.
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7. Other news
Also over the past few weeks:
We've been feeling pretty generous and have given away a variety of goodies. We gave away an iPod Touch to the winner of our recent referrals promotion as well as a pair of tickets to the Isle of Wight Festival. Five lucky customers also won a free 12 month subscription to Total PC Gaming magazine.
We watched with interest on Tuesday June 17th as Firefox attempted to set a Guinness new world record for software downloads in 24 hours with the launch of Firefox 3. They managed it - with over 8 million copies of the web browser downloaded on the day!
Over the past couple of months you may have noticed the Twitter plugin on the front page of the Community site. Twitter is a service which allows friends and family to communicate by posting updates about what they are doing. The plugin displays all the Twitter updates from everyone on the system. We've been so happy with the response that the feature has generated that we've made
it available for download from our Community site open source page.
If you haven't already done so, register your new Community site username and you can join in with the latest
debates and conversation on the Community site forums.
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Want to talk to us about anything in this newsletter? Then visit our Discussion Forums.
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