Plusnet are possibly signaling the end of the "always on" analogy that broadband has been promoted by for the past few years, with the introduction of "idle time-outs".

In a recent email to its customers, Plusnet announced that both Broadband Plus and ADSL Home Surf customers will be disconnected after a period of 30 minutes if no activity is detected. According to Plusnet support, the timeout is in force to ensure the recycling of IP addresses coupled with improving network efficiency as only so many connections can be held for a sustainable service. All affected customers will receive the official notification before September 2nd 2005.

So, if you start to experience strange disconnections, now you know.

Plusnet's move may well be repeated by other ISPs in the future, putting another nail in coffin of virtues of all the tag lines that broadband was once sold as before the days of capped and restricted usage, in favour of headline chasing low prices subscriptions.