So for years I've been extolling the virtues of Plusnet: How I've been on their FTTC package since 2015 and it's always been excellent with good prices. Well as of today my opinion has changed :-(
I came out of hospital early last week after a heart bypass to find our home internet was down - these things happen with any ISP so not a big issue me thinks. So I reported the fault with plusnet. Finally after a week with two more follow up phone calls a BT engineer finally out this am to fix the DSL fault. Note the word is DSL NOT FTTC. i.e. it turns out that plusnet decided to downgrade our, since 2015, package from FTTC to normal ADSL2. No warning, no nothing! Their excuse is back in 2015 when we went to FTTC with plusnet they never updated their system to show the change. They thought we were still on standard DSL2 even though they did the package change and they sent the BT engineer out to do the FTTC install!! So this 'mistake' was spotted in July (2019). Rather that picking the phone up and speaking to us they simply chopped the service back to DSL2. We use a VDSL (FTTC) modem so when they did that the internet simply stopped. No warning :-( So after an hour this morning shouting at plusnet (this is on a mobile phone stood in the middle of the front lawn because the line was down whilst the BT guy was running around on a fools errand) their 'fix' is to sign me up on a new FTTC contract (same overall price as before) BUT as a new install (note this has been installed now since July 2015!!) it's 5 working days - by law - for the service to be enabled.
SWMBO is spitting feathers but it seems there's nowt we can do about it.
It's not that their system got things wrong it's just that they failed to communicate with me about this - simply went ahead and killed the service.
After this morning god knows what my blood pressure is :-(
Last edited by solwisesteve; 3rd September 2019 at 12:14. Reason: spelling
They have been doing my head in for the last 9 months after they moved to a new billing system. Each month they overcharge me by £12 and I have to ring up each time for a credit and the refund.
For a communications company they have very bad comms!
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Take your custom somewhere else. Do you really want to pay your hard earn to such muppets?
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I've been with PlusNet for 3 years... I am fed up with them increasing their charges every 6 months but I can't change to another provider because our cabinet is at capacity and I will get less than 2mbps if I move. Currently paying £38.99 for 32mbps FTTC (which is advertised as upto 65mbps) and can't do anything about it.
There's a reason they're cheap, they're cr*p.
Wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.
Never have an issue with Zen Internet, FTTC unlimited + line rental £46 71.1/18.5 Mbps ( never seen it drop under 65 Mbps ) + IPv6.
Last edited by Nogbad The Bad; 3rd September 2019 at 12:31.
I nearly posted yesterday about Plusnet, been with them for years, always been a bit ‘patchy’ with speeds, they seem to throttle back quite often, a few months ago the speeds were dire, phoned up and went through the usual checks and it improved quite a bit so let it lie, this last week it’s back down to shockingly slow, phoned up and the guy ran checks his end and said he could see there was a issue and recommended a engineer visit and could have someone out tomorrow ( today) and would email me confirmation, no email came and I had to phone again today ( 25 mins on hold) to get verbal confirmation of the appt. when I put the phone down I check speeds again and they were vastly improved! I don’t know how these things work but I suspect they can do quite a lot of adjustments their end.
Cheers..
Jase
I agree... all things being equal I should simply move but moving will involve some effort and, at the end of the day, there seems to be no way around this 5 days 'by law' delay.
I use a fixed IP so moving will mean a new IP and that means changes at my works end which, since I'm stuck at home on sick leave for several more weeks (that's until I get signed off to drive), isn't really doable. And, as say, moving is more hassle and with a dicky heart it's less stress to stay where we are. ;-)
However, would I recommend plusnet ever again? Probably not.
PS promised a phone call from someone high up later today. I don't think it'll change things and, tbh, this follow up call has been instigated by SWMBO. Just measured my BP and it's 133/72 which is the highest it's been for several weeks so, if it was down to me, I'd not bother with another stressful phone call.
What a nightmare.
You guys should have a couple of cups of coffee to calm down
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Wishing you a rapid and full recovery. The wheels are in motion now so try not to let this cause you further unnecessary stress, take a step back and recuperate.
I know it doesn't help you but for anyone considering a switch I only have good things to say about Zen Customer Service.
Plusnet, we’ll do you! Proud.
BT bought Plusnet in 2007
I switched to a Plusnet after a bad year with BT then had a bad year with Plusnet difference being if you have a fault with Plusnet and BT engineer comes out and BT deem it’s a Plusnet or your equipment at fault the customer pays the call out fee.
If you call Plusnet they do their utmost to avoid telling you they are actually BT
Given what you have been through don’t let an ISP affect your health and recovery.
I’ve been with PlusNet for about 8 months and have no issues whatsoever. Since moving to them, I pay about 1/5 of what Virgin Media were charging and the connection has been just as good.
Ive just checked Zen’s pricing and I’d be paying three times as much as I do now for the equivalent.
Last edited by Christian; 3rd September 2019 at 14:09.
Okay.... so just ended phone call from some one at plusnet who is higher up the food chain and whose job title seems to include commit mea culpa.
So a new story.
What he's said is back in July they found a fault with our FTTC service. An engineer couldn't fix it so to keep the service running plusnet downgraded it to standard DSL2. So no warning and, because we weren't told so we could do hardware changes, it killed our connection so the service was NOT kept going at all. This fault at the exchange/cabinet has now been fixed but there's no system in place to automatically revert the service to FTTC!! That has to wait until a) the punter phones up 4-5 times and shouts on the phone for over an hour! b) a 'new' install is authorised.
This has now been done. Apparently to say sorry they're sending me a free router. When I said they could stick their router they asked if I didn't want it could I send it back? You must be joking!
Yes the plusnet package is good value:Originally Posted by Christian
unlimited calls uk/mobile,
unlimited data
60+ meg fttc,
fixed ip
line rental
c. £38 pm
Was with Plusnet last year and it was great. Fast speeds and never went down. £25 pm average 40mbps. Also had about £90 cash back. Best I could get this time was with Nowtv , speeds around 36mbps for same price with £50 cashback.
I'm puzzled: surely your router can do ADSL2 & VDSL? Why don't you just reconfigure your router?
Yes BUT we were going VDSL modem and then PPPoE to the router. If we'd had known the service was downgraded then I'd have moved the phone line across and reconfigured the router. The problem is they didn't tell us! First we knew was when the confused BT engineer turned up this am. I just assumed it was a line fault. In the three phone calls to plusnet over the last week not once was it mentioned the service had been dropped.
In my experience not east to find fixed IP for a reasonable price.
Pardon my ignorance, why is a fixed IP a advantage?
Cheers..
Jase
Why don’t you email their CEO? I suspect he’ll have a dedicated complaints team - andy.baker@plus.net
Been with them just over 18 months and to start with I was really happy.
Just after a year in to an 18 month contract, the speeds started to drop at certain times and the service used to fall over for fun.
Will be changing probably to Zen shortly.
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I have plusnet unlimited + landline ( unlimited calls inc mobile up to one hour) the mobile service in my part of the world is patchy and that’s being kind so need landline by and large quite happy with the service and pay £36 pm but as plusnet are part of BT i get BT sport for £12.49 pm via the Sky platform, 55mbps just now.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
I use a secure router-to-router VPN link from/to work for emails (and backups etc...). For 100% security this is fixed by the address of both ends. You can do VPN using less secure password or security certificates but I prefer this extra layer of security.
If have own mail server.
Also, I believe, for monitoring certain security cameras etc.
Ah, thanks.
Cheers..
Jase
Look on the bright side - you could be with TalkTalk....
I would be careful with Zen as I have been having slow speed issues. I went through the process of eliminating cables modems and everything else before they said they would send out an engineer, only if I except to pay £90+vat if I miss the appointment and £165+vat if they don’t find a fault on the line.
I’m not accepting that so I’ll be moving at the end of my contract.
Neil
SOP For all service providers who utilise the BT infrastructure, they will all have to pass on such issues to open reach and will have similar terms for physical call outs.
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