Wanting to switch from legacy product to Pro (...probably)

I'm on an ancient legacy project (Plusnet PAYG special offer 15GB included bandwidth), and (now) paying well over the odds for it, but have never taken the plunge and switched, as I'm happy with my product, and was worried about any unforeseen downside of changing ("Don't fix what aint broke!", in other words).

However, it's clear there are now better products for less - even without having to change ISPs, so I'm looking at Pro, which is more inclusive data allowance than I'm currently getting, and supports line-speed at all times.

But a few questions before I leap:

As my existing product is so old (and was a limited period special offer anyway), I've no means of doing a direct comparison. Is there anything I enjoy on the legacy PAYG product that I WON'T get on Pro?

If I switch products, will I get the free wireless router, even though it's a price reduction?

Apparently, I'm already on 21CN, but only enabled for ADSL, at the moment. If I switch products, will I automatically be upgraded to ADSL2+, or do I have to put that in as a separate request?

Um...anything else I haven't thought of?

Tina

Hi Tina,

To answer your questions:

There shouldn't be anything you lose if you move from the old PAYG account onto pro; you'll keep all the legacy components including cgi and host space if you use them. Also if you're not happy on the new product let one of us reps know within the first month and we can switch you back to your current type if you like.

You can have a wireless router if you want one - you'd need to pay postage costs (£4.99) and the remainder would go onto your account as a deferred contract which drops off after 12 months. You'd only need to pay that if you left during the first year after getting it.

With regard to ADSL2+ it doesn't always happen following the account regrade but if you'd like to make the move either raise a ticket requesting it or let one of us know in here and we'll get it sorted for you.

Hope that helps,

Thanks Matthew,

Looks like Pro is the way forward, then. If I press the button, is there any way of saying: "Yes please, I'd like the router" (I don't mind paying the postage)?

I don't technically need a router, having only just bought one, but if it's included in the package anyway, it's no bad thing to have a spare! On the rare occasions I've had to raise a fault ticket, I've always hit the snag that I DON'T routinely keep a spare for test purposes, so have a hard time proving it isn't me. If I not only had a spare, but it was a PN supplied one as well, it should overcome that particular hurdle.

One further question - can I expect any downtime as a result of the switch? If so, how much, approximately?

I'm not sure whether I should really admit this, but I do use the connection for work, so don't want to cause myself a problem. A few minutes, or even an hour, is no problem. I don't think I have anything so urgent it would make any difference. But if it were going to be a day or two, I'd need to arrange it for a weekend, or some time I'm on holiday.

Kind regards,

Tina

Hi Tina,

The upgrade process offers you an option to get a router if you like, it should also offer you an upgrade to ADSL2+ if it's enabled at your exchange too - though please let me know if it doesn't and I'll get a problem raised. The router isn't necessarily included as part of the package, the deferred cost option is offered to anyone at any time I believe (I hope that doesn't put you off though )

You shouldn't get any downtime as a result of the switch as it's just a change on our systems, so you should be fine on that score too.

Er...OK, on the strength of that, I went ahead and hit the button to change products.

It defaulted to included wireless router anyway, so I left that selected. It then asked me about my phone options, so I chose the option to stay with existing (no home phone from PN)

Next stage, I get an error message:

"Sorry an error occured" [sic]

"Invalid Idempotence Id"

No idea what it means!

Not a very promising start. Do I need to raise a ticket?

T.

No, don't worry about that - I suspect this is down to the old account type and the somewhat newer account change tool. I'll get a ticket raised explaining what's going on and make sure the change goes through for you on your next billing date, of course the offer to move back if you're not happy on Pro still stands.

In reply to a post by TLM:

so I'm looking at Pro, which is more inclusive data allowance than I'm currently getting, and supports line-speed at all times.

Traffic shaping on PAYG is exactly the same as Pro.

Up to 24MB speeds on 21CN/ADSL2+ are available to PAYG users on request. I raised this issue some time ago on the Community forums:

In reference to community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,83199:

Although Plusnet have not announced plans for legacy products, I have just found something rather interesting in the archived product specification for PAYG.

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/archi...

Fast up to 8Mb speeds now as standard*
* Super-fast up to 24Mb speeds when available

In the light of that I don't see why PAYG users on exchanges which are 21CN WBC enabled shouldn't ask for an immediate upgrade!

Reply from Matt Taylor (orbrey):

In reference to community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,83199.msg702160.html#msg70...:

Hi jelv,

We'd have no problem with this if people on PAYG want to move on to ADSL2 - we'll honour any requests we get.

Edited by jelv (Wed 12-Jan-11 20:45:54)

BT (and Plusnet, but I expect they only got the info from BT ) think I can only get 3MB anyway. I'm doing slightly better than that already. I don't know if the estimate is with or without allowing for possible improvement on ADSL2+.

In reply to a post by TLM:

BT (and Plusnet, but I expect they only got the info from BT ) think I can only get 3MB anyway. I'm doing slightly better than that already. I don't know if the estimate is with or without allowing for possible improvement on ADSL2+.

Have you posted your line stats reported by your router yet?