Any thoughts/experiences of John Lewis Broadband (non LLU)?

I have decided it is time to move my ADSL Max ISP account, and John Lewis's unlimited broadband is probably top of my list right now, and at £18/month for an unlimited ADSL Max ISP, it seems very good value for money...providing it is any good, of course

I am hopeful, seeing as it is basically PlusNet (but unlimited) that it will be a decent, reliable service, but any thoughts on John Lewis broadband would be very welcome.

Thanks,
Kevin

Edited by KevinM2 (Mon 18-Jun-12 15:03:13)

As you say, it should be the same service as Plusnet - I'm assume that John Lewis must be subsidising the price as it's better than PN packages.
I was with Greenbee(John Lewis) a while ago with no problems but switched to PN as it was a better deal for my needs!
Are you aware that you have to have line rental (from£13.50) with them and it's a 12 month contract?

Thanks for the input.

Unfortunately any ISP I have found that is offering an unlimited service on a non LLU ADSL Max line,

a) Requires at least a 12 month contract, and
b) Requires you to take your line rental with them too

I'd rather not have the 12 month contract to be honest, but if it's the only way to get an unlimited package on my line, then I have no choice unfortunately.

That's why I was concerned about John Lewis being a reliable ISP, with no issues in providing a reliable, stable Internet service. I don't want to be stuck with a service that drops to virtually unusable between 4pm and 11pm (as happened when I was with O2 a few years back...I had a terrible job getting away from them).

I get a solid 8Mbps from my current ISP all day, with no drop off in the evening peak times, so I know it's fine as far as my exchange goes, so any speed drop off in peak times (if I get any from John Lewis) would be down to their equipment/contention, but I am hoping it won't be a problem.

Cheers,
Kevin

May be worth a look here

Thanks!

It seems a clone of PN. It is a well known fact that Plusnet have a unadvertised unlimited package that will be offered to those that threaten to leave, though you will then have a contract tie-in. So I would think it makes sense to eradicate one link in the chain and go PN direct. There are ISPs like Freeola that give unlimited with no contract tie-in or throttling who you don't have to take line rental with.
The high number of service interruption emails you get per day if you sign up to Plusnet service status emails, is enough to frighten anyone away from them.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 19-Jun-12 11:38:08)

In reply to a post by professor973:

The high number of service interruption emails you get per day if you sign up to Plusnet service status emails, is enough to frighten anyone away from them.

Don't sign up to them - ignorance is bliss

I had a look at Freeola's website, and can't seem to find any package that offers unlimited downloads...There are packages they do that offer unlimited evening and weekend downloads, but that's not the same.

Do you have a link to their unlimited package? Thanks

In reply to a post by professor973:

There are ISPs like Freeola that give unlimited with no contract tie-in or throttling who you don't have to take line rental with.

In reply to a post by KevinM2:

I had a look at Freeola's website, and can't seem to find any package that offers unlimited downloads...There are packages they do that offer unlimited evening and weekend downloads, but that's not the same.

Do you have a link to their unlimited package? Thanks

In reply to a post by professor973:

There are ISPs like Freeola that give unlimited with no contract tie-in or throttling who you don't have to take line rental with.

Freeola don't actually have a package marketed as unlimited. But, their main selling point is that they in no way limit users via throttling etc, and their unmetered starts at 7 00pm weekdays instead of midnight that most ISPs do and also includes ALL weekends. This makes it very hard to run out of allowance between 7 00am and 7 00pm. Also, I thought the no tie-in for broadband or line rental requirement were your main requirements. I realise they don't suit all, but it is nice not to have to sit up till midnight to watch iPlayer and avoid breaking an allowance. I have also not come across an unhappy user.
Most are like this one � http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/which_isp/t/4132965...

Edited by professor973 (Tue 19-Jun-12 12:52:30)

In reply to a post by professor973:

The high number of service interruption emails you get per day if you sign up to Plusnet service status emails, is enough to frighten anyone away from them.

Ah, so you'd prefer ISP's who give no warnings or explanations and just hope no-one notices?

In reply to a post by professor973:

The high number of service interruption emails you get per day if you sign up to Plusnet service status emails, is enough to frighten anyone away from them.

The vast majority of them are not service interruptions.

I agree, but email access, hosting and usage monitor that are among things up the creek at the moment, are nonetheless uninspiring.

In reply to a post by jelv:

In reply to a post by professor973:

The high number of service interruption emails you get per day if you sign up to Plusnet service status emails, is enough to frighten anyone away from them.

Ah, so you'd prefer ISP's who give no warnings or explanations and just hope no-one notices?

Certainly not, just one that had less.

In reply to a post by professor973:

In reply to a post by jelv:

In reply to a post by professor973:

Ah, so you'd prefer ISP's who give no warnings or explanations and just hope no-one notices?

Certainly not, just one that had less.

What do you get in this respect from your current ISP?

Until recently I was blithely unaware of these notifications. There has been one blip that affected me a that I would like to have known about and didn't, at which point someone here told me about the notifications.

I agree there are a lot, but as has been said, they don't seem to matter. I ignore them now, but will browse through "recent" ones if I get an unexplained problem.

As for ISP e/web-mail and web hosting, I think my views on that are well known.

I am beginning to think that Plusnet are Ignorance and typical of BT. Like them, they are only interested in advertising Broadband. So, a friend of mine asked the simple question, could they stay with PN phone if they moved their broadband (No info on site). This was raised via a ticket. Eleven hours was given for an estimated response. Over 24 hours later they are still waiting. This certainly is NOT what I call a top customer service, God help him if he had a real problem. Possibly PN should stop wasting time and good money on utterly stupid line dancing adverts. It brings paying peanuts and getting monkeys to mind.

Edited by professor973 (Wed 20-Jun-12 06:16:29)

Hi there,

I'm sorry the ticket hasn't been picked up yet, I'll give the support centre a nudge there. With regard to the query, yes - if an account has had broadband and phone and the customer wants to move the broadband but keep the phone with us that's not a problem.

Unfortunately though we can't do the same for a new customer - phone and broadband need to be ordered together if both are required.

In reply to a post by KevinM2:

I'd rather not have the 12 month contract to be honest, but if it's the only way to get an unlimited package on my line, then I have no choice unfortunately.

If you don't mind paying £30+vat per month for a unlimited ADSL1 service ( up to 8128/832 kbps) then i'd highly recommend Netplan. They're primarily a business isp but will happily take orders from residential customers. I used to be with them before my exchange was LLU'd and was almost in tears when i left them for a LLU ADSL2+ service (no BT 21CN at my exchange). Fantastic speeds, brilliant support...think of Zen internet when they first came into the market. Downside? 12 month contract but pretty sure you won't mind once you've experienced their service
http://www.netplan.co.uk/connectivity.asp
(you'll have to call them as they don't display prices on their website)

Post deleted by billford

Edited by professor973 (Wed 20-Jun-12 10:31:15)

While that answer (and the delay) is not acceptable and I'll make sure it's addressed, I think that your final paragraph is a little harsh especially when based on the outcome of one single ticket. Obviously not all queries are answered in such a way or these forums and our own would be full of complaints.

I'm sorry that it did come out that way though and as I said I'll make sure that's fed back internally.

In reply to a post by professor973:

Having to take both really smacks of BT.

And the other two most popular non-cable ISPs . I wonder if PN is the fourth largest?

Anyway, you don't have to have PN phone. So it doesn't smack of BT.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 20-Jun-12 11:22:14)

Language filter evasion.

In reference to forums.thinkbroadband.com/faq_english.php#rules:

Inappropriate or Offensive Language

thinkbroadband is a friendly environment and to this end we do not accept foul language. We employ an automatic filter to cut out some bad language but this does not stop users from trying to get around the filters. Doing so will result in action against the user(s).

No, neither me or my friend have to take Plusnet or BT Phone unless we want their broadband, but the answer he got to a query about a current customer taking both, then moving just the broadband, was the exact opposite to what was posted here.
"Thank you for your query.

We dont offer a stand alone phone service on its own unfortunately, we only offer home phone when broadband is taken with it. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause

Please do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://contactus.plus.net or by phone on 0800 432 0200 if we can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,

Lisa Rhodes"
Chaos certainly seems to rule Plusnet � Or is it the Band :�}
Also, it seems to pay to actually swear here, then only one word is automatically removed and others get the meaning of the post. Much better than over zealous mods deleting the whole post because of a few asterisks!.

Edited by professor973 (Wed 20-Jun-12 11:38:52)

Of course, this isn't an issue with Freeola ....

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Of course, this isn't an issue with Freeola ....

Indeed not � All you need is a line supplier cheaper than BT, with no tie-in, no connection fee, 1.2p per minute calls and per second billing. Surely a dream!
http://www.zen.co.uk/business/voice/phone-services.aspx
A perfect no tie-in combination with tip top service.

Edited by professor973 (Wed 20-Jun-12 12:33:44)

In reply to a post by professor973:

Also, it seems to pay to actually swear here, then only one word is automatically removed and others get the meaning of the post. Much better than over zealous mods deleting the whole post because of a few asterisks!.

Not over zealous sir...just zealous.
Swearing is not permitted nor is a an attempt to avoid the swear filter by the use of "a few asterisks". Your use of asterisks indicate that swearing is not permitted...so why do it?

We do not edit...it is as posted or not at all.

It must be really great being with such a "different" ISP.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It must be really great being with such a "different" ISP.

It is all very well you trying to be the forum clever-cloggs, but that is no fun if it goes completely over the head of the victim. That link certainly does. I don't know about being really great, but I am happy to be in a field with no bull. It is not so lonely - http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/which_isp/t/4132965...
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9694/freeola.jpg

Edited by professor973 (Wed 20-Jun-12 13:31:10)

To All.
Further post should reflect the request in the title...and the name John Lewis is the clue.

Thanks...I was kinda wondering at the tangent we had gone down

I'd still like to hear about any John Lewis BB subscribers experiences (either good, or bad) please.

Cheers,
Kevin

In reply to a post by Sadoldman:

To All.
Further post should reflect the request in the title...and the name John Lewis is the clue.

Possibly I am a late developer, but I have only just discovered a one-stop site for service status of most ISPs.
http://www.netstatus.co.uk/entanet/

Edited by professor973 (Sun 24-Jun-12 13:51:41)

In reply to a post by professor973:

Possibly I am a late developer, but I have only just discovered a one-stop site for service status of most ISPs.
http://www.netstatus.co.uk/entanet/

Far from it. An excellent find !!

Edit - The correct link is actually http://www.netstatus.co.uk/
You just found the Entanet entry. Still an excellent find.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 24-Jun-12 17:37:30)

I've now posted about this in General Broadband Chatter, saying you found it .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I've now posted about this in General Broadband Chatter, saying you found it .

Thank You, though to be fair it just popped up in a search. As it had not appeared before, I thought it might be in its infancy.

The domain netstatus.co.uk was created on 24 March 2011. A very useful site is www.domaintools.com though I haven't looked at what all their new features are they are raving about. I just use it for looking up info about sites - it can be very illuminating!

It's a good resource, although it's a shame the iframe size is 465 x 535.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The domain netstatus.co.uk was created on 24 March 2011. A very useful site is www.domaintools.com though I haven't looked at what all their new features are they are raving about. I just use it for looking up info about sites - it can be very illuminating!

Yes I am signed up to domaintools. Lost of info about lots of folk that don't realise. Flagfox hooks straight to it from any page you require info about with just a right click.

Edited by professor973 (Sun 24-Jun-12 23:04:43)