Joining Plusnet

I have a few questions about joining Plusnet and my phone line so posted here. I am renting and have recently moved in. Last week I checked the phone line and it was active with filters in all the phone sockets, so the previous tenant must have had broadband in. I have checked the line this week and it now just gives a "beep - beep..." so I assume its no longer active. How can I use this existing line to sign up when it no longer has a phone number or do I have to pay to have it "re-installed"? Also if I go for ADSL and phone, how long does it usually take to get it all up and running?

Thanks.

The provider of the last service has probably stoppped or ceased the line.

The provide will be considered a new line, simply because it is a new line in your name, even if it was on BT Wholesale hardware. Good chance the line was an old full LLU one these days.

Thanks for the reply. How does Plusnet/BT know if there is an inactive line at the property or if they actually have to come out and install a new one?

Hi there,

Basically we perform an address check, which pulls info from the BT databases regarding what lines are where. That'll tell us if there's an existing line or nothing installed etc.

Good chance the line was an old full LLU one these days.

For sure, it's only full LLU that gives the mentioned beep - beep these days, BT Wholesale based voice lines will have 'soft' dial tone on it.

What's a 'soft' dial tone? Ability to phone only 17070?

When I try to sign up the site says an "engineer will need to install a new phone line at your property". Will this need to happen as there is one already installed?

Thanks.

If that's the case there might be a records mismatch somewhere that we'll need to raise - if you plug a phone in and dial 17070 do you get a number read back? If not it may end up needing to be treated as a new line installation anyway iirc.

If you give our provisioning team a call they'll be able to advise either way.

OP says it "beep - beep..."s, so no dial tone.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

OP says it "beep - beep..."s, so no dial tone.

Yeah and can't be the Roadrunner either ..... meep meep!

I just had a look on the BT site out of curiosity to see how much they charge for a new phone line install. 40 quid, which is ok. But apparently this is a special online offer and it normally costs 130 quid. Blimey!

Many of the larger Telcos will now install a line "free of charge", of course there is a catch in that you have to take out with them a calls package,a broadband package, possibly/definitely a TV package with some, everything but the kitchen sink ..... for the time being,

Orbrey could you please keep an eye on my order and make sure everything goes through ok? My username is andysnod845. I just went ahead and ordered and I'll see what happens =).

Thanks.

Matt (orbrey) is now off for a while, I'll point one of the other guys from teh team in this direction tomorrow and they'll keep an eye on it.

Everything is looking fine, I can see that you've an engineer appointment for the 20th June 1pm - 6pm. Let us know how it goes.

Surprisingly my phone line became active yesterday with my new number and it is working fine =) so I assume no one will bother turning up tomorrow. I'll get someone to stay in just incase. Just waiting on the ADSL now.

A home visit shouldn't be needed for an ADSLx migration:).

Engineer turned up and changed the face plate (to one that is exactly the same only whiter ) and called someone to confirm it was working. So it's all sorted. =) Hopefully will have broadband sometime next week.

All connected today and everything's running fine =) but I do have a query about my sync speed. I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence but I seem to be capped at ADSL speeds. Wondering if someone could have a look and advise. I was estimated 12Mb. It's no big deal if it's all I can get but the upload definitely looks capped

Here are my stats (plugged into test socket to make sure my wiring wasn't effecting anything:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 443 / 8.235

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,8 / 0,0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 20,5 / 37,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 29,2 / 6,0

Edited by swervinc (Thu 27-Jun-13 21:21:55)

We really need to know the noise margins as well...

Looks like you'll need to contact PN and get the upstream sync uncapped - that is an ongoing problem with their ADSL2+ service which they don't seem able or willing to rectify for all end users

Sorry. Completely forgot to include them lol. Edited above.

Looks OK - give it a few days and the downstream sync might automatically improve

You will probably have to get the upstream sync uncapped though by contacting PN support, as I mentioned before.

Oh dear, you've noticed you capped upload, more expense for Plusnet!

Ring them now - they are 24/7. It's a dead simple correction to your settings for them.

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 443 / 8.235
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 20,5 / 37,5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 29,2 / 6,0

That's a shockingly poor downstream sync as well, though clearly not ADSL(1). It should be 10-12.5Mbps.

What did you have before? Ah - you didn't have anything before.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 27-Jun-13 21:46:15)

Yes. I am renting and have just recently moved in so I've had nothing before now . I have just noticed something strange. There are three extensions and when plugged into the test socket one of these extensions still works. Maybe that's affecting it although an engineer did come out and put a new one on.

If an extension still works when you are using the NTE5 test socket and the faceplate is disconnected then you will have to get the engineer back to investigate.

I am only here for 15 months so if it works ok I won't go through the bother although its annoying.

In reply to a post by swervinc:

I am only here for 15 months so if it works ok I won't go through the bother although its annoying.

OK that's up to you - probably best not to have a phone connected, even with a filter, on that working extension though

14,778 sync here and 11.9 Meg downloads.

I never can seem to get a faster download, without some hiccup from the PN systems. Something gets capped, or rest or changed.

In reply to a post by swervinc:

are three extensions and when plugged into the test socket one of these extensions still works. Maybe that's affecting it although an engineer did come out and put a new one on.

That's nasty! Is it wired to the A/B terminals behind the test socket, or from a junction box that occurs before the master socket?

If you mean an engineer fitted a new NTE5, it sounds like the latter is the case. He'd be quite unlikely to discover that.