Another Plusnet dirty trick

A new one seen today:

In reference to community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,144160.0:

Signed up for 13.5Mbit upload, only getting 2Mbit.

My deal as in the members login (as of 23/9/15 when it went live)

THIS IS YOUR CURRENT BROADBAND PACKAGE

Unlimited Fibre (Without Phone)£17.49
per month
Unlimited Usage Allowance
40Mb download speed (estimated)
13.9Mb upload speed (estimated)
You've 17 months left of your 18 contract

On 7 Sept 2015 I decided to upgrade my Plusnet ADSL to fibre broadband. I am particularly interested in the improved upload speed as sometimes I need to upload very large files for work. So, I logged into "MyAccount" selected "change product" and was presented with the options - I went for the unlimited fibre package, this showed my estimated download speed as 40M and upload of 13.5M (These were the figures shown when I logged into my account) so I clicked to order this. It was installed on the 23 Sept 2015, and the BT engineer said download would be 40 and upload 2Mbit. He said that normally the upload for my line would be around 10M.. So I logged into my plusnet account where it states that upload estimate is 13.5M. (as of 23/9/2015)
I'm not at all happy with this situation, the upload speed is nowhere near the estimate shown in my account on line. I have rung customer services, but it is clear they don't accept that the upload speed advertised in the members login is 13.5. They say they cant access my members account and refuse to do anything other than put me through to the cancellations department. I don't want to cancel, I want what I signed up for, and indeed the speeds shown in the members login.
Any one else had this problem?

Edited by jelv (Thu 24-Sep-15 15:14:43)

Doesnt sound terribly truthful. Who is the person phoning who "cant access their accounts" ? Doesnt sound like PlusNet...

BT suggest the upload is 10Mb and the estimate is 13.5M (I presume it should be Mb) or does he mean Kb ?If its the former, then there is no reason to complain!

The main problem is there is a lack of sentance structure and general coherence to make it understandable.

The complaint is that Plusnet have put him on the 40/2 product so when the BT Engineer says that the line is capable of about 10Mb/s upstream and the Plusnet product is 2Mb/s upstream this creates the problem as seen by the customer

Plusnet really arent doing themselves any favour on this, are they,
Why they don't sell the 40/10 product instead of copycatting TT i'll never grasp, f***ing idiots to put it mildly

I have absolutely no idea - really stupid isn't it

It saves them 60p per month per line provisioning on 40/2 over 40/10.

That 40/20 product they sold cheaply for a while, paying Openreach for 80/20, has to be paid for somehow.

Edited by deleted (Thu 24-Sep-15 23:52:05)

and subsidising discounted - free broadband and cashback offers too...

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

and subsidising discounted - free broadband and cashback offers too...

hence why they are a sinking ship.. and have been for years just now the leaks are starting to spring

Another user tricked in to a downgrade to 40/2: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,1405...

And it's been going on far too long for anyone to attribute it to newbie support badly trained. It has to be a deliberate policy.

I suspected that and the moral aspects of it contributed to my leaving.

At the moment Plusnet senior management stinks. I just feel sorry for the huge number of their staff that know this. Swapping employer in this field is not something to be lightly undertaken.

I agree 100% with what RobertoS says. Sadly similar to the patterns I saw with Nildram and BE before; maybe just a little extra 'economical with the truth' thrown in by Plusnet.

Edited by StephenTodd (Wed 30-Sep-15 14:56:51)

This one takes the biscuit - following a home move the users account details clearly say that he is still on the 40/20 product but they have provisioned him on 40/2.

http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,144631

Would it be fair to say that Plusnet are saving themselves some money by doing this?

I've had this issue a couple of times now after negotiating a new contract and discount. I've always been on the 78/20 product but due to the D-side distance I get around 50/10.

After all the hassle last year, this year I made sure I asked them several times on the call if I would be remaining on the same package and that my speeds would not be reduced, and got the CS rep to categorically state that this was the case.

When inevitably the speed was reduced to 40/20 I went back to cancellations and told them I'd asked several times if speeds would change and was told they wouldn't. First they tried the old "your line doesn't support anything over 40 down anyway" and "we've tried to find the call recording but can't retrieve it" they eventually relented so I kept the nice fat discount I negotiated and remained on 78/20.

They like to pull a fast one on you, but if you stick to your guns eventually they relent. Shoddy practice though, they never used to be like this.

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

Would it be fair to say that Plusnet are saving themselves some money by doing this?

Yep!

In reply to a post by MaryHinge:

When inevitably the speed was reduced to 40/20

Do you mean 40/2? It makes no sense at all if it was 40/20.

It would have definitely been at least a 10Mbit upstream profile as I was getting this in speed tests, and my line syncs at around 10mbit upstream.

Fair enough, but it made no sense for Plusnet to put you on 40/20 rather than 80/20 as it cost them exactly the same. That was probably why you succeeded in getting put back onto 80/20. Those who have been unwittingly downgraded to 40/2 under the current policy don't seem to be having much luck in getting regraded.

In reply to a post by kasg:

Fair enough, but it made no sense for Plusnet to put you on 40/20 rather than 80/20 as it cost them exactly the same. That was probably why you succeeded in getting put back onto 80/20. Those who have been unwittingly downgraded to 40/2 under the current policy don't seem to be having much luck in getting regraded.

Just to check - the wholesale price to Plusnet (or any other BTW based ISP) for 80/20 is, or rather was, the same as for 40/20?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

And it's been going on far too long for anyone to attribute it to newbie support badly trained. It has to be a deliberate policy.

I suspected that and the moral aspects of it contributed to my leaving.

At the moment Plusnet senior management stinks. I just feel sorry for the huge number of their staff that know this. Swapping employer in this field is not something to be lightly undertaken.

It's disappointing to hear a season observer such as yourself say this, as it carries rather more weight than the average internet rant.

In reply to a post by tommy45:

Plusnet really arent doing themselves any favour on this, are they,
Why they don't sell the 40/10 product instead of copycatting TT i'll never grasp, f***ing idiots to put it mildly

Cheaper, also dare I suggest the majority of internet users don't upload heavily so Plusnet have taken the decision that, as it doesn't matter to 'the masses', it's fine. (And for many it probably is.)

In reply to a post by binary:

Just to check - the wholesale price to Plusnet (or any other BTW based ISP) for 80/20 is, or rather was, the same as for 40/20?

Yes, there's no such thing as wholesale 40/20, Plusnet provisioned 80/20 and capped it to 40Mbps download using their Line Speed setting.

In reply to a post by ZenUserJP:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

and subsidising discounted - free broadband and cashback offers too...

hence why they are a sinking ship.. and have been for years just now the leaks are starting to spring

They're hardly unsuccessful - rather I'd suggest they're doing pretty well as a mass market consumer ISP.

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by binary:

Just to check - the wholesale price to Plusnet (or any other BTW based ISP) for 80/20 is, or rather was, the same as for 40/20?

Yes, there's no such thing as wholesale 40/20, Plusnet provisioned 80/20 and capped it to 40Mbps download using their Line Speed setting.

Thanks.

In reply to a post by binary:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

And it's been going on far too long for anyone to attribute it to newbie support badly trained. It has to be a deliberate policy.

I suspected that and the moral aspects of it contributed to my leaving.

At the moment Plusnet senior management stinks. I just feel sorry for the huge number of their staff that know this. Swapping employer in this field is not something to be lightly undertaken.

It's disappointing to hear a season observer such as yourself say this, as it carries rather more weight than the average internet rant.

I'm pleased you think my opinion carries weight. I'm not sure it carries as much as you suggest.

In any case it is my considered opinion, as a "seasoned observer". There is a lengthy thread to do with my reasons for leaving Plusnet, and the above was a major factor in that leaving.

Do you think I shouldn't say such things?

In reply to a post by binary:

Just to check - the wholesale price to Plusnet (or any other BTW based ISP) for 80/20 is, or rather was, the same as for 40/20?

Openreach, and BT wholesale only offer three products:

40/2
40/10
80/20

So for Plusnet to offer 40/20 they had to pay for 80/20 from wholesale - so it didn't last long when somebody did the accounts!!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by binary:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

And it's been going on far too long for anyone to attribute it to newbie support badly trained. It has to be a deliberate policy.

I suspected that and the moral aspects of it contributed to my leaving.

At the moment Plusnet senior management stinks. I just feel sorry for the huge number of their staff that know this. Swapping employer in this field is not something to be lightly undertaken.

It's disappointing to hear a season observer such as yourself say this, as it carries rather more weight than the average internet rant.

I'm pleased you think my opinion carries weight. I'm not sure it carries as much as you suggest.

In any case it is my considered opinion, as a "seasoned observer". There is a lengthy thread to do with my reasons for leaving Plusnet, and the above was a major factor in that leaving.

Do you think I shouldn't say such things?

(Apologies for the season/seasoned typo - dunno how I let that slip through!)

No, you absolutely should say such things if you think them - it wasn't a criticism in any way, quite the opposite.

My comment re what you say carrying weight was really just in contrast to some of the other comments that fly around here and elsewhere that don't appear to have have much of a grounding in well considered opinion but are rather just people letting fly, or alternatively perhaps are based on considered opinion but perhaps worded sloppily or are from someone without your helpful posting history on here.

I haven't read that other thread but might seek it out and take a look at it.

For what it's worth, I'm on Plusnet FTTC and I haven't really had much reason to complain about the service. I would however undoubtedly be pretty peeved off if I had ended up on a 40/2 service when I legitimately thought I was going to be getting a 40/10 service.

Your post read as though you disapproved. I accept what you say now, so let's forget that .

On my Plusnet service I was annoyed at forever not being able to get onto a gateway/routeing that gave single thread performance, but didn't find day to day use unacceptable. Basically that wasn't why I left. However, on my new service my speed test results are no different, but browsing performance is snappier.

From seeing the chaos over months in the Community Forums I became very concerned about what would happen if I did get an actual fault, and couldn't accept the ongoing provision errors for new and product-changing customers. In the end I spoke with my wallet.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 10-Oct-15 22:30:13)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

From seeing the chaos over months in the Community Forums I became very concerned about what would happen if I did get an actual fault, and couldn't accept the ongoing provision errors for new and product-changing customers. In the end I spoke with my wallet.

FWIW - Snap!

In reply to a post by binary:

In reply to a post by kasg:

Fair enough, but it made no sense for Plusnet to put you on 40/20 rather than 80/20 as it cost them exactly the same. That was probably why you succeeded in getting put back onto 80/20. Those who have been unwittingly downgraded to 40/2 under the current policy don't seem to be having much luck in getting regraded.

Just to check - the wholesale price to Plusnet (or any other BTW based ISP) for 80/20 is, or rather was, the same as for 40/20?

Yep, because there is no such wholesale product, you can buy:

40/2
40/10
80/20

...and that's it (in the FTTC family). so to provide 40/20 they were buying 80/20 and capping it down, for whatever reason.