New Plusnet phone & BB install - easy, and it works

We decided at our church to install a phone & BB in the office as we are getting an administrator. Decided on Plusnet and ordered it. Last week the phone line was installed. Yesterday Broadband was activated so I went in and set it up this morning.

Unbelievably easy.

The phone line works, very clear; the BB works both wired and wireless - the wireless works 100+ft away as well. As I recollect getting around 8-9 Mbps download, c.1.2Mbps up, more than enough for our very simple needs.

All very happy with the whole process. Plusnet kept us informed and when there was a snag - Openreach caused - they got it sorted very quickly.

For us, as non-demanding users, can see why Plusnet is so popular. Good value for money.

We're happy.

That's what happens for most people. The issue when it goes wrong is how good the parties are at sorting the issue and that's when people start to complain.

Congratulations to Plusnet for getting a new customer connected without any issues.... shame the ratio of compliments to complaints is fairly low currently!

I hope you don't see any issues in future or decide to upgrade to fibre as this is where Plusnet seems to such right now!

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

shame the ratio of compliments to complaints is fairly low currently!

I suggest that, as a nation, we love complaining, especially in public, but rarely praise in the same way, and if praise is given it's done rather begrudgingly.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

]I suggest that, as a nation, we love complaining, especially in public, but rarely praise in the same way, and if praise is given it's done rather begrudgingly.

With some complaining far more often, and repeatedly, than others.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Congratulations to Plusnet for getting a new customer connected without any issues.... shame the ratio of compliments to complaints is fairly low currently!

I hope you don't see any issues in future or decide to upgrade to fibre as this is where Plusnet seems to such right now!

Plusnet managed to connect me to fibre ok, sure it was a old connectionm that have not been used for over two years, no phone and broadband to change from, but it went without a hitch.

BTOR came, got phone working first, went to cabinet, set up fibre, came back, connected modem and then all I had to do was wait until PN switched it all on.

Even a couple of weeks after when someone mucked around with the cabinet and messed up my connection, it was sorted out pretty quick.

True I have had the slow connections now and again, but over the last few weeks things have been ok.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

I hope you don't see any issues in future or decide to upgrade to fibre as this is where Plusnet seems to such right now!

I'd add that although I'm not on Plusnet I'm also on good old ADSL and in 12+ years of BB, with the same ISP, the only BB problem I've ever had is when there was a fire in an underground tunnel in the centre of Manchester some years ago - it took out phones, etc. for a large part of Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas.

Other than that my BB just works. And I suspect (but have no statistics to back it up, other than talking to a lot of ordinary domestic users) that's true for a great number of people.

I know my post above was fairly negative towards Plusnet but there is far too many complaints about issues of provisioning fibre orders and also the various issues that have been confirmed but not pinpointed or resolved within the links to and from Plusnet's network that affects some connections.

I'm glad that your order with Plusnet was another that went well but as above you have been affected by the issues with the network and will do again I'm sure, for now your on a good gateway with a good route.

Though currently the only thing I would watch out for with Plusnet is the slowly growing amount of tests that show congestion related issues and not just the single thread issues that have been reported since last Christmas,

and considering the amount of customers Plusnet has attracted to its network in the past 12 months and the amount of customers they have retained with various discounts, it is expected for there already close to limits network to have some bottlenecks emerging.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

I'd add that although I'm not on Plusnet I'm also on good old ADSL

I had an ADSL connection with Plusnet until a couple of months ago and yes it was pretty solid to be fair, it ind't see any of the issues I speak of with performance which was weird but that seems to be the way of the fault at this time.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

...but as above you have been affected by the issues with the network and will do again I'm sure, for now your on a good gateway with a good route.

Where did I say I had network issues - that could be attributed to an ISP?

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Though currently the only thing I would watch out for with Plusnet is the slowly growing amount of tests that show congestion related issues and not just the single thread issues that have been reported since last Christmas,

and considering the amount of customers Plusnet has attracted to its network in the past 12 months and the amount of customers they have retained with various discounts, it is expected for there already close to limits network to have some bottlenecks emerging.

Given our usage will be minimal, 2 or 3 days a week perhaps, for the odd email, web browsing, etc. the speed could halve and it wouldn't make any difference to the usability of the BB.

I'll be interested to see how much we actually use, after the current round of Windows updates to the refurbished PCs we've been given is completed and other set-up tasks. I've used >800MB today alone on these tasks.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

...but as above you have been affected by the issues with the network and will do again I'm sure, for now your on a good gateway with a good route.

Where did I say I had network issues - that could be attributed to an ISP?

If you check who I was replying to you will see I was referring to Zyborg..

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Though currently the only thing I would watch out for with Plusnet is the slowly growing amount of tests that show congestion related issues and not just the single thread issues that have been reported since last Christmas,

and considering the amount of customers Plusnet has attracted to its network in the past 12 months and the amount of customers they have retained with various discounts, it is expected for there already close to limits network to have some bottlenecks emerging.

Given our usage will be minimal, 2 or 3 days a week perhaps, for the odd email, web browsing, etc. the speed could halve and it wouldn't make any difference to the usability of the BB.

I'll be interested to see how much we actually use, after the current round of Windows updates to the refurbished PCs we've been given is completed and other set-up tasks. I've used >800MB today alone on these tasks.

As above, none of this was directed at yourself and as I said in a previous post ADSL services do not seem to have the same issues that fibre connections do when it comes to the issues mentioned in many of my posts.

"shame the ratio of compliments to complaints is fairly low currently!"

You have made an accurate statement for this site but how many new users are being added daily and how many of those are having issues?

I've seen some new customers complaining over at PlusNet's forums but regardless of numbers, the complaints are still higher then the thanks/compliments.

I would probably go as far as including those who are asking Plusnet questions via the forum who are/not getting replies from staff.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

I've seen some new customers complaining over at PlusNet's forums but regardless of numbers, the complaints are still higher then the thanks/compliments.

That's pretty standard for any company - people make the effort to seek out the relevant forum(s) and complain if something is wrong, if things are OK then the vast majority would not make the effort just to say 'it works', rather they just get on with their life. That's how it is.

regardless, there's many issues from congestion - unknown issues....

and little - no input from any members of Plusnet to reassure customers and many frustrated people...

Also very concerned about the rise in people being mis-sold new contracts and potentially being harassed for being on the 40/20 products.

People get paid to do a job and the majority don't get a pat on the back for doing that job but will soon be rebuked if they get something wrong. That's the way of the world whether YOU like it or not.

There are very few compliments for any ISP on TBB so I can't see what you're banging on about re PlusNet.

My point is that currently Plusnet are going through a slump where theres an increased amount of people complaining about an issues and not getting any resolutions or even reassurance of what the problem is or whats being done to find and fix it.

Along with this there is the issues of lack of support and it taking on average 30-60 minutes to contact support, and once connected the support available is somewhat useless.

The presence of PlusNet's staff on their forums is very sparse with barely any of them actually coming online anymore, and tickets seems to queue for weeks before getting generic and unhelpful responses.

Customers on packages no longer sold are being tricked into subscribing to contracts and lower tier products with misleading loyalty discounts, and then trying to get these misleading changes reverted is near impossible due to the above limited support.

So if anything just raising the awareness for those who maybe searching on google prior to signing up.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

I've used >800MB today alone on these tasks.

One of my daughters is on ADSL with Plusnet and constantly complains about poor speeds and the fact that when my grandson is using the connection then she can't. Between them they still manage to see 50GB or thereabouts off each month. As everyone is now on unlimited it doesn't matter really but it does make me wonder how she manages more on a flaky ADSL connection than I do on a good FTTC connection 8^)

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

I know my post above was fairly negative towards Plusnet but there is far too many complaints about issues of provisioning fibre orders and also the various issues that have been confirmed but not pinpointed or resolved within the links to and from Plusnet's network that affects some connections.

I'm glad that your order with Plusnet was another that went well but as above you have been affected by the issues with the network and will do again I'm sure, for now your on a good gateway with a good route.

Though currently the only thing I would watch out for with Plusnet is the slowly growing amount of tests that show congestion related issues and not just the single thread issues that have been reported since last Christmas,

and considering the amount of customers Plusnet has attracted to its network in the past 12 months and the amount of customers they have retained with various discounts, it is expected for there already close to limits network to have some bottlenecks emerging.

We just have to see how it goes, not a lot I can do at the moment anyway, still under contract, unless they really mess up.

I must admit I do not think I would go with Plusnet if I was looking for a provider now, with all bits they are knocking off the packages and putting the price up, it would certainly make me look elsewhere.
Saying that all the larger providers are now doing the same thing.,

Saying that all the larger providers are now doing the same thing

It's a bit of a game, one provider increases line rental and call costs etc the others hang back a while hoping to pick up some migrations from disgruntled customers, then they increase their LR etc etc which in turn annoys all their existing customers.

In reply to a post by ian72:

That's what happens for most people. The issue when it goes wrong is how good the parties are at sorting the issue and that's when people start to complain.

When it does go wrong it goes horribly wrong!
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/f/4439333-e...

But this has been the case for a long, long time now.