What�s Support like these days?

I�ve just discovered that FTTC became available from my BT cabinet in the last week or so. Speed and cost plus a few other factors suggest a possible change of ISP rather than an immediate my current provider.

I was a happy BT Broadband customer for more that three years. At least two line issues were fixed. Then Support was shunted offshore. Communication was so poor when trying to resolve a minor problem at the end of 2005 that I had to move on. Have things improved? My line rental and call tariff is still with BT so if Broadband support is any good they might suit my needs.

Basic support is pretty useless for anything apart from the most standard issues (sometimes even then).

The forum mods usually get things sorted. However they have long queues (presumably because the rest of support is so useless), so normally pretty much a week turnaround even once you have attracted their attention.

General reliability is pretty good, so with luck you won't need them.

Edited by StephenTodd (Tue 04-Feb-14 12:23:49)

Based on other post, be aware if you use BT hardware they do not respond to ICMP/ping on the WAN interface.

Thanks for that info

Thanks for your reply. It sounds very much as it was when I left...

Take a look at Plusnet perhaps? You can keep your BT landline like I did if you wish. If you do keep it, it now costs £2.50pm more and there will be an FTTC setup charge that you evade by taking PN landline.

A static IP address is a one-off £5 so tbb BQM works if your router will respond to the pings. The 582n they supply does, but its wireless isn't brilliant.

But replace the awful plusnet router.

Is this model router a common problem for them ? Or perhaps your mate just has one thats not working up to scratch?

It's perfectly OK for the vast majority of their ~780,000 customers. Otherwise they wouldn't be supplying it.

The poster isn't even on landline broadband and hasn't been for a considerable period.

I joined Plusnet about two years ago, and already had a decent router. When that packed in I decided to give the Plusnet one a try.

After a while I began to doubt its wireless capabilities, which importantly is the only significant complaint about it, although it wasn't too bad for free. (Postage cost). I now have an ASUS which is quite good.

Don't forget that wireless LAN is very susceptible to surrounding ones.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

After a while I began to doubt its wireless capabilities.

That was always a complaint about the Thomson/Technicolor routers on BE and O2. Good routers (not as many options as an ASUS or Draytek) but poor on WiFi.

In reply to a post by neo_wales14:

Is this model router a common problem for them ? Or perhaps your mate just has one thats not working up to scratch?

The wi-fi of that router is a common complaint, I have seen it in other forums. i also know someone who got or had one for their ADSL as it is the same router, just with a different firmware and that was useless as well.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It's perfectly OK for the vast majority of their ~780,000 customers. Otherwise they wouldn't be supplying it.

The poster isn't even on landline broadband and hasn't been for a considerable period.

They supply it because it is cheap, simple as that, and just because I am not on landline broadband makes no difference, since it is not my router, and anyway Neo will know since he seems to have followed me into these forums.

I joined Plusnet about two years ago, and already had a decent router. When that packed in I decided to give the Plusnet one a try.

After a while I began to doubt its wireless capabilities, which importantly is the only significant complaint about it, although it wasn't too bad for free. (Postage cost). I now have an ASUS which is quite good.

Don't forget that wireless LAN is very susceptible to surrounding ones.

Most people knows that and I also know that my mates house have pretty thick walls being a old victorian house and that there are two of these walls between the router and his laptop. but never had the problem with a old Netgear he had when he was on ADSL and even my Tp-Link works well there.

I think he main problem with the plusnet router is lack of a external antenna. i checked the signal using a app on my phone and i had to go almost to the sitting room door before the signal got to full, router is in sitting room.

Still his contract is coming up soon, he will think about what to do, if he stays with plusnet, then he will get a different router.


Sorry, but it is a awful router. If i was with plusnet i would certainly scrap it.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

After a while I began to doubt its wireless capabilities.

That was always a complaint about the Thomson/Technicolor routers on BE and O2. Good routers (not as many options as an ASUS or Draytek) but poor on WiFi.

Yet my old 585 was fine.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Yet my old 585 was fine.

My own, pre-joining O2, and the O2 supplied one, both lost sync when the noise margin fell below 3.5dB. (Starting from a sync at 6dB).

Several Netgear 834 series that I replaced it with all sync'ed at several hundred kbps higher and always held sync as low as 0.1dB .

The 582n from Plusnet on FTTC of course has nothing to do with the sync speed. I don't know what it is like on ADSL2+.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

That was always a complaint about the Thomson/Technicolor routers on BE and O2. Good routers (not as many options as an ASUS or Draytek) but poor on WiFi.

The TG582n has surprisingly good wireless performance, and I can assure you that it is absolutely nothing like my old Be router which was truly shocking, the worst I've ever seen. It's a neat little router that does its job well, and is great value even at retail let alone for delivery cost.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Yet my old 585 was fine.

My own, pre-joining O2, and the O2 supplied one, both lost sync when the noise margin fell below 3.5dB. (Starting from a sync at 6dB).

Several Netgear 834 series that I replaced it with all sync'ed at several hundred kbps higher and always held sync as low as 0.1dB .

The 582n from Plusnet on FTTC of course has nothing to do with the sync speed. I don't know what it is like on ADSL2+.

i was on about Wi-fi to be honest as this is the problem that the Plusnet routers have, considering how old my 585 is wi-fi was fine.

Sure in ADSl performance my 585 was ok, but not a patch on the Netgear 834. The 582n is ok on ADSL2+, saying that the person i know who have one on ADSL, lives pretty close to the exchange, but again the Wi-fi fails it.

i know two people who is on plusnet, one ADSl , one FTTC.

Going back to the OP original query, Bt support is still naff.

In reply to a post by vimto_girl:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

That was always a complaint about the Thomson/Technicolor routers on BE and O2. Good routers (not as many options as an ASUS or Draytek) but poor on WiFi.

The TG582n has surprisingly good wireless performance, and I can assure you that it is absolutely nothing like my old Be router which was truly shocking, the worst I've ever seen. It's a neat little router that does its job well, and is great value even at retail let alone for delivery cost.

then all I can say, you must have a house with very thin walls all be very close to the router.