John Lewis Broadband

I have had an Email from JohnLewis saying they are discontinuing their service. They use Plusnet but where does this leave me? Anyone know why and what will happen?

We’re getting in touch to let you know about some changes to John Lewis Broadband which is provided by Plusnet who are part of the BT Group.
Regrettably, John Lewis will be closing its broadband and email services.
We’d like to reassure you that you don’t need to do anything yet and Plusnet will continue to provide your broadband service as normal. We’ll be back in touch with options to choose from, before any changes take place for you.
We’ve included some helpful FAQs and you can also get more information about Plusnet and these changes here.
If you use our email services – which end @john-lewis.com, @waitrose.com or @greenbee.net – we’d suggest reading the FAQs on this subject.
Thanks for being a John Lewis Broadband customer. We’ll be here to support you with the changes ahead of the service ending, and to make the process as easy as possible.
John Lewis Broadband (Provided by Plusnet)

Surely the email you have posted tells you where it leaves you? PlusNet will continue to provide the service. John Lewis will give you more updates with options. Seems everything you need to know at this point is in that message and they will tell you more in due course.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/10/isp-pl...

At this point it's not clear what the options will be - whether there will be a direct path to becoming a Plusnet customer, or whether the user base will migrated to a different ISP entirely.

However, at that point it will be at your option whether to accept the migration they offer, or to migrate yourself to a different ISP.

EDIT: if the update to ispreview's article is correct, then JLB customers will be offered a migration to becoming Plusnet direct customers.

Edited by candlerb (Wed 12-Oct-22 13:39:45)

Yes I’m not daft. Just wondered if there was any background. It’s not just me affected ALL JL customers. Bit like when the small energy companies folded. Shame JL are pulling out it was a good deal and they were a good company. I hope Plusnet are as good.

In reply to a post by Pjhumpy:

I hope Plusnet are as good.

It was actually Plusnet providing the service for JL, just branded with JL logos. See the ISPreview link above.

NOTE: John Lewis Broadband is a trading name of John Lewis plc, but the services are provided by Plusnet and the contract for these services is between the customer and Plusnet plc.

Edited by jchamier (Wed 12-Oct-22 14:15:20)

In reply to a post by Pjhumpy:

Shame JL are pulling out it was a good deal and they were a good company.

I suspect this is a BT group decision to pull the plug, not a JL decision.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Pjhumpy:

I hope Plusnet are as good.

It was actually Plusnet providing the service for JL, just branded with JL logos.

Yes. My late mother in law was with JL when she died. Previously she had been with Plusnet. When I tried to shut her account down with 'JL' customer services, they initially claimed she had already left. She had the same username on PN and JL.

I found out after some considerable hair pulling yesterday that PlusNet have stopped providing an email account to new customers.

As far as I am concerned they give very good value for money and good support at the moment. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Yeah looks like JLP are extracting their digits out of all sorts of pies they had em in for years.

We have to jump through hoops shortly on our JLP partnership card as they’re changing backend credit providers and literally booting everyone off the existing platform. It’s not a seamless change.

Seems like mupperty to me, but it may be a way for them to get rid of rubbish credit clients. Who knows.

Don't worry about Plusnet no longer offering email --- they have done you a favour! I''ve been very pleased with PN service for many years but gave up even trying to set up their free, clunky and unreliable email ... you get what you pay for.

This applies to other 'free' packages and I don't like Google spying so I pay an independent supplier. Also means that I can switch ISP and keep my email accounts.

In reply to a post by longedge:

I found out after some considerable hair pulling yesterday that PlusNet have stopped providing an email account to new customers.

I was a customer for 6 years and never had a PN email, so you probably started a while back. If you have a domain name and want super professional email, Microsoft Exchange Online is £3+vat a month per user/mailbox. Or their free outlook.com is pretty good. Or for less is the likes of Gandi, and 1and1 etc.

I was with F9 originally and been with PlusNet since the mid 90's. I made the mistake of using that email address for all my contacts but I've also got a hotmail account and email with webspace on tsohost. It's just the thought of having so many to change and the ones that I'll forget. To be honest I have never had an issue with PlusNet email and I like the ability to use anything at all before the @ which allows me to set rules up in Outlook based on the recipient.

In reply to a post by longedge:

To be honest I have never had an issue with PlusNet email and I like the ability to use anything at all before the @ which allows me to set rules up in Outlook based on the recipient.

I understand why you use it, just that given PN no longer want to be in the email business I would suggest looking at others in case they give you notice.

What you describe (*@domain) is known as a catch-all address, and they fell out of favour, as you don't want to receive to mailbox names you aren't using, you want SMTP to refuse the connection.

It shows how old their setup is - a bit worrying.

(and I remember SMTP email on Demon £10 a month dialup in the 1990s).

I also use the *@domain with filtering in thunderbird, which allows me to spot addresses which have been 'sold on' to remove any emails so addressed.

I also used demon as a dialup - seems like a very long time ago now.