Plusnet Bandwidth Limit

Thought I'd share my experience of plusnet at the weekend. Had a call from my uncle to say his broadband wasn't working. Went around and the router was synched and had authenticated - all looked fine except I couldn't get to websites. After a bit of playing (and trying another router) I found it could get to the plusnet main website but couldn't get to any others (including the plusnet portal).
So, rang plusnet. Went through the couple of button presses to get through to support. And as soon as I pressed 3 for support the guy answered - blimey, should ring up on sunday afternoons more often Maybe it's the snow, no-one can get home so just man the support desk?
Anyway, very nice chap and as soon as I gave him the username he said "I think I see the problem". My uncle was on the old £9.99 package with 2GB bandwidth and in the last couple of months has started using skype - so, his bandwidth had tipped over with 3 days of the month to go.
The support guy added another GB and advised on upgrading the package to value.
So, this is all good. But, I asked why he had been blocked from sites rather than just being throttled to 128Kb/s which is what should happen. Apparently there is sometimes a bug in the system that does this.
Also, asked what use it was not giving a message and not having access to the portal pages. Again, he agreed and said it is something they should sort out.
So, firstly well done to plusnet for first class support in this case. Was very pleased with the support response.
Secondly, why did it happen in the first place? For all of those that have set a hard cap be warned that you may just suddenly lose access to the internet with no explanation and no way to get to the portal to fix it.

Let's hope one of the reps. picks your point up

Hi Ian72,

It sounds like he's on the BBYW option 1 package, and I suspect given what you're saying that he also had the data transfer watch set, which may well have led to you being restricted access to everything but the portal. Would you mind dropping me a PM with his username so I can take a look at what's happened?

I'll PM you the username. It is BBYW Option 1 and the limit watch was set. But I thought that it either automatically dropped to 128Kbps when the limit was hit or would come up with a page allowing you to increase the allowance. Just blocking access to everything apart from the plusnet main website doesn't help anything - unless you try the website it just looks as if the internet connection is dead (and my Uncle was going to go and buy a new router because he thought it must be that - luckily he spoke to me first).

Thanks for that.

Right, it definitely is the data transfer watch - as per the page at http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/res_b... this does restrict the connection, and in the way that you saw on your uncle's account. Unfortunately the page linked doesn't clarify how the connection is restricted, this has been raised to our content team.

The upgrade is indeed scheduled and should go through overnight tonight.

Thanks Matt. Yes, the page says "your connection will be restricted at all times" if you go over the data watch limit. I understood in the past that meant it would be limited to 128Kbps not that it would be stopped from going anywhere but the plusnet main website. Making this clearer would definitely be appreciated (although hopefully won't hit it again as my uncle is unlikely to go over 10GB - but you never know).

Cheers,
Ian.

Matt,
The account has not been upgraded. It is still on BBYW Option 1 and the new billing month has started. Please can you look into why it has not upgraded when the upgrade process clearly said it was set to upgrade on the new billing date and you confirmed here that it was going ahead.
Thanks,
Ian.

Hi there,

Sorry about the lack of change there, I'm looking into what happened but suspect a rollout caused a delay of the billing run. Unfortunately because the subscription is still being taken I can't make the change now, however I'd be happy to credit off any extra usage that's charged up to the 10GB that the account should be. I'll also make sure the account is changed as soon as the payment has cleared.

Thanks Matt. I will keep an eye on it. Hopefully they won't go over the limit this month but if they do then it will be good to get the difference refunded.

Hi Matt,
Looks like the account is heading to go over the 2GB. Are things in place for this account to upgrade for next months billing? Do I need to resubmit the upgrade request via the portal?
Cheers.