ISP Reviews by dinsdale

It's cheap and has basic functionality.

For me it was a huge mistake to move from my previous ISP whose service had begun to deteriorate in respect of patchy mail server access and Usenet speed restrictions.

From the date I signed up with Plusnet it took them over nine weeks to provide me with any level of service and that was only phone. They left me without broadband for a week!

Various dates for the migration failed without comment from Plusnet. After waiting around hopefully on the given days I'd have to contact my former ISP for accurate information or take my chances on the Plusnet helpline.

Apparently my line number was being rejected by Plusnet's alleged system and at one point they told me that it didn't exist at my postcode, despite the fact that I've lived at my present postcode with the same line number for over twenty one years. That part of the problem was resolved when they eventually discovered that a letter 'R' in my postcode had been recorded by BT as a 'P'.

I live in a rural area about 3.5km from the exchange with downstream attenuation of 48dB so speeds are below average. With my old (LLU)ISP I could use my Billion 7800N router to change SNRM according to my needs, so for everyday use I'd have a fairly conservative setting and occasionally lower the margin to reboot at a higher connection speed for larger downloads.

With Plusnet and BT's restrictive line profiling I've hit a glass ceiling with download speeds. Regardless of my connection speed, nominal line error rates or time of day I get the same maximum download speed. It seems as though the 'system' expects my connection speed to be constant for several days.

Since the last reboot (caused by Plusnet) over four days ago my router has been connected at 6784kbps but several speed tests at www.speedtest.net have shown a maximum download speed of around the current 4.72Mbps which is 1Mbps less than I would have expected from my old connection even on a Saturday when contention is more of an issue.

Maybe it works better for other people but my association with Plusnet has been a nightmare so far in respect of both administration and the quality of broadband service offered. At least the mail server works well.

UPDATE 2 Nov 2014

I rang to try and negotiate a cancellation of the remainder of my annual contract and was told that they could indeed make a manual adjustment to my profile speed. The limit was still set too low for some occasions but an acceptable compromise for everyday use.

During the continuous shambles which ensued after I first signed up with Plusnet I was offered two free months of broadband as compensation. This would have been worth £6.98 to me (2 * £3.49); not much but a welcome gesture. In reality I received one month free and now they are poised to charge me £9.99 for the coming month.

This is the 'standard', undiscounted rate. When I signed up the deal was for broadband at £3.49 per month for twelve months plus line rental, currently reduced to £2.50 for new customers. No reply to yesterday morning's email yet and the helpline has a thirty minute lead time. I wonder why!