My experience with PlusNet

[qian]

I signed up a £14.99 monthly contract with PlusNet for unlimited download broadband and my broadband was activated on 14th August. On the 17th August the internet promptly failed. The following Monday, which was the 21st of August, the broadband died again Instead of enjoying a PlusNet broadband service for the following two weeks, I have been forced to sit on their customer service help line and spend lots of time and energy sorting out the broadband connection problem. The PlusNet help line is frankly useless seeing as there are no operators available to talk to and it often directs you to WebPages - useless without an Internet connection. I did ask PlusNet to cancel my account during the period and was demanded £72.00 for as deferred activation fee etc. Spending £86.99 for one week’s Internet usage sounded ridiculous! I was forced to stay with PlusNet after my connection problem was fixed and so hoped everything would work from now on. Then I received an email from PlusNet two weeks after my second billing month started and then I realized what I got from PlusNet was not in fact a completely unlimited contract and actually had a peak time usage allowance for 4GB attached.
Surely 4GB is not big enough for me. Seeing what has happened to nasman, I am really scared of asking for MAC from PlusNet to move to other ADSL broadband provider. I am now considering upgrading my contract with PlusNet for more broadband usage and but I am reluctant to do this, as I don’t what will come next from PlusNet. In the meantime I have asked PlusNet to close my account but I don’t know where else to go. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

[Inactive]

Actually, you never signed up for an " unlimited " service in August, the limits have been in place for much longer, as you have come to realise.

If you have now asked Plusnet to close your account, you will not be able to go with any other company until your BT line is clear, which means paying Plusnet their deferred costs, that you agreed to at sign up.

I am with Plusnet, I paid the costs upfront, I am on their £21.99 package on a monthly wires only connection.

 

[qian]

Using NTL broadband is an alternative without having my BT line clear. I had been a NTL customer for many years. NTL 'free setup' is really free and its unlimited usage is real as well. That is how I understood PlusNet's 'free setup' and 'no fixed usage' when I signed up. It teaches me signing a contract without reading every single word. Though NTL broadband is very reliable, NTL service is a mess. I moved house on 3rd August and my phone line with NTL was only disconnected yesterday after many hours phone calls made to NTL. NTL still owes me some money. That is why I am hesitate to go back to NTL.

Inactive, are you happy with PlusNet £21.99 package? Do you loose your internet connection randomly? What average speed do you get from PlusNet broadband connection?

 

[Inactive]

Inactive, are you happy with PlusNet £21.99 package? Do you loose your internet connection randomly? What average speed do you get from PlusNet broadband connection?

Very happy, never, ever lose connection, I am on Max, so it does vary, lowest was 1402, highest 5557.

I hope that helps.

 

[ItsMe]

If you are unhappy with the way PN have treated you, why are you giving them more money? You know that they will continue to ignore customers, spin as much as they can, pull the wool over your eyes and like the present Buisness Contract row, generally try and extract as much money and urine from the client as possible.

 

[Inactive]

I take it you don't like Plusnet then...

I am sure there is some truth in what you say, however, there are far worse ISP's out there...Talk Talk, Orange, Sky etc. that just don't seem to get the same publicity that Plusnet do.

 

[qian]

No other choice

It is true that I am not happy with PlusNet. My Internet speed can only reach up to 1.5 Mbps this morning. This speed is ridiculous at off-peak time. I have to give more money to PlusNet as I need more broadband usage. Apart from that, what else can I do before I find a better broadband provider?

 

[ItsMe]

"Apart from that, what else can I do before I find a better broadband provider?"

If it was moi, I would be making a decision on a new provider very soon, after looking at threads here and on AG and be more concerned with moving thtan giving this loy any more of my dosh.

I gave them enough and am glad I got away.

 

[qian]

I have upgraded my account to £21.99 package. Do not know how long I would be with PlusNet as there are still problems with my Internet connection. My connection is dropped randomly with unknown reasons. My download speed has never exceeded 1.0 Mbps. The 1.5 Mbps that I mentioned before was a SYNC speed, not a download speed.

 

[guest]

" Do not know how long I would be with PlusNet "

Many ISP's make you take a new 12 month contract with an upgrade, don't PN?

 

[qian]

I have upgraded my account from £14.99 monthly contract to £21.99 monthly contract. Hopefully £72.00 is all PN would ask for if I leave now. Having monthly contacts might be what makes PN attractive.

 

[JBailey]

I signed up a £14.99 monthly contract with PlusNet for unlimited download broadband and my broadband was activated on 14th August. On the 17th August the internet promptly failed. The following Monday, which was the 21st of August, the broadband died again Instead of enjoying a PlusNet broadband service for the following two weeks, I have been forced to sit on their customer service help line and spend lots of time and energy sorting out the broadband connection problem. The PlusNet help line is frankly useless seeing as there are no operators available to talk to and it often directs you to WebPages - useless without an Internet connection. I did ask PlusNet to cancel my account during the period and was demanded £72.00 for as deferred activation fee etc. Spending £86.99 for one week’s Internet usage sounded ridiculous! I was forced to stay with PlusNet after my connection problem was fixed and so hoped everything would work from now on. Then I received an email from PlusNet two weeks after my second billing month started and then I realized what I got from PlusNet was not in fact a completely unlimited contract and actually had a peak time usage allowance for 4GB attached.

Hi there,

As is mentioned later down in this thread, the £14.99 does not offer an unlimited service, nor do any of our other services. At the end of the day, anyone claiming to offer an unlimited service has a fair usage policy and their advertising is as such 'questionable'.

I'm sorry that you've suffered difficulties with your internet connection, but unfortunately, with the way that broadband service is supplied in this country, it's something that everyone may suffer. If you're still having problems, I'm happy to look into them.

It sounds like our Premier service would be better suited for you. This is charged at £21.99 a month, offering 20GB peak traffic a month (4pm to midnight) with no set restrictions outside of these hours. Upgrading to this product would not result in any changes to your contract.

 

[JBailey]

Qian,

Can I possibly take your username so that I can have a look into the speed problems that you are reporting?

 

[qian]

Hi James,

Thank you for offering a help with my speed problem. My username is lixutong. My download speed seems to have never reached 1.0
Mbps. As most of my internet usage is remote desk control. When the speed drops to a certain level, remote desk control is unusable. I would be grateful if you could sort out my speed problem.

 

[JBailey]

Hi Qian,

Looking at your line, BT have set a speed restriction of 1152, hence our "stable rate" (possibly the worst name of all time) being set at 1000.

What kind of speeds are you getting from http://speedtester.bt.com? This would prove speed to your exchange, taking our network out of consideration.

Do you know what kind of speeds your modem/router is gaining synchronisation from the exchange at? My tester is a little broken currently :/

 

[qian]

Hi James,

Sorry for the delayed reply.
The followings are the speeds getting from http://speedtester.bt.com. Using NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless ADSL2+ router:

IP profile for your line is - 1000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 1568 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 896 kbps

Using Voyager 105 ADSL Modem:
IP profile for your line is - 1000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 2304 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 892 kbps

My Voyager 105 ADSL Modem indicates SYN speed as 2.3 Mbps.

Hope those figures make some sense to you.

Cheers!