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Out of the frying pan in to the fire??

I have recently changed ISP's a couple of times, originally I was with Wanadoo and had 18+ months of reliable service (and never any complaints of excessive usage). Due to their pricing I started to look around for a cheaper alternative. I will freely admit that I fell for the Tiscali (more like "take the Pisscali") pitch and decided to migrate. Went from my excellent, reliable 1meg service to a useless, incredibly unreliable 2meg service.

Usual story with Tiscali customer services in Bombay, run through checklist, "not a fault on our network, has to be on your end", keeping asking me to re-check the modem (I use a Netgear router), can't understand that the fault is not on my line. Nothing has changed at my end, the only change has been the ISP. After two weeks of this (one Saturday night the connection dropped out 44 times between 5pm and 11.30pm, after this I stopped counting but kept my router logs up to date) I asked for an MAC code, usual prevarication - "12 month contract", my response - "I'll see you in court for breach of contract for failing to provide a reliable and usable service". Lots of letters sent, including one that contained some copies of my router logs addressed to their MD, result - I had to phone and ask about MAC code at which point they gave it to me over the phone. Result = never once had a bill or DD payment taken from my bank for their service, not received any letters try to chase the 12 month contract payment.

Next mistake? Choosing PlusNet before discovering this place. Now I am having almost exactly the same problems with Plus, they are also of the opinion that the problem does not lie with them. After reading all the reviews on this site I doubt their confidence in their network. They have performed all sorts of tests and have again gone through all the same checks with me that Tiscali did, nothing changed. Fault referred to BT, no fault found.

The question that comes from this is how likely is it that the problem is at my end? I mostly experience disconnections at peak times (you could almost set your watch by it) with the occasion drop out early in the morning. During the day and in the early hours of the morning there is no problem whatsoever.

Am I better off trying to get this sorted out with PlusNet or should I just bite the bullet and get my MAC code and go to Zen? Will I get the same problems with Zen?

Plus are currently talking of having a BT engineer visit my home to check my equipment which I am liable for the cost of if they find a fault, Plus will not tell me what would happen if they don't find one. As my previous 1meg connection was fine I have even asked them to move me back to that speed which they have failed to do.

If anyone can provide any advice on this or if it sounds at all familiar please let me know. I can provide background info such as the data that Plus have from all their 'tests'.

Thanks in advance.

Phil
 
I am with Plusnet, rock solid connection(2MB), I have just checked and my connection has been on for 8days+.

The last disconnect was by me.

If you change ISP, you will only have to start all over again, at least Plusnet are giving you help.
 
To be honest, I have to admit that PlusNet's customer service is a massive improvement on Tiscali but this does not solve my problem. As stated, I had asked them to move me back to a 1meg connection which they have failed to do. Until the speed increase (combined with a change in ISP) I had no problems, the only time that my Wanadoo connection dropped out was very occasionally during electrical storms, in which case it would usually reconnect within a few minutes. If the problem is with PlusNet and their capacity to handle new customers on their network (as seems to be the case with Tiscali) then how likely are they to admit it?

I suppose what I am looking for is a technical opinion on whether the problem is at their end, my end, or is down to line length from my exchange causing excess noise and a reduced SNR resulting in repeated disconnections during peak times - and if it is down to speed etc then will changing back to 1meg solve the problem? Has anyone else experienced anything similar with PlusNet? I am prepared to go through changing ISP again but I need to be sure that I will be doing the right thing, although I am considering this anyway due to all the comments I have seen regarding PlusNet's habit of throttling connections speeds due to their frequently changing usage guidelines.

No offence but just commenting that your connection is fine does not really help me. My average connection time during 5pm and 10.30pm is 4 minutes, beyond 2:30 it won't transfer data so the connection is only usable for that time. I have even known it disconnect within a couple of seconds.
 
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I used to be with plusnet before joined core isp as I never experience a drop out with plusnet and yes they do have a solid connection averages between 1800k and 1940k at all times, I been with plusnet for 13 months. Been totally let down from traffic shaping and speed throttled on p2p file-sharing or heavy download.

Beware: plusnet is now restrict 5gb per month on broadband plus and 30gb on broadband premier before you get a warning email. That's why I left them as they used to be very good and unlimited but since 6 months backwards, plusnet kept changing T & C all the times and management kept changing usages, products etc.
 
If you can, go with one of the solid ones. Zen, eclipse, etc.

They are a bit more expensive, but then whats the hassle worth...
 
philby21 said:
No offence but just commenting that your connection is fine does not really help me. My average connection time during 5pm and 10.30pm is 4 minutes, beyond 2:30 it won't transfer data so the connection is only usable for that time. I have even known it disconnect within a couple of seconds.

Surely if my Plusnet connection is working fine and rock solid, it proves that at least Plusnet are not at fault.

I note that you have now " double posted " this query, which, to be honest, only confuses matters.

There are many valid critical comments about Plusnet on this forum, some from me included, but customer service issues and dependable connections are not amongst them.

Where else will you get a UK based 24/7 support on an 0845 number?

Not, dare I say, even at Zen ( unless things have changed recently ).
 
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Old dude said:
If you can, go with one of the solid ones. Zen, eclipse, etc.

They are a bit more expensive, but then whats the hassle worth...

Old Dude, Plusnet is " solid ", they may have other issues, but at least their connections are rock solid and totally reliable.

I am a Plusnet user, not a great Plusnet fan, but I like to see fair comment.

I am sure both Zen and Eclipse are both excellent ISP's, but you are not comparing like with like on a price basis.
 
philby21 said:
I have recently changed ISP's a couple of times, originally I was with Wanadoo and had 18+ months of reliable service (and never any complaints of excessive usage). Due to their pricing I started to look around for a cheaper alternative. I will freely admit that I fell for the Tiscali (more like "take the Pisscali") pitch and decided to migrate. Went from my excellent, reliable 1meg service to a useless, incredibly unreliable 2meg service.

Usual story with Tiscali customer services in Bombay, run through checklist, "not a fault on our network, has to be on your end", keeping asking me to re-check the modem (I use a Netgear router), can't understand that the fault is not on my line. Nothing has changed at my end, the only change has been the ISP. After two weeks of this (one Saturday night the connection dropped out 44 times between 5pm and 11.30pm, after this I stopped counting but kept my router logs up to date) I asked for an MAC code, usual prevarication - "12 month contract", my response - "I'll see you in court for breach of contract for failing to provide a reliable and usable service". Lots of letters sent, including one that contained some copies of my router logs addressed to their MD, result - I had to phone and ask about MAC code at which point they gave it to me over the phone. Result = never once had a bill or DD payment taken from my bank for their service, not received any letters try to chase the 12 month contract payment.

Next mistake? Choosing PlusNet before discovering this place. Now I am having almost exactly the same problems with Plus, they are also of the opinion that the problem does not lie with them. After reading all the reviews on this site I doubt their confidence in their network. They have performed all sorts of tests and have again gone through all the same checks with me that Tiscali did, nothing changed. Fault referred to BT, no fault found.

The question that comes from this is how likely is it that the problem is at my end? I mostly experience disconnections at peak times (you could almost set your watch by it) with the occasion drop out early in the morning. During the day and in the early hours of the morning there is no problem whatsoever.

Am I better off trying to get this sorted out with PlusNet or should I just bite the bullet and get my MAC code and go to Zen? Will I get the same problems with Zen?

Plus are currently talking of having a BT engineer visit my home to check my equipment which I am liable for the cost of if they find a fault, Plus will not tell me what would happen if they don't find one. As my previous 1meg connection was fine I have even asked them to move me back to that speed which they have failed to do.

If anyone can provide any advice on this or if it sounds at all familiar please let me know. I can provide background info such as the data that Plus have from all their 'tests'.

Thanks in advance.

Phil

This is exactly the problem I've been having, although with a different ISP, Garner Digital. Until December, I had a 512k connection with Customnet that never failed. Customnet then passed their business on to Garner. They upgraded me to a 1MB connection (apparently we are too far from the excahnge to get 2MB). Everything was fine until 2 weeks ago. Then I started getting disconnects and extremely slow speeds, but only during peak hours (7pm - 9pm weekdays and 9am - 9pm weekends). Garner reckon there is no problem at their end and suggested all sorts of things to check at my end.

Like you, I can't understand how a problem with my hardware or internal wiring could cause a problem at regular times. I had a phone call from BT Wholesale saying they were coming out to check my line tomorrow. No mention of charges. They are coming in the afternoon, so my connection will probably be fine. If there is no problem with my hardware, BT can't find a fault on the line and Garner say there is no problem, what can I do ?
 
Inactive said:
Where else will you get a UK based 24/7 support on an 0845 number?
NDO/Namesco offer 24/7 at 0845 rates too... www.ndo.com / www.names.co.uk

They had support staff in Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day :)

NDO/Namesco appear to put their customers before their shareholders too. And the goalposts don't keep moving.
 
Inactive said:
Old Dude, Plusnet is " solid ", they may have other issues, but at least their connections are rock solid and totally reliable.

I am a Plusnet user, not a great Plusnet fan, but I like to see fair comment.

I am sure both Zen and Eclipse are both excellent ISP's, but you are not comparing like with like on a price basis.


Im going by what I hear. A friend recently signed up with plusnet, few problems.

And they really dont know what they are doing at the moment, but they do keep moving the goalposts. Not what I would call solid.

From people on Zen, and me and others being on eclipse, I know these are as solid as a rock. I cannot speak for other ISPs, so I didnt mention them. However, going by what I have seen recently, plusnet would not be in my 'solid' list.

And I do beleive I said they are a little more expensive...
 
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As I posted in your other thread about this http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=20195 , it could be because of the speed upgrade when you changed ISP 2mb/s needs lower attenuation and higher SNR than 1mb/s.

BT may have to downgrade the speed to give a reliable connection.

It might be a problem with a filter, extension wiring, electrically noisy appliance (central heating pump etc) I've even come across a poster who said that his router's firmware required upgrading to support 2mb/s.

My connection's SNR (which wasn't brilliant to start with) used to drop significantly in the evening, this sometimes seemed to result in CRC errors. I disconnected the ring wire and 4th unused wire from the internal extensions where they connected to the faceplate of the master socket. The SNR is much more stable now and the router reports fewer "errored seconds" in a month than I was getting each day.
 
Last edited:
Old dude said:
Im going by what I hear. A friend recently signed up with plusnet, few problems.

And they really dont know what they are doing at the moment, but they do keep moving the goalposts. Not what I would call solid.

.


Ok, fair comment Old dude, but my comments related to " solid " as in connection, they cannot be faulted on providing a rock solid connection.

I agree with your comments re; " moving the goal posts ", that does get up my nose as well, but until their moving goal posts have any adverse effects on my connection, I will probably stay the course, on a better the devil you know basis.
 
GJH said:
NDO/Namesco offer 24/7 at 0845 rates too... www.ndo.com / www.names.co.uk

They had support staff in Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day :)

NDO/Namesco appear to put their customers before their shareholders too. And the goalposts don't keep moving.


Took a look, so fair comment re' the 24/7 UK based call centre with 0845 access.

Only downside that I spotted was the 50.1 contention ratio, but that aint the end of the world I suppose.

I will keep them on my short list for when Plusnet finally go too far with their moving goal posts.

Thanks for the info.
 
If this happerns in the evenings, have you looked at the posibilities that if could be other factors causing the problem such as:

Do u have sky? (can cause problems)
More frequent use of the home phone (dodgy filters)
Any electrical equipment thats not used durin the day but at night (might be causing interference)

dunno if ya ISP has asked you to check this. But just making sure.
 
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Quincy - yes I have checked all these things, the only thing that is on during the evening that doesn't get used at all during the day is the lights. There is no additional use of the phone and yes I do have Sky but that is plugged in all day, every day, I've tried disconnecting it and it has had no effect.

I am waiting for my speed to be changed back to 1meg as that was perfectly stable previously. I will let everyone know what happens.
 
Are you able to get any line stats i.e. SNR, Attentuation from your modem/router that you can post here ? They may well highlight the problem
 
bignige said:
Are you able to get any line stats i.e. SNR, Attentuation from your modem/router that you can post here ? They may well highlight the problem

I'll need to update my router's firmware to get them, I'll do that tonight and post the results here.
 
philby21 said:
Quincy - yes I have checked all these things, the only thing that is on during the evening that doesn't get used at all during the day is the lights. There is no additional use of the phone and yes I do have Sky but that is plugged in all day, every day, I've tried disconnecting it and it has had no effect.

I am waiting for my speed to be changed back to 1meg as that was perfectly stable previously. I will let everyone know what happens.

My ISP arranged for the BT engineers (now called OpenReach) to come round yesterday. They were finding a lot of faults on my line and a lot of noise. The noise margin originally was about 10dB. They disconnected an (unused) extension cable that was plugged into my master socket and the margin went to 17dB. I connected my modem directly to the socket, rather than through an extension and the margin went to 23dB. They suggested I get a better quality long modem cable rather than use an extension (Belkin sell gold plated, shielded cables). When my modem was reading 23dB, the BT kit was reading 29dB. Either my modem introduces some noise or the measurements aren't that consistent.
The BT guys suggested that the noise levels now were good enough to try a 2MB connection, rather than the 1MB I get now
 
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