Opinions on Plusnet

[Draggletail 58]

I must come back to this thread and read it properly

 

I'm not exactly happy with Plusnet just now, having been without broadband for over a week, and having no help whatsoever from their customer support team

 

I left 'em last week. Now on the highly recommended 'Nildram' - very similar package to the one I had at plusnet, includes 500 free phone call minutes per month, on/off peak, local/national

 

Must admit, my connection problems have not been solved so I'm doing a router firmware download his weekend.

My post on this

 

Or having just read This maybe I will hang fire on the firmware upgrade. Seems that a new ISP can take a while to 'kick in'

And the onnection has been better today (the third day on the new ISP.......)

[lalaland 10]

Lost interest at this point, as where your starting to be abusive

Being abusive? Where? I always make a point not to be abusive to people. I made an observation as I think it's wrong to do what you claim you've done in the past, how is that good customer service?

- wanna say it to my face in person? Nah, thought not, you just sit and be abusive behind your little keyboard.

Oh here we go, the usual internet hard man, yawn.... I'm sorry, I come on here to have intelligent conversation with people, looks like there's little point discussing this with you.

 

The ISP I worked for has little relevance, nor was it plusnet. My customer service skills are very high, but you are failing to see the bigger picture on things, that just because they sound like they know what they are talking about, does not nessasarily mean they actually do.

Actually I am looking for customer service that offers a good level of exactly that, customer service. The ISP I am with and the ISP my employer is with both have excellent customer service that are friendly, fast and knowledgable. That's what I look for in a company, the ability to handle the requirements of it's customers. Plusnet seem unable to do this, the ISP I am with now seems more than capable.

 

Good customer service is getting what the company wants but on the same hand keeping the customer sweet.

Fair enough, that's your view on good customer service. Good customer service to me is where the company is able to help the customer, meet their needs, help them with issues and make sure they are happy. After all, surely the customer is the biggest asset of the company, without them what's the point in being in business?

[lalaland 10]

It's nice to see that while I've been out more of you have come forward and pointed out you are unhappy with Plusnet too.

 

As they are a Sheffield company I suspect they will have the odd staff member on here that may mention this thread to their management. Maybe we should invite them to post on here any response they wish to make?

 

Either way, it may actually be noticed that people are unhappy and that support and connectivity just isn't what it used to be.

[Ivor&Mel 10]

If you want an idea of the extent of dissatisaction amongst Plusnet customers, then have a read through the Community Support section within the Plusnet forums:

 

http://portal.plus.net/central/forums/index.php

 

I've been with Plusnet for a few years and am unsure about whether or not to continue with them because they have made so many half-cocked statements about their direction and account limits. But I will stay, through inertia and through "better the devil you know". They ARE trying to provide a decent, fast service at a reasonable price, and they have some good back-end staff on the forums (and on public forums like http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ and Usenet) who are willing to talk about the issues. Front-line support is certainly an area which needs improving, and I'm not sure that setting up 2 different phone support levels, one of which is chargeable at 50P per minute, is a particularly great move...

[SHsheff 10]

I've recently moved to Plusnet, on the recommendation of another forum user, largely because of the 24 hour technical support. My previous ISP, Eclipse, had no techie support after 8pm nor from 6pm Saturday until 9 am Monday. Which of course makes sense, because what kind of fool customer wants to use the internet in the evenings or over the weekend?

 

So far, I've had no probs with Plusnet. Yes I had to wait 40 mins or so for someone to answer my call but I was just grateful that I didn't have to wait until morning! Maybe that made my expectations that bit lower.

 

But, when I finally got to speak, Mr TechiSupport was smashing, told me how to sort out my wireless router prob too.

 

I agree that a 50p/min helpline is offputting. If that's going to fund a quicker response time maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Tho' I'd not be happy.

[pc-med 10]

gingablade - are you sure about the 50p / min charge for telephone support? From what I know of plusnet they have always boasted that their support is charged at local rate (unlike most other ISP's).

 

Where is the info from? Can you say?

[Ivor&Mel 10]

gingablade - are you sure about the 50p / min charge for telephone support? From what I know of plusnet they have always boasted that their support is charged at local rate (unlike most other ISP's).

 

Where is the info from? Can you say?

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=2628

[jd_sheff 10]

For all those recently noticing slowdowns with Plusnet/Force9 this seems to be caused by an unannounced policy of discriminating against or putting on a back burner users who maintain a 24/7 connection.

 

Around the new year (can't remember exactly when it was) Plusnet/Force9 introduced a policy of idle disconnect for users who have been idle for 30 mins. I have a router and hence disabled this and also my router maintained a 24/7 connection anyway as it would reconnect itself if it found the connection had gone down.

 

Anyway to cut a long story short I'd noticed the latency was going up on my connection and the connection was getting slower. So on a hunch recently I wondered if Plusnet/Force9 were discriminating against 24/7 connected users and re-enabled idle disconnect and also set my router to idle disconnect after 20 mins. Since then I have had a much better internet connection even after been online upto 10 hours at a time it's like I'm on a different network pipe at the ISP as it is always fast. As long as I idle disconnect next time I log on I'll again have a fast connection.

 

Anyway it seems Plusnet/Force9 have configured their system to put 24/7 users on congested or high contention sections of their network and reward users who don't stay permanently connected.

[gingablade 10]

in reply to ivor & mel

 

I was wrong i misread the blurb i was sent from Plusnet it actually reads as follows (direct from Plusnet)

 

Whilst our web site will probably be the most convenient way to get help, we realise many people (particularly those new to the Internet) may have questions not directly-related to technical difficulties. The service we provide will allow you to do lots of different things – if you know how to use it.

 

That’s why we are setting up a consultancy phone line where the web site information can be discussed if necessary. We plan to charge 50p per minute to cover the cost of training our team and providing this service. We believe it will only be a worthwhile service if the people on the end of the phone know what they are talking about; there is nothing worse than ringing somewhere for help only to discover you know more than the person at the other end. By charging for this service we can keep on investing in quality people and make sure they are constantly given training to keep them in step with the technology changes that are just around the corner.

 

We also believe you will look at our web site for your answers before calling our 50p per minute consultancy line. If this happens we can continue to provide a low cost service that evolves with new technology. We don’t want to make money from your phone calls - we want to provide answers online and keep our cost as low as possible.

 

Over the next week or so we will be sending you details of how to get hold of our help and advice. We intend to make it clear where to look for the answers to your questions. If you can spend a little time looking over the information now, it might save you time and stress in the future

[sccsux 10]

Lost interest at this point, as where your starting to be abusive

 

Strange, I can't see anyone being abusive?

 

TBH I was thinking the same as lalaland (in that you were in the employ of Plus/Farce9).

 

 

Now on the highly recommended 'Nildram'

 

Nildram are a very good ISP. You should have few problems:thumbsup:

[eltel 10]

All ISPs unless they have their own equipment buys so much capacity from BT wholesale. As with telephones if everyone, connected to the exchange wanted to make a call at the same time then a big majority would not get dial tone. It would be prohibitive to provide enough equipment to do so. A formula is used depending on what type of area your in to decide the level of equipment to be provided. With broadband it is the isp who decides what capacity is required for its customer base not BT. If its too high then it as spare capacity going to waste and therefore looses money, If its too low then it either has to go beyond its bought range and therefore penalised, or if there is no overflow capacity then it has to restrict what its customers have. It is the ISP decision on its requirements how it operates. The broadband equipment in the exchange is provided by different companies but it is to the same spec. It will therefore make no difference which piece of equipment you’re connected to. BT have a legal requirement and do, provide the same level of service and equipment to all ISP including its own. BT wholesale has to estimate the total level of demand in each of its 5600 exchanges not only now but in the future, not an easy task. BT is not perfect and does make mistakes, when it does the ISP usually complains to Ofcom. However it as been known for ISPs to make mistakes and of course blame BT for their failings.

The lines from the Exchange to a customers premises are now totally looked after by BT openreach. All ISP who either use BT wholesale or who have their own equipment in the exchange must use openreach.. Openreach are highly regulated and legally required to treat all users of the lines with the same level of service. An ISP will lease a line from openreach for 1 year at a rate decided by Ofcom. This is why it usually a 12-month contract.

 

as an after thought just in case someones not sure I do work for BT.

[Strix 11]

Just for info Plusnet will in the near future be charging 50p a min for telephone tech support ...

Right. Well. Hmm. That was the main reason I was recommending them to friends who were getting broadband for the first time. That's put the kybosh on that then