Plusnet broadband

Hi guys

Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be wireless. Was
hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately their exchange isn't LLU so
they only have access to the £17 pm connect package. Far more than they are
willing to spend given they are both pensioners.

Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless router.
According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score is 86% which seems
pretty reasonable.

Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like the perfect
package for my parents.

Appreciate any comments.

Thanks

Slider wrote:
> Hi guys
>
> Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be wireless. Was
> hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately their exchange
> isn't LLU so they only have access to the £17 pm connect package. Far more
> than they are willing to spend given they are both
> pensioners.
> Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless router.
> According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score is 86% which
> seems pretty reasonable.
>
> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like the
> perfect package for my parents.
>
> Appreciate any comments.
>
> Thanks
>
I've been with them since November 2004. Started on their 2 Mbps service
for £19-99 per month. When I was maxed I eventually was getting d/l speeds
of around 5 Mbps and cost is now £14-99, although they occasionally do
loyalty offers. (eg first 6 months of last year's contract, price was
£9-99). I've had occasional problems, but I've found their Customer
Service second to none. Some of their staff also answer problems (and will
often take action) when prompted in the news group
plusnet.service.customer-feedback and also issue service status, planned
maintenance work and service announcements in the read only newsgroups
plusnet.service.status and plusnet.service.announce.
--
Heard melodies are sweet, but those Unheard are sweeter
(E-Mail Removed) FN 2°°8 +, Mungo Brandybuck of Buckland

Peter Crosland wrote:

> > Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be wireless. Was
> > hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately their exchange isn't LLU so
> > they only have access to the £17 pm connect package. Far more than they
> > are willing to spend given they are both pensioners.
> >
> > Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless router.
> > According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score is 86% which seems
> > pretty reasonable.
> >
> > Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like the perfect
> > package for my parents.
> >
> > Appreciate any comments.
>
> As good as you will get in the real world at an affordable price.

Depends what you call affordable.

Graham

"Slider" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:gge63n$htq$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi guys
>
> Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be
> wireless. Was hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately
> their exchange isn't LLU so they only have access to the £17 pm
> connect package. Far more than they are willing to spend given
> they are both pensioners.
>
> Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless
> router. According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score
> is 86% which seems pretty reasonable.
>
> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like
> the perfect package for my parents.
>
> Appreciate any comments.

I've been with them for over 3 years, and see no reason to
change.
UK based support that's responsive to queries, either by email or
phone, and as reliable as any as far as service is concerned.
For a basic service I'd say Plusnet is a top provider. Better
than most that offer similar packages. BT, Tiscali, come to mind.
Mike.

"Mike G" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Slider" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:gge63n$htq$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi guys
>>
>> Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be wireless. Was
>> hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately their exchange isn't LLU
>> so they only have access to the £17 pm connect package. Far more than
>> they are willing to spend given they are both pensioners.
>>
>> Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless router.
>> According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score is 86% which seems
>> pretty reasonable.
>>
>> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like the perfect
>> package for my parents.
>>
>> Appreciate any comments.
>
> I've been with them for over 3 years, and see no reason to change.
> UK based support that's responsive to queries, either by email or phone,
> and as reliable as any as far as service is concerned.
> For a basic service I'd say Plusnet is a top provider. Better than most
> that offer similar packages. BT, Tiscali, come to mind.
> Mike.
>

Thank you all for your comments. Looks like Plusnet it is then. I have
recommended them to my parents, will see what they say. Go through quidco
they will get £28 cash back as well.

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:16:32 +0000, Slider wrote:

> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet.

I started a contract with Plusnet recently, and - like others in
here - have found them to be very well organised and refreshingly
prompt and responsive to questions and problems (few of the latter).
The new connection was up and running 10 minutes after first
switching the router on.

The only drawbacks I've found are (and these are not uncommon among
ISPs) to do with being away from home (e.g. travelling with laptop):

(1) The SMTP mail server - when not on a Plusnet connection -
cannot be used with an 'indirect' email 'From' address (although they
do provide a 'webmail' service where any email 'From' address can be
set up). The problem with the latter is that one's email database is
split between two different email packages.

(2) One cannot use their news server when not on a Plusnet
connection, so one has either to split one's newsgroups database
between two news servers or use just one news server that is
indepenndent of connection.

--
/\/\aurice
(Retired in Surrey, UK)
Linux Mandriva 2.6.22.19-desktop-2mdv 2008.0 PP 32-bit
KDE 3.5.7 Virtualbox 1.6.6
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

"Slider" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:gge63n$htq$(E-Mail Removed)...

> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet.

It works, nuff said?
If you have a problem, you can speak to someone in England!
It's the cheapest if you can't get the ones beginning with T


--
J B

"198kHz" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:kNGdnVjBC9kwbbfUnZ2dnUVZ8i-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Slider" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:ggekqn$j6u$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Thank you all for your comments. Looks like Plusnet it is then. I have
>> recommended them to my parents, will see what they say. Go through
>> quidco they will get £28 cash back as well.
>
> Er, bad timing this, but don't rush - there's a (hopefully) small hiccup
> at the mo:
>
> http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1227539764.htm

Sorted very soon afterwards, according to the service status newsgroup

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:44:53 +0000, Burton Bradstock wrote:

> I'm not sure what you mean here; are you connecting through another
> ISP when away from home? PN allow 'relaying' through their e-mail
> servers,

Yes, but only if you use your Plusnet email 'from' address.
As you can see, my email address is not a Plusnet address.

> Use an independent supplier; Motzarella, datemas.de, and aioe.org
are
> all free; new.individual.net is superb but costs 10 Euro a year. All
> these are text only. The only slight downside is that the closed PN
> usergroups are only available through a PN connection.

Yes, and I use several of those (for cases where the main one
doesn't carry certain newsgroups), but when connected to Plusnet the
access is turgidly slow**. Only access to the Plusnet news server is
fast.

For most newsgroups I use the UKFSN news server which can be used
from any connection.

(** I took this up with Plusnet, who replied as follows:

"Whilst we don't throttle the NNTP traffic as such, the option 1
package you are on is not designed for newsgroups traffic and as such
you may see a slightly lower speed during peak times than you would on
one of our higher packages."
I don't remember signing up to that!)

--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

"Slider" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:gge63n$htq$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi guys
>
> Looking into an ISP on behalf of my parents. Needs to be wireless. Was
> hoping to get them onto Sky, but unfortunately their exchange isn't LLU so
> they only have access to the £17 pm connect package. Far more than they
> are willing to spend given they are both pensioners.
>
> Plusnet offer a £9.99 package with 2gb limit and free wireless router.
> According to uswitch, the customer satisfaction score is 86% which seems
> pretty reasonable.
>
> Any 'real world' opinions of Plusnet. On paper it seems like the perfect
> package for my parents.
>
> Appreciate any comments.

Probably ok for your parents but any serious broadband users wouldn't go
near them.

Plusnet = Throttling

I.e. Most of the time the connection is crippled to a set maximum speed no
matter how fast your connection is.