PlusNet: Thanks a lot.

I have been with PlusNet now for a few months after lurking on this list for
months before my exchange was enabled. PlusNet were always being praised for
their top notch service which is why I went with them.

In the few months I have been with them their system has been down once (DoS
attack) and their Newsgroups were a bit flaky. I could have chose to come on
this public forum and slate them, openly swear at them or tell them I
couldn't wait to leave their service. However the outage only lasted a few
hours and the Newsgroup was fixed by me using news.individual.net
temporarily.

Folk will argue that if you pay for a service then you should get that
service 100% and yes in an ideal world you should but this world is far from
ideal.

The thing that impressed me the most was the honesty of PlusNet. They have
always held their hands up and said "yes we were to blame because.........."
The guys that monitor this newsgroup have been classed as w@nkers yet reply
civilly.
Individual operators have been named and shamed and the guys have apologised
on their behalf and promised to look into it.
I don't think I have seen a post with a PlusNet problem in it were there
hasn't been some input from the PlusNet Support Team. That includes a rather
lengthy post on ISP's that were carrying "dodgy child groups". They never
shirked from answering that either.

I know other ISP's monitor this newsgroup but I don't see them actively
becoming involved with as many queries as the PlusNet team do. Maybe PlusNet
are their own worst enemies, because they answer queries here they open
themselves up for all sorts of abuse. If they pulled out from this Newsgroup
I wonder how many "open queries" we would get or bad press we would see
about them?

There always will be horror stories not just from PlusNet but from all ISP's
but as I have said, the difference for me is PlusNet are honest and open
enough to come on to a public forum and explain why things have happened.
They don't hide. I for one wouldn't like that to change.

As for the folk that have been saying they can't wait to leave them, well
please do. I don't mean to sound facetious here but go with another ISP and
come back in a years time and tell us how your service has improved.

PlusNet thanks a lot. I appreciate your service. I am the first person to
complain if I feel I have been shafted (I have a folder on my PC full of
complaint letters, all justified as most companies have paid out
compensation but that's a different story) so I feel it is only right to
praise a company when they are doing right, which you are for me.

cheers

Steven.

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 12:13:24 +0100, "Steven Campbell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have been with PlusNet now for a few months after lurking on this list for
>months before my exchange was enabled. PlusNet were always being praised for
>their top notch service which is why I went with them.
>
>In the few months I have been with them their system has been down once (DoS
>attack) and their Newsgroups were a bit flaky. I could have chose to come on
>this public forum and slate them, openly swear at them or tell them I
>couldn't wait to leave their service. However the outage only lasted a few
>hours and the Newsgroup was fixed by me using news.individual.net
>temporarily.
>
>Folk will argue that if you pay for a service then you should get that
>service 100% and yes in an ideal world you should but this world is far from
>ideal.
>
>The thing that impressed me the most was the honesty of PlusNet. They have
>always held their hands up and said "yes we were to blame because.........."
>The guys that monitor this newsgroup have been classed as w@nkers yet reply
>civilly.
>Individual operators have been named and shamed and the guys have apologised
>on their behalf and promised to look into it.
>I don't think I have seen a post with a PlusNet problem in it were there
>hasn't been some input from the PlusNet Support Team. That includes a rather
>lengthy post on ISP's that were carrying "dodgy child groups". They never
>shirked from answering that either.
>
>I know other ISP's monitor this newsgroup but I don't see them actively
>becoming involved with as many queries as the PlusNet team do. Maybe PlusNet
>are their own worst enemies, because they answer queries here they open
>themselves up for all sorts of abuse. If they pulled out from this Newsgroup
>I wonder how many "open queries" we would get or bad press we would see
>about them?
>
>There always will be horror stories not just from PlusNet but from all ISP's
>but as I have said, the difference for me is PlusNet are honest and open
>enough to come on to a public forum and explain why things have happened.
>They don't hide. I for one wouldn't like that to change.
>
>As for the folk that have been saying they can't wait to leave them, well
>please do. I don't mean to sound facetious here but go with another ISP and
>come back in a years time and tell us how your service has improved.
>
>PlusNet thanks a lot. I appreciate your service. I am the first person to
>complain if I feel I have been shafted (I have a folder on my PC full of
>complaint letters, all justified as most companies have paid out
>compensation but that's a different story) so I feel it is only right to
>praise a company when they are doing right, which you are for me.
>
>cheers
>
>Steven.
>

Hi Steven,

Thanks a lot for that. We do appreciate all types of feedback, but
comments like yours will always brighten up our day

Thanks again

Luke
--
| Luke Horwath Broadband Solutions
| Comms team for Home & Business
| PlusNet Plc @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----+

Forgive me for not including your lengthy message but all I wanted to say
was - well said!

I am not a subscriber to Plusnet's service but our exchange was one of those
ADSL enabled on 7th July and so I will be looking round for a good deal,
which includes not just a reasonable price, but good support and speedy
rectification of problems. As a Tesco.net customer for a year or so (quite
a long time for me as I tend to change ISP's regularly when their systems
become unreliable for one reason or another) I am waiting to see what their
ADSL package will look like when it is launched. But Plusnet will
definitely be one of those on the short list for the reasons you have
already set out.

--
§meagol




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.726 / Virus Database: 481 - Release Date: 22/07/2004

I'm a Plus.net broadband user for 4 weeks...

So far Very impressed with there service and customer service replies so far
have resolved every question asked.

I'm really glad I made the best choice in choosing Plus.net and I agree with
your Points Steven every word spoken true.





> PlusNet thanks a lot. I appreciate your service. I am the first person to
> complain if I feel I have been shafted (I have a folder on my PC full of
> complaint letters, all justified as most companies have paid out
> compensation but that's a different story) so I feel it is only right to
> praise a company when they are doing right, which you are for me.
>
> cheers
>
> Steven.
>
>
>

> Many business ISPs offer 99.5% or 99.8% on their leased line Internet
> services (eg 2Mbps megastream with Internet transit), and some
> exclude BT faults from that measurement.
>
> No home user should expect their ADSL line, ISPs servers (be they
> email or news) or web servers to be up 100% of the time - the price
> they're paying doesn't warrant it, and the contracts they sign don't
> offer it. So all in all, if a UK broadband user gets 99% (3.5 days
> downtime over a year) they should be pretty happy, especially given
> they're probably paying around GBP250-300 per annum for 512k.

Very well said. With PLUS I have had about 5 hours downtime in the first six
months which is far better than one can hope for. Almost ALL the downtime
has been due to BT. Well done lads!

In article <41024464$0$30930$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Steven Campbell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Folk will argue that if you pay for a service then you should get that
>service 100% and yes in an ideal world you should but this world is far from
>ideal.

Perhaps so, but the more "nines" you want, the more you pay. 99% uptime is
cheaper than 99.9% which is cheaper than 99.99%. BT offers, for example,
99.999% uptime on their core ATM Cellstream service, and 99.99% to
customer premises if dual routed fibre has been requested and installed.
However you're looking at many 10's of thousands of pounds for such a
service (dual fibre + dual ATM pops = GBP30,000 per end for 34M, per
annum, plus PVC bandwidth charges).

Many business ISPs offer 99.5% or 99.8% on their leased line Internet
services (eg 2Mbps megastream with Internet transit), and some exclude BT
faults from that measurement.

No home user should expect their ADSL line, ISPs servers (be they email
or news) or web servers to be up 100% of the time - the price they're
paying doesn't warrant it, and the contracts they sign don't offer it. So
all in all, if a UK broadband user gets 99% (3.5 days downtime over a
year) they should be pretty happy, especially given they're probably
paying around GBP250-300 per annum for 512k.

Zane.

I agree. I've been with PlusNet for 5-6 weeks now and have no
complaints.

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 12:13:24 +0100, "Steven Campbell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have been with PlusNet now for a few months after lurking on this list for
>months before my exchange was enabled. PlusNet were always being praised for
>their top notch service which is why I went with them.
>
>In the few months I have been with them their system has been down once (DoS
>attack) and their Newsgroups were a bit flaky. I could have chose to come on
>this public forum and slate them, openly swear at them or tell them I
>couldn't wait to leave their service. However the outage only lasted a few
>hours and the Newsgroup was fixed by me using news.individual.net
>temporarily.
>
>Folk will argue that if you pay for a service then you should get that
>service 100% and yes in an ideal world you should but this world is far from
>ideal.
>
>The thing that impressed me the most was the honesty of PlusNet. They have
>always held their hands up and said "yes we were to blame because.........."
>The guys that monitor this newsgroup have been classed as w@nkers yet reply
>civilly.
>Individual operators have been named and shamed and the guys have apologised
>on their behalf and promised to look into it.
>I don't think I have seen a post with a PlusNet problem in it were there
>hasn't been some input from the PlusNet Support Team. That includes a rather
>lengthy post on ISP's that were carrying "dodgy child groups". They never
>shirked from answering that either.
>
>I know other ISP's monitor this newsgroup but I don't see them actively
>becoming involved with as many queries as the PlusNet team do. Maybe PlusNet
>are their own worst enemies, because they answer queries here they open
>themselves up for all sorts of abuse. If they pulled out from this Newsgroup
>I wonder how many "open queries" we would get or bad press we would see
>about them?
>
>There always will be horror stories not just from PlusNet but from all ISP's
>but as I have said, the difference for me is PlusNet are honest and open
>enough to come on to a public forum and explain why things have happened.
>They don't hide. I for one wouldn't like that to change.
>
>As for the folk that have been saying they can't wait to leave them, well
>please do. I don't mean to sound facetious here but go with another ISP and
>come back in a years time and tell us how your service has improved.
>
>PlusNet thanks a lot. I appreciate your service. I am the first person to
>complain if I feel I have been shafted (I have a folder on my PC full of
>complaint letters, all justified as most companies have paid out
>compensation but that's a different story) so I feel it is only right to
>praise a company when they are doing right, which you are for me.
>
>cheers
>
>Steven.
>
>

Tony Henley
Pembroke, South Wales

"Steven Campbell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:41024464$0$30930$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have been with PlusNet now for a few months after lurking on this list
for
> months before my exchange was enabled. PlusNet were always being praised
for
> their top notch service which is why I went with them.
>
> In the few months I have been with them their system has been down once
(DoS
> attack) and their Newsgroups were a bit flaky. I could have chose to come
on
> this public forum and slate them, openly swear at them or tell them I
> couldn't wait to leave their service. However the outage only lasted a few
> hours and the Newsgroup was fixed by me using news.individual.net
> temporarily.
>
> Folk will argue that if you pay for a service then you should get that
> service 100% and yes in an ideal world you should but this world is far
from
> ideal.
>
> The thing that impressed me the most was the honesty of PlusNet. They have
> always held their hands up and said "yes we were to blame
because.........."
> The guys that monitor this newsgroup have been classed as w@nkers yet
reply
> civilly.
> Individual operators have been named and shamed and the guys have
apologised
> on their behalf and promised to look into it.
> I don't think I have seen a post with a PlusNet problem in it were there
> hasn't been some input from the PlusNet Support Team. That includes a
rather
> lengthy post on ISP's that were carrying "dodgy child groups". They never
> shirked from answering that either.
>
> I know other ISP's monitor this newsgroup but I don't see them actively
> becoming involved with as many queries as the PlusNet team do. Maybe
PlusNet
> are their own worst enemies, because they answer queries here they open
> themselves up for all sorts of abuse. If they pulled out from this
Newsgroup
> I wonder how many "open queries" we would get or bad press we would see
> about them?
>
> There always will be horror stories not just from PlusNet but from all
ISP's
> but as I have said, the difference for me is PlusNet are honest and open
> enough to come on to a public forum and explain why things have happened.
> They don't hide. I for one wouldn't like that to change.
>
> As for the folk that have been saying they can't wait to leave them, well
> please do. I don't mean to sound facetious here but go with another ISP
and
> come back in a years time and tell us how your service has improved.
>
> PlusNet thanks a lot. I appreciate your service. I am the first person to
> complain if I feel I have been shafted (I have a folder on my PC full of
> complaint letters, all justified as most companies have paid out
> compensation but that's a different story) so I feel it is only right to
> praise a company when they are doing right, which you are for me.
>
> cheers
>
> Steven.
>
>
>
I've been with one of the plus net brands (f9) for about 7 years now and
I've went
to other companies like bt, freeserve, tiscali etc but have always came back
to
plus net. when I came to getting adsl last year then plus net were the only
company
for me because I know that any problems I have will be sorted over the phone
by
the support staff quickly. in saying that though a most of the time I've had
to phone
support I've been told of the problem on the support number without having
to
speak to anyone so reassuring me that it's not something I've done to cause
it.

On 24 Jul 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, "§meagol" wrote:

>I am waiting to see what their ADSL package will look like
>when it is launched.

From a post seen not many weeks ago...
: Tesco are now offering broadband for £19.97 a month take a
: look http://www.tesco.net/help/broadband/

One of the few downsides would be premium rate calls. Avoid the USB
modem, perhaps... many recommend routers, and it would easily enable
the ADSL connection to be shared (where Tesco's page hints at XP where
there've been sharing solutions for years before Windows XP came out).

Of course getting connected with several other ISPs is not always free.
I use PlusNet but when having to find near 60 quid for setup, will
understand those not wanting to use PN despite them working hard on
their services (generous webspace, pretty good news service, multiple
mailboxes, and so on)... Peter M.

--
PlusNet - good value ISP - <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz>

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed), a.k.a
Peter Crosland says...


> Very well said. With PLUS I have had about 5 hours downtime in the first six
> months which is far better than one can hope for. Almost ALL the downtime
> has been due to BT. Well done lads!

The major problem with Plusnet (that make up a bulk of issues it seems)
is not that there is anything wrong with the connections, far from it in
my experience, it's the service you get when it does go wrong.

Failed phone calls, broken promises and an inefficient "Contact Us"
system for starters.

The outages you've experienced might be concerning BT alone, but BT have
a somewhat larger network to manage than Plusnet are ever likely to
have, so given percentage for percentage over capacity, BT do a far
better job in keeping connectivity up than they are given credit for
IMO.

Don't get me started on how they deal with faults though....