So what to do? (Plusnet download cap)

Typical.......

After years with BTInternet/BTOpenworld/BTYahoo, I finally decided to
migrate away as there seemed much better tariffs elsewhere.

I scoured the newsgroups etc.. and eventually decided on Plusnet. I spoke
to their sales and expressed my desire to migrate to their 512k service and
then upgrade to 1Mb or 2Mb and to also check that there were no service
limitations (download cap or email attachment limits) and was assured there
wasn't.

Well, all went well and I became an "official" Plus customer on Friday.

Today, I went looking on the Plus site to see how I would go about
upgrading to the faster service....only to find that between applying and
connection, they have introduced a bloody download cap and accumulated
charges (£2.50 per Gb) on all broadband accounts!!! Also, because I wasn't
a customer, I did not receive the notification email.

Luckily, because I applied before the cap was introduced, I am on an
unlimited download 512k service, but the moment I transfer to a higher
speed service...WHAM...the download cap and accumulated charges will hit!

To say I am slightly miffed is un understatement.

So what to do now? Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to only sign up
to a monthly contract, so can go elsewhere quite easily...but where???

I do use P2P quite a bit, so it would have to be an uncapped service.

I'm just glad I haven't told everyone my new email address yet ;o)


--

Regards

John [Harold Hill, Essex, UK]
Remove the obvious spamtrap to reply


JC

JC <johncalias-newsgroupsATyahooD0TcoD0Tuk> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> Today, I went looking on the Plus site to see how I would go about
> upgrading to the faster service....only to find that between applying
> and connection, they have introduced a bloody download cap and
> accumulated charges (£2.50 per Gb) on all broadband accounts!!! Also,
> because I wasn't a customer, I did not receive the notification email.

There are uncapped services... the "Premier" accounts are uncapped.

> Luckily, because I applied before the cap was introduced, I am on an
> unlimited download 512k service, but the moment I transfer to a higher
> speed service...WHAM...the download cap and accumulated charges will
> hit!

512Kbps is £21.99 uncapped
1Mbps uncapped is £29.99
2Mbps uncapped is £29.99

http://www.plus.net/products/broadband_home.html

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Phil Chung <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:Xns95017D52EE0E4pylchungnet@193.42.231.152:

> 512Kbps is £21.99 uncapped
> 1Mbps uncapped is £29.99
> 2Mbps uncapped is £29.99

Whoops, I meant 2Mbps uncapped is £39.99!

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Phil Chung wrote:
> Phil Chung <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:Xns95017D52EE0E4pylchungnet@193.42.231.152:
>
>> 512Kbps is £21.99 uncapped
>> 1Mbps uncapped is £29.99
>> 2Mbps uncapped is £29.99
>
> Whoops, I meant 2Mbps uncapped is £39.99!

Damn

The only Capping is on the Cheap packages which are ADVERTISED as capped, if
you got the Home Premier then its not. So if you are on the cheap package
then why didn't you check? Any infothe CS give over the phone can't ever be
considered 100% correct, considering the turn around of employee's in call
centers. So Take time to Read the information pages next time, that
includes the Terms & Conditions.

As a PN customer I wouldn't recommend then until they have a few issues
fixed, but miss-information is worse than true problems.

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:08:36 +0100, JC
<johncalias-newsgroupsATyahooD0TcoD0Tuk> wrote:

> Typical.......
>
> After years with BTInternet/BTOpenworld/BTYahoo, I finally decided to
> migrate away as there seemed much better tariffs elsewhere.
>
> I scoured the newsgroups etc.. and eventually decided on Plusnet. I spoke
> to their sales and expressed my desire to migrate to their 512k service
> and
> then upgrade to 1Mb or 2Mb and to also check that there were no service
> limitations (download cap or email attachment limits) and was assured
> there
> wasn't.
>
> Well, all went well and I became an "official" Plus customer on Friday.
>
> Today, I went looking on the Plus site to see how I would go about
> upgrading to the faster service....only to find that between applying and
> connection, they have introduced a bloody download cap and accumulated
> charges (£2.50 per Gb) on all broadband accounts!!! Also, because I
> wasn't
> a customer, I did not receive the notification email.
>
> Luckily, because I applied before the cap was introduced, I am on an
> unlimited download 512k service, but the moment I transfer to a higher
> speed service...WHAM...the download cap and accumulated charges will hit!
>
> To say I am slightly miffed is un understatement.
>
> So what to do now? Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to only sign
> up
> to a monthly contract, so can go elsewhere quite easily...but where???
>
> I do use P2P quite a bit, so it would have to be an uncapped service.
>
> I'm just glad I haven't told everyone my new email address yet ;o)
>
>

Hi John

Please allow me to clear up this mis-understanding.

It is true we have introduced a range of accounts which include bandwidth
capped accounts, but this has certainly not been applied to all of our
accounts.

First of all of our existing customers on ADSL Home, Home Surf, and
EasyStart (as well as Homeworker or Business) can continue with their
existing account types and will not be subject to a cap.

We believe that the capped accounts will be popular with some customers
but we also recognise that there are other customers who want to use as
much bandwidth as they like, and as such we have created the Broadband
Home Premier accounts. This is a set of accounts available in 512kbps,
1Mbps or 2Mbps, with respective monthly fees of £21.99, £29.99, and
£39.99, which like the ADSL Home and EasyStart account are not subject to
a cap.

The reason you wouldn't have received an email is not because you weren't
an active customer at the time, but because nothing has changed as regards
your existing account, the features and terms and conditions remain
unchanged, although if you've opted in we will be sending a marketing
email out soon to let you know about the new account types, features and
the options available to you.

--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

"JC" <johncalias-newsgroupsATyahooD0TcoD0Tuk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
(snipped)
....
> Today, I went looking on the Plus site to see how I would go about
> upgrading to the faster service....only to find that between applying and
> connection, they have introduced a bloody download cap and accumulated
> charges (£2.50 per Gb) on all broadband accounts!!!
....

All? Looking at their web-site and reading what it says, their "cheapest"
advertised service only includes 1 Gig/month, but if you add 7 quid a month
you get no caps. (I seem to recall that their cheapest version was already
limited in various ways before.)

But their no-cap / as-much-as-you-want-no-extra-charge "premium account"
still works out lots cheaper than my *?%&% Clara account, for one. Given
what BT et al are doing, I don't blame PlusNet at all for having a capped
service to get their "headline" price. Log on to your account, read the
info, pay your 7 quid p m more, have no cap and no other charges.

If you're saying that you want broadband unlimited everything and all the
facilities and all the services, all for 15 quid a month, well, yes, I
agree: that would be nice. Unfortunately...

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 12:28:36 +0100, "Gus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>The only Capping is on the Cheap packages which are ADVERTISED as capped, if
>you got the Home Premier then its not. So if you are on the cheap package
>then why didn't you check? Any infothe CS give over the phone can't ever be
>considered 100% correct, considering the turn around of employee's in call
>centers. So Take time to Read the information pages next time, that
>includes the Terms & Conditions.
>
>As a PN customer I wouldn't recommend then until they have a few issues
>fixed, but miss-information is worse than true problems.
>


Actually Gus, I'm not on the cheap package (which you would have known if
you had read my post properly)

When I signed up with Plus, I was assured that there would be no download
cap and to be fair, on my present tariff, there isn't.

However, If I move to a faster tariff, there will be. I did look at the
website and all of the base home tariffs *are* capped, the 512k at 1Gb, the
1Mb at 4Gb and the 2Mb at 6Gb. These caps were not in place when I signed
up!

I know that you can pay an extra £6-8 per month to get unlimited downloads,
but I can't compare these to the original tariffs..as they are no longer
available!!

When I spoke to CS this morning, they didn't mention the Premier
"additional" tariff, they just told me that after the cap was reached,
additional Gb would be charged at £2.50 per Gb until 4Gb were paid for,
then it would become unlimited.....i.e when you had paid an extra tenner!

This additional £10 ..on top of my monthly fee is what pissed me off.


It may well be that the new capped base tariffs plus the premier fee is
equal to the old uncapped tariffs...but without the old ones to compare
them to, I have no frame of reference.


--

Regards

John [Harold Hill, Essex, UK]
Remove the obvious spamtrap to reply

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:33:36 +0100, PlusNet Support Team
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>Hi John
>
>Please allow me to clear up this mis-understanding.
>
>It is true we have introduced a range of accounts which include bandwidth
>capped accounts, but this has certainly not been applied to all of our
>accounts.
>
>First of all of our existing customers on ADSL Home, Home Surf, and
>EasyStart (as well as Homeworker or Business) can continue with their
>existing account types and will not be subject to a cap.
>
>We believe that the capped accounts will be popular with some customers
>but we also recognise that there are other customers who want to use as
>much bandwidth as they like, and as such we have created the Broadband
>Home Premier accounts. This is a set of accounts available in 512kbps,
>1Mbps or 2Mbps, with respective monthly fees of £21.99, £29.99, and
>£39.99, which like the ADSL Home and EasyStart account are not subject to
>a cap.
>
>The reason you wouldn't have received an email is not because you weren't
>an active customer at the time, but because nothing has changed as regards
>your existing account, the features and terms and conditions remain
>unchanged, although if you've opted in we will be sending a marketing
>email out soon to let you know about the new account types, features and
>the options available to you.


Dave,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

So what *exactly* does this mean if I am on an uncapped 512k account, but
wish to upgrade to a 1Mb or 2Mb service?

Will these new accounts be capped? If so, how will the new tariffs plus the
premier fee compare to the previous uncapped tariffs?

Lastly, is there any way I can tell if my line is suitable for these higher
speed services?


--

Regards

John [Harold Hill, Essex, UK]
Remove the obvious spamtrap to reply

JC wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:33:36 +0100, PlusNet Support Team
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>> Hi John
>>
>> Please allow me to clear up this mis-understanding.
>>
>> It is true we have introduced a range of accounts which include
>> bandwidth capped accounts, but this has certainly not been applied
>> to all of our accounts.
<snip>
>
>
> Dave,
>
> Thanks for the prompt reply.
>
> So what *exactly* does this mean if I am on an uncapped 512k account,
> but wish to upgrade to a 1Mb or 2Mb service?
>
> Will these new accounts be capped? If so, how will the new tariffs
> plus the premier fee compare to the previous uncapped tariffs?
>
> Lastly, is there any way I can tell if my line is suitable for these
> higher speed services?

The line test here..
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker-front.php

...will tell you which speed services you can get on your telephone line.

Dominic

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