Plusnet - Just Plusnet

I noted several threads on this NG in June 2012 [ which I didn't read]
with headers along the lines of "great service from Plusnet" or "shit
service from Plusnet"
I'm a Plusnet customer and follwing this incident let me say, I'm not
about to demand my MAC code as a result of it, and I'll be staying
with them.
This is however my account of an ADSL fail and the time period in
which it was fixed.

Plusnet have a 0800 customer service phone number , which for me is
a good thing.

29 June 2012 - 20:00hrs - Noted my plusnet rouer lights as follows
Power - on
ethernet - flashing on/off
wireless on
broadband off
internet off
did the usual power off reboot, lights remained the same.
so at 20:05hrs phoned Plusnet went thru the press 1 for this routine
got the "there is currently a 20 min wait time message" but after only
15 mins got thru to a human [ who's name I didn't record] told him of
my plight, to which he replied. "you need to do the following 3
things-
1. change your filter
2. change your router [ I happened to have a spare]
3. take the faceplate off your main phone point & plug router directly
into it.
do these things then ring us back" they then sent two sms messages to
my mobile explaining a sixty quid charge could be levied if the fault
was my kit or inside the property.

I later found out [not from plusnet] that removing the faceplate from
the master socket removes any secondary sockets from the circuit.
Proves the fault is theirs

Anyway, as it was Friday evening and I had some pints waiting with the
boys, I thought I'd leave this until Saturday Morning.

30 June - Saturday Morning 10:50 hrs phoned Plusnet again, same press
1 for this routine and 20 minute queue warning. Got through and Kaleen
answered at 10:57hrs [ quick response] Informed him I'd done the 3
things as above and I still had no internet and only 3 lit lights on
my router. Kaleen replied saying "we now need to get BT on the case"
How long will that take from the fail time of last night I asked?
Reply "24-48 hrs" came back the reply along with "we will sms you when
we know more"

So that was that, I don't have a smart phone, so I was internet less,
I considered all my options, buy moble internet as a stop gap, local
library find an internet cafe.

I actually went thru with 2 out of the 3 to no real avail. I took a 30
mile journey to my nearest PC world and after speaking to the tech guy
who helpfully found the best mobile internet coverage on his computer
bought a £4.99p T-mobile dongle and brought it back and installed it
putting in the brand new sim card provided by PC world. When that
didn't connect, I phoned T-mobile customer support and they asked me
for the number on the sim, when I read it back they replied "jesus, we
stopped using them 3 years ago or more they are ancient they shouldn't
have sold you that"
So anyway Sunday's internetless day was filled by driving 30 miles
back to PC world for a £4.99p refund.

Anyway, back to Plusnet. On 1 July 2012 at 20:15hrs [48 hrs from the
fail] I rang and did the 1 for this routine, this time getting a 40
minute wait time recorded message. At 20:42hrs [ only 27 mins] Tony
answered, I explained 48 hours had passed and Kaleens 24-48 hr fix
prediction, he replied as follows "it's a bit misleading that as BT
don't work Sundays" followed by the promise of an sms when it was
fixed as before.
So on Monday 2 July 2012 and still internetless [ it's funny how you
notice all the internet based ads on itv telly more when you've not
got the internet] I tried the local library services and was allocated
a 30 min slot. Hurrah I thought, back on the net! What I didn't
realise is the local library service internet, has on 3 or 4 more lock
downs on it than communist China!! No social media [ which I'm in to
in a small way] No twitter, facebook google+ but I could at least get
gmail, so I emailed a friend and asked her to tell evryone I'd not
passed away and it was just an ADSL fail.
Anyway faced with my lockdown I decided to google internet cafe's
in my local area, there were none another 30 mile drive to the
nearest.
Never mind, I'll fill my day with another call to plusnet's 0800
number, this time to billing and accounts to make sure I was not being
billed for the down time, they said I would not be charged and charges
would be adjusted after the fix.

I then went out to use another restricted library internet service.

So finally on Monday 2 Jul 2012 at 17:05hrs [ just 70 hours (or 2 days
and 22 hrs) from reporting the fail] I returned home to find five
bright lights on my router ) deep joy I was back on the net again!

Still haven't had the promised fixed sms from plusnet, but hey who
cares I'm back on line, and currently searching for smart phones, so I
can get one and always have a back up net source in future.

This is my first ADSL fail, so would be interested to know what if any
other users here have had, with which ISP and how long it took them to
fix?
Was my fix fast/slow/ortherwise?

I did get a sms customer survey txt from plusnet, but I'll not bother
with that, as I'm sure Bob Pullen will be reading this some time.

Concerned User of Plusnet

 

PS: Just this minute got further 2 sms txt's from plusnet informing me
they have had word from their suppliers that I'm fixed. No shit
Sherlock!

 

Apologies I don't normally top post. But rather than expect readers to
read through [email protected]'s tale of woe or snip the irrelevant bits
I hope the following can be seen to represent a fair summary of
the Plusnet related aspects of his post.

So to sum up

Friday 29 June 8 pm broadband failure
Friday 29 June 8.5 pm phone Plusnet on an 0800 number, waited 15 minutes
and was put through to an assistant who explained a basic test procedure.
Plusnet also texted explaining that if I requested an Openreach engineer
to visit my house and do tests which indicated the fault was on my side
of the master socket, then I could be charged £60
Sat 30 June 10.50 a.m Phoned Plainst again on the freephone number
and was put through to Kaleen within 7 minutes who explained that
Plushet would get BT on the case. When you asked how long it would take
to sort out your problem you were told "24-48" hours and that Plusnet
would text you when the problem was solved.
BT don't work on Sundays.
BT had repaired your connection by 17.50pm on the monday, and once they'd
been informed of this BT Plusnet texted you to this effect.

So what exactly is the nature of your "concern"

What exactly did Plusnet fail to do which they should have done ?

Oh and BTW, sensible people "may" have decided to keep their dial-up
modems, and maintain a PAYG dial-up account with a recognised ISP
- the free accounts based around 0844 and 0845 often don't connect
but simply rack up connection charges - for precisely this
eventuality.


James.

 

My concern with you James, is you don't answer the questions I asked
below

Have you has an ISP fail yet James or do you just like posting smart
assed comments about dial up modems?

 

I think I'd have sat down and thought about the cost of 30 miles worth
of petrol at, say 25p per mile, and then compared it with the £4.99 I'd
already lost.

Rod.

 

On 03/07/2012 12:39, wrote:
--8<--SNIP--8<--

And alas I have, although we do pay attention to the feedback from those
surveys so you'd be helping us if you were to fill it out.

Thanks for sharing your experience anyway. There's a few things we can
learn from it, mainly centred around the setting of expectations by the
looks of things.

I'll be honest. It's not unusual for a fault that requires BT Wholesale
intervention to take as long as it did in your case. I've known faults
requiring multiple Openreach engineer visits to take much longer to fix
(although they tend to be intermittent faults rather than a complete
loss of service).

Have you had that credit applied to your account yet? If not (or you've
not heard either way), then feel free to provide me with your fault
ticket reference number and I'll make sure it's seen to.

 

Because your "questions" as stated are meaningless. The quality of
anyone's ADSL connection will depend on the sate of their local
wiring, their local exchange etc Much or al of which has nothing
to do with their ISP but with BT/Openreach.

Far from being "smart-arsed" it happens to be sensible advice.

The fact that you can't recognise sensible advice when its offered to
you, is your loss, not mine. But then I'd imagine to someone with your
attitude most peeople you come across in life are "smart-arses" in
some respect or other.

ISP's don't usually suffer from total failure. While their ADSL service
may suffer problems the dial-up service the very same ISP will often
still function perfectly well



James

 

I've had unstable ad loss of service for nearly tow weeks during which
time BT visited twice, redid all the wiring back to the exchange and
left me with the same problem..which magically disappeared two days later.

IDnet were not especially helpful insisting it was all my fault till I
insisted it wasn't. Then teh usal 'you may have to pay if' etc etc.

But at least they spoke English and answered the phone. And did refer it
to BT/O.

 

That's bloody good going for any ISP, let alone a budget one.
Practically a same (working) day fix.

The refreshing thing is how quickly they escalated the fault to
Openreach, after you went through the motions of some simple tests.

If you post the ticket reference here, Bob may well fill you in with
the details of what Openreach did to restore your service.

You make a valid point about removal of the NTE5 faceplate, I always
advise the uninitiated to do this with care and minimise any strain on
the wires as they are unlikely to have the correct tool to reconnect
any they pull off.

 

£60? that would be a bargain. I think it's more like double that
today.

 

I'd have demanded that PC World pay the fuel costs.

 

Most users have never had a dial-up modem. By most, I mean the vast
majority. It was BB that drove the big Internet take-up.

Now that you mention it. Where /is/ my modem. I haven't seen it in
donkey's. My last adsl failure, I used my smartphone as an access point
and used the laptop to access the web. I would not be surprised if a
large chunk of users with access to these technologys (smartphone and
wifi laptop) doesn't know how to do that. Or that they can.

 

Exactly that, about dial up! The helpful guy in PC world had suggested
I needed mobile internet 3g coverage as 2g was as "slow" as dial up.

To be honest I'd forgotten what a bear pit usenet can be, I'm quite
surprised no one pointed out all my spellig errors in my original
post, what with quotes about "Tolstoyesque novella featuring a rather
sad protagonist" type crap,but every now and then you get a sensible
reply, like yours Alan and Bob Pullen who also is full of useful
advice.

Thanks one and all for your replies, be they good/bad or otherwise,
I shall leave usenet now, to some other unsuspecting chap to happen
upon and be replied to by the usual a school of piranha's!

 

On Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:17:13 +0100, Graham. tubthumped in morse code:

ASTROTURF!

 

On Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:33:02 +0100, James tubthumped in morse code:

ASTROTURF!

 

I always prefer to fill things *in* as I find 'fill out' to be an
american expression!

;-)

 

I'm afraid that, living in a rural area, poor crackly phone lines and no/
intermittent broadband goes with the location for us. I've never
bothered contacting PlusNet about it, just live with it. BT have
essentially given up on rural networks and, having had numerous arguments
with them about their bills for service when 'no fault found' (outside or
inside) but the engineer agrees that its poor, we tend to accept it as
the price to be paid for the location. Well, that is until the wifi
broadband reaches us - its not far away now and we are close to being the
'cell' that gives a very wide coverage area.

David

 

If you want a cheap smartphone look at the Huawei Blaze at
Phones4U. Mine cost about fifty quid. It has all the bells and
whistles - Bluetooth, wi-fi, GPS, tilt sensor, magnetometer (for
a compass,) and is unlocked - and can be tethered to use as a
modem. On top of that it is a not-too-bad phone as well!

 

Well it neednt.

BT/O are perfectly capable of remaking every joint between you and the
exchange. AND they should.

If you have a crackly line report it to BT as a voice fault.




I've never

that's not right.

 

No, that is the charge.

I have an ongoing phone line problem which is also affecting my
broadband, and both Plusnet (BB supplier) and TalkTalk (phone line
supplier) have said the charge would be £60 if the fault was found to
be internal.