plusnet

[Stonge]

a Which recommended supplier

rang them to cancel as I'm moving

now been waiting on hold for 20 minutes

are they hoping I'll give up

of course there's nowhere online to cancel

[monabri]

What's more they put up telephone line prices with the argument that it was to provide better customer support for broadband.

[didds]

when we were with plusnet, for all their proclaimed "Yorkshire based helplines" etc, it was usually in excess of a 45 minute connection wait



didds

[Infrasonic]

My M.O with helplines is to ring them 1 minute before they open (8am generally). Normally get through pretty quickly.

[stewamax]

when we were with plusnet, for all their proclaimed "Yorkshire based helplines" etc, it was usually in excess of a 45 minute connection wait

That was because the area code you were calling from was outside Yorkshire. "We do you proud" (etc) only applies if:
- you dial from an 01904 number
and
- you can sing On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at with RH hand on heart and keeping a straight face, and preferably with an accent imitating the PN advert actor Craig Murray
and
- your father and grandfather both toiled in the South Yorkshire coalfield

Otherwise "Tough lad; just b****y wait in t'queue"

I was a PN user for over ten years but jumped ship to Zen when PN's much vaunted customer service became a joke, and their discounted prices for business users were not offered (even on negotiation) to existing customers. Both Zen and Andrews & Arnold were actually cheaper!

[didds]

I've been with Plusnet for years.

I've never, ever had a problem with them.

Our problems eventually reached a point where they were no longer tenable.

We'd been with Zen for about a decade with I think ONE outage in all that time that was quickly rectified, and a refund paid. I used our own belkin router and it never failed in all that time

We switched to PN purely on a cost basis. On the whole their service was indeed fine, but their supplied routers were woefully inadequate. Regularly they would just "fry". We got through 5 of them on something like 18 months. I suggested I sue my belkin router that had behaved for ten years but was told if I did that any issues wold not be followed on as I had introduced an "unknown" into the "system" form PN's perspective. Eventually after the 5th router died I was told they would not provide me with a replacement without signing up for a fresh 18 month contract, and that it had to be the power supply in our home that caused the issues. I again pointed out that this was the same power supply and phone line provision that had worked without problem for a decade and that for the last three failures (following such power surge claims etc) the router had actually been powered through a surge protector anyway. Every time I needed to call them as before said, it took in excess of 45 minutes tobe connected and then to jump through all the hoops of "try this try that" even though it was clear the router was dead (ie no power lights!).

So in the end we binned them off.

Our experience may be unique of course, and clearly they dont provide issues for others eg Snorvy. But if ever asked my opinion Id explain our tales of woe and allow people to base their decisions on their own research including my experiences.

Since then we've been with BT and currently VF. Strangely their routers no longer "fried" and the only issue we have had has been external lines down.


I wouldn't ever go back to PN.

[UncleEbenezer]

I've been with Plusnet for years.

I've never, ever had a problem with them.

I was with them more than a decade[1], with far less problems than other ISPs, and always sorted reasonably easily. Perhaps I managed to pass for a Sheffielder, having spent a couple of years there and learned the language?

I suggested I sue my belkin router that had behaved for ten years but was told if I did that any issues wold not be followed on as I had introduced an "unknown" into the "system" form PN's perspective.

I never had a plusnet-supplied router, always used my own. Every few years one would expire and I just got another, but never a problem with using them.

[1] Left when I moved house in 2013 to somewhere no fibre and only <1Mb ADSL service was available. So my experience is not up-to-date.

[Infrasonic]

I've never changed a router! (other than the upgrade to fibre a few years ago)

What on earth do you do to them?

Others occasionally use their central heating systems?...

ISP supplied routers quite often run very hot as they don't bother with heatsinks/fans on the CPU's (in general, before the pedants comment...).
Anything to save a few pennies (which is what it costs to source the bits on Amazon and DIY).

[didds]

I've never changed a router! (other than the upgrade to fibre a few years ago)

What on earth do you do to them?

Cable them up, turn them on, leave on shelf.

errr...

That's it.

same shelf, same power provision etc whatever the ISP/provided router

didds

[Infrasonic]

I've never changed a router! (other than the upgrade to fibre a few years ago)

What on earth do you do to them?

Others occasionally use their central heating systems?...

ISP supplied routers quite often run very hot as they don't bother with heatsinks/fans on the CPU's (in general, before the pedants comment...).
Anything to save a few pennies (which is what it costs to source the bits on Amazon and DIY).

Also the fact that they are left on 24/7 means they are susceptible to any AC power issues you might have locally. Cuts, brown outs, surges et al.
If you've got a decent UPS put your router on it as well as your PC('s).

[Howyoudoin]

a Which recommended supplier

rang them to cancel as I'm moving

now been waiting on hold for 20 minutes

are they hoping I'll give up

of course there's nowhere online to cancel

This lack of service seems to be endemic at the moment.

Had a one hour wait on the phone recently to speak to Barclays about our Thomas Cook booking and got cut off after a similar amount of time last night waiting to speak to 3 about our mobile not working abroad.

Just makes you feel like cancelling but when you try and do that, you get the situation that the OP is having. No wonder suicide rates are up.

HYD

[Stonge]

Eventually got through and hopefully cancelled my account. Time will tell.

Received two emails to the effect that my account is cancelled...

Today received email titled "Updates to your service"

What's Changing?

Line rental +£1, Call plan +£1

Oh what a delightful bunch they are.