PlusNet - A quick honest opinion

[muddyfox470]

Hello All!

When I bought my first house I wanted to set up the phone and internet as early as possible so I could start arranging other bills etc.

Because I'm in a low competition area (no ADSL+/ADSL2) I was restricted to 8meg, and my broadband options were limited.

I chose PlusNet on the basis of their offers, good feedback and nice easy to navigate website (it reminded me of BE THERE, and their stats and user management centre are almost a carbon copy!) As I wasn't going to be in the house I took out their home phone and value broadband package. I didn't have to pay any set-up fees (BT were insisting I would have to pay £120 for an engineer) for either the phoneline or broadband. The wireless box got sent to an alternative address I chose and it all was set up and ready to use within a fortnight - no issues. It was installed and set up in December 2009, with only a 12 month contract on both products [I could have chosen no contract if I would have paid upfront for the router and installation].

So I was chuffed, admittedly I haven't used their service that much; as I haven't been in the house all that much recently, but I get in excess of the 6.5meg I was told to expect and the line seems stable and reliable.

Fastforward to today [June]. I saw an offer online offering new customers a bit of a discount for their broadband (for their entire contract length - and beyond); I promptly rang up customer services [who answered within 10 seconds of choosing menu choice] saying I had been looking to upgrade to their extra package for a while, and at this price point it would be perfect for when I start to use it more. And thought if I don't ask, I won't get

The lady I spoke to was courteous, and very helpful (and understood every word I said) and said if I wanted to address this query I'd have to speak to their 'Customer Options' team, who are no doubt like a retentions team, who may be able to help me out [no cop-out to say it wasn't possible or anything like that!].
I rang up the number she gave me, pressed residential (was told I would be in for a 5 minute wait) but the call was answered within 20 seconds of choosing the option. I mentioned my query to this other lady, who said no problem we can adjust your price for you and put you on the new package; and the first 3 months are at an even further reduced rate! Yet I don't need to start a new 12 month contract.

So... I upgraded for £2 extra per month to get an extra 50gb allowance and some better line ratings (not as many restrictions), with no impact to my original contract. I am pretty chuffed and am really happy with the service I have received and the fair approach to all this.

Honestly great service, great people and good broadband; I will probably change my line rental to someone a bit cheaper (Primus) when the contract is up, but so far I can't fault PlusNet!

Definitely worth a look! [Although their pro package with a measly 20gb allowance is a bit miserly I must admit!]

On a side note: does anyone know if people from Be There have moved on board plusnet, as the whole set up seems very similar, especially now considering that BE THEREs website has turned into something like from the 70's (garish) :s

[jim]

I agree. My dad's paying them £4 a month IIRC for 8Mb broadband and they've been brilliant, done everything they've needed to do and it all works well. Customer service has always been friendly and easy to use.

Can't believe they're making much profit on him as a customer though!

[Behemoth]

I've got a story about plus net which starts off pretty poorly, but has a great ending

Friend of mine signed up on another friends recomendation (and primarily because they are cheap) When activation day came I installed all their kit, got all the laptops they had running on the supplied router with no issue at all.

Everything was working fine for 4 months or so. Then I get a phone call "My internet has gone down" a bit of quizzing revealed that none of the laptops in the household would connect to the internet. Even after re-setting the router 12 times.

I went down with my laptop to rule out if there was a virus (kids, and Limewire need I say more) stopping them from connecting, but there wasn't. even my laptop refused to connect. So we phoned up plus net.

The indian in the call centre, whilst polite and his standard of english was excellent kept fobbing me off saying that the filters were at fault. So after fitting new ones (I always carry spares when dealing with these sorts of problems) and the new filter not working either I phoned back again and was told this time it was the cable. Brand new cable fitted to router, still nothing.

They then had me inside the router checking all the settings, nothing was a miss there. So out comes my trusty green frog eyed speed touch USB modem that I've had since my Pipex days. Connected that, installed the most recent drivers and poof, off it went, synced the ADSL line and connected right away.

Phone again told them what I'd done and they said "ahh ok the router is faulty, we'll need to take that one away and repair it"

I was like, what not replace ? Had a bit of an argument with the tech support guy this time as I didn't see that a repair was a fair option, especially when he said it would take upto 6 weeks to sort !! I don't expect a router to give out after 4 months ! Asked to speak to a supervisor as was not getting anywhere with the tech support chap.

Once I was put through to a supervisor I told her everything that we'd done, tested, followed their guys instructions to the letter only to find the router was faulty. She said could it be the phone line to which I replied if it is why does my 8 year old USB speed touch modem work, connect and surf the net ?

She then looked into my friends account and told me she'd arrange for a replacment to be sent out straight away as its not their policy to offer a repair. When I asked when would my friends get the replacement she said they'd have it the very next day, and also told us to dispose of the old faulty unit as there was nothing they could do with it.

So I go home with my laptop and leave my friends with my speed touch usb for the evening. Sure enough as promised the replacement router arrives and so far has worked flawlessly.

So while a little frustrated by one of the chaps from tech support and I know it wasn't all his fault (working to a script I suspect) the issue was sorted in a timely manner.

[mightymouse]

was doubtful at first but after 2 months of use i must say that i am quite pleased with them. I got the extra package too and at times its rather annoying cuz you can only utilize the best speeds off peak but these days we see a lot of traffic shaping from every provider anyway. The worst bit is trying to watch video replays during peak times, dont even bother anymore. but i must say one of the best CS that i have had to deal with for a long time and since they are owned by BT they managed to solve my problems that even BT couldnt. Apparently I wasnt supposed to have broadband connection to a 6 year old building. Even BT thought it wasnt possible and yes they tried to scam £125 off me too. gave plus a call and they said ohhh minor error and fixed the line for me FOC. Simply cant complain with that.... I'm quite happy with plus.net

[narz]

I was with Plust.net just before the boom of ADSL2, with a 2Mb connection. I was happy for a year or two and then they brought in the dreaded traffic shaping appliances, not limits, but very annoying shaping!

I promptly left, as did many others. From the sound of this thread, seems like they have fixed up..

[jim]

They may well traffic shape - in fact they probably do, since virtually everybody does these days.

Thing is, it's not for me, it's for my dad. He browses the internet, uses IM, goes on Skype if he's feeling really adventurous - so traffic shaping isn't going to affect him. Internet for £4/month though, that will

[HSK]

I've been on plus net for a number of years now, i've had my ups and downs with them, would of moved away to something else if we could of, but it's mainly to do with the poor, old BT infrastructure where alot of the probs came from. Lately it's been ok with them.

[mightymouse]

I was with Plust.net just before the boom of ADSL2, with a 2Mb connection. I was happy for a year or two and then they brought in the dreaded traffic shaping appliances, not limits, but very annoying shaping!

I promptly left, as did many others. From the sound of this thread, seems like they have fixed up..

They didnt really fix it up but at least now you know when they are likely to traffic shape. Its normally during after work till about 10 anyways.