Below is a letter I sent to plusnet, good honest liars from Yorkshire , they throttle back your speeds, which kills the point of paying for fibre optic broadband.
LETTER TO PLUSNET, NO ANSWER AS OF YET
After speaking to your customer service on a number of times in the last few weeks it's clear to me your company has lied to me, I believe you have missold me a broadband package and broken the distance selling regulations, therefore I may take this further with Trading Standards and also forward my findings to the BBC watchdog program.
Your company sold me a broadband fibre package on the basis that it's great for gaming, streaming, downloading files quicker, you also state your fibre broadband is 4 times faster than the average UK speeds, BT made the same claims in their TV ad's , them ad's have now been took off air because they are misleading and like yourselfs BT CAP SPEEDS ( data management ) and before you say this is needed, why is it for an extra £5 a month these speed caps can be lifted? It seems to me like hidden cost to get a service that I was promised.
When I first inquired about plusnet fibre I was told your company would beat any like for like price or quote, so why is it sky do a fibre optic & phone package for £20 with NO SPEED CAP and UNLIMITED DATA, http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/broadband-options/?DCMP=KNC- Your company also lied to me by saying "sky don't do fibre optic", this claim was made again when I spoke to your customer service on 20th April 2012, sky's line rental is also cheaper.
The router you sent with the package is a Netgear N150 and on the packaging clearly states what it's good for, and gaming,video streaming, simultaneous downloads are NOT covered, (goods not fit for purpose) I also asked about about wireless range because we live in a 5 bedroom, 3 storey house, your advisers told me it would be ok, but on the router packaging it clearly states larger homes or multiple floors are not covered .
I think the solution to my problems would be you unlock me from the 18 month contract at no cost as I believe you have missold me a product that is not fit for purpose and breaks the distance sales act .
Or you
Match sky's product as close as possible,which in your case would be 120gb fibre extra with plusnet pro add on (no speed management) with evening and weekend calls all for £20 or £25 with all inclusive calls, although sky's line rental is cheaper And I would have to buy my own upgraded router I would not pursue this matter further, I believe this to be a good compromise and hope you do too
Steer clear of plusnet fibre
Share your reviews, rants and opinions
-
Report abuse -
Report abuseHi there,
Firstly sorry to hear you feel you've been misold the service. I'm also sorry to hear that you feel you've been lied to by the staff here at Plusnet.
It's a little hard for me to comment on some of the points you raise without knowing the package you signed up for, or the circumstances surrounding the sale (i.e. if it was online or following a call to one of our sales staff).
All of our fibre products are more than adequate for gaming, streaming multiple video streams and downloading, and will allow you to do this far quicker compared to the equivilent copper products we offer.
The circumstances surrounding the ASA's ruling against BT don't really apply here. We're quite open about the fact that we manage traffic (in fact we're quite proud of it) and there's an absolute wealth of information on our website:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/traffic_management.shtml
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/broadband_experience.shtml
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/download_speeds.shtml
What is it that you've been having problems with anyway that you didn't think you would?
For the record, our Pro add-on still undergoes traffic management, it's just that the rate limits applied to the base account types are removed.
Apologies that the advisor you spoke to wasn't familiar with Sky's fibre offering - I can kind of forgive them though given that it had only been launched a week prior.
Sky's fibre does require that you take line rental with them IIRC, which would make the offering more expensive than the £20 you've quoted (it's not inclusive). I'm still pretty certain our baseline fibre product is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) out there.
The WNR1000 is a capable router and more than fit for purpose. I've used both the N150 and N300 models on my 80Mbps fibre connection and gaming, video streaming and simultaneous download speeds/performance were in my experience *identical* when using a wired connection. The wireless range of the N300 model is slightly better but still didn't make a hugely noticeable difference in my house (which also has three floors but not as many bedrooms as yours). Both routers require N-capable adapters on your machines too in order to take advantage of the improved range/throughpout. If you connect to the router using a B/G adapter (which many are) then it's not going to make a jot of difference which router you use.
The matrix on the packaging is Netgear's marketing folks' way of upselling to the more expensive device I would imagine.
As an aside, I'd personally suggest against relying on wireless connections if you want to make the most out of your fibre speed. Alot of the time (especially in a house your size) your're going to be lucky to get much more above 20-30Mbps irrespective of the router you use. I use a few cheap powerline adapters (Try to go for at least 300Mbps ones if you do) and they're great.
I can't promise that I can let you out of your contract and neither can I guarantee that we'll match Sky's offering. I'd have to take a look at your account and listen to the calls that you had with our sales and customer service advisors before I could make a judgement.
If you would like me to do this, then feel free to provide me with either your account username or a recent support ticket reference and I'll see what I can do.
Best regards,
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care -
Report abuseFor the attention of Bob Pullen, Plusnet Digital Care
Thanks for replying to my post, the ticket reference you requested is #54670144
In response to your questions in your letter, my package is Plusnet Value Fibre with Plusnet line rental and anytime calls.
The account is in my spouse's name as she set are first account up with Plusnet 7 years ago, the first 6 years were ok, but over the last 8 months I have had problem after problem, so when fibre finally arrived I was very happy and phoned Plusnet to get my mac key and was told by Plusnet " we do fibre and won't be beaten on price or service, like for like we are the best" , so you can imagine how p#ssed off I am that a company who's slogan is "good honest broadband" has mislead me.
I have now had a response from Plusnet but do not wish to go into detail on the forum just yet,but what I can say after speaking to trading standards plusnet may be on the wrong side of the law ( Distanc Sales regulations)
The response from Plusnet as just infuriated me further , I do NOT wish for conflict but also do not like being mislead.
The router problem I mentioned in my previous post, Trading Standards agreed with me that it comes under: not fit for purpose
My main desk top pc with a N rated card only gets intermittent wireless signals at around 6Mbps out of 35Mbps because my home office is on the third floor, Netgear clearly state on the box, larger multi floor homes are not covered by the N150, and before you ask I have tried different channels in manual setup, the only solution is a better router designed for larger homes or installing cat 6 cable and sockets thoughout the house, the power line adapters you mention would work in most homes but unfortunately for me my home is on 2 separate circuits so this option will not work.
I have offered a compromise to Plusnet basically offering to upgrade to the 120gb fibre package at the normal price and I take care of the router problem myself, in return plusnet give me the Pro Add O
n free of charge, this would make the package ALMOST as good as Sky's for around the same price,plusnet have said no, I have spoken to trading standards who gave me the facts on where plusnet may be on the wrong side of the law, I have now forwarded all this information to Plusnet.
Bob
If you wish to read my response in full to Plusnet you are welcome to do so along with all the other correspondence , the reference number is at the beginning of this letter.
I hope you can help as I don't want conflict but would like a solution.
I look forward to hearing from you
Thank you
Mr s smith -
Report abuse
Thanks,
I've just bounced your open support ticket back to you. Hopefully we can come to an arrangement we're both happy with.
Best regards,
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care -
Report abuse
Just been connected to plusnet broadband and phone rental. Supposed to be as quoted on first phone call, £24.97 for 13.99 line, 4.99 broadband, 5.99 post for router. But guess what? Get £54.97 debit from a/c makes me o/drawn! Said they will give £30 refund but not there yet. They show on my on-screen order broadband for £9.99 NO NO NO its £4.99 special offer! They did not email to tell us to connect router, so spent all day onto bt to see what was up with our line. The only good thing is that its 10 times faster than bt and its unlimited! They charged £18 a month for 10gbs. But they do answer phone calls under 15 mins.
-
Report abuse
And yes they are called plus net but if you look on the web site they are a subsiderie of bt stated at the bottom of one of the web pages so still be just an improved service
-
Report abuse
I have recently taken up Plus net unlimited Fibre package and have been plagued with connection problems from the start. I have followed the troubleshooting guide and help assistance but always need to log into the gateway and reconnect. This solves it for 30 minutes then the broadband connection drops. I have raised several faults with the support team. The BT engineer has been in to test the line and equipment and all seems fine on their end. The engineer said this was an issue on Plus net servers as it seems my logon details get erased. This means I need to logon to the gateway and really enter my logon details. Plusnet decided to send me a new router but I am having the same issue. They are currently investigating the matter. In the meantime I have to bear with my connection issues. I have never had these issues with my other ISPs. I am concerned with how long it is taking to solve this issue and my patience is running out.
Anyone else with similar problems? -
Report abuse
Price and deal sounded good, Fibre to the cabinet, and copper to the home. Was looking to move to fibre, so I signed up.
Estimated speed of 45mbps (+ or - 1mbps) it reckoned. To get the best deal I paid 12 months line rental up front, and lets do the pro package - after all, my connection is important to me :)
Then the fun began :(
Consistent speeds of 17mpbs to 24mpbs
Latency above 35ms, usually 40+
Packet loss of up to 5%
Upload speed of only 4.8mbps
Dropped calls on a regular basis, usually within 3 minutes of initiating the call.
Regular loss of service due to the packet loss and high latency.
So, after checking everything at my side, and running (with hardware specifically designed for this purpose) checks directly via RJ45 to the router. I contact plusnet, and fairly quick response, they then come to the idea that I may need an engineer visit.
So the engineer comes out (the next day!), fits a newer version of the 'new' faceplate (was fitted in December). He does line checks, and they come back fine, also my internals are fine. He tried everything that he could and seemed very competent.
So back to plusnet... I'm paying top price, for less than ADSL2+ speeds, Higher latency than ADSL2, and regular loss of service.
Plusnet claim no LOS as their radius server shows me as connected - that's like saying because a computer has a network connection icon, it means we have internet/networking etc etc.. Regarding the speed, I'm getting a speed the same as their £3.99 package!
It seems my 'copper' that was installed, is not copper, but aluminium.. Clearly states on site FAQs FTTC and COPPER to the home, However plusnet keep giving me excuses, I've had one decent reply from them, the rest seem to be just messing about. To trading standards I will go.
I work in IT, troubleshooting at a high level, did no texpect this level of incompetence from a company offering fibre - then again, it is really BT, Guess I should have known better.
I've now asked plusnet what I'm actualy paying for, as it seems I'm not getting ANY of it.
I'll try and repost after I've contacted tradingstandards/legal advisers etc. -
Report abuseHi, I've had the standard 5.99 basic ( non fibre)package since last august and its been fine.I get between 8 and 16Mb wirelessly and thats with a PC 40 feet away and a floor up from the router. FYI regarding the powerline adapters, they do work on multiple rings. Hope this was just a teething problem for you, Cheers Tim
-
Report abuse
It seems my 'copper' that was installed, is not copper, but aluminium.. Clearly states on site FAQs FTTC and COPPER to the home, However plusnet keep giving me excuses, I've had one decent reply from them, the rest seem to be just messing about. To trading standards I will go. Plusnet are only the ISP/SP the copper /fibre is owned and maintained by BT Openreach, only they know if the D'side pair or section of it is copper or aluminium, You can't hold the ISP responsible for that, If you want to blame anyone it's BT openreach for failing to replace aluminium cables for anyone that wants a xDSL service on those lines, because they are fully aware of how much of an impact on performance it causes , and they sell to all ISP's either directly or Via BT Wholesale
