I have now organised the 2nd OpenCoffee Sheffield event for the 14th August at the Starbucks on Tudor Square in Sheffield.
More information available at:- http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/222862
OpenCoffee Clubs are a forum in which people interested in all things Internet can come together and talk shop, share ideas, exchange best practice and generally talk to like-minded people. Any developers in the Sheffield area that would like to meet developers from PlusNet to get an idea of what we do, how we do it and the environment in which we work are more than welcome.
Also, BarCamp Sheffield II will be formally announced within the next two weeks and anyone interested in getting involved in what promises to be a very insightful event is welcome.
Regards
Dean
In a recent news article we announced that we would shortly be outsourcing the provisioning of our Usenet service to a third party.
The preliminary work to do this is now complete and customers can now access the new platform using the details below:
Server: plusnet.vsrv-ams.supernews.net
Port: 119 or 443
Username (optional): existing
Password (optional): existing
For the next couple of weeks we’re going to publish our top reasons for inbound contacts into our Customer Support Centre. We’ll be looking out for customers’ feedback as to this ‘trial’ and if it’s positive - we will start doing it every week (or perhaps more regularly!).
When you read the top reasons it’s important to understand that, as an inbound support centre, many of the top issues are likely to remain the same most of the time. For example, things like faults reports / updates and customers querying how to setup their connection etc… are exactly what we’re here for.
In fact, we want to see more of the ’standard’ stuff on the ‘Top 5′ than anything else - because that proves that we’re doing our best to provide a great service and it means that contacts are not coming in as a direct result of something we have done (i.e. our actions impacting on customers).
For the next couple of weeks we’re going to publish our top reasons for inbound contacts into our Customer Support Centre. We’ll be looking out for customers’ feedback as to this ‘trial’ and if it’s positive - we will start doing it every week (or perhaps more regularly!).
When you read the top reasons it’s important to understand that, as an inbound support centre, many of the top issues are likely to remain the same most of the time. For example, things like faults reports / updates and customers querying how to setup their connection etc… are exactly what we’re here for.
In fact, we want to see more of the ’standard’ stuff here on the ‘Top 5′ than anything else - because that proves that we’re doing our best to provide a great service and it means that contacts are not coming in as a direct result of something we have done (i.e. our actions impacting on customers).
So, here’s a run down of what we’ve seen this week :-
SPAM Queries
Customers receiving unwanted e-mails and asking about our Spam Protection. Concerned parents asking for advice on filtering spam from their children. Good feedback on Blog updates regarding Spam and what we’re doing to help combat it.
Don’t be fooled that ‘SPAM’ has only made an appearence in the Top Issues since the Webmail Incident a few months back. For the last couple of years we’ve seen a growing trend and it’s important we keep on top of spam where possible. Spam is a problem caused due to the design and implementation of email in general. It has plagued us for some time and will continue to do so. We will do all we can to help customers deal with it.
The Spam Protection guide can be found on the Portal here : http://www.plus.net/support/security/spam/spam_protection_guide.shtml
Hardware Setup Queries
Helping customers setting up their hardware/routers to connect to their PlusNet Broadband service. Many Customers unable to access the internet due to incorrect proxy / DNS settings inherited from their previous ISPs. This is often a pertinent reason for inbound contacts to our Support Team.
Hardware Setup Guides can be found on the Portal here : http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/index.shtml
Customers raising faults
Authentication and speeds seem to be the hot topic this week with customers calling regarding problems with both. Speed problems are a mix of genuine faults raised to BT and educating the customers on IP Profile issues, Delta Reports and Sync-blips due to bad weather etc… A few more than normal this week in terms of MSOs, so an increase in Authentication reports coming through.
If you suspect you have a Broadband Fault, you can report it to us here : http://faults.plus.net
Email Setup - Member Centre and Clients
Customers asking for confirmation on how to setup mailboxes, aliases and redirects as well as help on setting up their local mail clients etc… A high majority of these are not aware of the extensive online help and need clarification on certain areas for setup. Where necessary we have educated as to the wealth of information and step-by-step setup guides available via the Portal.
Email Setup guides can be found on the Portal here : http://www.plus.net/support/email/setup/email_setup_guide.shtml
Sales Calls
We’ve seen an increase over the past months on Sales calls. Mainly customers enquiring for information on Broadband and Home Phone. Common questions relate to line rental being included on Home Phone and broadband usage allowances and bandwidth costs. Customers are encouraged to visit the website to signup, but we do now have a process in place to either hand-hold a signup, or signup a customer via phone if they do not have access to the internet. Many customers calling for sales information complaining about service that they currently have elsewhere, or whom have already signed up elsewhere but are experiencing difficulty getting activated and getting nowhere with their support.
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Please Note: This weekly post represents the significant topics our customers have raised with our support team over the course of this week. The information is provided in the spirit of openness for which PlusNet strives. Each day we review pertinent items and this drives internal discussion around what we can do to improve the experience for customers.
It’s expected that issues like ADSL faults, service problems and assistance with setting up software or equipment will always be near the top of the list for our support team. If people didn’t have problems and questions we would only need a sales team!
Customer feedback or suggestions on any of these items (especially if it helps us improve the experience for other customers) is most welcome via the comments section below.
The battle against spam remains at the top of our priority list. Alongside the measures we are taking, customers can also take steps to reduce the amount of spam in their mailboxes.
As well as turning on the spam checking tool we provide with every account, we have provided a number of new options which, if applied with care, can dramatically reduce the amount of spam received. We are currently producing a video tutorial which will offer more guidance, but in the meantime customers might find the Blog article on Using the Manage My Mail tool helpful.
To celebrate the launch of the community site we are running a competition with a fantastic Canon SLR digital camera up for grabs!
To enter all you need is some holiday photos and an account with one of our brands. So grab your cameras and get snapping!
How do I enter?
You need to upload any photos you wish to enter on to this thread in the general chit-chat forum.
Competition Rules
1. The prize draw is open to all existing customers of PlusNet, Force9, Free-Online or Metronet. Non customers can also enter the competition by signing up for a free dial up account with any of the above suppliers.
2. Entries to the competition must be made between Monday 30th July and Friday 24th August 2007. A panel of PlusNet judges will then decide upon the best 10 entries. The forum community will then select a winning entry from the top 10 photos. This will be measured as a poll on the community site forum. Community members will be allowed to vote for one of the final 10 pictures. If the community vote results in a tie the judges shall have the casting vote.
3. Your entry must be entirely your own original work, must not defame anybody nor breach any copyright.
4. Entrants are permitted to enter a maximum of 3 pictures to the competition. Any entrant posting more than this amount will have all additional photos removed.
5. All images must be uploaded in JPEG format and the maximum file size for a single image is 4MB.
6. Customers must be UK residents. In the event that the winner cannot be contacted by Sept 28th then the runner up will be the new competition winner.
7. The competition is not open to employees of PlusNet plc or their families, their agents, and anyone else who may be professionally connected to the promotion. Customers outside of the geographical area serviced by PlusNet are not eligible.
8. No cash alternative available for any part of the prize. There is one prize consisting of a Canon Digital SLR camera. The prize is subject to availability. PlusNet reserves the right to substitute any part of the prize with one of equivalent or greater value for any reasons beyond its control, including non-delivery by our suppliers.
9. No purchase necessary. PlusNet reserves the right to change, or close this competition without prior notice if required for any reasons beyond its control.
10. The prize winner will be notified by 21st Sept. The prize winner’s name and county can be obtained by sending a stamped addressed envelope to “Holiday Photo Competition, PlusNet plc, Internet House, Tenter Street, Sheffield, S1 4BY” before 31st October 2007.
11. Winners may be asked to take part in any publicity reasonably requested. PlusNet plc will respect the rights and privacy of the prize-winner at all times. PlusNet plc is compliant with the Data Protection Act. Our policy is such that will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent excepting for the purpose of the delivery of your prize if you are a winner.
12. We reserve the right to remove uploaded images which we consider may cause offence or may be unsuitable or inappropriate for this competition, for example (without limitation) because of their violent, criminal, religious, political, racial, sexual or exploitative content.
13. Entry into this competition constitutes acceptance of these terms and entrants will be deemed to agree to be bound by them.
Panic over - it’s not us - it’s not this Metronet!
The company responsible for the upkeep of 9 lines of London’s tube network, a company called Metronet Rail, has called in administrators today saying that they couldn’t keep to their commitments without additonal money. Customers who have not read the full story have been in touch with us asking what’s going on.
More…
For anyone that may have as missed them, a number of newsworthy PlusNet related service updates have been posted to the Community Site in the last week or so:
Email: Read the Update on our Email improvements project and the new Guide on using the Manage My Mail tool to get the best from our email service and learn what PlusNet are doing to keep spam at a minimum.
Usenet: We are outsourcing our Text Usenet provision, which will improve reliability and offer an all round better service.
Traffic Management: Dave has made a couple of recent updates, including detailing the impact expected as a result of the Summer school holidays in the Traffic Management Blog.
Webmail Incident: A follow-up to the Webmail incident was published in response to a number of questions asked following the initial report. We are planning to publish a further update on the outstanding deliverables by the end of the week.
Ian
With unsolicited email still very much a hot topic across the Community, I felt it was about time for another update on where we are with regards to the ongoing battle against spam.
Since the last update, we’ve shifted from working on the Manage My Mail tool and email API, to focussing on upgrades and configuration changes that we can make at the server level to help reduce spam volumes and improve the reliability of our anti-spam detection. More…
This is intended to be a guide on how to use the Manage My Mail tool to effectively cut down the amount of spam being received into your mailboxes. I have based it on the way I use the tool to deal with spam which has proven to be very effective.
We do have a support page on how to use this too, you can find this here
First of all I’ll show you where the tool can be found.
Simply browse to the member centre at http://portal.plus.net and log in.
Once you are logged in click the link to Email Settings and you will see a screen similar to this:-
(click image to expand)
You should then click on the Manage My Mail icon.
This will take you to the first page of the Manage My Mail tool which allows you to add, edit or remove mailboxes from your account.
If you are finding that email is coming to your default mailbox then I recommend renaming this, click the ‘rename’ link if you want to do this.
(click image to expand)
Personally I renamed my default mailbox to ‘Chris’, you can obviously choose whatever you wish to use.
Once you have done this you may want to turn off the ‘catch-all’ feature of this mailbox if this is not already done on your account.
This will stop people being able to send emails to anything@username.plus.com and means they will only be able to use the specific mailboxes, redirects or aliases you have set up. (We’ll get on to aliases later on)
Click the tab labelled ‘catch-all’ and it will take you to this screen:-
(click image to expand)
Change the status in the drop-down box to ‘off’ and press submit.
When I did this on my account it stopped about 70% of the spam without taking any further measures.
The next thing I would do is register the free .co.uk domain we are offering customers affected by the spam problem. If you have already registered it then you can skip this step.
Stay logged in to the member centre but click the ‘Domain Names’ link on the left, this will take you to a screen like this:-
(click image to expand)
Click the button and this will take you through the process to register a free .co.uk, .me.uk or .org.uk domain name. If you try to register a domain with a different extension then you will get charged at the normal rates for this.
Once you have registered the domain you can now alter the spam settings on an individual domain basis. Click on the spam tab and you will be taken to a page with a drop down box of all your domains, you can change the settings per individual domain or on all your domains by clicking the relevant checkbox.
(click image to expand)
Once this is registered then you can use this for your emails. To ensure that you are only going to receive emails to your new domain and not to mailbox@username.plus.com then you need to raise a ticket to request us to turn emails to username.plus.com off. Again when I did this it eliminated all but 1 or 2 spam every few days to my mailbox.
To deal with these final few spam messages you may want to have anything marked as [-SPAM-] deleted automatically or delivered to an IMAP folder at http://webmail.plus.net so you can check through them before deleting any messages. They will then be removed from here after 21 days.
The final step I take is to ensure I know exactly what email address I have given to different people and companies.
For friends and family I give them the chris@domain.co.uk address, however if I need to use an email address to sign up to something I tailor the address to match the company.
For example if I am signing up for eBay I set up an alias or redirect for ebay@domain.co.uk to arrive in my normal mailbox. I can then see where my emails are arriving from, if I do start getting spam then I know where it’s coming from.
To set up aliases once again you need to visit the Manage My Mail tool.
Click the Aliases tab and you will be greeted with this screen:-
(click image to expand)
As you can see there is already an alias set up on here to receive emails from PlusNet. I also want to set up an ebay alias so I click on the Add New Alias button.
Enter the name of the new alias and select the mailbox you want to point this to, I have used an alias name of ebay and pointed this to my chris mailbox.
(click image to expand)
This means that any emails sent to ebay@domain.co.uk will be received into the same place as chris@domain.co.uk.
These steps proved very effective for me, hopefully they will for you too.
Chris Parr
PlusNet Comms Team
Here at Plusnet we're always trying to use clever open source things to make our lives easier. Sometimes we write our own and make other people's lives easier too!
We sell broadband, phone, VoIP and more to homes and businesses in the UK. Winner of 9 out of 11 Categories in the 2008 USwitch survey. Winner of "Best Consumer ISP" at 2008 ISPA awards. Voted number 1 in the Broadband Choices 2008 survey.
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