Here at PlusNet we have a number of websites (brands) that have historically been used to bring tailored offers to different groups of our customers.

The present list of these is as follows:

PlusNet
Plus.net.uk
Force9
Free-Online
Metronet

As we have grown the differences between many of these brands has been reduced (PlusNet, Free-Online and Force9 now offer identical services, from nearly identical websites). Some of our offers have become very dated or have been replaced by a service from another brand (Plus.net.uk is an example of this).

With the recent introduction of the community site we have taken the decision to work towards a single portal for all our customers. The first step of this will be phasing out the Force9, Free-Online and Plus.net.uk portals, as the content on these is essentially the same as PlusNet.

Having five websites has meant releasing new services or projects involves five lots of work, essentially duplicating the design and build effort for each of the different brands. By changing this we can become more agile and improve the timescales for delivery of every project we work on. As a result will be able to offer more services to all of our customers more quickly. A prime example of this is Wi-Fi access (from BT Openzone hotspots at airports, libraries etc), which was only ever made available to PlusNet customers due to the complications of building separate versions. Going forwards this will not be an issue because having one portal will mean we only need to build one version of each new system or product. .

An FAQ for the upcoming changes is published below. We hope that we will address any questions or concerns you have, and it will be updated with any additional questions raised. If you do wish to discuss this further please comment below or visit our forums here.

Regards
Mand

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Will I be able to use my existing login details?
Yes. When you log in to the new portal, you will see a drop-down menu. You simply need to choose which ISP you are a customer of (Force9, Free-Online, Plus.Net etc), If you have cookies enabled, your choice will be remembered the next time you login.

2. What if someone else has the same username as me?
It is not possible for someone else to have both the same username as you and be a customer of the same brand.

3. Will I see all the same information?
Yes, the portals are very similar to each other and the content will be the same as are available to you now.

Provided you have logged in the content in the Help Assistant will be tailored to your particular brand (this will be done via cookies, so if you have cookies disabled for our site you will need to make the choice every time you visit, otherwise all information will default to PlusNet).

4. Will my account change?
No, there will be no changes to your product. This project is simply about changing our website to make it easier for us to offer you more. The web address you use to login and the way you log in are the only things that will change.

5. Do I need to change any of my settings?
No, all your existing settings remain as they are now.

6. Why are you making these changes?
As the portals are almost the same, the cost of maintaining them (in terms of development and content resource time) far outweighs the benefit of having all five portals available. We feel that by making the changes now we can improve the service for all customers. We will be able to make more improvements in a shorter timescale as a result. With the recent introduction of the Community site it also reduces the number of sites you will need to visit in order to keep up to date with happenings here at PlusNet.

7. Is this the end of the non-PlusNet brands?
No, although you will be logging into the PlusNet portal you will continue to be a customer of whichever brand you signed up to. For new signups, the only options for will be PlusNet or Metronet, but that isn’t to say that we won’t choose to rebrand F9 or Free-online in the future if there is a good reason to do so.

8. I’m a Metronet customer, how will I be affected?
There are no changes to Metronet at this point, we are currently discussing options internally, and will shortly be communicating the plans for Metronet. We want to make it possible for all Metronet customers to easily benefit from PlusNet products and features, but at the same time we know many Metronet customers like the simpler products on offer, and we have no desire to change that.

9. I have referral banners pointing to Force9/Free-Online, do I have to change these?
No, these will continue to work as normal, but any people you refer will need to signup for a PlusNet account.

10. I have made posts on the portal forums for my brand, will these be lost?
No, we are currently working on a project to merge old posts from the portal forums to the forums on the Community site, so you will still have access to older posts from all the forums.

11. I am a Plus.net.uk customer, how will I be affected?
You will also be asked to login to the main PlusNet website upon completion of this project. Your account is linked to the Force9 brand, and will be dealt with as such (due to your username and email address using Force9 this makes the most sense). You will also be able to take advantage of the new Webmail service recently introduced for Force9, Free-Online and PlusNet customers. You can see a guide for this here.

12. Will my account emails now be sent from PlusNet?
Your billing and general account emails (regarding faults, usage allowances etc) will still be addressed from your brand (Force9 Support, Free-Online Support etc), however you may receive newsletters and marketing emails from PlusNet, or other one-off emails as and when the need arises.

13. When will the changes be made?
You can log in to both your usual portal and the PlusNet portal now.

From September 26th you will need to log in to the PlusNet portal only.

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This entry was posted by Mand on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 11:59 am and is tagged with and is posted in the category PlusNet News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.