Welcome to the first issue of Plus for 2009.

Our first newsletter of the year starts off with much of the country having suffered some of the worst snowy conditions for 18 years. When you’re digging yourself out and need to know what’s happening in the outside world where do you turn to? At the start of this week we noticed our broadband network getting a bit busier than usual. We reckon everyone has been checking transport and media websites to find out how to get to work or if the schools are open. Of course working from home is an option for more people than ever today, and we certainly noticed an increase in remote access traffic across our broadband network. Whatever the weather we’ll be sure to keep your favourite ISP running, providing the broadband and phone services you need.

We’ve lots of things planned for 2009 and we’ll be sure to keep you updated with all the latest news here in the monthly newsletters. Here’s just a taster of some of the things we’ve currently got on the go.

Thanks for reading,

Carol Axe
(Customer Support Director
and Plus Editor)

Contents

1. ADSL2+ Trial Reaches the Next Stage
2. Changes to Home Phone pages
3. Plusnet increases central capacity
4. The Plusnet CSC Telephone System
5. Presidential Inauguration Coverage – Another Online Hit
6. They Don’t Make ‘em Like They Used To
7. 2009 tech. predictions
8. Moderator Elections

For a few months now we’ve been running a trial for users in ADSL2+ enabled areas to test this new faster generation of Broadband.

ADSL2+ allows connection speeds up to 20mb although equipment has not yet been added to every exchange in the UK. You can find out if your exchange has been enabled by visiting http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges. The trial is proving very popular so your patience is appreciated. We’re looking at about a two week waiting time to review your application. If you’d like to take part and you’re sure your exchange is enabled then you can apply to take part at http://trials.plus.net.

If you’d like to find out what the ADSL2+ experience is like you can chat to other customers already on the trial in the 21CN trial forum.

For further information please see the full blog post.

2. Changes to Home Phone pages

Our Web Development and Content teams have been hard at work arranging a new page design for the Home Phone pages in your Member Centre. We have rearranged the call lists and tabs so that the layout is a lot cleaner and tidier.

We hope you like the new layout, if you’ve got any suggestions for changes to anything on our website we’d love to hear from you – give us a shout in the Community forums, on the product ideas and suggestions board. Thank you in advance.

To improve the Plusnet broadband experience we’ve increased the capacity of our central bandwidth with the addition of a further 155mbps segment. For those of you who don’t know, these central bandwidth ‘pipes’ connect our Plusnet network to BT’s ‘backhaul’ network. They provide the connection from your local telephone exchange, and ultimately your own phone connection. This means we can support more connections allowing more people to download more websites, videos, music and everything else the Internet has to offer.

Read the full blog post here.

We’ve noticed that recently we’ve been taking a lot of support calls on the 0114 number. Unfortunately this number is not routed via our Network IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition, the automated menus you go through when calling our support centre) and as such using this number can lead to longer wait times and inefficiencies as the call is not necessarily routed to the agent best qualified to answer your query. What we’d rather do is send these calls directly to the network IVR in order to alleviate the above issues. However unfortunately it is not possible to route a geographic number to this IVR.

Therefore to encourage use of the 0845 number for general enquiries we are removing the 0114 number from the main page footer and also the ‘how to contact us’ section of the website. If you do need the 0114 number for a specific reason it will remain available on the index page of our help and support section.We would like you all to know that we are continuing to look at possible alternatives that will allow us to offer both support on a convenient phone number and an improved call experience through the network IVR. We’ll keep you posted.

If you’d like to read more about this and our future plans please read James’s blog.

Bigger than the Olympics? President Barack Obama’s inauguration certainly caused another surge in iPlayer usage. Perhaps it’s because, unlike television, it’s available in the workplace? Perhaps it’s because the Internet is now almost as widely accessible as the radio? Or perhaps more likely, it’s down to President Obama simply using the internet very smartly during his campaign? Regardless of how it’s happened, streaming video on the Internet is getting bigger and better and more and more people are turning to it for news and current affairs. There are several blogs on the iPlayer and the debate about the effect it’s having on the Internet as a whole on the Community site.

Read the full post here.

Computer gaming has been going for around 30 years now. The generation that grew up with the Acorn Electron and the Commodore 64 is now all grown up and has a bit of disposable income to hand. As a result all the old favourites are starting to make a comeback. ‘Game and Watch’ games on the Game Boy, Arcade games being rereleased in multipacks for the latest consoles… I bet that when you were feeding those huge old 10p pieces into Enduro Racer on the seafront in Skegness that you never, ever, imagined being able to buy ten arcade games on one disk and play them in your lounge at home. But are you as good as you used to be?

Well, last years Sychosis2 LAN party proved that one of us at least hasn’t lost those skills, but Carl’s blog suggests that he’s dropped the microsecond jump timing he spent years developing on PacLand and Wonderboy in favour of the ability to play plastic rock instruments. Is this a step forward or a step backward? You decide.

If you fancy testing your skills, there are a few classics that have been wrapped in Flash and put on the internet for you to play at your leisure. Here are just few of our favourites:

Sim City

Donkey Kong

International Karate+

Bomb Jack

Read Carl’s blog here.

7. 2009 tech. predictions

On the back of his 50% score for last year’s predictions, our Platform manager Dan Kirkland has had another go for 2009 to see if he can do better this year. There are some fantastic ideas in his blog – I’m quite excited by OLED technology but the idea of a mobile phone with a built in projector really gets the imagination going.

What do you think will be big this year? We’re sure that the computer market will keep growing and technology will integrate itself ever more deeply into our lifestyles, but how? Has our Dan got the right end of the stick, or do you have a different view of the future? Perhaps by the end of the year we’ll be looking through glasses with inbuilt displays so the computer world is overlaid on top of the physical?

Perhaps we’ll start seeing wider WiFi networks or maybe fuel cells will replace batteries… it’s an exciting time. Make your suggestions on the Community Forums and we’ll see who gets the most right – same time same place next year?

Want to read more? Here’s the full list of Dan’s predictions.

Our Forum Moderators are on the lookout for another couple of keen forum goers to add to their ranks and to keep an eye on the ebb and flows of the Community. If you’re a regular contributor and know your way about, or if you know someone who might be interested, take a look at this topic.

Plusnetplc Registered Office: Internet House, 2 Tenter Street, Sheffield, S1 4BY
Registered in England no: 3279013

Best wishes to all our customers this festive season. We hope to find you well and looking forward to the joys offered by this time of year.

In this month’s newsletter we’ve got some Christmas ideas and we take a closer look at our online support systems. There’s also some good news for resellers of our service, information about a change in management and some details of what we have done regarding the recent fall in VAT.

Best wishes for a prosperous Eid, Happy Hanukkah and a very Merry Christmas to you all.
Carol Axe
(Customer Support Director and Plus Editor)

Contents

1. ‘Tis the season to be jolly
2. What does the VAT reduction mean to me?
3. Convenient and quick self-service
4. Changes at the top
5. One step closer to next generation broadband
6. Upgraded spam protection
7. Interested in reselling Plusnet broadband?

That’s right! The season of goodwill and shopping is now well and truly upon us. Over at the Community website we’ve got some ideas for your festive fayre and last minute Christmas presents. Why not reduce your carbon footprint this year by sending some e-cards?

Whether you’re doing all your shopping online or are braving the high street in person, we wish you all the best for the season and the New Year. Most of all though, thank you for being with Plusnet.

Read the full blog here.

2. What does the VAT reduction mean to me?

As most of the country that hasn’t been living at the bottom of a deep dark hole without any means of contacting the outside world will know, the VAT rate has now been dropped from 17.5% to 15%. What you may not know is what we have been doing about this. The good news is that this is being passed on across all of our Broadband packages, all of our Home Phone packages and all other services we currently offer.

Read the full article and FAQ here.

Did you know that our website is far more than just a place to buy broadband? We’d hope we can improve your online experience and maybe even make your life a little bit easier. Look after all parts of your service and check your usage in the My Account section. Check out how to set up everything from broadband routers to email software in the Support Pages or if you’re stuck for an answer, ask for help in the Help Assistant.

If you have a query or a minor fault or just want some information, it’s all here. The Help Assistant is the place to raise a question to our support team when it doesn’t have to be answered immediately. We use Help Assistant instead of email and it means you can get on with life while we sort out your problem. We’ll let you know when it’s ready by sending you an email alert or text message. You can then pick up your ‘ticket’ in My Questions at the website.

The Service Status page is always worth a look if something looks like it’s not working. All issues that could affect service are posted here and updated when we have further information or when resolved. Don’t forget also Usertools, our Community forums and of course our Webmail. Send and receive your email from any internet connection on the planet. You’ll never miss an ebay auction again.

Some changes to report here at Plusnet HQ in Sheffield. We’ve of course been very sad to say goodbye to Neil Laycock, our previous CEO, who leaves us to go on to new pastures. Neil’s successor is Anthony Vollmer who joins us from BT where he was previously General Manager of Voice Propositions in BT Retail’s consumer division.

A warm welcome then for Anthony and our very best wishes go with Neil.

Read the full article.

Dave Tomlinson has posted another blog telling us how the next generation trial is going. In summary – very well indeed! You can also see how our Marketing Director, Neil Armstrong is getting on with his trial line.

Read Dave’s blog here.

The move of our anti-spam solution from Postini to Ironport has now finished and the difference is definitely noticeable. You can read more about how the migration went and what our further plans are at the FAQ.

There’s more information in the FAQ, here.

7. Interested in reselling Plusnet broadband?

It’s been a long time coming, but as of the New Year we’ll be able to offer a preview of our Partner programme. While it has been possible for business account holders with multiple accounts to administer these, the Partner programme will bring all this together and make the whole process a great deal easier.

Along with a dedicated support team, centralised billing and the provision for signing up and ordering broadband for new accounts all in one place, this really will deliver everything the small business or SME needs to look after multiple accounts.

Sounds good? If you’d like to know more and it isn’t detailed in the blog article then drop us a line at businesssales@plus.net.

Plusnetplc Registered Office: Internet House, 2 Tenter Street, Sheffield, S1 4BY
Registered in England no: 3279013

Welcome to the latest edition of Plus, the Plusnet newsletter.

We’ve got some great news this month if you run your own website. There’s also faster upload speeds, new routers, and a redesign for the Community Forums.

As ever there’s exciting stuff in the pipeline that we’d love you to be a part of. Nearly everything we do comes from discussions with customers on our community site – come and join us and tell us what you’d like to happen.

Carol Axe
(Customer Support Director and Plus Editor)

Contents

1. Boost your upload speed for £8 a month
2. New kit makes it easy to connect
3. Important news for Webmasters
4. More recommendations for Plusnet!
5. Help us reorganise our community forums
6. Other news

If you’re a photographer, creative type, host your own website or regularly upload files you know that upload speed can be just as important as download. Now, for just £8 a month extra you can boost your upload speed with Max Premium.

The typical upload speed for broadband is 448kb/s, which works out at about 45kB a second. If you’re finding this too slow, Max Premium will increase the upload speed to a maximum of 832kb/s which will have your uploads done in half the time.

There’s more detail in the blog, if you’d like to request the upgrade you can do so at http://trials.plus.net.

2. New kit makes it easy to connect

Customers signing up for Broadband Your Way options 2, 3 or Pro now get the option of a Thomson 585v7 4-port wireless router. It’s a very solid piece of hardware that has proven to be more likely to hold a connection on long or noisy lines and it’s really easy to set up.

Don’t worry though, this isn’t just for new customers – there’s an offer in the pipeline for existing customers to be able to get their hands on one of these too.

The great thing about the Thomson 585 is that it supports TR-069. This isn’t some kind of a terminator-style killer robot or the latest two wheeled offering from a Japanese motorcycle company. TR-069 means that in the not-too-distant future the router will set itself up as soon as you plug it in. How about that? No more messing about with setting it up with usernames and passwords, it’ll sort itself out and connect to us as soon as it powers up.

Not only that but our customer support staff will be able to connect directly and securely to your router if you have a problem. This is good news for all of you who actively refer new customers to Plusnet.

For more information please read the blog entry.

We were amongst the very first UK ISPs to provide quality web hosting with our connections. Our homepages, FrontPage and CGI servers offer everything you need to create a website – whether you’re just starting out or already a web guru. Further development of these servers is limited and we’ve never been in a position to offer all the product options that we’d have liked to.

So we’re very pleased to announce our plans for a major overhaul of our web hosting servers. We’ll be using the popular Plesk software which will allow you to configure all aspects of your own webspace using an easy to understand web based interface.

You’ll be able to try out the new service on a trial basis very shortly and those keen to move over from CGI can do so right away.

More details about the trial and how to take part, as well as what to expect from the new hosting service, can be found over in the Web Hosting forum.

WebUser magazine has just voted us best broadband deal for students thanks to our monthly contracts and free overnight usage. We’re also the recommended option for gamers for Broadband Your Way Pro, and budget users for Plusnet Essential. Apple users will also be glad to know we’re officially Mac friendly.

Although we didn’t clinch the top spot, coming third in this year’s PCPro Awards 2008, we did get some great scores especially for Customer Support and Reliability. We’ll definitely be back and fighting hard for next year’s title.

Last but not least, in PC Advisor’s Reader Awards 2008,we took joint second place in the ‘Best Overall ISP’ section and picked up a PC Advisor Recommended badge for ‘best broadband deal’.

After much discussion and voting our community forums have been given a bit of an overhaul. However this is only the start – we need your help! Do they work? Are they easy to navigate? When the page opens, is it obvious where your question needs to be posted?

This is an ongoing process, but will be much better with your help. There’re now dedicated sections for feedback for both the community site itself and the service as a whole and we’d love it if you take part.

You can read the full blog on this page, there’s also more information on the thread on forum redesign and the Community Support forum.

What’s been going on in the CSC?

Well, when you have an award-winning call centre at your disposal it would be silly not to make use of it. As regular Community readers will know, we’ve begun sharing workflows between ourselves and our colleagues in Durban. Don’t worry though, the Sheffield nerve centre will remain just that – the absolute hub and centre of Plusnet.

Plusnet TV – we have a series of video interviews with staff from various departments in Plusnet, which will give you an intriguing insight into some of our staff and our ways of working. Come and meet Brad and Mike from the CSC, Ian from the products team, Nick from Marketing and Mark, one of our Business managers. You can see all the videos on our Community site.

Did you know we have a Usergroup? They are instrumental in the development of our service and have a part to play in everything we roll out. If you like the sound of that and think it might be something you’d be interested in, you’ll be glad to know they’re currently recruiting. Why not join in and make a difference to your service provider?

Plusnetplc Registered Office: Internet House, 2 Tenter Street, Sheffield, S1 4BY
Registered in England no: 3279013