topic Re: Upgrade? in Business

Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:42:25 GMT

I currently have "Unlimited Business Broadband with 7 - 16Mb estimated download speed" I'm currently struggling to reach 4Mb. Video chat becomes almoost unuseable at times. Virgin have just dug trenches all down our street and installed fibre points by every house. I have been with PlusNet for a very long time. I have found Plusnet to be a great firm to deal with. I have earned a great many Referral Points that reduce my monthly bill for phone and broadband to about £9.00

If I don't log in to the Plusnet site and search my address, I am offered Ultimate Full Fibre for about £23.

If I call the helpdesk, I am told that I can get Full Fibre

If I log in and click "Upgrade", the only package I am offered is the one I am already on - and which is failing to deliver. I have had a "ticket" out, waiting for a response for about a month now (though I cannot now navigate the Byzantine website to find it).

Do I simply jump ship and go for Virgin? I know there's no sign of any BT fibre down our road (though it is close). I know it's going to cost me - but I accept that I'll need to pay for any reliable service.

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:47:39 GMT

What does https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL say - using your phone number? Obscure your number in the reply.

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:58:56 GMT

It says (in red):

We are sorry but the checker is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:01:25 GMT

When you click the link - or later ? I've just tried it with no problem.

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:13:05 GMT

Ah! Another try produces results!

The top few lines are shown below (if you can translate them!) The whole thing is attached as a .pdf file

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream HandbackThreshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date Left in JumperHigh Low High Low VDSL Range A (Clean)VDSL Range B (Impacted)

80	74.1	20	19	69.8	Available	Available	--
80	73.9	20	19	67.4	Available	Available	--

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessFTTP on Demand

330

Available

ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) ADSL Availability Date Left in JumperWBC ADSL 2+WBC ADSL2+ Annex MADSL MaxWBC Fixed RateFixed Rate

Up to 15	--	8.5 to 19.5	Available	--
Up to 15	Up to 1	8.5 to 19.5	Available	--
Up to 8	--	7 to 8	Available	--
2	--	--	Available	--
2	--	--	Available	--

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:20:08 GMT

From the PDF - much easier to read and more useful - you can get FTTC, so I personally would ring in and get Plusnet to check. I may be wrong, but it could be the fact you are on a Business account that is confusing the PN systems - they are temperamental and (IMO) badly configured.

Re: Upgrade?

SpendLessTime — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:22:40 GMT

@woodchipchris Well the PDF clearly shows that FTTP is not available to you.

(FTTP On Demand which is shown is a separate and extremely expensive, hard to get product)

Did you use your phone number or your address to check for what is available? If you used the phone number option, could you please try again on the page linked above but select the "Address checker" towards the bottom of the page.

This will see if there is a database error in Openreach's system and might explain why Plusnet's checker says FTTP is available but the link says not.

And finally the Plusnet Member Centre upgrade options is having an issue which Plusnet are looking into as it isn't showing upgrade options for lots of us currently (including myself)

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:25:34 GMT

@SpendLessTime I think you must be looking at a different PDF - it clearly shows FTTC as available to me. 😕

Re: Upgrade?

SpendLessTime — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:26:07 GMT

Also currently Plusnet do not do FTTP for Business accounts so even if it is available, it will only be a residential account so would be a new account without voice calls or emails. (Plusnet FTTP has no voice service and upgrading terminates your voice losing the phone number too)

Re: Upgrade?

SpendLessTime — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:26:50 GMT

@jab1 I never mentioned FTTC it says FTTP

Re: Upgrade?

SpendLessTime — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:28:39 GMT

@jab1 I was just looking at the OP's comment about "FULL Fibre" which is FTTP and left the FTTC to you

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:32:31 GMT

@SpendLessTime Apologies - I just went on the Availability Checker - FTTP is definitely not available to the OP, but FTTC is.

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:33:07 GMT

Hmmm.. While this conversation is going on, a man from Virgin has turned up. Free fibre ("Up to 1Gb") for 6 months plus a £200 Amazon voucher. This so that they can test their new installation. I just need to turn off my existing router. Presumably, the phone line won't be affected at that stage.

I'm very tempted...

Re: Upgrade?

jab1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:34:37 GMT

@woodchipchris Understandable - but did he tell you the cost after the 6 months?

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 11:44:05 GMT

No. And a browse of their standard offerings suggest that (after the first customer-grabbing) 18 months may look fairly prohibitive. I shall be sure that I find out before they dig a trench through my lawn what I will be looking at in 2 years' time (6 months free trial and 18 months introductory offer)

However, as suggested in the thread above: BT's FTTP is not (actually cannot) be available down this road because they have no fibre laid! The copper that was put down some 50 years ago is getting steadily worse and the cabinet is quite a distance from the house.

BT are not (as far as I can determine) planning to install any fibre here - but, within the next 2 years, I suspect that they will have to do something!

Re: Upgrade?

Baldrick1 — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 11:54:20 GMT

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Broadband

Re: Upgrade?

corringham — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 15:54:39 GMT

@woodchipchris wrote:

No. And a browse of their standard offerings suggest that (after the first customer-grabbing) 18 months may look fairly prohibitive.

Are you looking at the business packages? I wouldn't call £33pm (+VAT) for a 400/40Mbps service on a 24 month contract prohibitive. Even adding £7pm for a VoIP phone account seems competitive with Openreach resellers to me.

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 16:30:47 GMT

No, I wasn't. Being (well) retired, I wasn't necessarily looking for a business account any more. But their basic domestic package at £26 suddenly jumps from £26 to £51 once out of the "Introductory Offer" - and that include weekends only phone calls. Other times are at something like 22p per minute.

The business package looks marginally better.

But, at present, if one of us has a Zoom meeting, for eaxample, we need to shut down all other systems that might take up bandwidth or it keeps freezing. Often freezes anyway.

Chat with neighbours suggest that BT (and PlusNet) can deliver FTTC with c. 70Mb - which will be fine for me. I think I need to get onto the help line again.

Re: Upgrade?

Dan_the_Van — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 16:44:36 GMT

@woodchipchris

You need to phone the Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 not the Help Desk

HTH

Re: Upgrade?

woodchipchris — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 09:32:51 GMT

Thanks for that, Dan_the_Van.

I finally got through to someone who helped! I'm signed up to Unlimited Fibre Extra as a domestic customer though the actual cost is not very much different from Virgin's offer.

Financially (taking into account Virgin's 6 month free trial and £200 Amazon voucher) it wouldn't make a lot of difference. After 18 months, this headline "£23 per month" (actually £34 with calls) turns into some £58 per month. Very equivalent to what I'd pay Virgin.

The game-changer is that I have around £20 per month discount here for my referrals.
And I do try to stay loyal - though that is very devalued currency nowadays...