topic Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre? in Plusnet Feedback

Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

steviebaby1 — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 10:18:30 GMT

Hi.
I'm New to Plusnet and have a question.
I have signed up, but am not being hooked up until next Monday 28th of April. It was supposed to be the Friday before, but the guy that signed me up made a mistake and put me down for an AM call as opposed to a PM call as I requested.
I have had an email from "Rachael" on the 17th telling me she would be in touch again once an appointment arrangement has been confirmed, she did this the next day, and confirmed a slot between 13:00 and 18:00, despite me stating I would not be back in the property until 14:30, so I do hope that was passed on to the BT engineer again as requested. I know they do not work weekends, but there must be some flexibility surely for the people that have to work for a living because sometimes it is difficult to arrange annual leave in short notice.
My main point is why are Plusnet not making any offers for New customers to attract them to the business for just the Fibre itself, is the land line part really that important to you?
I ask this because I have had two terrible experiences in the past, one with Sky and the other with NTL. After those terrible experiences I promised myself and the rest of the family that I would Never move to another company for the Phone, and that I would stay with BT.
So why are we being penalised for this on the service that you provide? I have to sign up to a 18 month contract that hasn't had any offers on it. Not too sure how this is meant to encourage NEW customers to join you at PN.
Best regards.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

jelv — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 10:34:15 GMT

http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/broadband-only/
Broadband only is available but will cost you more. They must make more money from the phone side so push everyone towards that.
Edit: BT give free diversion of calls to a mobile if your phone is faulty - Plusnet do not. My phone is still with BT and will be staying there!

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Pettitto — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:55:57 GMT

Hi steviebaby1,
First of all, really sorry that the person that you originally spoke to made a mistake with your order 😕
With regards to the pricing of standalone Fibre - it's the way that we've built and decided to price our products. We'd much prefer customers bring their telephone service over to us. Fibre costs quite a lot to have installed and for us to take from our suppliers so we can only offer the service at a discounted rate when a telephone product is taken with us.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

PeeGee — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:05:28 GMT

Quote from: jelv
Edit: BT give free diversion of calls to a mobile if your phone is faulty - Plusnet do not. My phone is still with BT and will be staying there!

Personally, I'm quite happy to not help cover the cost of free diversion of calls to mobiles
However, I will say that the loss of phone service might not be noticed by us for a few days anyway (and emergency internet is covered)

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Townman — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:11:24 GMT

More to the point, if your internet and voice services are provided by different providers, they can enjoy a really good game of Ping-Pong using you as the ball if an internet issue can be shown to have a POTS cause.
Both services from the same provider does, in my experience, lead to a simpler life - note I say simpler not better. Simpler because there is a single responsible body, to be better they need to be able to deliver good customer care.
Going a little off topic, but still related...
Beyond that I do confess to not approving of service jobs used by UK residents being passed abroad^* - PN despite its faults for me wins hands down by having call centres in the UK. When dealing with other organisations, my heart sinks as soon as I hear the voice at the other end of the phone - if it is off shore (other than the USA) I know the call is going to be difficult. Being a Yorkshire man though does mean I can understand the lingo!
^*In some circumstances I'd go so far as to object to services used by English residents being exported to Wales like the DVLA and NHS Direct. The North of England needs those jobs just as much as do the Welsh! But that is a different debate

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:29:02 GMT

OP have you looked at the prices of Broadband between Plusnet and BT?
Have you compared the customer service reviews from both companies?
Plusnet is far cheaper than BT, and their customer service is far superior AND it is all England based unlike ~~British~~ India Telecom.
I have to say you are barking mad to stay with BT for your phone. Oh dear, Plusnet don't transfer your calls to mobiles IF you have a fault that stops your line working... (obviously you have a mobile so what's the problem?) HOORAY I'm not subsidising your calls to be diverted!
I simply do not understand why you have made this post?
It's brash, rude, and some what aggressive.
Just like my reply to you.
I switched a week ago from ADSL broadband to Fibre after my cab was activated.
I have been with Plusnet for a year and a half before hand, yet I have to pay full price.
So how would it be fair for you to join and get an already cheap product with excellent service, even cheaper, when I can't?
Would you like Plusnet to also get the bells out and have a street party?
I was a BT customer before originally moving to PlusNet, and I am still recovering from the ordeal!
Feel free to join the forum, we will all welcome you, and staff are great, and will go out of their way to help you.
But come here as a first time poster and moan because you can't get it cheaper than the rest of us, and expect us to subsidise your service, and well, you get replies like this one!

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

jelv — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:40:35 GMT

Quote from: Devonian
I have to say you are barking mad to stay with BT for your phone. Oh dear, Plusnet don't transfer your calls to mobiles IF you have a fault that stops your line working... (obviously you have a mobile so what's the problem?)

I must be being thick. Just how does my having a mobile help people who only know my landline number reach me without the calls being redirected?
Also: when I've had a landline fault BT have booked an engineer within a very short time of me contacting them (usually during the initial call). These days with Plusnet it takes them ages to do all the tests and arrange an engineer.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:45:05 GMT

I assume people important, or who you would urgently need to speak to, would know all points of contact.
Other wise, a day or 2 without incoming calls would be survivable.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Mayfly — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:50:40 GMT

Talking about the cost of call divert - for the deal I am on my BB AND phone with PN only costs me £3-4 per month more than the phone alone did with BT so if I had to pay for call divert in case there was a fault I would still be quids in.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

All4One — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:59:18 GMT

Just moved my parents to Plusnet phone and BB.
BT couldn't retain them at any decent price, quoting £11 more than Plusnet could do. Useless BT.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

x47c — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:36:39 GMT

As per the first reply
BB in the UK seems now to be sold on a least price at all cost - along with a service to match in many cases sadly.
They make more money out of the voice phone side
So they want to get both your phone contract and your BB contract to make you as a customer give them a profit.
If you don't bring your phone across they need to charge you more.
It's just a slight variation on the more you buy the cheaper it gets overall concept of marketing/selling.
Here one product (phones) is cross subsiding the artificially lowered price on another(BB).
The real people who should be incandescent with fury are those not paying any BB charges because they don't have it but who are subsiding everyone else's cheap broadband by their higher charges - but we don't give a monkey's about them do we.
@All4One
Do you really think that in the days of mass market consumerism BT are going to drop their prices just for you so as to match someone else's?
Do you go into Waitrose and demand that they match Tesco price on something - and that if they don't they are classified as being 'useless' by you?
It is a very strange viewpoint on the world

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Townman — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:42:15 GMT

Quote from: jelv
These days with Plusnet it takes them ages to do all the tests and arrange an engineer.

Jelv,
My most recent experience with such issues was back in early Feb, so some might not consider that to be "these days", however on that occasion the noisy line fault was reported after 2pm on one day and PN did the test during the call (I was on my mobile) confirmed the fault and got the BTOR engineer out for 8am the following morning. How much better could anyone do than that, beyond having direct contact with BTOR's on the ground engineers to see if anyone was passing by my door that afternoon with a free half hour to spare?
It should matter not who you pay your money to - BT Retail or PlusNet or anyone else - in the event of a line fault, it is repaired by the same organisation BTOR, who are supposed to provide a non-preferential service to all CP resellers. If you have evidence that suggests that BTOR deliver a preferential service to BT Retail subscribers than they do to others such as PN, then please let us see it so that it can be put before Ofcom.
Whilst we are all entitled to our opinions I suggest that, for your suggestion that BT - that is BT Retail - is better at delivering and repairing faults than other CPs, one would have to conclude that BTOR are in fact offering preferential treatment to BT Retail compared to those who you suggest are less good at getting phone faults fixed. That is a bold claim / suggestion.
Where I would agree is that having charged you more in the first place, BT Retail is kind enough to absorb the cost of call diversion whilst the line is out of service. BT retail also have a decent on-line line test and fault reporting service, though I have no idea how that has faired since I moved to PN and can no longer use it. In terms of preferential treatment for BT Retail by BTOR, I'd suggest that this is a clear example - I believe that this on-line test facility was developed by the 'cables' part of BT before it was divided up and before (or at the time of) dividing this was passed to BT retail so that it could not be shared with other 'competing' CPs. That tool ought to be in the public domain part of BTOR so that anyone on the infrastructure can raise a line fault with the same ease as can BT Retail customers. These two plus points though are nowhere near enough to entice me to split broadband and POTS providers, as the headache of dealing with two providers over BB issues is not worth any claimed marginal benefits.
Cheers,
Kevin

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

billnotben — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:24:33 GMT

Quote from: Devonian
Plusnet is far cheaper than BT

That's a bit of a sweeping statement that's certainly not true in all cases.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:48:33 GMT

Unlimited Fibre 80/20 (including line rental) : PlusNet £34.49 BT £41.99
40GB Limit Fibre 40/10 (including line rental) : Plusnet £30.49 BT £31.99 plus £30 activation fee
Unlimited ADSL (including line rental) : Plusnet £17.75 BT £36.99
10GB ADSL (including line rental) : Plusnet £16.49 BT £27.99

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

billnotben — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:56:07 GMT

Nice set of figures but I stand by my statement.
Certainly not true in all cases.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:16:45 GMT

I don't understand how it's not true, when the above is the price you pay?

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

jelv — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:37:10 GMT

Do those figures include CLI?

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 20:42:58 GMT

Does that matter?
BT offer Sport... great.. if you want it. But I don't.
Plusnet charges for calls to be redirected if your phone line breaks, BT don't... great! Except I wont use it.
So adding these things and charging more for it is a false economy to the customer if you would never use it in the first place.
The only extra I want and pay for is caller display.
So BT is much more expensive for ME. Fact.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

VileReynard — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 20:45:16 GMT

BT and their lapdog (Plusnet) are not the only telecoms providers operating in the UK.

Re: Why NO Offers for just the Fibre?

Devonian — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 01:11:05 GMT

Really? I honestly didn't know that!