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How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Cagney1994
Rising Star
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Registered: ‎28-07-2013

How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Ok; there was a severe outage yesterday (as you're probably aware) in the West Yorkshire region and elsewhere. The thing is, going by PN's Service Status page, it states :
Quote
If customers are unable to re-connect automatically following the re-boot please try to manually re-connect by following the steps outlined on http://www.plus.net/reboot

Can someone tell me how you're supposed to follow the link (and the steps outlined within) when you don't have access to the internet ?  Roll_eyes
9 REPLIES 9
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
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Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

A number of customers, myself included have mobile phones which can be used to connect to the internet.
If you're signed up to our Service Status alerts and have e-mail on your phone, you'll be made aware of any service affecting issues that we post on our Service Status.
rongtw
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Chris , i understand what the op is asking , I dont have nor can afford a smart phone so how do i see a email for a outage ?
as soon as i couldn't log on to router page i realized it was a Big PN outage but i couldnt see any Emails , someone has said maybe a Txt message is ok 
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Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
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Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

I appreciate where the OP is coming from.
There's a cost associated with sending SMS messages (on most phone contracts have a fair usage policy) given the amount we would be sending, it would come at a cost.
It's a difficult situation given that the normal means of communication is over the Internet via e-mail/support ticket.
If you've any ideas that you feel will be of benefit, I'd gladly feed them back into the business.
jelv
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

From what I've seen it would cost Plusnet about 4p per SMS message per user to send service status via SMS. I'd guess most postings would take multiple SMS messages due to the size restrictions. Presumably anyone subscribing to such a service would have to pay.
Apparently there is a way emails sent to a gmail address can trigger free SMS alerts. I haven't tried it.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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picbits
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Have an opt in option for customers to receive critical service updates via SMS. Also have the option to not receive messages after 10pm if something happens !
The majority of customers probably wouldn't bother until they had a couple of outages anyway.
Also you could look at maintaining a geographical number with a recorded message on a loop which has the latest updates - is there such a thing as a "multicast" landline service ?
If the internet and/or phone line goes down for a customer, they then only have the option of a mobile (or sometimes neighbours line or connection) to use to find out what is going on so SMS or a cheap method of making a call would be the most obvious solution for those who don't use internet or email on their mobile.
jelv
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Quote from: DomS
Also you could look at maintaining a geographical number with a recorded message on a loop which has the latest updates - is there such a thing as a "multicast" landline service ?

You mean something like 0800 917 6714?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
picbits
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Like that but also on a 01* number.
I have inclusive minutes on my phone which don't include 0800 numbers. I don't know without researching it if they include 0300 numbers but know for certain I can call a normal landline 01* number with no charge.
The last thing I would want to do in the event of an outage would be to try and work out which numbers to call and how much it is costing me.
In practice, I have a small data allowance, unlimited texts and a reasonable talk allowance so I can access the forums by mobile internet if needed but for others (like my Parents), as soon as they log on to their mobile it costs them 50p
avatastic
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Quote from: Chris
If you've any ideas that you feel will be of benefit, I'd gladly feed them back into the business.

Without knowing the full details of the problems, it's hard to make good suggestions.
If the gateways are failing to authenticate because they're having problems connecting to the RADIUS servers, how about accepting the connection but not providing access to anything but a page stating "Authentication failed, this could be because the credentials provided in your router are incorrect <or if there are known issues, insert them here>."
Similar to what happens when BT/w can't find the POP it's supposed to be sending your authentication request to and you get their status page.
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DaveyH
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Re: How are you supposed to connect when there's no broadband?

Quote from: jelv

Apparently there is a way emails sent to a gmail address can trigger free SMS alerts. I haven't tried it.

IFTTT will do it, you could also use RSS and there are probably numerous more inventive ways