Terrible communication from Plusnet over my extremely slow broadband speeds

[#1]

For the last month I've been receiving speeds of about 0.24mbps and Plusnet have done the bare minimum to try and fix it. They told me 4 times that it was a banded line and that they'd remove it and it should return back to normal in about 4 hours time. Every time it never did.

Then they said it must be a fault on the line and an engineer visit would be needed. I was asked to provided a date for them to come which I have, twice. 3 days later and no reply from them. Who knows when this problem will be fixed. It's been over a month now with unusable internet (which I have still been paying for unfortunately) and no sign of a resolution from Plusnet.

If I was to cancel my broadband and go with another provider, would the fault still be there? Will Plusnet ever get back to me?

I've been wanting to upgrade to fibre anyway, and seeing as every other provider is cheaper than the upgrade quote I get from Plusnet, I think I'll be doing it sooner rather than later. I'm paying all this money for an internet speed slower than dial-up!

[#2]

Hi,

A warm welcome to the forums.  Sounds as though you've had a tough time.  What of the self help things have you done?  have you read the slow speed issues topic and followed the advice therein?  See the link below.

Sometimes the changes which Plusnet seek to apply via BT Wholesale's management system simply do not work as they should do - it is not unknown for the BTw management system to fail to do the job multiple times over.  Therefore it is difficult to be sure what's happened in your case - Plusnet finger troubles or BTw system failures.

However the point is banding is applied for good reasons - usually a physical line fault - in an attempt to attain stability until the fault is resolved.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a corded phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket. It should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below.  From the Q&A list, choose the one which matches the problem, 'open' the 'section' and click the trouble-shooter link.  NB: If you receive a failure message (rather than a log-in prompt) then log-in to the user portal in a different browser tab and attempt to use the trouble-shooter again.

• Phone Faults

What are the expectations for your line?

Please use the following links to check the services available and their estimated speeds. From the first link, please record and report back the distance from the exchange. The second link advises of which fibre services (if any) are available on your line and their anticipated speed.

• Kitz line check
• Kitz BT checker

How is your line performing?

Please post your router stats; for PN TG582n and 2704n routers use the buttons below, for other routers look at the Kitz link.

Also run a BT Wholesale speed test (ideally using an Ethernet wired PC with the WiFi turned off) then run the further diagnostics and post the results here. DO NOT REBOOT the router!

Also find your CURRENT SPEED (PlusNet line profile) from the PlusNet user portal - you will need to log in.

• TG582n Stats
• 2704n Stats
• Kitz list
• BTw Speedtest
• PN Profile

[#3]

Apologies for the delay.

I'll make sure this gets picked up shortly.

[#4]

It’s been 5 days and I’ve still had no reply from Plusnet. This is getting ridiculous and unacceptable.

If I was to change to fibre, would this fault on my line still be there or is it a different line used?

[#5]

If you did switch to fibre, Plusnet would commit you to a 12 or 18 month contract.

If the fault was still there, and Plusnet don't fix it, then potentially you would be stuck for your entire contract period, or have very expensive exit fees.

If you migrated to another ISP that only has a one month fibre contract period and better customer support, then you would only be committing yourself to 30 day terms, after which you could choose to migrate elsewhere, or downgrade to ADSL, or make use of the better customer support to get BT to improve your connection to an acceptable standard.

How much are Plusnet quoting you for upgrading to combined line rental + fibre ?

[#6]

@wordsfromlee,

Given that you have not responded to any of the self help actions I offered, it is difficult to answer your question on the fibre upgrade ... because it depends on where the problem is.

If the issue is on the d-side circuit (that between your home and the local green cabinet, including YOUR internal wiring) then there is a high chance that a FTTC service will also be impaired.

If the issue is on the e-side circuit (from the local cabinet to the exchange) or in the exchange then it is not likely that a FTTC service will be impaired, as most of that is replaced by the fibre connection.

Some answers to the self help questions would go a long way towards identifying what's going on.  Have you raised a fault report?  If no, you can use the link below to do so.  If yes, you can use the PN ticket link below to find out what is happening.

[#7]

I raised a fault report over a month ago and it's still on going! After doing many tests to the line and removing the band on the line 4 or 5 times, they said an Openreach engineer would need to be sent out to fix the fault and to reply back with a date and time slot that would be best for me. I did that 5 days ago and have not received any reply from Plusnet as to when the engineer will be coming.

Normally I get a reply within 24 hours but this is getting silly. I'm still having to pay Plusnet my broadband bill when the maximum speed I've been getting for over a month now is slower than dial-up internet.

[#8]

Hi Lee,

I read into that you are able to find the support tickets in he user portal and there has been no progress indicated there?

Adjustments for no or poor service are usually considered when the fault is resolved, for only at that time is the duration and cause of the degraded service known.

@MatthewWheeler - can you provide a status update please?  I guess this is in fault's work queue?

[#9]

I've just been an looked and there was a reply on the fault ticket from yesterday afternoon which I didn't know about as a didn't get a notification via email like usual and it was still said 'awaiting support team answer' on the portal site even though they replied. Hopefully this should get fixed today although I was booked in for the AM slot today and it's 2pm and they still haven't turned up yet.

[#10]

@Townman This was picked up yesterday but theres been further issues which I'll detail below

@wordsfromlee The appointment reference on your fault was a provisional one rather then a confirmation.

Due to our suppliers systems rejecting this a engineer won't be going out today I'm afraid.

I'll be giving you a call shortly