Thanks for the last few years service.

[#1]

I have since leaving Virgin many moons ago been impressed with Plusnet.  The dedicated gaming service was just what I was looking for and rarely did I experience a problem that wasn't fixed quickly, if at all.
However, since changing plan to save a few sheckles the story couldn't be more different.  The last month has been anything but impressive and I have now reluctantly decided that it cannot continue.  Not prepared to leave my router plugged in 24/7 for reasons other than I just don't want to, I don't see why I should have to leave a piece of electrical equipment on all the time to keep a steady connection, regardless of the minimal costs.
When I purchase a TV I don't expect to have to leave that plugged in all the time because hey! plasma likes to be kept warm at night.
Apparently over time  my speeds will slowly rise and I can again be surfing pages as the god of broadband intended, I mean 312kbps downstream, really!  those were the kind of numbers I used to post back in the dark days of AOL.

If any help can be afforded me in the next 5 days whilst waiting for a MAC code then all the better and please excuse the tone but a non helpful support call and a recent billing overcharge have left me slightly miffed.

[#2]

If you are running via a BT phone line which is not LLU, I can't see how you will get any different service from another ISP.  The issues yuo see and probably due to the physical conditions between your modem and the exchange.

[#3]

I went from BT to plusnet and my speed went from the avg of 2mbps to 6mbps same line ect.

[#4]

Hello m8 you don't mention what speeds you were getting before? Leaving the router on is not as important as when you switch it on. If the router has been off all night it should not convince the exchange that you are having lots of disconnections which is what will make your ip profile drop.
Switching the router on in the morning rather than at night will give you a marginally better sync speed but nothing major by about 0.5mbps if your not lucky. What will happen if the router is frequently knocked off and on every time you want to use is the exchange may interpret this has your router losing sync and it WILL drop your speed down.
Now this is not Plusnet specific and will happen on all BT ADSL exchanges, some exchanges are LLU enabled which means the isp has a touch more control over what happens but that's another story altogether. If you do switch isp's and carrying knocking the router on/off it will also happen with your new i.s.p
Start at the beginning again m8 and firstly work out if it's a fault rather than the isp, You need to know before carrying on firstly what speed is your line capable of then check that this is the profile (somewhere near) that BT has for you using the speed tester. Next step check to see if you suffer from disconnections by checking your router stats.
Once you know what you should get, check this is in-line with BT's ip profile and finally that your router or setup isn't causing the problem in the first place then it's time to get down PN'S throat.
PN will advise you on how best to check all the other things first.