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poor service and worse internet issues

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

poor service and worse internet issues

having been with plusnet for only a few months now and reading of peoples issues with poor internet I am going to leave.

my broadband over last month has been awful with slow speeds down to 0.08 mbps and regular drop outs. I have been In regular contact with technical help and have had 2 bt engineers out with third one due out next week.

Openreach blame plusnet, plusnet blame openreach and as customers we are left with poor service whilst they go backward and forward

in the meantime I lose money as I am having to take time off work for each engineers visit 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. not to mention the paid subscriptions to Netflix, now tv (sport and movies), amazon prime and xbox live

I first thought it was just my broadband (not had issue with previous supplier) but reading on the forums it seem a daily occurrence. 

when I asked to leave I was told by customer services that I would be penalised for their service of slow internet and dropped lines at a cost of over £36. also as I had paid my 12 month line rental upfront that was also non refundable

I have since found the email address of the ceo of plusnet mr Andy Baker and decided to sent him an email regarding his companies failings towards customers titled "we won't do you proud". 

one of his staff rang me and told me to see what the findings of the 3rd openreach engineer is this week and he would call me to discuss leaving or staying with plusnet

I will keep you posted of the outcome on Wednesday unless the forum moderators remove my post

 

 

 

 

13 REPLIES 13
JOLO
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,149
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Registered: ‎06-08-2018

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

@cbatoday,

 

I've had a look at your account and the fault that's been open against it. As two engineers have already attended and your issue is still ongoing our faults team have rightly now raised this as an escalation within BT Wholesale to try and get more care placed on your issue in an attempt to fix it which will apply for your next visit due after the bank holiday. 

 

I can see you've emailed Andy, and this is now being dealt with by the High Level Escalation team they will deal with your complaint, and any recompense you're due back, and will also discuss allowing you to leave early should they deem it the best course of action. That said as part of Ofcom speed guidelines any customer experiencing a speed fault has to allow us 30 days to try and resolve this, after which time they're free to leave without termination charges - your right to leave date is the 9th May. 

 

The moderators wouldn't remove your post unless you broke forum rules or guidelines. 

DS
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 2,307
Thanks: 504
Fixes: 22
Registered: ‎06-01-2017

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

Notwithstanding the clear issues with the routers connection to the www, based on the pending engineer and the wording of the response above, there is something I've noticed with the attached image.

The first thing is possibly due to it being an old screenshot, but it does show Monday (and thus if this was taken today, both the time and date are incorrect, which can cause issues with connectivity).

The other thing, which as I'm only used to windows based devices, could mean I'm wrong on this too, but it appears to be the case that the wifi strength is none existent. Was that speed test result carried out over ethernet?

 

Are all the devices that you're having trouble with all connecting via wifi, possibly the 5GHz SSID - if so, does the routers software end in 263?

(you could be having two very different issues).

 

 

Also, I'm glad to read that your email to Andy Baker actually worked, I was told that when I was going to email him, it would have gone to the same team that man these forums (Social Team). I now, based on these posts, feel like I was misadvised, though I did receive a surprise email from Paul Coulton.

(also I'm replying so I am alerted to your reply, as I'm keen to see how you get on)

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

The screen shot was taken last Monday and the wifi had been disable to get a reading over ethernet as plusnet cant gaurentee wifi speeds.
Am trying to watch the football from sky which I pay now TV each month but due to internet issues it keeps stopping.
Will be interesting to see if my internet issues get resolved using a new internet provider or stay the same
Will know one way or the other as to who is to blame, plusnet or openreach
I wonder how many people will leave adsl once the 4g and 5g sim router services become more affordable and dump these old copper telephone lines that have been left to deteriorate over the 80 odd years since they were laid
As I cant get cable or fibre I am stuck with adsl as openreach have no competition
Will keep you posted off my findings next week but am not confident the broadband speeds will be resolved

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

Also changed standard plusnet router for a bt hub 6 in case it was a router error
Nope same issues over ethernet or wifi
DS
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 2,307
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Registered: ‎06-01-2017

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

The screen shot was taken last Monday and the wifi had been disable to get a reading over ethernet as plusnet cant gaurentee wifi speeds.

Thanks for clarifying. I did doubt you'd done the test today, but thought it was worth a mention.

Am trying to watch the football from sky which I pay now TV each month but due to internet issues it keeps stopping.

I have to agree. In our case it was stated that our connection was not in an unusable state, but they don't see the other costs associated with a connection drop.

Will be interesting to see if my internet issues get resolved using a new internet provider or stay the same

Hmm, well. We have actually had issues with our connection since 2008 (yes 2008 ) and the only time we didn't really have any issues was when we were with Sky. In the 2 years with them we did have a couple of issues (noise margin dropping to 3dB) and you could call them and within the call they'd click a button and it was reset. Plusnet on the other hand can't do this and have to instruct 'Hope n pray' to do it for them.

Will know one way or the other as to who is to blame, plusnet or openreach

Both, perhaps....?

I wonder how many people will leave adsl once the 4g and 5g sim router services become more affordable and dump these old copper telephone lines that have been left to deteriorate over the 80 odd years since they were laid

That's one of our options, if our connection carries on dropping after 5-6 recent Openreach visits, then it does look like we'll need to move off the BT infrastructure.

As I cant get cable or fibre I am stuck with adsl as openreach have no competition

Ah, we can get both here, though some friends of ours lives 'out there', and only got around 1Mbps on a good day. They are now on mobile BB and say they'll never go back. They were released early from their BT contract without any early termination fees.

Will keep you posted off my findings next week but am not confident the broadband speeds will be resolved

Please do:). After our last Openreach visit we have clocked up just over 4 days without a drop. If it stops dropping then we'll stay, but if it carries on, then we might not have a choice. I already have it in writing that we can leave penalty free.

 

Also changed standard plusnet router for a bt hub 6 in case it was a router error
Nope same issues over ethernet or wifi

Same here. We sourced our own BTH6 to see if it made a difference, in our case it did, both wifi range and connection speed to the www. Just hoping it can maintain a connection.

 

Good luck;)

 

 

edit to split the number eight and a close brackets as it converts them to an emoji!!

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

Think the broadband providers have been getting away with shoddy and slow broadband services for years now. Maybe with ofcom stepping in this last month it may give these companies the kick up to here bum they need to sort it or lose customers in their droves without penalty Would other companies in other similar fields get away with it for so long, no they wouldn't Sort it or go bust

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Duplicate post removed.

Townman
Superuser
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Re: poor service and worse internet issues

BT wholesale speed tests do not really give any helpful information in respect of diagnosing speed issues. If the synch speed is wrong for your line (BTOR Responsibly) then until fixed by BTOR, you will see the same issues regardless of which ISP you use.

The only way this can be a PlusNET issue is if there is something peculiar with the account configuration ... which is not as common as line issues.

Is your phone line free of audible noise?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,923
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

As ever Ofcom (run by a Westminster mandarin) knows nothing about running and delivering broadband services. Hitting the ISPs for Internet speed issues, is much like hitting Scottish (electric) Power because the gas you buy from them smells wrong. No one you buy gas or electricity from has control over the distribution network and what arrives at your home. Internet is no different - it seems that only Ofcom does not understand this!!

There is only one body who is responsible for and can address line speed issues and that’s BT Openreach

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

DS
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 2,307
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Registered: ‎06-01-2017

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

The only way this can be a PlusNET issue is if there is something peculiar with the account configuration ... which is not as common as line issues.

I have to disagree with you, but only based on the hardware and software used by Plusnet which can be causing some of these issues reported.

The first thing is the Plusnet Hub One, which those whom who do a bit of testing, will see it connects to the Plusnet network at a lower speed when compared to (an example) the BT Hub 6. Yes BT are possibly forcing them to use them all up, but the modem part has been an issue for as long as they've been in use. Others have had drops in their connection and by moving away from this router the drops stop.

The second thing is the software being used by Plusnet to run these routers. The previous version, ending 259, caused certain devices to drop when using the 5GHz. This was fixed by the latest software, ending 263. But some, myself included, had bigger issues with the latest software version.

 

The above, when also having cable/connection issues (myself included), is hard to suss out just what is causing the connection issues.

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

At the end of the day the user is paying for a service to supply a product.
My contract is with plusnet not openreach and if they cant sort it out wether it be plusnet or openreach is not my concern
Wouldnt expect sky tv to offer and charge me for 20 channels and then only give me 5 and blame it on broadcasting conflicts
If openreach is to blame for all these issues then the ISP's need to hold openreach to account and start penalising them for lost customers
Boleynblues
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

You have my sympathy. Been with Plusnet since December and they have still not managed to keep to the promised speed for unlimited fibre extra. Everytime we make contact they ask us to make the same changes without any improvements but we still have to wait two weeks for things to “settle down”. Customer Service is totally unhelpful bordering on stroppy with you. Not only are they in breach of contract they are morally in breach of promise. Ask if I can have the remainder of my line rental returned and find another provider I was told this was not possible without paying a cancellation fee as this is the terms and conditions. My opinion is the terms of conditions have already been broken! If your reading this and thinking of joining Plusnet please please think again. This company is the worst I have encountered in thirty five years as a senior electrical engineering director. By the way I could have an engineer check the obvious faulty service although I risk having to fork out £65 if the fault is internal. Funny how EE worked completely fine for over three years....oh how I long to return to them where your customer is valued. Don’t suppose this will be shared as the truth is hard to take for a Plusnet.

cbatoday
Grafter
Posts: 34
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎21-04-2019

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

now with now tv (sky) have been refunded my original £200 payment less a few pro rata payments

 

speeds are static at 13 mbps and will never return to plusnet. they won't do you proud

LaurenB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎07-12-2017

Re: poor service and worse internet issues

Hi @Boleynblues, I am really sorry to hear that you are having issues with your service. Can you please confirm if the issues you have been experiencing have been when using devices connected by WiFi? If this is the case, please can you connect a device to the router via Ethernet and run a speed test, this will help us to determine if the issue you are seeing is solely wireless related.

 

If you experience similar issues when connecting via Ethernet, I'd advise completing our troubleshooting steps here and raising a fault here if the issue persists. If you let us know once done we can pick this up for you. The engineer charge is something we have to advise in all instances of raising a fault but the own domain checks will help rule out internal causes and reduce the possibility of a charge.

 

If you have already confirmed the issue as WiFi related, can you please advise if you have tried changing the routers wireless channel/  splitting the wireless frequencies?

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Lauren Barry
 Plusnet Help Team