Problems with internet connection

[#1]

I joined Plusnet on Friday 19th Jan 2018.  I had texts and emails saying my broadband was 'up and running' .  Unfortunately they had failed to send me the new router!  I phoned on 19th to ask about the router and they said they had had technical issues and the router had been posted out that day.  I asked for help with my old router (Post Office one) and they were very unhelpful, saying they coudl not give reliable advice on a 'third party router' as if it was my fault I had this!  Their instructions did not work so I was left without broadband.  On Saturday 20th Jan I had an email saying they had despatched it on 20th (though I was  told it had been despatched the previous day).  Later on Saturday the router arrived!

I went through the instruction booklet but it woudl not connect.  I went through it twice before getting in a 30 minute phone queue.  I was told I had already had 'multiple agent advice' yesterday - for the third party router!  Nothing worked.  I was told a 'fault would be raised' but I was liable for a £65 charge!  And I was told there was a '5 day turnaround'.  This is how Plusnet treat new customers.  They have already taken an advance payment of around £38.

On Monday Jan 22nd I phoned again.  The fault that was 'raised' on Saturday - it seems they had no record of that happening.  I was two hours dealing with this because I was told the line would be tested and I would be called back - but no one called back and I had to start again. It seems no one had tested the line either!  I had to type in the same old stuff over and over again.  Then I had to disconnect the router and take it to the master socket becasue it was assumed that the fault was in my extension lead for the router.  It didn't work when plugged into the master socket at the point where it comes into the house.  No one seems to have considered that the router itself may be faulty.Again I was told that a 'fault would be raised' but it would take 'up to' five days.  I am now on my FIFTH day without Plusnet broadband.  I have had to use my mobile phone for Internet access - I am on PAYG and it has so far cost me £18, and I am using it very carefully.

Terms and conditions say that if I cancel my 'new' contract before it ends i will be liable for hefty cancellation charges.  But as the product is not fit for purpose and is costing me money without the broadband from Plusnet, do I have any rights re cancelling NOW.  I am getting nothing apart from my phone line.  Why do they make new customers wait 5 days for a fault to be addressed?  Can anyone suggest how I can get this router to stop flashing its orange lights at me please?  I just need to get what I have paid for!

Edit - this was not meant to be a reply to anyone, but I couldn't work out how to post! I would have liked it to be a new separate post!  Also I forgot to say that my connection is a wired one using an ethernet cable.  Plusnet tech support seemed unhappy with that!  Its worked for me for years!

[#2]

Moderator's Note

Post moved to its own thread for clarity.

[#3]

@seascapes99

I do feel for you cant help you but this is a link if you want to take it further unless you have all ready done it!

https://www.plus.net/help/legal/complaints-code-of-practice/

Good luck

[#4]

Thank you.  Somewhere on here I saw a notice that Plusnet were particularly bad at responding to complaints!  I will use that link and make a detailed complaint when things are either resolved or when I leave them, because I am now on Day SIX with no broadband.  They've now told me my 'question' is ON HOLD until Saturday.  I've no idea why.  That will be on day on Day NINE without internet.

[#5]

Welcome to the community forums @seascapes99

Sorry to hear of your experience and that your new router wasn't ordered in advance of your order completing.

Unfortunately we can't fully support third party equipment but I do appreciate the frustration and inconvenience we've caused.

It looks like there was a line fault and this was fixed by an engineer at the cabinet yesterday afternoon (About 5 hours after it was raised.)

Our tests aren't showing any issues now. Can you factory reset your router by pushing a paperclip into the reset hole at the back for 20 seconds and let us know how it goes?

[#6]

Thank you.   I have just tried the reset routine.  It won't work.  I know the sequence of and timing of those coloured lights by heart.  I must have done it at least 20 times since joining Plusnet.  I bitterly regret joining Plusnet and am considering making a case for leaving without contract penalties.Yesterday's Open Reach man (and I told Plusnet about the fault on Jan 20th so it's not a five hour turnaround!) did a full test within my house and his testing machine showed everything working.  But the router would NOT work.  I just had a message from [CSA Removed] in reply to my query.  I told him I was trying to check the settings within my computer but I could not get to the 192 place.  I sent him a copy of the message I was getting - here below.  His REPLY was to tell me what to input on that site.  HOPELESS!  He DID NOT tell me how to GET to that site!  And then when I tried to reply to him, becasue your site is SO SLOW (using my mobile to connect at a high cost to myself) I accidentally CLOSED the question adn now cannot find a way to reopen our conversation.  I went on CHAT just now to find out how, and after  TEN MINUTES the incompetent chat agent could not answer my question - he answered one I didn't ask - I gave up.  SUCH A LOT OF MY TIME WASTED AND NOTHING ACHIEVED. Below is what I sent [CSA Removed] today. His reply was to tell me what to type in on the page I cannot get to!!!!!!!  I can't tell him this as I can't reopen that conversation. PLUSNET's communication is NOT customer friendly.

"Yesterday I tried to check the settings within my computer. But today I cannot even get to the settings page. I just get this:

This site can’t be reached
192.168.1.254 took too long to respond.
Did you mean http://192-168-1-254.org/?
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

So how can I get to the settings page to re-enter the details?"

Below is a copy of part of his reply today.  Its just HOPELESS!  WHY CAN'T HE READ MY QUESTION AND ANSWER IT PROPERLY????

"The router settings page can be accessed by visiting;

192.168.1.254 > Basic Settings > Broadband

It will require you to enter a username which will be yourplusnetusername@plusdsl.net with the password being the same you use to login to your Plusnet account.



Kind regards,

[CSA Removed] 

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#7]

PS.  [CSA Removed] tells me there are till faults on my line.  You say there aren't.  I have continually been given conflicting information by PLusnet.  This is what [CSA Removed] said today:

[CSA Removed] - Customer Support Centre

2:34pm, Thursday 25 Jan 2018

Dear Mrs BELL,

Thank you for your response.

We are waiting for the telephone fault to be cleared as the job is still currently active with our suppliers. Regardless of what information was provided to you by the engineer the fault is currently awaiting to be cleared."

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#8]

I've discussed this with your case handler.

Your phone fault was cleared by our suppliers yesterday afternoon. I have now accepted the clear and closed the fault report, so he can progress a broadband fault with BT Wholesale.

In my opinion, the next step is for us to book a broadband engineer visit.

He'll contact you shortly.

[#9]

Thank you.  The thing [CSA Removed] won;t understand or listen to is that yesterday's BT man first found a fault in the box in the street and repaired it.  THEN he came to my house and checked everything. (he said my phone couldn't have been working before the repair in the box - but it had been working and I could show him a list of incoming calls recorded by my phone!). Both at the mastersocket and at the end of my extension socket, his testing machine showed that broadband was working!  [CSA Removed] seemed to dismiss this engineer as being 'only for telephone work' not broadband work.  But the broadband testing machine clearly showed broadband entering my house!  Speeds of 33 download and 6 upload were visible.  I saw them on his machine.  so why do I now need a broadband Open Reach man?

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#10]

so why do I now need a broadband Open Reach man?

Because your router isn't authenticating to our suppliers equipment.

[#11]

OK but 'my' router is a PLUSNET router delivered on Saturday Jan 20th.

It seems I am now expected to wait until January 29th for an engineer visit.

I paid in advance for Plusnet starting on Jan 19th.  It is costing me around  £2.50 a day (and that's being careful) to access the internet via my mobile, and I can't afford to access it fully for internet banking etc. I use PAYG so get no 'free' internet time. On one day when I had a LOT to do over the internet it cost me £5 in mobile fees.  I am a pensioner on a low fixed income.  I think it has now also cost me about 5 hours in wasted time trying to sort this issue out.

I don't know how you keep your customers.  How is it that when I reported the problem on Saturday Jan 20th, I still don't have internet?  And now have to wait until Jan 29th? FOUR DAYS FROM NOW!!!!!!! I have had it for YEARS and never preciously been without it for longer than a day.

I am going to look into issues now around the cancellation of my contract with you without me being charged cancellation fees.  Your product is definitely UNFIT FOR PURPOSE.  But of course I can't afford the internet time to look into this issue properly.

[#12]

I'm very sorry that you're experiencing a fault with your service and the line engineer couldn't fix the problem completely. We've had to book in a different type of engineer, but ultimately the lead times are subject to engineer availability.

Your case handler will be happy to discuss a gesture of goodwill when this is resolved.

[#13]

Thank you.. After three hours of the Open Reach broadband man coming and going from my house this morning, the 'solution' has finally been reached.  I copy below the email I had while the Open Reach man was still at my house.  I think this should have been picked up A LONG TIME AGO when it was obvious on the first day I received the router that it wasn't working.  A second router didn't work either.  When my Open Reach man phoned someone in the tech dept of Plusnet, he was told instantly what the problem was.  So why wasn't this foreseen?  Plusnet had knowledge of issues with those PCP boxes not working with Plusnet routers yet they have left me without broadband for far too long. I now have to WAIT AGAIN for a different router to be posted out to me.  Up to three more days after 11 days without Plusnet broadband.  My mobile phone bills are growing bigger.  

Thank you for your response.

After receiving further clarification from a colleague we have finally been able to establish the root cause of the problem impacting your broadband connection.

The cabinets provided on the openreach fibre network are provided by two different suppliers. Unfortunately, the cabinet you are connected to does not synchronize with the Plusnet Hub One router. Therefore, I will be placing this on hold until tomorrow and will arrange for a different type of router to be dispatched once the engineer has updated the notes on the system.

[#14]

I assume that stupid response is from PlusNet support. The only element of truth is " The cabinets provided on the openreach fibre network are provided by two different suppliers."  The rest is garbage, there must be millions of BT Home hub 5 and PlusNet Hub 1 Routers (which have the same hardware) working perfectly well on both Huawei and ECI equipment in FTTC cabinets. If this really is your problem the BT and PlusNet forums would be inundated with complaints. I think the engineer couldn't find the fault and PlusNet got him out a hole with that nonsense. Did he get a broadband connection with his test unit?

I wonder what type of router they will send you now? The only possible explanation I can think of is that you have been sent ADSL routers that will not work on FTTC at all. What model of router do you actually have?

[#15]

Thanks.  The Open Reach man definitely got broadband from his testing machine.  Then he went to check the 'green box' and met a colleague there who also had a Plusnet customer with an identical problem.  Then he phoned a Plusnet tech man who told him about the incompatibility thing between the green box tech stuff and the Plusnet Hub One. The router model Plusnet sent me is a 'Hub One'.  My 'case manager' said this situation was extremely rare!  Ha!

They have just now sent me a  ZyXEL VMG8924.  I had instructions to phone my 'Case Manager' who would give me set up instructions.  I did that but he is not free and is supposed to be ringing me back.  So after waiting 12 days without internet access I am now waiting, so far, a further half hour for set up instructions!  I don't see why he didn't email them to me!   All plugged in and connected but no internet.  Apparently I need to input an 'Admin' password but this is not to be found anywhere on the router!