What happens on Install day? (Should be in FAQs IMO)

[#1]

Hi all,

I am moving into a new flat and have ordered fibre internet from Plusnet. The flat did not have an active phone line (I think because the previous tenant was on Virgin Media), so I've had to pay the £50 fee to have one installed.

I've been given a date - 04/12 - , but it's difficult for me to get time off work in my job, particularly at this time of year, so I want to make sure I've got everything straight. I have four questions:

1) I was told that the phone line install date would be 4/12/2018 - then literally the next or same minute told the install date had been 'changed to 4/12/2018'. Is this a system quirk or a sign something's wrong?

2) Do I need to be in at the flat on 04/12? Does the engineer need access, or is it all done from the street cabinet?

3) I've also been told that broadband service will 'become active' from 'midnight 05/12'. So does this mean internet should be available from the beginning of 05/12 (the day immediately after the home phone line is installed) or from the end of 05/12 (so basically 06/12)?

4) The email said that I can change the appointment date if necessary by calling a number, but I imagine this is not a simple process but a huge faff with a lot of hold time? (Not a swipe at Plusnet specifically, that's just how these things are.)

Thanks

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi there.

First of all welcome to our community forums, and I'm sorry that the communication we've sent isn't all too clear.

1) I was told that the phone line install date would be 4/12/2018 - then literally the next or same minute told the install date had been 'changed to 4/12/2018'. Is this a system quirk or a sign something's wrong?

I've checked your order and it's progressing fine for 04/12/18 AM. I'd say it's just a system quirk. It looks like we notified you that the appointment had been delayed(due to engineer availability) and then we confirmed the new date.

Appreciate that the second notification was probably not necessary.

2) Do I need to be in at the flat on 04/12? Does the engineer need access, or is it all done from the street cabinet?

The engineer will need access to your flat to complete the installation as they'd likely need to install an Openreach master socket(assuming there isn't one already) and test the line from the master socket when doing the work at the exchange.

Work will need to be done at the street cabinet too for the fibre connection, but that'll happen on the same day.

We may receive notification on the order with our suppliers that an engineer doesn't need to visit, but if that's the case we'd normally email and text you beforehand to let you know.

3) I've also been told that broadband service will 'become active' from 'midnight 05/12'. So does this mean internet should be available from the beginning of 05/12 (the day immediately after the home phone line is installed) or from the end of 05/12 (so basically 06/12)?

That's essentially another system quirk. Your broadband service should go live at at the beginning of 05/12, which may be easier to think of it of by 04/12/2018 23:59:59.

Once the physical work is completed, it can take anytime on the day for your order to complete in the supplier systems and your account to activate. We'll email and text you when that's done, and your broadband should be ready to use then.

4) The email said that I can change the appointment date if necessary by calling a number, but I imagine this is not a simple process but a huge faff with a lot of hold time? (Not a swipe at Plusnet specifically, that's just how these things are.)

We can arrange for your appointment date to be changed from across any customer support platform we offer; over the phone on 0800 432 0200, live chat, messaging us over Facebook/Twitter, or asking us over here on the community forums.

If you do want to change the date we'd need at least 2 working days notice though the sooner the better and we can't bring the appointment forward, but we can delay it to the next available slot.

Hope this helps.

Anoush

[#3]

Thanks Anoush, that's really helpful.

(There is an Openreach master socket, it's just not connected up, but from what you're saying I gather that the engineer will still need access to test the socket once they've done the work at the cabinet.)

[#4]

Yep, that's right.

Based on that you've got an Openreach master socket we could try contacting our suppliers to remove the internal installation activity from the order, but when the engineer goes out if they need access to complete the installation it may delay things.

So I'd recommend leaving it in unless we receive notification from our suppliers advising no appointment is needed.

[#5]

Yes, thanks, I agree it's best left as is.

[#6]

Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

Let us know how it goes.