Am thinking of joining Plusnet - but are they REALLY this bad...??? Anyone got good feedback?

[#1]

Hi,

My current provider TT have decided to get greedy and cease an unlimited call plan (uk & international) with free broadband (>8mb) to plug their 'unlimited broadband' with boosts service. This doesn't offer me what I require and is more expensive, so after 7 years of being a satisfied customer, I'm off.

Having looked around the market there seems to be 2-3 providers with unlimited call (uk & international) plans which will suit my needs. Before making any decisions I though I would look up some reviews and Plusnet certainly seems to have an 'active' amount of customers with issues and/or negative feedback.

I completely understand an unhappy/angry customer is more likely to make the time and effort to vent their frustrations than a completely satisfied one. The other drawback is that the majority of posts do not mention locations and whether the issues/problems are subject to the customer living in the middle of nowhere (slow broadband) or in a city location with a lack of modern telephone infrastructure.

So, I wanted to ask;

1. Does anyone have anything positive to say about joining Plusnet? In particular being on unlimited broadband with call packages Anytime International?

2. What is the/is there a difference between the unlimited broadband packages HERE to explain the variation in cost? Why do you get cashback on a 12 month contract @ £20 (option 1) when the 18 month contract is 40% more expensive @ £27 (option 2) with no direct incentive. 

3. As Plusnet is now owned by BT (subsidiary/group company) surely the service can't be that bad?

4. I had a look at your 'switching from another provider' page HERE which told me switching from TalkTalk 'couldn't be easier' and could be done in as little as 10 working days. But then when I click on the 'switch to Plusnet' button and select a broadband package and click on 'start your order' - enter my postcode & phone number & confirm my address; computer says "You don't have a compatible phone service" but we'll give you free activation worth 25 quid. So the BT master socket I have had on the wall providing a landline for over 10 years is alien telephone technology?

Is this the alarm

                                                                             

ringing about joining Plusnet?

[#2]

Whilst I can't answer your first or third question, I believe the answer to your second is a commercial decision and just a special offer.

Are you ok to PM your phone number/postcode over in terms of your fourth question? As a TalkTalk customer it should simply just be an LLU migration.

Matty

[#3]

Done 

[#4]

personally i wouldn't recommend Plusnet, and i'm currently a plusnet customer.
customer service/support is abysmal
the "network" has had some serious issues recently
their billing system is laughable at time

also, you are moving from an LLU ISP to a non-LLU ISP.
if i was to recommend anything it would be to stay with an LLU ISP.

[#5]

Undecided69 - I think you have to be aware that customers tend only to post to a Forum such as this when they have issues, so what you read here is probably not representative of the total user base. Also you will have noticed that Plusnet staff do actively monitor posts and pick up issues in many cases, which I suspect is not true of some other ISP's. I have been with Plusnet with many years, and have always been very happy with the service and speed of response by Support to the very few problems I have had over that time.

[#6]

I have been here 7 years and 99% problem free ,
Faults and problems used to be sorted swiftly, but I must admit that recently they have been slipping behind what support used to be .
Which is down to upper management giving away free offers to get more customers, but they forgot to increase support staffing

[#7]

Thanks for DM'ing your details over.

To put it bluntly, it seems that we're stating that LLU migrations are worth £25 now.

There is a wholesale charge for conversion of LLU to a single Wholesale Access line which is slightly more than that charge. Either way, we have detected the correct kind of line in your property.

Matty

[#8]

Personally dont ..... the previous comment from someone was spot on.  CS is absolutely terrible and the billing department is also laughable as they said.  I have given up trying to resolve my issue and taken it further, I have already had a response discussing my issues in a much more professional and sympathetic manner and I have every confidence it will now get sorted without the help of PN.  Good luck x

[#9]

I've had no broadband for the last 6 weeks.  Before I moved house I had many years of uninterrupted service.  I don't think they have been excellent at dealing with my lack of broadband, but I do think that most of it is out of their control.  If they see a broadband fault they have to pass it to BT, who think they fix it, then it gets passed back.  In short I don't think plusnet is any worse than any other provider.

[#10]

Joined Plusnet from TT from package that gave int+local.

Overall at the time ended up less expensive going from TT BB to PN Fibre, but that was a deal that no longer exists. Factors to consider are that PN and TT int calls allowance vary, also look at mobile usage and what can be got there (if you use either a lot). For me PN worked out cheaper on calls Reliability 100% uptime, but that's FTTC There would not/should not be any difference between TT LLU and PN standard Broadband, after all it is the same wire from  the exchange. Customer service - PN better - TT overseas call centres are not good and TT chat support seems similar.  May take time to get though with PN but have not yet had any issues they could not sort. Forum support, TT and PN about the same. PN still provide saving on advance line rental - not sure if this was something TT ditched. Overall moving was a good thing on both cost and service grounds, but cost arithmetic for the BB bit will have changed.

regards

WS

[#11]

From my experience I would recommend against going with Plus.net.

I have been with them, almost 12 months now, 1 of which was waiting for them to connect me (promised 10 days, 3-4 times), over 2 weeks without any internet usage recently, and now I have a max speed of 4-7Mb/sec when paying for the unlimited package which is meant to be at the top end of the 30's, this has now been going on for nearly a month so I'll say nearly a third of my time with plus.net has been unusable so far  

Customer service is a hellish nightmare! 30 min on hold minimum on the phone, then get told they need to check the line.... The people you speak to are very pleasant and try to be helpful but nothing ever seems to get done this side of forever  

These forums seem to be the ONLY way of actually sending or receiving help which is pretty naff when you don't have a working connection.