Lack of support for Mac users

[#1]

I recently raised a broadband fault with Plusnet and in fairness, despite the fault still currently being resolved I have been happy with the updates and progress thus far.
Now when I raised the fault I was provided with access using a temporary dial-up connection so I thought I'd give it a go which I'm sure many others have with similar connection problems.
This is the content provided within the email I recieved.
"Connect to the internet using your free dial up number is easy. Simply enter your one-word username (not the broadband username you currently use....)
Please note: you will need a modem to be able to connect"
Now I'm no technophobe, neither am I a miracle worker. I know my way round computers enough to set things up but this is nowhere near sufficient enough instruction.
So I thought I'd have a browse through the support pages (thank you 3G and Iphone) and after much searching I couldn't find anything of any help unless I was using a Mac operating system from the mid 90's.
Ok, so I tried ringing up the call centre, got through fairly quickly. A very kind and helpful lady did her best but it was clear from the outset she had no idea and when she did manage to get some advice from another colleague this was relevant to an older version of the current Mac OS. It then became clear that I would also have to use the internal modem on my laptop...maybe obvious to others but not to me at the time. What does this involve??..plugging the phone lead into my laptop which in turn means I can't use the phone at the same time and there's no chance I'm using a mobile to call an 0845 number.

So, I sacked it off and resigned myself to waiting till the problem is fixed, which I am happy to do...but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLUSNET...provide clear, concise and relevant instructions for us Mac users..not everyone has a PC

[#2]

This, from Apple's support site, should tell you everything you need to know. I agree though that Plusnet's Mac support could be much better – I've come across some support pages with screenshots that're way out of date. Having said that, I suppose that seeing as Plusnet generally aim for the lower end of the broadband market these days, that market segment probably doesn't have many Mac users – one can see as much from the lack of Mac-related posts in our Mac/Linux board. It would probably therefore be hard for them to justify spending lots of money improving the Mac support, unfortunately.

[#3]

Well when it's all sorted you could always write something yourself for the support library.
As I did for mac softphones as the pn info was way out of date.

[#4]

To do that I would need to know how to solve the problem I've just highlighted above.
jim:quote

[#5]

Hi smo,
That is a very good point indeed. In case it helps at all you can set up a dial up connection on Snow Leopard (assuming that's the OS you have) from 'network' which I believe you can find in the apple menu, go to the 'modem' tab and click on the name of your dial up modem. (if you don't have one you can probably tether your mobile phone as a modem - please not we don;t support this and you'll need to check your phone documentation). Once you've done that you'll be prompted for the login details and dialup number that should have been sent to you when you raised the fault originally.
Hope that helps, if not I can arrange for someone to get in touch so let me know.
Adam.
tom:quote

[#6]

[me=Be3G]wonders if no-one spotted the link to Apple's dialup setup instructions in his earlier post – they should provide all necessary information.[/me]

[#7]

except - connect a suitable cable from your telephone socket to the modem socket on the laptop or computer 

[#8]

Be3G
I'm sure they did. Point being that said information should ideally be on plusnet support pages, be up-to-date and emailed instructions should be more concise as some people may not have alternative access to web pages so might rely on updates or information from plusnet either via email or telephone.
Thanks Adam for the info, duly noted for future reference

[#9]

Quote

Be3G wonders if no-one spotted the link to Apple's dialup setup instructions in his earlier post – they should provide all necessary information.

Didn't miss it, just thought a personal touch wouldn't go amiss especially when someone has admitted that they may not be the most technically minded. No offence meant by that smo.

[#10]

Quote from: Be3G

Having said that, I suppose that seeing as Plusnet generally aim for the lower end of the broadband market these days, that market segment probably doesn't have many Mac users

I'm more inclined to believe it's because of the Mac's low market share, rather than PlusNet.  Mac's market share is less than 5% which is less than even Vista.  PlusNet has (say) 200,000 subscribers, say 5% of those use a Mac, that's 20,000 Mac users?  This forum has 14,000 users which is about, 3%?  So if we work out 5% of 14,000 then there is the potential for only 700 people to come to this forum browsing on a Mac.  Although the average online for the forum is 160, 5% of that is 8 people average here on a Mac which would explain why there are not many Mac posts, probably.

[#11]

Ah yes, but that market share is averaged across, well, the whole market, whereas the prices of Macs means it's obviously fairly likely that Mac owners will be at the more well-off end of the market. Thus, whilst I accept it's a bit crude, I would fully expect that the Mac market share is noticeably higher amongst customers using, say, BT Infinity Option 2 than it is amongst Plusnet Value customers. (That is not to say, however, that there're no Mac-using Value customers – I'm one of them.)

[#12]

You raise a valid point, Mac's carry a premium, but Infinity (that's fibre yep?) would only be available in select locations.  0% of people in Cornwall for instance (probably) are able to get BT Infinity so would probably opt for the service that gives them the best deal for the best price, or would go triple play with Sky (phone/broadband/tv) quad play for Virgin (phone/broadband/tv/mobile) or, well, TalkTalk.  I came to Force9 because it was a more technical ISP back then (with CGI webspace!).
The stats don't give which browser a person is using, which in itself isn't indicative (iPhone using Safari for instance) but I wouldn't be surprised if only a handful of people actually visit the forums on a Mac, more may do on Linux (especially old timers) but the vast majority will be on Windows XP.
That isn't to say PN shouldn't have an up to date Mac help system though, 5% of their user base (actually, they can probably give an exact number of Mac's connecting) is still large enough to warrant up to date help.

[#13]

OK so I use plusnet broadband and don't have an Apple computer. it seems I am stupid and poor?

[#14]

It's worth bearing in mind that Apple don't sell new Macs with a built-in internal dial-up modem any more - though they do offer an external USB dial-up modem as an optional purchase. I can understand that, as dial-up is practically obsolete in most markets nowadays.
However, if your Mac is one of the older models that has a built-in modem, like mine is, then it's always been dead easy to set up a new dial-up connection.
Just open System Preferences > Network, click on the 'Internal Modem' category and enter the relevant details you've been given...

...and click "Apply" button to save it. Also, tick the "Show modem status in menubar" option and it's easier to connect and disconnect by going under the little telephone icon in the top menubar to start/stop a new connection.
Note: in the above example, item 2 is the phone number you've given given as a dial-up account, NOT your telephone line number!
That's all you need to do.
PS: the above snapshot is taken from a Mac running Leopard 10.5 - if you're using an earlier version of OS X, then it might look slightly different, but the content will be the same.

[#15]

Quote from: Oddball

OK so I use plusnet broadband and don't have an Apple computer. it seems I am stupid and poor?

glad the penny has dropped