Thinking about leaving

[#1]

You'd retain your referrals if the account is downgraded.

[#2]

Quote from: James

You'd retain your referrals if the account is downgraded.

Thanks for confirming that James. 
Because of the recent price increase for non-PlusNet (e.g. BT) phoneline subscribers I'm also thinking of leaving.  Having had PlusNet ADSL in various flavours for about 11 years I don't really want to do that, but I see the price increase as a form of blackmailing people into taking PlusNets inferior (for several reasons) phone service, which might even be construed by some as an underhand restriction of customer choices.

[#3]

By inferior are we referring to our phone faults process & lack of free caller display?
The actual service is identical that of which BT supply to their own customers, but I'd be keen to understand what is preventing you from wanting to move your phone to us.

[#4]

Quote from: James

By inferior are we referring to our phone faults process & lack of free caller display?

Yes; additionally PlusNet do not offer free incoming call diversion to a mobile number in the event of the landline service not working as BT do, and possibly other things which I can't think of right now.

Quote from: James

The actual service is identical that of which BT supply to their own customers, but I'd be keen to understand what is preventing you from wanting to move your phone to us.

What is a telephone service?  Any ISP could say that the "actual service is identical to that which BT supply to their own customers";  i.e. Pick up phone, dial number, speak, hang up; but clearly there are other things involved which mean that the overall service is not the same.  I've read other peoples comments in various threads and the people who criticise the service seem to have justifiable gripes regarding things such as those referred to above and that's enough to put me off, but the main thrust of my moan is financial.
IMO PlusNet has failed to attract the number of customers it would like to its phone service by competing on service quality itself, so it has decided to get more customers by hook or by crook, i.e. put pressure on broadband-only customers by increasing their costs.
I can't see any justifiable reason for me to change my phone service from BT to PlusNet especially as I'd be paying considerably more if I did so, hence my reason for thinking of moving to BT for my Internet service.
Edit: spelling

[#5]

Every time I look at BT's prices I always think HOW MUCH??? and feel quite pleased I came to Plusnet! 

[#6]

Quote from: James

The actual service is identical that of which BT supply to their own customers, ...

BT offers a wider range of additional features (at a price of course!) which Plusnet does not. For example note the frequent requests to Plusnet for Call Barring options which are not available.

[#7]

Quote from: Ado16

Every time I look at BT's prices I always think HOW MUCH??? and feel quite pleased I came to Plusnet!

That's always been exactly my way of thinking, but if you compare BT and PlusNet with regard to some of the current  fibre offerings, then BT actually has the edge on price when you take into account the recent PN price increases and some of the cashback offers from BT (via sainsburys vouchers etc.).  BT also does free fibre activation, so that's not exclusive to PN, and that's something I will be taking into account as FTTP is available on my line.
Plus there are additional benefits to be had from BT such as the BT Sports package if you're that way inclined, plus ATM you can even get a free line installed if you want/need one (£130 rebate) from BT when taking a Broadband or Infinity service.  Plus free WiFi etc., so BT is starting to look like the better deal in some respects, including cost.
Of course, PN have the better quality customer service, which is the deal breaker for a lot of people, and not something to be sniffed at, but I'm thinking that once any install/teething troubles (if any) are out of the way then FTTP should be extremely reliable thus unlikely to require any contact with Indian call centres.

[#8]

Quote from: RobPN

230836GE8750 Yes; additionally PlusNet do not offer free incoming call diversion to a mobile number in the event of the landline service not working as BT do, and possibly other things which I can't think of right now.

Yes that as I wrote  a day or so ago
here
Balancing out the worth of a cheaper service again un-quantifiable costs if things go wrong is not an easy job, and so a deterrant from changing. Few people like un-quantifiability.

[#9]

Quote

For example note the frequent requests to Plusnet for Call Barring options which are not available.

I use a call barring service from PN for which I pay a small monthly sum. It's called "Choose to Refuse" & it allows me to block up to 10 different numbers. It works very well.

[#10]

I can't find that addon, I can see one called 'Anonymous Call' which will bar calls from withheld numbers.

[#11]

Choose to refuse is something that we have to add manually.  I'll get back to some of the other comments later on (meeting hell this morning).

[#12]

@RobPN (and others reading)
When I say that the service that we supply is the same, you've essentially made the point that it's just a phone line and you pick up the phone at one end and phone whoever.  You're of course correct.  I was just making the point that it is essentially down to price and added bundles, and what is done to provide services and fix them.
I believe that we are pretty decent on phone faults.  Updates are normally delivered within 12 hours (often much less than this), but we do not have an online facility for phone faults to be raised online which is a limitation.  We hope to have this in the next 12-24 months.
The caller display and free diverted calls is something that we know our customers have been asking for in here and is something that our Products Team are aware of.

[#13]

The suspicion must be that Plusnet's reluctance to introduce free diversion during faults is that it will cost them too much as they take too long to sort out faults.
When I contact BT Retails about a phone fault the engineer is usually booked straight away - from the posts I've seen that doesn't happen with Plusnet.

[#14]

It's nothing to do with how long it takes but more about how we would actually offer it.
We can book engineers straight away if the fault type supports it - will be the same for Retail.

[#15]

Quote

it - will be the same for Retail

but isn't it slightly different ? Don't PlusNet supply the service via BT Wholesale whereas Retail supply directly via OpenReach ?