Utter failure

[#1]

This sorry tale starts when I called to tell you I was moving.  The person I spoke to was the confused over our new address. That meant that we were told there was no line here when I could see it attached to the house and hear the dial tone on the phone.

Once we did eventually get an engineer to come here they plugged us in quite quickly but the line has been unstable and slow the whole time. I note that I got an email saying you would guarantee 2Mbps, which is pathetic. BT tell me that I should be getting 25-32Mbps so if I'm not then there's something wrong with the line. What I've been getting is 8Mbps which cuts out every few hours.

While the Complaints Dept seem competent and interested the people I was originally dealing with in Customer Services seemed to have one objective - to close or pass off tickets without having any motivation to resolve issues, generally leaving obscure comments which for them apparently passed as working.

My original account was closed without explanation. My new account came with a router which is utterly useless - it can't be used without an OpenReach modem and won't let me change the DHCP subnet. I tried to create a ticket on the new account but it was closed without fixing anything. The only method of contact seems to be phoning which is awful, even without the dreadful hold music there simply don't seem to be enough people to answer the phones.  I don't understand why I can't email you or create a ticket on the site, not that customer services would actually take an interest but it would allow me to communicate with the competent members of your staff.

I still don't have anything resembling a good service.

I have an engineer coming on Friday, perhaps they can fix it. Otherwise I feel that you have completely failed to provide the service and I will be looking to terminate the relationship. I don't see why I should be required to pay an exit fee under these circumstances.

Would I recommend PlusNet if asked?  Are you kidding me?

[#2]

As I am not staff, I doubt if I can really help, but a couple of points in your original post confuse me. I assume you have an FTTC connection, in which case, even PN wouldn't quote 2Mb/s - that is the kind of speed they quote as a minimum for ADSL. What does  https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL say you should get?

Which router did PN supply - AFAIK for FTTC connections it is the Hub1 which is a combined modem/router? That won't allow much modification either, but a BT HomeHub 6 (available for very little via a well-known auction site) will work with PN, is more configurable and an all round improvement.

As PN is merely the 'cheap' brand of BT, the avenues of support have also been pruned - so unless you get an experienced advisor, you will struggle - sorry.

Email has NEVER been a support route at Plusnet, you used to be able to create support tickets which were answered by competent individuals, but since the BT culture has been imposed on the brand, the range of subjects users can create a ticket for is almost non-existent.

Be interesting to hear what the OpenReach engineer finds or says.

[#3]

The checker has many numbers.  For VDSL, which I believe is FTTC, it has this:

VDSL Range A (Clean)	58.2	40	12.7	8.2	35	Available	Available	--
VDSL Range B (Impacted)	56.7	35	12.5	7.3	27.4	Available	Available	--

You say PN wouldn't quote - they did, I have the email.

I have the combined box from my old account before it was deleted and a new one which arrived when they created a new account which is only half the required kit.  The first works for a few hours at a time, the second (once I plugged it into an OpenReach modem I had laying about at work) is hobbled and useless.

The reality seems to be that contrary to the marketing (lies) unless you're willing and able to cough up for BT FTTP there are two infrastructures in the UK, Virgin fibre and BT phone lines - sometimes in place for decades and possibly resold to you by people like PlusNet.  It is a ridiculously backward situation which I think is down to a lack of willingness to make the necessary investment.

The whole thing has been a disaster from the start.  A series of errors, failures and incompetence.  As you say, Friday will tell.  If they can't fix it then it's clearly time to move on to a provider willing to do the job properly.  My experience has been a very, very long way from the one presented on the adverts.

[#4]

@RandomUsername9 Those figures (in isolation, and it is more informative to post the full details) indicate that you must be some distance from the Fibre cabinet - they are at the bottom end of the 80/20 range.

Without revealing any personal details, can you post that email?

What identification is on both the old and new kit, please?

There are other cable internet providers than Virgin, for instance Cityfibre (and others) but they tend at the moment to be only laying their cables in selected areas.

FTTC , provided over the BT infrastructure, is available in, IIRC around 90% of the UK, and as OFCOM have decreed that the network has to be separate from the ISP, there are providers such as BT Retail, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk , et al.

If the problem is network related, moving providers will just carry the issue over - your signal comes down the same cables/wires irrespective of ISP.

[#5]

Sounds to me like the confusion over the phone line has caused the new account to be provisioned on ADSL not FTTC. That would explain both the 2Mb estimate and the router supply. 

[#6]

@MisterW Never thought of that - suppose it explain a bit of it, but if the OP identifies the equipment, we may be in a better position to advise?

[#7]

I wouldn't mind 35, it's 8 which stops working every few hours which bothers me.

I deleted the email in disgust.

The routers are both branded PlusNet.  They don't seem to have model numbers.  I've tried to attach photos although the interface here is a little vague about it.  The old one works after a fashion with the RJ11 plugged in, the new one has two modes - ADSL (which doesn't work because I'm FTTC) and Fibre which required that I find an OpenReach modem in a box at work.  Luckily we use kit like that for testing.

The BT person I spoke to said that they would have to fix the network problem.  They gave me some flannel about being able to claim £20 back if it doesn't work, a pointless token gesture which is typical of so-called Customer Service - however it all sounded better that the endless "ticket is on hold" responses I got from PlusNet for a long time until I raised it as an official complaint.

I am NOT on ADSL, that ran at about 2Mbps.  Switching me to FTTC was another ridiculously difficult process, the one which resulted in my account being deleted it seems.

[#8]

Old

[#9]

New

[#10]

Your new router is an ADSL router. It’ll need a fibre modem plugged into the wan port if you’re switching the config over to fibre in the router settings. 

[#11]

Which they didn't supply or mention.  I had to figure it out on my own.

[#12]

The full set of numbers:

Featured Products	Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)		Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)		Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)	WBC FTTC Availability Date	WBC SOGEA Availability Date	Left in Jumper
	High	Low	High	Low
VDSL Range A (Clean)	58.2	40	12.7	8.2	35	Available	Available	--
VDSL Range B (Impacted)	56.7	35	12.5	7.3	27.4	Available	Available	--

Featured Products	Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range (Mbps)	Availability Date	FTTP Install Process
FTTP on Demand	330	30	--	Available	--

ADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	ADSL Availability Date	WBC SOADSL Availability Date	Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 6.5	--	5.5 to 7.5	Available	Available	Yes
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M	Up to 6.5	Up to 1	5.5 to 7.5	Available	Available	Yes
ADSL Max	Up to 6.5	--	5.5 to 7.5	Available	Available	--
WBC Fixed Rate	2	--	--	Available	Available	Yes
Fixed Rate	2	--	--	Available	--	--

Observed Speeds	ADSL
Max Observed Downstream Speed	5.18
Max Observed Upstream Speed	0.44
Observed Date	2021-03-07

Other Offerings	Availability Date
VDSL Multicast	Available
ADSL Multicast	Available

Premise Environment	Status
Bridge Tap	U
VRI	N
NTE FacePlate	N
Last Test Date	03-03-2021

Exchange Product Restrictions	Status
FTTP Priority Exchange	N
WLR Withdrawal	N
SOADSL Restriction	Y

[#13]

That new router ( a 2704N ) has only ever been supplied for an ADSL connection AFAIK. If that was supplied on the new account then  you either ARE on ADSL or at least the system thinks you are. Certainly from the BT wholesale test results, from the maximum observed speeds, you were on ADSL on the 7th March!

NB I've escalated this thread for better visibility

[#14]

@RandomUsername9  I agree with @MisterW  your new account is ADSL, the observed speeds on the checker show an ADSL speed of 5.18 Mbps  on the 7th March. That is why they sent an ADSL router.

You need input from Plusnet to find out how they have messed up the provision of FTTC in the first place. The first router you got works on ADSL and FTTC so don't bother continuing with the Openreach modem it is just confusing things.

edit:  A question are you actually using the Openreach modem because I don't believe it would connect to an ADSL service? 

[#15]

I've sent the numbers to PlusNet to see if I can get them to check they've put me on the right service.

(I eventually found the 'new ticket' option, they seem to have gone to great lengths to hide it.)