plusnet assist query

[#1]

i have just moved house and have had great help from support with this. again, i used plusnet assist to help with a connection problem i was having with IE and windows mail. this worked fine but as i am still having issues tried to use it to diagnose the issue. on further reading i am supposed to see some tabs and i get none.
on further reading i see this: 26. Is this only for Plusnet customers?
Yes, Plusnet Assist has been designed to support Plusnet Broadband. We're sorry but Plusnet Assist won't provide specific support for Force9 and Free-online settings.
i didnt even know there was any difference. i have been with force9 ever since 56k dial up, over 20 years now. never had any issues. now i find i'm what ? a second class user?
why would there be any difference?

[#2]

Some parts of Plusnet Assist work with Force9 accounts but others don't - in particular email set-up and monitoring. This is because it tries to set-up and monitor *.plus.com addresses but Force9 ones are different.
Plusnet Assist is based on a similar BT Retail offering that does not support multiple virtual ISPs like the Plusnet, Force9 and Free-online brands. It would have required significant change to include that functionality.
Since Force9 and Free-online accounts have not been sold for many years it seems reasonable to assume most users are familiar with email set-up and monitoring their connection - including use of the online help guides, or getting help via the forums, tickets or calling the CSC.
In fact some of us might say one of the benefits of being a Force9 or Free-online customer is that we won't be tempted to install Plusnet Assist.
But seriously do you need help with a specific problem?
David

[#3]

f9 not a product any more? had no idea. surprised they didn't migrate us in some way to plusnet. (which would have been a shame, i like my force9 address)
so is assist not very good then?
i only used it because i was at the end of my tether after a house move and couldn't connect properly.support guy on the phone got me online but ie and mail wouldn't connect but thunderbird and chrome would. assist found that both had been set to offline, which was odd because all i'd done was turn it off and move it to the new house.
new thing is mail not seeming to work properly. again funny how i have not changed any settings? now after a week of no net i'd expect to see a lot of mail,but got only a few. the mrs had over 100 and she normally gets hardly any.
i raised a ticket and they said my main acc has 20?to be downloaded. i have tried several  times to set it up correctly but i'm obviously missing something. read all the guides over again.
going to be upgrading to win7 very soon so will manage without for another few days.will probably need help then
thx for the reply

[#4]

We are told Plusnet Assist provides excellent help to some users. I think these tend to be those where a basic set-up and just the default mailbox is adequate for their needs. For those who change things Assist's behaviour might not be to their liking. But if they are capable of changing things they probably don't really need its help.
In your case you mentioned your wife having a separate mailbox and I don't think Assist supports that.
I use IMAP with Thunderbird for email, did try Windows Mail after I got this computer (32-bit Windows Vista) but it didn't have the flexibility I wanted. I didn't have any problems setting either of them up.
Until you get your email program working you could use Webmail (https://webmail.plus.net/) for checking and responding to your email. Login using just the account name and password for the basic mailbox, or accountname+mailboxname and mailbox password for the additional mailboxes. Don't forget to select Force9 on the Server drop-down  Once logged in It's worth checking (in Personal Settings) that the default sender identity is correct - change and save it if necessary.
David