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Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

stu001
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎20-05-2014

Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hi plusnet. I experienced an extended broadband outage today which is annoying but acceptable - after all this is an inexpensive service with no dedicated SLA.
I understand many people will have had the same experience from the details on your website here: http://www.plus.net/supportpages.html?a=2&support_action=maintenance&ispservice_id=adsldial
However.. if you're going to have an outage or possible outage which could affect a large number of customers, isn't it reasonable to make some attempt to contact them?
I worked from home today and required access to the internet for conference calls. Had I known the service would be compromised I could have gone in to the office.
Again, I understand that issues can come up.. but that's not the case here - this is a known outage.
Not contacting customers who might be effected is just poor, not to mention that by doing nothing you probably battered your contact centre too meaning customers with legitimate issues can't get access to your staff either.
All in all, you need to hire someone who knows about dealing with customers before they buy somewhere else - not a good experience for a paying customer..
24 REPLIES 24
ITWorks
Superuser
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Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hi, welcome to the forum Smiley
You can sign up to service status email updates below, informing you about known outages, and all of service status posts
http://usertools.plus.net/status/email.php
Every time PN post a service status, it will be emailed to you.

Kind Regards
Mike

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hi there,
The issues you've been seeing today are absolutely nothing to do with the BT maintenance work mentioned in the service status post. Your line is disconnecting extremely regularly, so I'd strongly suggest going through the fault checker at https://faults.plus.net
The drops seem to have started around 2pm yesterday, did anything change in your premises at that time (new electrical device etc?).
Here's a graph of your connection recently:
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

There are a number of options for receiving that information including an RSS Feed and email notifications all you have to do is sign up for them
http://usertools.plus.net/status/email.php for emails
http://usertools.plus.net/status/ for RSS Feed
Edit - I really should type quicker
Chris
Legend
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Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Just as a follow up.

Quote
I understand many people will have had the same experience from the details on your website here: http://www.plus.net/suppo...mp;ispservice_id=adsldial

As mentioned in my previous post, the only work I'm aware of is the *overnight* BT maintenance, this finishes before 6am each day. I'm not aware of a large scale outage that would be causing the symptoms you've got.

Quote
However.. if you're going to have an outage or possible outage which could affect a large number of customers, isn't it reasonable to make some attempt to contact them?

As above, if there is a large scale outage we'd post it. There isn't one, so I'm going to find out why the agent on the phone told you there was an MSO and ensure he knows how to check this in future.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
stu001
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎20-05-2014

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hello,
I don't know of any changes no - certainly from your chart it would appear that /something/ changed, and of course we have noticed degraded connectivity which is why we assumed there must be an issue.
It is now fine again, and has been connected for some time which would suggest it's nothing I have done (because I haven't done anything)
The agent I spoke to about an hour ago said it could be related to the issue I linked.
It is somewhat coincidental don't you think that there is major (BT?) work going on and now we experience this issue?
Chris
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Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

There is BT exchange work pretty much *every* weekday night, this is nearly always overnight though and generally won't actually drop the sync between your router and the exchange. Normally if you're affected by it you'll see the authentication drop, but not the sync.
The characteristics of the issue you've been seeing are symptomatic of a single line fault rather than being caused by BT maintenance.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
stu001
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎20-05-2014

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hi Chris
How can I test the line?
The connection was pretty solid for something like half an hour but it dropped again just a few minutes ago.
picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
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Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Try and find a corded phone if possible, dial 17070 and select the quiet line test.
Listen for any snap, crackles or pops !
Chris
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Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

If you finish going through the faults checker it'll drop a ticket out to our faults team here for investigation.
I'll ask the moderators to move this thread to broadband and routers as we've established it's not related to the BT maintenance and the communications around that.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Townman
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Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Quote from: stu001
It is now fine again, and has been connected for some time which would suggest it's nothing I have done (because I haven't done anything)

Hi Stu001,
Welcome to the forums.
There is every possibility that is not something that you've done, but possibly something done by a neighbour... or for that matter a degraded / degrading fault on your line has simply got a little better.  Last week, one user with the help for BTOR after weeks of investigation identified that a neighbour's Freeview box was responsible for a massive impact on his line's performance.  Such issues can be made worse by the state of BTOR's network which is used by all ISPs.
The suggestion to listen to the line is a good check to be performed anytime you think you are seeing issues.  Noise can come and go, indeed it can frequently "go" for a while after an incoming phone call or line test.  The ring tone and a line test can push enough voltage "down" the line to rectify some bad joint faults... until the joint decays again.  This is why some faults are hard to locate.
If the line is quiet, can you please gather the information (as best as you are able) requested on the "speed issues" post at the top of this forum.
Kevin

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

stu001
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎20-05-2014

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Well.. I don't have a corded phone with a number pad, just one for listening to dial tones.
The cabling in this house is a bit of a mess - I never did finish tracing it all back and finding the master.
I would point out however, again, that we didn't have any issue at all until yesterday.
if this is a line fault, it's most likely on the line somewhere outside the house because we haven't touched anything here..
[just seen your post kevin] - I guess I will try and borrow a phone with a numberpad from somewhere.
When i plugged in the test handset the dial tone does not sound like a normal BT type tone.
It alternates up and down in pitch rather than purring like the typical tone, though thats probably a poor description.
Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Hi Stu001,
I completely understand where you are coming from, however cabling can decay (joints become corroded) and "messy" internal wiring can act as an aerial for picking up interference.
Interference can come from many sources, for example iffy switch mode power supplies as used by laptops, CCTV systems and the ilk.  These can appear to be working fine, however when under stress (due to heat or higher current drain) they start radiating interference like a radio transmitter!  I have seen a CCTV PSU go "pear shaped" as darkness fell due to the additional load of the IR emitters.  Nothing had visibly changed, however the PSU had gone squiffy - it still worked, but not until extensive investigation was it discovered it had a contributory factor to a number of sources of interference.
Finding the master socket is I suggest a priority, an activity which I'm willing to bet will deliver an even better BB performance than that which you had before you realised you had a problem.  Not locating your master socket and testing there might give rise to BTOR no fault found charges if they visit and find everything is OK at the master socket.  On the other hand, if you do not believe you have a modern NTE5 socket, your phone provider might be persuaded to get one fitted for you.
Quote from: stu001
[just seen your post kevin] - I guess I will try and borrow a phone with a numberpad from somewhere.
When i plugged in the test handset the dial tone does not sound like a normal BT type tone.
It alternates up and down in pitch rather than purring like the typical tone, though thats probably a poor description.

I take it that you do not use the phone line for calls... there is every possibility that you have CALL MINDER set on the line and there is a message waiting for you - that changes the dial tone.  Who provides your phone line?
Sight of your router stats would be useful.
Kevin

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Quote from: stu001
When i plugged in the test handset the dial tone does not sound like a normal BT type tone.
It alternates up and down in pitch rather than purring like the typical tone, though thats probably a poor description.

Dial 1571
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Customer Relationship Management - do you care?...

Quote from: stu001
Well.. I don't have a corded phone with a number pad, just one for listening to dial tones.

A bit of a strange device, but until a phone handset can be obtained, the number cannot be dialled.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.