How long do I have left ?

[#1]

I'm not sure whats is actually going on in Plusnet towers at the moment but from the customer side it doesn't look good.

I have been using Plusnet Business Broadband for about ten years and have actively recommended your product in the past for its speed and stability.

To be honest I don't need anything beyond the best FTTC you have, email and possibly a static IP but that isn't a deal breaker.

I presumed my Unlimited Fibre business connection filled these requirements but my contract is no longer visible and I am paying twice the price of the new top spec Unlimited Fibre EXTRA package whilst being silently moved to a slower connection.

This was a rather devious move.

What do I lose by changing to a non-business package ?

Email continuity is essential and I need to know the service end date for my current package

[#2]

@CrashBangWallop  I would suggest you get your email shifted away from Plusnet immediately. Plusnet Business Broadband is closing down and email will be lost, I don't think they can transfer it to a non-business account. There are also rumours that Plusnet e-mail will at some point be totally discontinued.

If you have reached the end of your contract you should have received notification of closure, it seems they have left you on a rolling monthly deal and you may find you cannot re-contract a lower price. You will be offered a move to BT Business Broadband.

See  https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/Plusnet-News-blackout/m-p/1899125#M88946 

[#3]

I did look at moving to BT Business through a link somewhere on here, got as far as "Moving all your contacts into Gmail" and thought FTFAGOS!

If I am not already using Gmail that would be because I do not want to use Gmail.

Zen are looking promising.

If Plusnet cannot run a business level broadband service when charging well above other providers then I fear HMS Manford is holed below the waterline.

We'll Do You, Proud!

[#4]

Dropping Email seems to be a thing now, Zen do not provide an SMTP service either

"Have an email address with Zen but don't know what settings to input?

If you wish to know them click below:
Please note, these services are no longer available.

These articles are only for our customers who have existing email with Zen."

One thing I will not miss is the creaky old billing interface.

How hard is it to generate a list of bills for the last 12 months with a datestamp in the file name ...?

[#5]

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@CrashBangWallop wrote:

...If Plusnet cannot run a business level broadband service ...

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The fact is that the decision has been made that Plusnet is withdrawing from the Business broadband market. No doubt some business customers will downgrade to the residential service, some will move to BT Business and others will move on to other ISPs

This is part of the slimming down of the general Plusnet offering such as no longer offering email services.

Plusnet are not alone in taking this action.

I would have thought that to present a professional image to customers that a business user would at least have their own bespoke domain so that even if they don't want a web site, they have a professional email address. It's not expensive, your own domain and an associated email service costs about £30 yearly.

[#6]

I just looked back to see when I joined Plusnet and it seems to be Jul 2011.

At that time Virgin was unstable in my area, a mix of Comtel/NTL legacy infra didn't help and a short contract inside VM did nothing to persuade me it would improve.

So I took the leap into the Yorkshire branch of BT and all was good.

When 80/20 FTTC became a thing plusnet became all that I needed for connectivity, binning the Technicolon router just added stability on top.

I only opted for the business package to gain early access to the unlimited packages, a "professional image" might impress some people, I seem to have coped without.

There was a bit of bother with mail servers but after some sterling work even that was fixed and has been excellent ever since.

Where things are falling down is the lack of any form of engagement regarding an active service going to end of life.

I have no idea what the end date is!

There is no contract in place in my portal so I have to assume it will just go dark soon and without warning.

To find The Unlimited Fibre I have been paying for is not actually unlimited as it is capped at half the rate of the new "Unlimited Extra" package is extremely annoying.

This snippet sums up the customer focus rather well https://www.plus.net/business/business-solutions/

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Speed that’s guaranteed

If your speed drops below what we've promised and we can't fix it, you could walk away.

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"Walk away", I can guess what the first draft of that actually read

[#7]

@CrashBangWallop 

Your speed is not ‘capped’. You might of course have a fault, have you reported it? https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/#broadband. Plusnet don’t monitor you speed, you have to report problems.

[#8]

The notion that a contract comes to and end is somewhat flawed, but the perception is understandable, largely down to the rather poor use of language in this space.

A contract is an agreement between to parties and that agreement exists until terminated formally by one party or the other as per the agreed T&Cs.

Such contract might have a minimum duration.

Such contract might have a discount for a period.

However that contract to supply service does not come to and end (and thus the provided service terminates) at the end of the minimum period or at the end of the discounted period.  As you are experiencing, the provision of service continues under the same contract at the undiscounted rate agreed at the commencement of the contract.

Unfortunately Plusnet is no longer offering new business contracts.  If your need is not for business it would be worth asking if the account can be regraded to residential.  Try COTS (they invariably offer better deals than are available on-line).

Contact Customer Options Team (aka COTS)

COTs is the place to go to if you want to find out anything to do with your contract in respect of leaving, renewing or simply enquiring about early termination charges (ETCs). They have their own number and tend to answer quicker than the general customer service number.

Direct dial numbers

• 0800 013 2632 (from within the UK)
• +44 330 123 9197 (from abroad)
• Available...
  • 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday
  • 9am - 7pm Saturday
  • 9am - 6pm Sunday