Trying to Speak About Moving to BT

[#1]

After spending over an hour on hold on each of FOUR occasions trying to arrange moving my business account to BT I have reached the end of my tether. My support requests to Plus.Net (and tickets initiated by Plus.Net) all seem to have been closed, and we are rapidly heading towards the 5th September when I assume my broadband service will stop working?

I really need to get this moved so I have no interruption to my broadband service, I also have a domain name hosted which I must keep, and I want to transfer that over to FastHosts. Where on earth do I find the transfer out option for a domain? I only use it as an email forwarder (and also for a flight notification group that needs to keep working), but it is absolutely essential there is minimum downtime.

I have been a Plus.Net customer for over 20 years and have always found the service and support second to none, but now the business side of things is no longer then nobody seems to care. I rely on this service to run my business, I have better things to do than hang around on hold trying to speak to someone from BT or Plus.Net (the call starts as 'welcome to plusnet' but the hold announcement is BT), that's over four hours of my life I'll never get back. Surely Plus.Net should be providing the transfer service for us if transferring to BT (although I understand the case to another provider). At this moment in time I really wonder if moving to BT is worth it if they can't even answer the phone!

By the way my landline is BT, not Plus.Net if that makes thing easier? 

[#2]

Hi @RoryG 

Just to re-assure you, there's currently no end date for our business service. The 5th of September refers to what's known as WLR Stop Sell, which means a landline service can't be ordered or transferred from this date. So essentially if you wanted to move your phone to another provider from then, it'll have to be provided as VoIP.

If you can drop me a private message here with your username, domain name, and IPSTAG of your new provider, I'll see what I can do. It's worth noting that any existing mail in the mailbox won't transfer across automatically, so I'd create a local backup on a device using a mail client before beginning the transfer.

As for your broadband, have you emailed the address provided in the ticket here or called 0800 023 2221?

[#3]

Thanks @Gandalf it’s very reassuring to know my service won’t stop on 5 September! I have sent you a pm re the domain transfer, I was planning on doing this anyway, to keep all my domains in the one place.

Regarding the broadband, I have emailed the address on the ticket twice with no response. Not sure if I’ve tried that number, but every one I have tried ends up in a BT queue that is never answered.

Thanks again,

Rory

[#4]

Sorry to hijack this post but @Gandalf   your post is what I originally thought  but when I actually managed to speak to spoto both BT staff and Plusnet home staff last week  after 1hr on phone to both that was not the information given.

I was told as of 5th September my fttc business broadband would end and my phone number  would no longer exist, that it didn't matter that I was still in contract and they could terminate everything early.

Essentially that as of 6th September my line and broadband was gone unless I moved to a different provider.

They suggested Bt Business (not after that news),  and I instead have been making plans to port my number over to Voip, I have had the number since early 1990's and have ported it through C&W, Ntl, Virginmedia, Bt and Plusnet.

Their other suggestion was to move my account to Plusnet home broadband but I need Vat bills.

So my plan as it stands is port number to voip provider,  move to 5g internet luckily this is good in my area, all to be done by 5th September.

I did mention to both operatives that as they are good enough to charge early release fees maybe I as the customer should start to charge them for ending my contract early.

[#5]

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@RoryG wrote:

At this moment in time I really wonder if moving to BT is worth it if they can't even answer the phone!

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EXACTLY !

What is it that makes you want to move to BT ?, when there are so many other ISPs who do answer the phone, provide a professional level of service for your valuable business account, and don't tie you in to using proprietary routers and a locked down version of VoIP that you can't use with third party equipment of your choosing.

[#6]

I wasn’t aware of the VoIP issue, I currently have a Virtual Landline IP phone (in addition to my landline) that just plugs in to my switch, surely there will be no issue with that? If there is then it’s a dealbreaker as that’s my main office phone. I used to require a static IP but thankfully no longer, BT want an extra £8 per month, it came with the package on PlusNet.

The router isn’t too much of an issue as long as I can turn off the wifi and see the devices on my network.

[#7]

currently have a Virtual Landline IP phone (in addition to my landline) that just plugs in to my switch, surely there will be no issue with that?

I'm assuming you weren't thinking of trying to use that phone with the BT voip service, because that definitely won't work. Your existing voip service on that phone OUGHT to work alongside the bt dv as long as the bt system plays nicely. You may have to do reconfiguration of your ip phone in terms of ports used by sip , to avoid conflicts with the bt dv.

[#8]

@RoryG thanks for the private message, I've raised a NetOps task to transfer your domain. 

@bus5gmove apologies for any incorrect information you've received. If you can drop me a private message once you have a port date for your landline number to VoIP, I'll make sure a termination fee isn't charged. 

[#9]

Hi Thank you for the reply, now that I know my line isn't going to implode on the 5th September I am taking a bit more time to evaluate options.

Moving the number to Voip will still happen but gives me more time to explore different broadband options.

Thanks