Unable to Upgrade to Fibre Extra

[#1]

Hi,

I recently decided I would like to upgrade from Fibre to Fibre Extra just for a speed boost as I download a lot of games etc. When I went to my account, the only option there is to "Keep Existing Product" (see attached image) and so I went to live chat who were unable to help, they provided me with a special "promotion" link that did nothing other than redirect to the Member Center on three separate browsers. Finally they threw in the towel and just gave me phone numbers to call.

I would rather avoid this, as I suffer from crippling anxiety and depression and while this may seem trivial to some, it is a huge hurdle for me to get across and the live chat members were less than sympathetic when this was mentioned. There must be some automated way that this can be done? Thanks in advance for any help offered. 

Regards,

James

[#2]

@jimmyc1991 

This usually means PlusNet cannot upgrade you. It can be for various reasons to do with OpenReach. Put your phone number in the following and then post a screen iamge of the results. Make sure you hide or obscure your phone number.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Once we see the results we can advise further. Either this or wait for a staff member to pick up the thread.

Brian

[#3]

Hi Brian,

Here's the results.

Regards,

James

[#4]

@jimmyc1991 

The speed that you can get from a FTTC connection is determined by your distance from your local fibre cabinet and the condition of your line. Plusnet will not offer you an upgrade unless your line will support it.

If you follow the advice by @bmc  it will enable us to see if an upgrade is possible and if so, the possible increase in speed.

[#5]

Hi,

I attached the test results to the post above yours.

Regards,

James

[#6]

@jimmyc1991 

Thanks for the results. Nothing obvious is showing problem wise specifically preventing an upgrade. However, there does appear to be a discrepancy between the speeds PN are offering for an upgrade and the available speed as per the latest results (between 49 and 72 download).

@Gandalf  appears to be online so I've tagged him to see if he can help.

Brian

[#7]

I'd be looking at the router stats for the current service.  Given the BT availability report, I would expect to see the full 40/10 on standard fibre.  If it is anything less, I would first look at the state of the line before proceeding further.

[#8]

Hi,

I restarted the hub and took the attached screenshot of the reported broadband speeds in the hub manager. Coming in at just under the 40/10, which seems reasonable given the distance to the cabinet and exchange.

Regards,

James.

 EDIT: attached wrong screenshot, rectified. 

[#9]

Hi James,

I'm really sorry to see you're having issues upgrading your fibre service. 

I've taken a look into this for you and I can't see anything wrong I can fix, so I suspect we may have to change your product from this side. Our Customer Options Team (0800 013 2632) are the folk who normally do this but with the mental health issues you've mentioned, let me see if there's another way, as I can absolutely appreciate how difficult things can be with anxiety and depression. 

In the meantime, would you be able to update the additional support form Here with this information so we'll be aware and we can make sure we're offering the best support we can, where possible. 

Moderators Note: Corrected phone number

[#10]

@jimmyc1991 

Given that nothing appears out of sorts I wonder if it was just a simple glitch on the system when you tried to update. I would suggest trying again to upgrade and see what happens.

Brian

[#11]

Hi James,

I've discussed this with a manager and on this occasion, I'm happy to arrange the product change online for you via a support ticket I've created on your account Here. I'm stepping outside of process by doing this, so I can't guarantee we'll be able to do this in future, but hopefully you won't be in the same position to need us to.

I've made you an offer on the ticket which I can do for the fibre extra package. Once you've got back to me there if you're happy with that, I'll run through the legal stuff (terms & conditions etc).

[#12]

Hi Gandalf,

Thanks so much for arranging this, I really appreciate it. I have replied on the ticket and will await further instruction.

Many thanks again for doing this.

Regards,

James

[#13]

Hi James,

No problem at all, I've just added a reply to the ticket 222772438 now.

It's a long read! It's very, very rare that I renew contracts nowadays that I forgot how much there is to go through. 

I've made it as quick and easy for you as I can though.

I've also done some digging into the issue with upgrading your package online. This is due to our systems not providing the right speed estimates for your line, and as they're providing an estimate that's below 40mbps, it's thinking there's no point in offering you fibre extra. It looks like we can bypass this though from our side which is good. 

We've got the problem logged internally (ref IMT-7608 and IMT-7504) and we're actively working to fix as soon as possible. This issue also means I can't provide you with a new minimum guaranteed speed at the point of sale but I can still go ahead if you're happy with not knowing what this would be up-front straight away. 

[#14]

Hi Gandalf,

A long read indeed! I have replied on the ticket that I have accepted all the terms and I am happy to go ahead. I will double check the additional needs form again as I am maybe missing something.

Regards,

James

[#15 · Accepted solution]

Hi James,

Awesome, sounds good and cheers for reading all that.

I've arranged the product change now and it should happen on 21.03.22.

I'll check back tomorrow to confirm though.