Network update - Fri 27th Nov

[#1]

I'm sorry for the continued broadband speed and performance issues that some of you have said you are experiencing. This time last week we posted an update about the recent problems affecting our broadband network, highlighting the work in hand to address them. You can read the network update on our customer support pages. Bringing our broadband network back to optimal performance for all of our broadband customers is of the highest priority for us.  My team is focussed and determined to both achieve and maintain network stability. Whilst we are seeing improvements in many of the areas we are working through, earlier today we have suffered a major hardware failure on our PCL-AG02 gateway.  This failure was outside of our control and we are working with our suppliers around the clock and throughout the weekend to replace the hardware. As always, we’ll keep you fully updated at http://status.plus.net with the latest news. Anthony Anthony Vollmer CEO, PlusNet

[#2]

Anthony, Good to see you posting here with an update. Today's problems with PCL-AG02 gateway are an unfortunate end to the week, when your staff have been working flat out to restore sanity to the network. Here's hoping next week is one with better news! Mike ps.. hope you stick around to read a few of the problem threads on the boards, and maybe chip in an answer or two... I think the customers need to see & hear from you at this time!

[#3]

Thanks Anthony - Appreciate you taking the time out to Post an update and at this time on a Friday. Things have been pretty bleak with problems piling on top of each other for the last few weeks. Let's hope the work this weekend will restore some stability to the network and allow the NetOps guys a bit of a breather. Maurice (PUG)

[#4]

Maybe Andy you should email all your users? and say this or add a page to the monthly invoice? A lot of friends that are on plusnet/MAAF have been suffering and keep phoning me up to blame me! james.

[#5]

Do you get free subs if you brown nose? I want a lick!

[#6]

Always good to see the top of the shop caring!

[#7]

As always, we’ll keep you fully updated at http://status.plus.net with the latest news. It makes me laugh when the above is added if the BB is down how on earth do you check the above link? Bryn

[#8]

@lolwut - Free subs? Nope! Just pleased that Anthony has become personally involved in this current network saga and that Plusnet are listening. Maurice

[#9]

Only been with Plusnet for a short while and seriously considering sacking them as my ISP. Promised and paying for speeds of up to 8mb, was used to a max of about 6 with my previous ISP, but now I rarely get above 1mbps. This evenings grand total speed measurement is 30Kbps (remember that? I'm sure I used to be able to get 56kbps with dial up??). Glad to see Mr Vollmer is paying close attention to this area of the site, perhaps he could explain to me why I paid for a Porche and I find myself driving a 2CV!!

[#10]

After your staff have refused to acknowledge that we even have a problem and refused to raise a fault after having reported connection and speed issues for two weeks now, we have requested MAC code and are moving to O2. We only waited two weeks because I work for BT and I was hoping that things could not possibly be as bad as they are. But they are worse than that and so I can't wait to move now.

[#11]

@Brynsuperblue52, the problem Anthony's referring to is one of degraded network performance and poor speeds, *not* a total loss of your broadband service. Even if your broadband is down, many people have alternative methods of getting online nowadays. In fact you'd need to be online to read this post in the first place! @Dave Stewart, sounds to me like you've got a problem elsewhere too if your speeds are that low. Have you got a ticket reference from your account or your username so I can check things out for you? @John, again if you have a ticket reference then I can take a look at your account for you. I recognise it might be too late although I'd rather your speeds were up to scratch during these final days.

[#12]

Just like to add to this thread, I to am completely fed up to the high teeth with excuses from Plusnet, who I recently joined through reccomendation as a very good ISP, WHEN? not in my time. I have tested many times the sockets, the main socket router, it goes on, but never a resolve. This weekend BT tested the line from the exchange and the exchange with a good clear report, even though Plusnet now want me to spend £144+VAT to get an engineer to check again?? This morning I had BT check the complete line, report, no Jitter, no packets lost, ping good, basically they gave the line A status capable of 3 meg speed realisticaly 2.5 stable, on phoning to impart this knowledge to tech today, once again they tell me to go through the tests at my end, its not their fault, theb I lost it a bit and the best they could do is say put it on your ticket and let the tech team (who was I speaking to then ) deal with it. Enough is enough, MAC code please, O2 has got to be a better option than this lying outfit. The CEO has acknowledged it, Tech team have the Balls to be truthfull and regain some integrity in the business and give the customers what they actually pay your salary for, its called SERVICE. Mr. Vollmer if you mean it and want really to get back on track, kick some ass, its needed, that is indeed if you are following this thread and can partake of constructive critism. John Snowden

[#13]

Bob, I was in touch a few weeks ago about the consistent poor data rates. I did get an email back with 17 questions, which I answered to the best of my knowledge. Since then I have heard nothing. I've just run another speedtest and I'm getting just over 3Mbps. That's very quick by recent standards. I sacked BT over a billing issue, but in their defence at least their speed was a reasonably consistent 6Mbps. I understand that you offer UP to 8Mbps, dependant on distance from exchange and a few other factors, but when my router interface says I'm getting Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 8,128 that is clearly not the case. Plusnet appear in the reviews to be up there with the big boys in ISP terms. Get this hardware and speed issue sorted out and you may just stay up there. Dave

[#14]

Having been a PN customer for 7 years now, I'm sad to say that I'm biting the bullet and leaving due to the ongoing speed problems. (I'm just waiting on the answer to a support ticket in the hope that I can keep my PN email account active. I made the unfortunate mistake of using my account to register on umpteen million sites over the years, rather than use a web-based account! Makes it a bit of a pain to leave now!)

[#15]

Dave, if you go here and take a look at the questions on your account then you should be able to locate a ticket reference that will allow me to identify your account - https://www.plus.net/my.html?action=questions If you can post the reference to one of the Questions here then I'll take a look and see if I can spot what's wrong.

[#16]

Good to Anthony posting. Now can we have the same level of commitment put into getting the CGI platform working. That's been out of action even longer than the speed issues.

[#17]

Hi Bob, my call number 30851318 has been open over two weeks now. My Broadband download speed is 123k, lower than the upload speed !! Whilst I can see you are having problems, does that excuse your automated responses to my help call where I have received the same response 6 times on different dates, each with a failed action..... That is the complete opposite of customer care.

[#18]

Well have tosay I might be moving back to Zen internet, they may cost more but at least it works. Haning to reset the router every 30mins to maintain a conection is just a little pisspoor. Now I get an email saying my account is being change as requested? I havent requested a change? Cant login to account to check whats going on... so just a bit confused. Yes im located in London and yes I know the problem with your switch/router. But come on..... taking a bit too long to fix...

[#19]

@Mike, your profile is now back up to 2000, is performance better as a result? @BenG, it's probably a downgrade to a dial account to retain email access. If you can let me know a ticket reference I can check and confirm for you.

[#20]

@Chris The CGI platform isn't out of action, the only items we currently have disabled are telnet and SSH access on there. We posted a new update to service status here: http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1259616401.htm

[#21]

@BenG, the problems we've had recently should definitely *not* result in you having to reset your router every thirty minutes! Like Mand says, if you can provide us with a ticket reference then we can take a look at your account for you. We've done a lot of work today that we're quietly confident is going to help matters considerably: http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1259794367.htm http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1259794036.htm http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1259776555.htm If that lot goes well then we've got some similar changes to make next week at one of our other data centres then we should be in a position where we can set Service Status back to 'Green'

[#22]

Yet again more excuses from Plusnet.... I bitched at them about these type of problems for ages, only to be told' no fault found' then I see on the service status issues of exactly the type I had been describing.!!! WHY ARE YOU INCAPABLE OF PROVIDING A DECENT SERVICE?????? I will be leaving plusnet soon, and making sure others I know who use it do the same. Bad, overloaded, slow service and too expensive sums the whole thing up.

[#23]

Hello Mand and hello Bob Pullen. It's pretty sad that this blog now seems the only way we can avail ourselves of support. It's not what a blog should be about. I gave you my ticket number in my earlier post, and there is no improvement in my case. Mand.....were you talking to me or another Mike ? Please respond to me by phone or e-mail or through my problem ticket. You are still pretty self-congratulatory in my view. A little more humble pie to your customers please.

[#24]

@steeley If you post your ticket ID we'll gladly take a look into any issues you've had. Bear in mind that if you've been seeing these slowdowns prior to our service status postings on the network issues, then you may have a different issue not related to these.

[#25]

@Mike Sorry to hear that you feel this blog is the only way to get support. I'll ask one of our faults team to pick up your ticket again today. However it's worth noting that your issues are *not* due to the network issues outlined on this blog.

[#26]

@Mike I've taken a look over your account and the IP profile for it is now back up to 2000, this is what it was at before you experienced a fault. I can see you haven't rebooted your modem/router since before the profile increased. This is sometimes necessary to get the new profile through, can you try a reboot and you should get better speeds again.

[#27]

Hahaha what do we have here, Plusnet reaping what they were sowing months ago? I gave up trying to get across to them there were inherent problems with their traffic management platform and other kit but NO - "it's your setup", "even though we have replicated it in the CSC we still reckon it's normal"... if only they'd have listened back then instead of waitin for the s**t to hit the fan. BUT - the key problem still remains - they continue to oversell a service that lacks capacity - I'm glad my PN line is only a backup to Virgin Cable - if any of you guys can get cable, GET IT INSTEAD - yes, they have problems but their network is a lot more fit for purpose than PN's attempts.

[#28]

at least i'm not the only one getting absolutely dreadful broadband through PN. My ticket has been open for well over a month and its beginning to read like "War & Peace". I feel blessed when my broadband reaches the dizzy heights of 200kbps...its occasionally as low as 29k! Might as well return to using a fax. I'm surprised that this revelation above has not been forwarded to those customers who are at the very least experiencing crap performance. Instead we have to go looking for the info, even though i have been chasing up the problems on a daily basis. Now i am seriously considering dropping PN altogether, as they have successfully managed to drop the adsl connection altogether. I still have the phone line, but not adsl, and its been like that for three days. And still they have not even managed to test the line, let alone do anything to resolve it. Anyone would think i lived out in the sticks, but at 2 miles from the city centre (and the nearest exchange) its really no excuse for such a poor service. PN - last chance now....sort it or i'm off.

[#29]

i forgot to add the ticket ref to my (justifiable) rant - ID: 30522826

[#30]

@Adam Taylor Sorry to hear about the issues you've had, I've taken a look at your ticket and the next step is an engineer visit. I've updated your ticket with the details so if you could let us know when you are available by either updating the ticket or giving us a call we'll get it booked. @Dean Kelly I'd be happy to take a look at any issues you've had if you want to let me know a ticket number from your account?

[#31]

thanks Chris, although the fact you replied to the ticket with the same standard email that has already been applied to that ticket several times by various members of your staff doesn't inspire confidence. If you had read the ticket, you would have seen we have tried everything suggested many times over. I am well aware BT may try charge me - even though i have tried three routers, multiple micro filters, have been connected via the test socket right from day one, have no other devices connected to the line, had BT engineer disconnect any extensions from the socket, checked router firmware, tried the line with a new phone, tried it with no phone, prayed for world peace and solved the nations energy crisis...well maybe not the last two. I was told three days ago on the phone that an engineer was the next step but as yet nobody has bothered to contact us. In fact we have been told many times over the past month that we'd need an engineer, but your staff always find a way to change the fault description to negate that need. What is really annoying is the fact my wife works from home and needs email, now the adsl has vanished completely she cannot access the mail server, and no matter how often we add info to the ticket or phone up, nothing ever seems to happen. I really hope you can get this sorted quickly.

[#32]

Hi again, I can see one of my colleagues changed the fault type with our supplier just over a week ago so they were investigating the correct type of fault. I'll ask him to double check before booking an appointment and get back to you asap.

[#33]

I've just been speaking to one of our faults agents, the fault code was changed correctly so our supplier is aware of the correct type of fault. We've now booked an appointment for Monday afternoon, your ticket should be updated shortly.

[#34]

thanks again Chris, my point being that since that change was made, the fault has gone from an intermittent one to a complete loss of adsl. I just hope that doesn't change the fault type again!! adam

[#35]

i'll add a comment to this page, as it seems to get a quicker response than by adding it just to the ticket! The engineer has been but it seems he is not the right engineer to solve the problem. I don't know the details (my wife has updated the ticket) but it seems we are still without adsl, and a different engineer needs to be arranged. It may be a little premature but i do hope you have some kind of compensation available to those who are paying for a service but not actually getting it! rgds Adam

[#36]

Hi Adam, Posting comments on a blog really isn't the best way for us to give you support. We have a set of forums at http://community.plus.net/forum/ if you'd prefer to discuss your problem on there rather than the ticket system? We have a number of very very knowledgeable customers who can offer advice over there too. Plus in the forums we can keep track of your thread, rather than it potentially being lost on a blog comment. I've asked one of our more experienced faults agents to chase this up for you, he's not able to do that tonight as we haven't received the engineers notes unfortunately but he'll chase this tomorrow and get in touch with you. We'll update the ticket as soon as we can tomorrow with the latest fault information. I look forward to seeing you on our forums. Regards, Chris.

[#37]

I thought I was alone but after reading the above comments I now know Plusnet slow,slow speed makes much of the internet unfit for purpose fom me and many customers. I joined in Nov. 09 and left in Jan.10.Accounts are now trying to charge £30 admin fee and £40 for the modem I'm returning. A charge for a service I did not receive. Mr Vollmer, I hope you get to read this and are able to cancel any charges. I am writing a specific letter to your Customer Service Director with a copy to yourself. Plusnet staff need much training to bring the company up to the level it claims to be.

[#38]

Kate - I've reviewed what has happened in your case and agree to waive your cancellation charges. Someone from the team will call you to arrange this. We did not handle your speed fault well and feedback will be given to the individuals concerned. Whilst the network did have some issues at the time of your fault, we think your issues were specific to your line. Our network performance is now very much back on track. However, that's no excuse and I'm sorry that we let you down. Anthony

[#39]

A short while back I asked Plus Net if they would be willing to help with a community project. The project? IT classes, and in need of a provider Plus Net?? No reply

[#40]

@Tony, how exactly did you get in touch with us?

[#41]

The website said Try our Live Chat So I did And it didn't work Perhaps it would be best not to suggest customers try something if it is not ready or adequately staffed?

[#42]

@Jean, what time was that and what errors did you get if any? Did you try initiating the chat from our sales pages or support pages? If it was our support pages, is there anything I can help you with?