Is Plus Net in Barrow in Furness Doomed?

[#1]

I have been referring customers to plus.net for just over a year now and I have 72 in my referral list. Unfortunately I can no longer recommend plus.net as Talk Talk are now at the Barrow exchange and are offering a  better deal. It is likelythat over the coming month’s plus.net will loose its hitherto strengthening presence  in Barrow because of this.
Do you ever intend to install plus.net equipment at the Barrow exchange? If you are, then it may be possible to convince people to keep on sighing up, and for those already with plus.net to stay. 
compsupport

[#2]

As Plusnet are part of BT and they get their service from BT Wholesale, i would think it highly unlikely they would install their own equipment in exchanges.
Many of us have been customers of other suppliers such as Tiscalli, TalkTalk, Orange, Virgin etc before getting fed up with them for poor service and coming to PN.
Do Talk Talk offer referrals ?

[#3]

Welcome to the Forums Dx7.

[#4]

Thanks Strat.

MalOz
No Talk Talk don’t offer referral discounts (seems they don’t need to). The problem is that Talk Talk seems to be better than Tiscali and many others so I cannot not recommend them. I own a computer support company in Barrow and so I see a lot off people with broadband problems and not too many of them are having problems with Talk Talk (yet). Price that is the main consideration for most people wanting ADSL and  Plus Net are no longer competitive in Barrow and  I can no longer say to customers that on a whole they offer the best deal. BT need to rethink their pricing model or Talk Talk will at some point become the dominant ADSL supplier in this country.  If Talk Talk can make a profit at their price point, why cant BT? 
Dx7

[#5]

Barrow exchange is a Market 2 exchange - this is defined by OFCOM. OFCOM regulate the prices of Market 1 and Market 2 exchanges, stipulating a minimum price that BT Wholesale must charge ISPs. Until OFCOM change the rules there is nothing BT or Plusnet can do to compete with TalkTalk.

[#6]

Thanks for your knowledgeable explanation of the situation jelv
So: Plus Net in Barrow = negative growth for the foreseeable future.
Thants a shame as its such a good  ISP  (At least compared to the majority)

[#7]

TalkTalk have been in my local exchange for a couple of years, and if anything Plusnet have probably seen an increase in growth on that exchange.  I know a number of people who have moved to TalkTalk from a load of different ISP's who have then had major problems with both service and support who have now managed to move to Plusnet.
Phil

[#8]

Can't be that doomed, I'm a fellow Barrovian and just signed up! Also shown a few people various claims about the service and they're interested in coming over when current contracts end.

[#9]

thats a welcome to you then
the salesman from the NW

[#10]

It's fair to say they're using me as a guinea pig!
On a serious note, the price is a small percentage of why I choose a service. When I compared the providers, and what their service offers in regards to my usage, Plusnet Pro seemed to be the best option, by quite a distance.
TalkTalk weren't even in the equation.

[#11]

This site might be worth a poke...
http://www.talktalkmembers.com/content/view/109/149/#idxB

Quote

Limited Availability Warning, TalkTalk are planning increased capacity at this exchange and are awaiting a date for its installation

Makes interesting reading, if your not seeing shoddy speeds during the evening, im guessing the people of barrow are all light email users ?
Also interesting...
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/unhappiness/3697500-talktalkaol-apparently-snooping-msnyahoo-again....
Dont forget anyone in barrow that is formerly an AOL user is being lumbered onto TalkTalk LLU Equipment, (and more then decomissioning the AOL llu link - then increasing (hopefully??) the bandwidth on the TalkTalk link...this is just my best guess as i believe BT charge less for 1 fast pipe then 2 slower pipes.
So yeah, would be interesting to see what DNS response times and download speeds you get from talktalk during 'peak' times, my gf uses talktalk (price was key) and tbh the speed is appauling on a good quality line Zen provided over 4mbit - talktalk provides about 700~1200 kbps, so im definately interested in your experience!
Edit: would be worth noting that PN did a trial using Tiscali LLU (Pre BT-Owned days) and the results were appauling (major connection issues and drops,and major speed issues) and put more demand on support.

[#12]

Just found this topic following a Google search so sorry to be late to the party.
I have been a customer of PN for many years and live in Barrow-in-Furness, and have also referred friends as in general I have been pleased with the customer service.
I am however becoming frustrtated by the evening throttling which means I can't watch programmes on bbc or itv iplayer although they are fine before 4.00 pm.
I am also envious of the cheap monthly rate that other friends pay to TalkTalk in this area.
I also considered joining Sky to get an all inclusive package including TV for not a great deal more than I am currently paying PN each month for broadband alone. Sky could not tell me when ADSL2+ will be available in Barrow, saying it could be over 12 months.
However I emailed the same question to PN and got this reply: Your exchange should have ADSL2+ services installed by the 30th of March 2010. Kind regards, link:csa removed
So here's hoping!
adie:red CSA Name removed as per link:rules]

[#13]

Hi there,
I've taken a look over your account and it seems that you are on one of our older packages. You will more than likely see the evening performance improve with a move to one of our newer products.
Your current product is here:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/archive/bb_plus.shtml
As you can see, quite a few things are heavily restricted on there. The same information on the current products can be found here:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/download_speeds.shtml

[#14]

I have considered this before but don't want to be tied into a long contract, as I believe that when ADSL2+ comes to town I may be able to get a better deal and a faster speed, either with PN or someone else.
I saw on another thread that you had abolished long contract terms. Is that correct? What would be the contract terms if I switched? It seems unfair that as a long term customer who is now out of original contract terms I would have to tie myself down again, but I'm happy to consider the options.
Regards
Ron

[#15]

You don't - moving products doesn't affect your notice period - it is still 10 days