Litany of ERRORS

[#1]

I chose plusnet as my new telephone/Internet service provider after much online searching revealed it to be competitively priced and with remarkably good feedback regarding customer service, however I'm sad to say that I have been deeply disappointed before I have even received all the services I signed up for.
I signed up for phone and broadband on 16th April 2011. My phone was activated on 11th May 2011. The original date set for broadband activation was 18th May 2011.
Issues:
1. The phone number assigned to me had '1571' answerphone messages from BEFORE my line activation i.e. The number had obviously not been quarantined properly before being reissued. Solved by changing number which caused it's own problems as I had already given out the new number as provided soon after sign up.
2. The broadband router I had ordered arrived well after the date for broadband activation. Solved by calling and the request being forced through after getting 'caught up in the system' however useless anyway because:-
3. On the day of broadband activation I called to find out what was going on only to be told that I cannot get broadband on the 21C network -so what was the speed estimate (from email at the time of sign up) of 11Mb/s based on?? Apparently my area will not be able to receive 21C until Dec 2012 -that's fine not plusnets fault I understand but why do they find out on the day of activation?? How could they give the faster speed estimate if 21C isn't even available in my area for another 18months!?!
4. To solve point 3. Plusnet had to cancel the original request and put in a new one for the 20C upto 8Mb broadband which would take approx 5 working days to activate. Well they managed to cancel the original order but didn't put in an order for the slower broadband until I called to chase things because the member centre tracking was less than useless!
Based on my last communication with plusnet I'm now expecting to get broadband activation tomorrow. I had been smart enough to have overlap of previous Internet and Phone provider (cable so no interference with plusnet service - could have run both concurrently as completely different sets of wires supplying my home) until 17th May however since then I have only had mobile 3G which has caused significant hassle and loss of time and money through missed web meetings and poor access to emails and especially attachments.
I'm sad to say that there has been little apology or understanding or ownership of the problem. In the mean time since before my original order had to be cancelled (no 21C availability) I note that the price for value broadband which I wanted has gone down To £3.24/month...
I'm angry and disappointed that I was given an estimated broadband speed based on rubbish as my area does not have access to 21C so the estimate could not have been above 8Mb/s much less 11Mb/s! I'm further upset that the problem was not identified and dealt with earlier and even when I raised the issue the new order was not made until after I called back to chase up the lack of progress! Then I find that people who have signed up just 3 days after me are paying half the monthly fee I'm expected to pay when I eventually get broadband, whereas they are already connected and on a faster network, close to their estimated speed!!
I suppose I would really appreciate some kind of response to this situation...and I hope that my next message will be from my broadband computer not my 3G phone!

[#2]

What does https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html say is available to you?

[#3]

I clicked on the link you kindly provided, input my plusnet telephone number and got the following response:
'Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.
Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 6Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 5.5Mbps and 8Mbps.
Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 11Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 6.5Mbps and 15.5Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line could support an estimated ADSL 2+ Annex-M broadband upstream line speed of 1Mbps and downstream line speed of 6.5Mbps; typically the downstream speed would range between 5.5Mbps and 7.5Mbps.'

[#4]

It's not Plusnet's fault in this case that you were misled about the speeds. Plusnet can only go by what the BT Wholesale systems tell them and that information comes from the same place as the checker you've just run. What this means is that although the exchange is 21CN enabled, all the 21CN capacity is in use hence the delay. I don't believe the Dec 2012 date - I think that is more likely to be the date for FTTC. It needs someone from Plusnet to do some more research.
Your issue 4 is down to Plusnet not monitoring and acting appropriately when the original order failed. I can understand why it isn't a totally automatic order of 20CN - there could be someone in an area with cable that faced with sub 8MB speeds would rather go with cable so PN should be asking what the user wants to do.

[#5]

I appreciate it is a long post but if you read it carefully you will see that I do understand it is not plusnets fault regarding capacity (as I stated in point 3). My legitimate concern is why did they find out on the day of activation thereby delaying my internet connection by atleast a week?!?
Also they did talk to me about what to do next, I agreed that I wanted the max 8Mb/s broadband so the process as explained to me was to clear the original order and put in the new one. It was not: talk to me, agree a plan then cancel the old one then internally miscommunicate, forget about the new order, further delaying my internet connection which finally progresed when i called in to make sure that the 20C order has gone through.

[#6]

What we don't know at the moment is when PN received the notification that the initial order had failed - or that the BT systems were showing that the order had failed. I suspect that more days were lost there.
The other thing that needs to be cleared up is the Dec 2012 date. Having established that it is a capacity issue I just don't believe that is the date you can expects 21CN.

[#7]

Yes I don't know where the delay specifically is, though quite frankly I'm not interested in one company blaming another. All I know is that I am a plusnet customer and I feel let down.
RE Dec 2012, I was just about to copy paste the response I had with the Dec 2012 info in it to find that the help assistant question has gone!! It was there earlier today as an active question and now its gone! 3 New questions opened and closed today saying ADSL status changed from Supplier processing to fee not paid then the last question closed 15 seconds later, 'Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information Install diary status changed from Applied Fee Not Paid to Supplier processing'. I received a text 3 minutes after that to confirm that the order is in progress and due for completion at some point today.
Just to clarify, do you work for Plusnet jelv?

[#8]

neither Jelv, the Moderators or I work for Plus Net
you will find all your closed tcikets dating back to the year dot under the drop down closed tickets tab

[#9]

You can tell the people who work for Plusnet because their avatar (displayed on the left hand side of a post under their name) will be

[#10]

Thank you both pierre_pierre and jelv, I just wanted to check.
I have become quite familiar with the closed questions and often look back to see info in closed questions, but this particular one has entirely disappeared! I still have the text saying that my 21C will be ready in 2012 but it does not say December, that was written into the question from 23rd May which was open until recently.
I haven't had a response from someone from Plusnet itself yet.

[#11]

Hi there,
Basically the delay is down to capacity - there's no space at your exchange to connect any more users to the 21CN network, and the date we've been given for more capacity being added (essentially more equipment being installed in the exchange) is December next year unfortunately. The ticket is still on your account but has indeed been closed, and the current order should complete today for you if it hasn't already.

[#12]

@rajukru
Your best bet might be to try and getting a local campaign going as this will be affecting all nearly ISPs that use BT. Letters in any local papers about how we are supposed to be moving in to the 21st century and useless BT getting capacity planning hopelessly wrong etc.

[#13]

Don't think it's planning more to do with physical limitations of some exchanges. Have to remove 20CN equipment before more 21CN equipment can be fitted and this is not straight forward as it sounds.