Plusnet have failed me yet again.

[#1]

It's been a bit of a roller coaster since we joined Plusnet and they failed yet again today.
Fibre was supposed to be installed this morning at our flat. The engineer arrived to install the equipment, he was here all of 10 minutes and told me he couldn't install it because Plusnet hadn't sent the equipment.
Brilliant, that's a day wasted. 

[#2]

The only equipment plusnet should have provided is a new Router, for FTTC it would probably have been a Netgear WNR1000v3.
Did you get one? or did you tell them that you didn't want one?
Even without this, the BT install can still go ahead as they supply and fit the Modem. You could then have connected your computer directly to the modem and used that temporarily until the router arrived.
So plusnet are at fault if you needed/requested a router and they haven't sent you one, But BT are also at fault for not doing there part of the install (or at the very least offering to do it)  anyway.

[#3]

As Vip3r as said there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why the BT install could not have been done. BT provide the modem and that is all that is need to complete and test the installation.

[#4]

Quote from: Vip3r

You could then have connected your computer directly to the modem and used that temporarily until the router arrived.

Does the Openreach modem need a DHCP server for the ethernet port?
If so, was the Openreach technician trained to configure the old ADSL modem to act as an ethernet DHCP server & changing the default gateway to the Openreach modem's IP address etc.
Richard

[#5]

Richard, No DHCP required. The Router install instructions I received when I signed up to the FTTC trial included the following Troubleshooting info:

Quote

you can connect a PC direct to the BT modem. To do this do the following: Switch the BT modem off Plug the Ethernet cable in to the BT modem and the PC Switch the BT modem on and wait for the 3 lights to go green. On your PC go to Control Panel then Network Connections Click create a new connection Choose Connect to the Internet Select Set up my Connection Manually Select Connect using a broadband connection that requires a username and password (PPPoE) Enter the ISP Name - Plusnet Enter the broadband username and password Click Finish and click Connect If you use Windows 7 it will try and test the connection during the setup, this will fail and give you an error. Click Skip or Continue and then after clicking finish right click the new connection icon and click properties. Under Service Name enter Plusnet then click OK. Then double click the new connection icon and click connect.

The Openreach technician probably wouldn't have training for this, but it could easily have been explained over the phone by plusnet Assuming the information is no longer being sent as part of the welcome pack, and as jelv said the openreach tech could still have performed all of his/her tests.
Edit:
By the way I ask about the router as it has been noted that in the past some Openreach Technicians expect a HomeHub and refuse to install without one, even though the Netgear is plusnets equivalent.

[#6]

Personally I'd tell him where he could shove his Homehub and demand he ring his bosses whilst on the premises and if necessary I'd explain a few basic principles to them. Plusnet really have to sort out OpenReach at CEO level, this is now beyond a joke, with the number of complaints about Fibre install on these forums alone, never mind those we don't hear about.

[#7]

Hi there,
I'm very sorry about that. I can see a replacement appointment has now been booked but it does look like we need to change our hardware ordering process and also see if we can do anything about installs where the router hasn't yet arrived yet. Unfortunately as far as I know we're not able to do anything about the latter (I believe it's something we've pushed for before, though will be happy to try again) but I'll see what we can do about the hardware ordering.

[#8]

Matt, I didn't think OpenReach's responsibilities, during the install, extended to connecting the router to the modem but that they would stay until the user had connected it if one was available. Is that not the case ? I don't see how OpenReach can be trained in using all the possible routers that an ISP could provide so why should they interested in the router at all ?

[#9]

Because when they were trained they were shown how to set up a homehub and they are that stupid that they are unable to cope with anything different (or the lack of a router)?

[#10]

A lot of generalizations here.  The Openreach engineer who did my install (alright he was semi-retired and a conscientious old hand) rang me (presumably from the cabinet), arrived on time, modified the wiring on the old master socket so that the socket in the lounge was used (only a very few metres) did his testing and asked me whether I was happy to configure the router.  I said I was and he waited until I had a working connection and had done a speed test. In fact Plusnet had already configured the router so it was plug-and-go.
It was a trouble free pleasant experience.

[#11]

And that's how it should be which just proves that the experience some users have had is totally unjustifiable.

[#12]

Quote

Because when they were trained they were shown how to set up a homehub

I appreciate that Jelv, it seems I misunderstood the original problem. I thought BT were complaining that there was NO router at all not that there was no HomeHub. I've seen a few posts in the past about BT engineers asking where the HomeHub was on Fibre installs but not recently so I thought we had got past that issue and that BT engineers now realized that the HomeHub wasn't the 'be all' and 'end all' to Fibre installations. Obviously not !

[#13]

I think both problems still exist - some can't cope if it's not a homehub and some can't cope if there is no router.

[#14]

Unfortunately Matt has not addressed the need to take these Fibre install issues up at CEO level (at the very least) otherwise we are going to continue to see threads like this appearing on this forum which certainly don't do Plusnet's name any good even though it's OpenReach's fault.
Below are quotes from an OR engineer and a video of some of the tests, and are the very least that the good for nothing engineer that turned up to do RyanGould's install should have done.

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The pair quality test is electrical test of the line and is above the syn standard for phone (ie resistance to earth pass above one meg ohm rather than one kohm) . Tests for wb noise rein, ac balance, dc, ac, earth, hr loop and leg resistance,cap balance etc… then the vdsl test gives speed which we now have to get to at least predicted speed. The pqt is run on all jobs data or pstn and is making the network far healthier than it was 5 years ago.

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the vdsl test is run on either a jdsu terminal or exfo tester and is sync stats etc as a router reports for adsl. The final eclipse or gea combined test is triggered by the engineer ringing the remote tester from the line, the exchange then runs a one way copper test and retrieves sync against or modem stats from the dslam. This is done on each install or the engineer gets a failure for test on complete (ie a kick up the arse) .