Superb customer service - engineer knew his stuff, not just reading usual speel.
I had a problem the other day where my internet kept showing me the "BT Wholesale" screen rather than Google.
I called Plus.net up about it. I knew the problem was somehow to do with the website settings somewhere, and not the entire internet, because we have our phone line through Vonage, and that was still working fine despite no connection.
The engineer I got through to was very knowledgeable and explained to me that the problem was possible due to the DNS server. I run my own computer repair business, and so when he mentioned the DNS server being the issue I realised exactly what he meant (for anyone that's reading this that doesn't know - all websites are IP numbers - like in the old days of compuserve when people used to have "random numbered e-mails" instead of proper addresses, but to make it simpler for the end user a DNS server is like a massive database that can turn any website name (like www.google.co.uk) into it's number equivalent (google.co.uk is far more easier to remember than 74.125.132.94))
Anyway he helped me out by pointing this out to me as in the past we've had a number of disconnections that have only affected websites and not other things like vonage or ftp and I'd never even thought of the DNS server being the problem. I always put it down to the fact we're in a rural area and the copper cabling isn't very good (we get a top speed of 2mbps, although sometimes that drops as low as 0.5mbps - although BT have started to roll out fibre in Ludlow now, so just hoping they remember to include the Middleton cabinet in the upgrade!). The person explained to me that they had that problem when they used to give out Netgear routers and it seemed my router was doing exactly the same (it's a Linksys). I've always bought Linksys/Cisco or Netgear routers mainly because they are normally "good quality", but that explains the problem a lot then. Also Vonage and FTP would keep working because both of them use IP addresses to connect so don't need a DNS server there.
After talking to him we tried manually putting in a DNS server into my router - which killed the internet altogether (and the phone line I was on 'cos I was using Vonage at the time to phone - I think when I clicked Save the router decided to do a reboot!). I've since realised the problem and managed to temporarily fix it, until I invest in a more up-to-date router (no offence to the routers that Plus.net can supply, but I much prefer to supply my own routers as I have quite a complex computer network in the house).
I was really impressed by this persons knowedge, running my own computer repair business I have to talk to various ISPs all the time, and I have in the past recommended quite a number of people to Plus.Net even though many of them have in their head that "a certain rival" is cheaper - actually Plus.Net is normally cheaper than "a certain rival". plus you get an English call centre with someone who knows what they're talking about, not a foreign call centre with someone reading the same words off a screen "turn off computer and router, wait 5 minutes, turn on, and internet should work - not working oh well try it again - computer says it will fix problem!". Funny thing is many years ago I went for a job interview in Warrington for Broadband Advisor for "a certain rival" - I couldn't believe that the question they asked was what does this error code mean - it turns out the error code would only appear in Windows '95 (an operating system which they didn't support), and the error message meant that the "dial-up phone line is disconnected" - and how is knowing that going to help someone with broadband issues????
LOL!!! - the more ironic thing was a few weeks after that interview I helped one of their customers get online with a Linux laptop and a USB ADSL modem, something which "a certain rival" had claimed on the phone was impossible and couldn't be done - the person said to me I should get a job with them, and I told them about applying and getting turned down because of that one question! Absolutely unbelievable! Anyway I moved to Ludlow and now run my own PC repair business, and help a lot of their customers now as well as plus.net customers too, but I'm really glad that your computer technicians are on the ball and very knowledgeable. Keep up the good work - good honest broadband from Yorkshire.
Anyway sorry for going on so much - having Asperger's I do tend to waffle on a bit - also I changed the name of the other company to "a certain rival" so that they can't say which company it is.
I called Plus.net up about it. I knew the problem was somehow to do with the website settings somewhere, and not the entire internet, because we have our phone line through Vonage, and that was still working fine despite no connection.
The engineer I got through to was very knowledgeable and explained to me that the problem was possible due to the DNS server. I run my own computer repair business, and so when he mentioned the DNS server being the issue I realised exactly what he meant (for anyone that's reading this that doesn't know - all websites are IP numbers - like in the old days of compuserve when people used to have "random numbered e-mails" instead of proper addresses, but to make it simpler for the end user a DNS server is like a massive database that can turn any website name (like www.google.co.uk) into it's number equivalent (google.co.uk is far more easier to remember than 74.125.132.94))
Anyway he helped me out by pointing this out to me as in the past we've had a number of disconnections that have only affected websites and not other things like vonage or ftp and I'd never even thought of the DNS server being the problem. I always put it down to the fact we're in a rural area and the copper cabling isn't very good (we get a top speed of 2mbps, although sometimes that drops as low as 0.5mbps - although BT have started to roll out fibre in Ludlow now, so just hoping they remember to include the Middleton cabinet in the upgrade!). The person explained to me that they had that problem when they used to give out Netgear routers and it seemed my router was doing exactly the same (it's a Linksys). I've always bought Linksys/Cisco or Netgear routers mainly because they are normally "good quality", but that explains the problem a lot then. Also Vonage and FTP would keep working because both of them use IP addresses to connect so don't need a DNS server there.
After talking to him we tried manually putting in a DNS server into my router - which killed the internet altogether (and the phone line I was on 'cos I was using Vonage at the time to phone - I think when I clicked Save the router decided to do a reboot!). I've since realised the problem and managed to temporarily fix it, until I invest in a more up-to-date router (no offence to the routers that Plus.net can supply, but I much prefer to supply my own routers as I have quite a complex computer network in the house).
I was really impressed by this persons knowedge, running my own computer repair business I have to talk to various ISPs all the time, and I have in the past recommended quite a number of people to Plus.Net even though many of them have in their head that "a certain rival" is cheaper - actually Plus.Net is normally cheaper than "a certain rival". plus you get an English call centre with someone who knows what they're talking about, not a foreign call centre with someone reading the same words off a screen "turn off computer and router, wait 5 minutes, turn on, and internet should work - not working oh well try it again - computer says it will fix problem!". Funny thing is many years ago I went for a job interview in Warrington for Broadband Advisor for "a certain rival" - I couldn't believe that the question they asked was what does this error code mean - it turns out the error code would only appear in Windows '95 (an operating system which they didn't support), and the error message meant that the "dial-up phone line is disconnected" - and how is knowing that going to help someone with broadband issues????
LOL!!! - the more ironic thing was a few weeks after that interview I helped one of their customers get online with a Linux laptop and a USB ADSL modem, something which "a certain rival" had claimed on the phone was impossible and couldn't be done - the person said to me I should get a job with them, and I told them about applying and getting turned down because of that one question! Absolutely unbelievable! Anyway I moved to Ludlow and now run my own PC repair business, and help a lot of their customers now as well as plus.net customers too, but I'm really glad that your computer technicians are on the ball and very knowledgeable. Keep up the good work - good honest broadband from Yorkshire.Anyway sorry for going on so much - having Asperger's I do tend to waffle on a bit - also I changed the name of the other company to "a certain rival" so that they can't say which company it is.
