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The Plusnet curse?....On & On 1 Year On!

TicnTac
Grafter
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

The Plusnet curse?....On & On 1 Year On!

Maybe the Plusnet curse will explain it? Having been quite  happy with Plusnet for a while now, and having spread the word to friends and family far and wide, after almost or is it over two months worth of faults, engineers, phone calls, lack of line, broadband, decent speed, lost tickets I have lost my patience, humour and goodwill towards Plusnet. The evil ooze from BT seems to be seeping its way through and has  finally reared its way in.  Angry
Maybe after a voice fault on the line, and a lift & shift here and there, a swap around in an exchange, a BT faceplate, a Test Router, I became a little too tolerant, maybe my passive nature on the matter has led to this, the fact that after two months the problems isn’t solved, the fact that what should have been a phone call to confirm an engineer coming out tomorrow, which maybe will be in 7 or 8 hours time is unknown, we may or may not have an engineer out, for some reason our now banded line after two months is worse than it was, maybe minus the hiss on the line!  Sad
Who can I blame? Do I blame BT for having poor infrastructure, do I blame OFCOM or the Monopolies Commission for splitting BT up so that they can’t effectively communicate with themselves, do I blame BT for clawing their way into Plusnet, or Plusnet for letting them? I really think I am wanting to blame someone here.  Angry
Maybe I should blame myself for being too tolerant, I should have phoned more, pushed more for a quicker resolution?  Undecided
Maybe I should just grab my mac code and vanish off to what looks like much greener grass with an LLU? Sky & TalkTalk do seem promising, with Plusnet’s price increases, treacle like browsing at times, maybe it is time to go elsewhere. That would defeat our primary reason for being with Plusnet, they’re UK based with a UK call centre, no offence to the SA staff out there, but I’ve never been in touch with that call centre so I can’t comment.  Undecided
I would have left this feedback via the help & support pages, but it won’t let me, tells me I can only have 3 open questions, there would only be one open question if it was still there, and yes, the tolerant nature in me says you have just redeveloped it, there will be a few bugs, but tonight was not the night for me to have a bug! Highly inconvenient, and after reading about the new CEO (should have gone to Ben or Adam, or Caz) in the blog, well that’s blown away any tolerance and passive nature I have left.  Angry Plus, this now remains for any prospective customer to see - didn't really want that, it is why I first went via pm to Ben a long while ago.  Sad Hi Ben, you have another pm btw  Smiley
I am disgruntled, I am peeved, I just want a normal working line, with a reasonable amount of speed like I had before, I don’t want overheating test routers, or lack of wireless signal, I don’t want errors on the line, if a REIN engineer is coming out, I want to know, and when, if BT are going to fit a nice RF filter then great, if they’re going to de-band the line, then great, if they’re doing another lift and shift, then great, or an E&D swap, or whatever it is (lost access to me questions so I can’t refer back to it). Is it too much to ask?  Undecided
Surely someone at Plusnet should have seen this coming, I’ve tried being patient, and kind, and even added some humour (not the best I know but hey, I’m not the swearing shouting type – well until now). I’ve researched, tested, experimented, noted everything every engineer has said, posted almost daily replies and updates, and now I’m just peeved, I’m cross! – yet I’m still wanting to seethe and boil and blame BT for all this. However, like many a post has said, I’m with Plusnet, not BT, so Plusnet, finger is wagging, and pointing, and it’s not a happy finger! – see, still a bit of humour left.  Wink
So, I don’t want silly high prices, I don’t want a rubbish line, I don’t want to lose my questions, I don’t want a possible over heating test router, I don’t want to keep losing wireless, as that’s a new thing and hasn’t been a problem. I do want a little respect, a nice working line, a reasonable sync speed, a reasonable browsing speed, to be kept informed, to have questions answered, to have all this cleared up as soon as possible, or I will remain disgruntled and I will have to start looking upwards or squalking elsewhere.
So, to sum up, Plusnet – nice when it works, don’t be too tolerant, remain cautious because BT is involved, prices aren’t that great, choice isn’t that great, LLU’s can make the grass look greener but sometimes their customer service can be as bad as Plusnet’s. Other than that, they’re great, apart from what I’ve just written, which doesn’t quite balance it out.  Roll_eyes Most of the staff who have been in touch via the tickets have been ok-ish, but ok isn't great is it, and great is what we're led to believe is what we get from PNCS? Or have I got that wrong?  Undecided Still great CS but rubbish service doesn't balance it out, and that really is what a fair few folk get out of Plusnet.
Oo, I feel the rant coming to an end. Still not happy! Still no response on the questions either. Rant may continue for a word or two more!
Ok, rant over, well feedback over to keep it to topic!
Just beware of the Plusnet BT infected curse! Unless someone can explain it as something else  Roll_eyes
Oh well time to hit that Post button  Embarrassed Cry
432 REPLIES 432
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: The Plusnet curse?

Embarrassed Almost 10mins on hold  and I'm none the wiser  Undecided no cure yet I guess. Time to go "arghhhhh!" I think  Angry Still not a happy Plusnetter!
.....a little while later.................
Engaged mode “persistence” during my second call, and we are getting a BT engineer today, this morning apparently – we shall wait and see.
My lost ticket may now be visible soon, the test router has died, I think it got a little hot, still powers up btw Plusnet, but have switched back to the original router, my sync speed has sunk though and remains the same.
Fingers crossed this gets sorted once and for all – still not a happy bunny!  Sad
Why couldn’t my first phone call have produced an answer? I could have saved time and money!
Undecided
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi TicnTac,
I've asked Adam to take a read through your post and the tickets on your account, he's doing that now and will get back to you once he's got more information.
Sorry for the issues so far but hopefully Adam can help get them resolved for you.
ps Ben's been on leave this week which is why he won't have replied to any PMs.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,926
Thanks: 863
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi TicnTac,
We're sorry to hear that this fault has gone on for such a long while without resolution. You may have noticed that I've already replied to some of the tickets you raised this is mainly to let you know that I'm taking the reins at this end and taking ownership of this fault for you so I'll keep you updated from here as to what's happening.
I've carefully picked over the notes on your account and would agree with you that this may be a REIN issue, when searching these forums you'll probably see lots of mentions of REIN, however it is a very rare issue but it is something we can request our suppliers look at if all other options meet a dead end. In my opinion this could very well be a wiring problem especially if the noise you hear on phone calls does stop when the broadband is disconnected. However I shall speculate no further as we really need to see what the BT engineers can find out for us before we can judge where to go next.
Moving forwards I can see that we have a BT engineer booked in to visit you today so we really need to wait and see what the outcome of this is. We have given them some specific instructions of what we would like them to check and maintain. I will provide a breakdown of this on your support ticket shortly.
You may fear like others do that as we are part of the BT family we are becoming BT or lets say not behaving in a way that meets the core Plusnet values like being the open and honest ISP, however I would at least like to try and belay that by mentioning that I have personally been with this company for nearly eight years now and in that time I have seen a lot of changes take place. Since we came under the ownership of BT we have been able to expand what we do and what we can offer whilst retaining our old values, after all the main reason BT wanted us to become part of their family of companies is that they like the way we do what we do, so fundamentally that should never change. Unfortunately it is clear to see that some people on here are reporting some issues with the quality of support, we would like to reassure you that this is not because we are part of BT it may be more related to the fact that we have undertaken widespread recruitment into our customer support centre over the past few months to meet the rise in demand, this may have led to some issues but we would like to think that this is not representative of our overall quality of support, We'd hope this is represented by us winning awards from the likes of ISPA.
To summarise, yes I think we could have seen this coming sooner, any failings on our part will be fed back to the people involved in dealing with this so far where applicable and as I'm sure you can agree some ownership at an earlier stage would have avoided you raising this complaint. I should be able to see the engineer notes from today's visit in about 2 hours from now. Just to set an expectation with you (although I'm aware the visit may have already gone ahead or be under way now) that if the engineer is not available to complete all the checks or do all the maintenance work we have asked them to do today that we may need to book another visit. However the next visit would not have a specific time limit set against. Please bear with me and I'll give you a call later this afternoon to discuss how things went today and where we can go next. We are concerned by the fact that the way this has been handled is making you consider cancellation, with that in mind once this is resolved we will look at crediting you and making a goodwill gesture.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
TicnTac
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi Adam
I too am very sorry it's gone on for this long, and yes we have had a visit from a SFI this morning, he replaced a NTE5 faceplate, checked two wires, plugged his little USB router in, plugged in my BT Home Hub, tried plugging in his Netgear but his adapter broke, and well yes we have a Sync. of 1126 - no other issues could be found on the line as it has all been swapped, he has put in for another lift & shift at the exchange.
It isn't RF issues that is causing this. despite looking at the graphs that have been sent, even Mr SFI looked at them, and also pointed out that our neighbours would probably have issues too.
We have two BT customers a talk talk and a sky, and yes, they are all far better off than us, the BT customer who is being very silly and has an unsecure network has a sync of 3454, however they might not even be on the same street as us, and yes I know LLU's are far superior to that of BT and ISP leasing companies.
We have now had every wire swapped, cables changed, faceplates changed, wires changed, router changed, filters changed, card changes, and pretty much all we've had is an awful lot of time wasted, calls wasted, and a huge amount of keyboard typing, to get no where apart from backwards. I've had to push for a decent level of service, especially today, and I think the main issue today is that the new BT person is holding a meeting and is consuming call centre staff. Ok, it's just a meeting, you need to attend apart from the newbies, I get that. Just that BT word again!
Well I shall wait for your telephone call, please don't call at tea time we have a little one who doesn't like routine changes nor do I like cold dinner Wink
My worry now is that if a BT SFI left today with a shrug, I doubt nothing more can be done? Just to point out, he had no instructions or history of  what had gone off, he found that out from me, oh, and a phone call he made during a test. I'm now sounding like another dissatisfied customer with that light sarcastic disgruntled tone again Sad
Undecided
Since you like your music, bit of Pink Floyd -High Hopes:
Quote
Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

Speak to ya later!
Going to guess the meeting dragged on a little while?  Sad
Still no joy even when BT phoned, oh and stated we wouldn't need a REIN engineer out - so I'm guessing we're back to just duff BT kit that doesn't work very well and there is nothing they can do about it  Undecided
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi TicnTac,
I'm sorry that I've not been able to get back in touch until late in the day today. I've just tried now and the line was engaged.
I'm away on leave for a few days as of tomorrow so I will hand this over to my colleague Ben in the meantime.
Quote
My worry now is that if a BT SFI left today with a shrug, I doubt nothing more can be done?
without wishing to be blunt this couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is (as hinted in my previous post) that the next step would be towards a further SFI visit as the one that visited today did not get to complete all the work we requested them to. With that in mind the next visit can be arranged without the usual 2 hour time limit. We will ask REIN checks to be done on the next one and I'm certain Ben will make sure this is done. But please don't hold high hopes of this being REIN as it is a very rare issue.
We can perfectly understand your frustrations here, between me and Ben we will continue ownership over this matter and work with you towards resolution. I'm so sorry that today's visit was less than fruitful.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
TicnTac
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

Oh
Quote
I'm away on leave for a few days as of tomorrow so I will hand this over to my colleague Ben in the meantime.

Oh....again, and I guess hello Ben  Undecided
Quote
without wishing to be blunt this couldn't be further from the truth.

Having had 4 BT engineers, 1 Network guy 2 Open Reach Techs and 1 SFI, I'm glad at least you can see some light at the end of the tunnel, because I can't.
Just to update what went of this afternoon, line went off, and then on again - guess a L&S? Oh, and they've got me to put on the BT Home Hub, didn't fit very well  Wink Undecided  however it is now up and running, I guess it'll take the dead test router and our router out the picture.
As for the REIN engineer, everything apart from an RF3 has been done, and Mr SFI didn't think it would have anything to do with it at all, otherwise neighbours would suffer also. Line noise has pretty much gone, as has anything other strange audible sounds we once heard. Made things very hard not having the support ticket, and yes, with hind sight I'd have taken a snap shot of the screen, and normally I type in word for my replies, but this time I didn't, and the page with the Error didn't cache so I have no copy, but I did not, and repeat DID NOT close the ticket, I was replying, please, again, can I at least have a copy of it?
Anyway, so with new cable, cable routing, another new NTE5, cables checked, lines checked, now with another router, from our side of things, there is nothing we can do, well a new router would help maybe, if not just for the retail therapy  Roll_eyes How do you get BT to do anything else when they've told me that is all they can do, apart from the L&S, which may or may not have been done? It's not like we're wanting 8megs here, would be nice, but just to go back to the 3&half / 4 we were reaching would be nice, I hate backwards steps.
Had a call from a Plusnet CSA, not quite sure why, but did tell him what you had told me, - guess this will be over to Ben now?
Quote
But please don't hold high hopes of this being REIN as it is a very rare issue.

Trust me, we're not. there are no hopes or highs!
Quote
We can perfectly understand your frustrations here, between me and Ben we will continue ownership over this matter and work with you towards resolution.

You can?  Undecided
Quote
I'm so sorry that today's visit was less than fruitful.

You are?  Undecided
So why aren't you the new CEO then? It is very unfair.
So where do we go from here? I guess I wait for a bit of Ben, and your return, and hunt for a new router?  Sad That grass really is looking greener Sad
----
Thought I'd just add, as I noticed a line drop, coudln't get to the phone in time to check voice side of things.
Quote
ADSL line status
Connection information
Line state Connected
Connection time 0 days, 0:02:00
Downstream 1,152 Kbps
Upstream 440 Kbps
ADSL settings
VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation ITU-T G.992.3
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 20.4 dB / 15.4 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 57.0 dB / 35.4 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 0.0 dBm / 13.0 dBm
Loss of Framing (Local) 11
Loss of Signal (Local) 1
Loss of Power (Local) 0
FEC Errors (Down/Up) 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Down/Up) 0 / 2147480000
HEC Errors (Down/Up) nil / 0
Error Seconds (Local) 5
===================================================
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides
background information.
Download Speed
1013 Kbps

0 Kbps 1000 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1013
Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of
speedsis 200-1000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :1152 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM),
440 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes
achieved during the test is - 17.69:23.53:58.78
(SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while
sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and
Priority BE marked traffic.
The results of this test will vary depending on the
way your ISP has decided to use these traffic
classes.

So we are now banded at 1000k can we not just put another 0 on there just for fun and see what happens?  Roll_eyes
Embarrassed this really suckticates  Sad
wonder if we'll be talking REIN again?  Undecided Really want to stop using a BT Home Hub, anyone got a spare Bipac 7800N - will swap two Thomson's and a Home Hub? (one Thomson belongs to PN though - what am I doing with this half dead router, send it back or can I try and revive it?)  Undecided
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: The Plusnet curse?

My sync. has sunk  Sad
I'm going to guess there is no Adam clone at PN?
Ben still away?
Another SFI due?
What's happening?
In regards to the HAQ - why 31st Aug? I guess that'll be when Adam is back? Sad
Angry no happy bunnies here today! To be frank, we're now pretty hacked off! What makes it even worse, and what makes this hard to stomach, is that we got a better connection with BT! Agreed not a better service, but a better connection, better broadband, and a better service from Open Reach Angry I could just about cope with PN being poor Internet wise but great customer service, but that is no longer the case  Angry
Any suggestions, anyone?  Undecided
Chris
Legend
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

Sorry for not replying yet today, the guys have been a bit busy as there was a major outage earlier today. Ben will be along today to this thread and let you know what's going on.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
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Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi, thank you for your reply, Ben has been touch via my messages - hope the major outtage is all sorted - guess BT are to blame?  Angry
TicnTac
Grafter
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

I think we're heading for a ship wreck here  Undecided
Quote
Line state Connected
Connection time 0 days, 0:03:37
Downstream 544 Kbps
Upstream 440 Kbps
ADSL settings
VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation ITU-T G.992.3
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 23.6 dB / 17.1 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 57.0 dB / 35.4 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 0.0 dBm / 12.9 dBm
Loss of Framing (Local) 32
Loss of Signal (Local) 4
Loss of Power (Local) 0
FEC Errors (Down/Up) 0 / 4294967263
CRC Errors (Down/Up) 0 / 2147480000
HEC Errors (Down/Up) nil / 0
Error Seconds (Local) 9

Going doooowwwnnnnnnnnnn glug glug glug  Angry
Going away soon this is bananas!  Embarrassed
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: The Plusnet curse?

I'll give you a ring at the time suggested, but as a quick summary, I've raised an escalation with BT but I'm going to chase the chipset issue too. The Thomson uses a Broadbacom BCM6338 chipset and whilst we don't have any non-Broadcom routers here, I have been able to dig out a D-Link 2640-B with the BCM6348 chipset. Hopefully this will show some improvement because I noted with concern your comments regarding the test router overheating and the BT Hub showing poor performance in other areas.
I'll get the D-Link in the post to you today so hopefully you'll have it for testing over the bank holiday weekend. I'll catch up with you on Tuesday so that we can then pick up the investigation there.
TicnTac
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

Hi
Quote
'll give you a ring at the time suggested,

I suggested a time not to ring, any time between now and before then would be good  Smiley
Sync has sunk again but my ctrl-c didn't work, so I can't ctrl-v the results, but we're heading to dial up speed quicker than our broadband speed.
.......and the SFI couldn't find a fault?  Undecided
Hey ho - almost away we go.............  Angry
Shall looking forward to the kachink d-link  Roll_eyes
Isn't the BT HHV2 just a thomson with a broadband chipset and an evil logo?
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: The Plusnet curse?

Whoops, I deleted the wrong PM that contained your mobile, is it the same one as on your account? If not, could you PM it again please?
Edit: Found your number, left a voicemail.
TicnTac
Grafter
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Re: The Plusnet curse?

yes you did ring  Roll_eyes whilst I was getting a glare from a dentist and dental nurse, and whilst trying to keep the little one entertained by getting to open his mouth up for his first ever check up  Roll_eyes hey ho, will give you a time to ring at, next time  Undecided
However, no questions answered in regards to what is going off in regards to banding, and other questions posted  Sad
*sigh*
Plusnet isn't a bank, so why's it going on holiday?  Wink Roll_eyes
Guess I will have to wait till Tuesday then?  Angry Sad Undecided