Trying to ask a question is pretty much impossible

[#1]

I rate Plusnet, but it seems to be following too many other firms in apparently trying to help, but actually keeping the customer at arms length. I have a problem with my wireless signal (when our cordless phone rings and is answered, the wifi signal is intrerrupted for several minutes) and want to contact Plusnet to write my question. Straightforward? No at all. We are given a list of 'frequently asked questions' - none applies. Then you are encouraged to 'ask Jess' which is worse than futile because she simply points you in the direction of topics which are relevant. But to get to the form where you write your query and send it off - no hope anymore it seems. What is going on?

[#2]

I'm by no means an internet/computer "expert", but have you tried a different wireless channel on your router?
I, personally, would at least try that. It's not very often I'm right and I probably wrong again!
Is it definitely only the wireless connection affected?

[#3]

Except for a very restricted set of subjects tickets/questions can no longer be raised. They have been replaced by live chat which can be accessed at https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/

[#4]

Have you tried to isolate the fault?  We have DECT wireless phones happily co-existing with the PlusNet wireless equipment.
Have you tried temporarily using, if necessary borrowing, a different wireless phone system to see if that interferes with the WiFi signal?
Does the same problem occur with a wired LAN connection?
Have you tried using a different ADSL microfilter between the phone system and your ADSL modem?

[#5]

Quote from: newagetraveller

I'm by no means an internet/computer "expert", but have you tried a different wireless channel on your router? I, personally, would at least try that. It's not very often I'm right and I probably wrong again! Is it definitely only the wireless connection affected?

It's not just a wireless problem - it also occurs on the PC which is connected by ethernet to to the router. But getting something done seems to be nigh-on impossible.

[#6]

Quote from: spraxyt

Except for a very restricted set of subjects tickets/questions can no longer be raised. They have been replaced by live chat which can be accessed at https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/

Tried that, used your 'chat' service and it was bloody useless. All the guy did was to send me a link you your frequently asked questions, none of which of course were relevant to my problem.
You blithly state that 'except for a very restricted set of subjects, tickets/questions can no longer be raised' - yes, I know that. What I want to know is why not? Any chance you can tell me? There is simply one option: hang for 40-odd minutes until you can actually speak to someone. The chat service is a complete joke. A word of advice to Plusnet: don't piss on your customers - we will very very soon choose to go elsewhere. There are a lot of companies after our custom. Plusnet used to be great. Now it is slowly losing it.

[#7]

For reference spraxyt is not a Plusnet staff member.

[#8]

Quote from: pfgpowell

It's not just a wireless problem - it also occurs on the PC which is connected by ethernet to to the router.

So do you mean that Internet access is interrupted for a few minutes when the phone rings?  It sounds as if wireless might be a red herring, and maybe the fact that the phone's cordless may not be relevant either.
Can you describe your installation?  For example do you have telephone extension wiring, what type of Plusnet service and what type of router.

[#9]

Quote from: pfgpowell

You blithly state that 'except for a very restricted set of subjects, tickets/questions can no longer be raised' - yes, I know that. What I want to know is why not? Any chance you can tell me?

Simple:
'cos it costs Plusnet money to deal with them, and many were probably nothing whatsoever to do with the plusnet service
...and all the users/customers/punters seem to want these days from an ISP is lowest price please at any cost with no thought given to what this might mean.
so that is what you get....sad but there it is.
If you want a superb service go to somewhere like AAISP - and the prices they charge for having this superb service will make you have heart failure.
On to the problem
Short term interruptions due to phone ringing or a call happening are almost always due to dodgy/knackered filters or maybe the internal wiring in the house still has the ring wire of old connected.
Multi-minute disconnections of several minutes from just a simple ring of the phone regardless of call length has got me stumped for ideas.

[#10]

Quote from: pfgpowell

... to get to the form where you write your query and send it off - no hope anymore it seems

Try logging in to the PN Member Centre, then go here: https://www.plus.net/wizard/index.html?p=new_question

[#11]

Hi
You've said your internet service  , wireless and wired , cuts out (looses synchronisation) when the phone rings. Are you conencted via ADSL or Fibre (FTTC) ? Are you connected via a long phone line?
I had this problem lierally for years with ADSL on a long (3 1/2 miles) line and had many visits from BT Open Reach enginneers . I had many internal wiring checks, new filtters, new phones,  extenal line checks, new routers, more new bits, swapping lines , swapping exchange cards, (lift & Shift) everything you can think of basically and still the problem continued.
Eventually a persistent Open reach engineer realised there were enormous numbers of errors being generated on the phone line when the phone was ringing. He could monitor these on a test machine .  Putting it simply , in some circumstances when the phone rings this results in changes in the electrical properties of the phone line that transmits the data to your home. If too many errors are present  in the data stream coming down your line your  router simply cannot maintain a connection and you loose synchronisation.  The loss of conection can be shown by asking Plus Net for a Radius Graph which shows the state of your connection over time . So where are the erros coming from ?
Anyway the engineer made a phone call to an Openreach help department who suggested making checks and then a few changes to the DSLAM in the exchange: The DSLAM  is the equipment that injects internet data into the phone line at the exchange .  Your  modem (router) in your home receives &  interprets the internet data and sends it your computer.
It turned out that there is a known compatibilty problem with some older digital voice equipment installed in some exchages and more recently isntalled  Internet equipment  (DSLAM) which can result in substantial errors on long lines when a ring pulse  is generated by the voice side. This was fixed in the exchange and we had no more errors and no more problems. Few if any general telephone engineers know about this issue or know how to succesfully make adjustments it seems!
As the  BT phone network was designed and installed many years before the internet was invented. It is a voice network designed for analogue signals, not high speed digital data that it is being asked to mainly carry now. So its not surrising that it has problems with digital data.

[#12]

@pfgpowell
Whilst most of us will agree that the chat service is pretty useless for a lot of issues, especially faults, if you have a fault, it will still result in a ticket being raised if you use the Troubleshooter at http://faults.plus.net
However, if you want community support to try and analyse your fault and get a solution and push any connection fault in the direction of Plusnet, there are some questions that have been asked by several posters, starting with answers to those in reply #7 would be a good start.

[#13]

Removing the support/ticket system is a very bad move and IMO Plusnet should reinstate it immediately.

[#14]

There are two long standing threads on that http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,137952.0.html
and http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,138400.0.html which after this improvement http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,136533.0.html was an even more stupid idea.