Wanted to upgrade to fibre but customer options usless - will be moving

[#1]

Hi,
Just rang customer options to upgrade to FTTC. I said I wanted the 38mb package as my line is only estimated at 22.4 to 32.4 down and 5.6 to 7.3 up.
However the upload speed on 38mb package has recently been reduced to 2mb and I wanted faster upload, the reason for ringing customer options.
I was told there was nothing they could do that package is 2mb and cant be changed.
So I then asked if I could have the 76mb package at the extra cost as that comes with up to 9.5mb upload. I was told I couldn't order that as my line will only support 22.4mb!
So it seems its really the customer no-options department.
It just seemed like I was getting stock answers and no real attempt to accommodate a customer who has been with for a few years.
So looking around now for alternatives now. Possibly Zen, quite a bit more expensive but at least their team talk sense and I can have up to 9.5mb upload on the 38mb package.
Also I was repeatedly told that my line can never go faster 22.4 even though BT cabinet checker estimates up to 32.4.
Also just out of interest how accurate is the cabinet checker as it says max of 3.5 on adsl and I get 7.
Mike

[#2]

Hopefully a PN support person will be along soon to help you, it seems like if you know what you are doing and asking for, the people of the phone lines are not great at going off script! The support you get initiated via PN staff on this forum gets a better response and more likely to achieve the outcome you want.

[#3]

I rang PlusNet customer options back later, thinking maybe I had got hold of the wrong end of the stick or perhaps the customer options person had misunderstood what I wanted.
Spoke to a different person and explained I wanted a faster upload than 2mb. I asked if I could have either the old up to 38mb package with the up to 10mb upload or have the 78mb package which would get me the upload I need (accepting that I would never see a higher download) and that I was quite happy to pay the 78mb package price for either. He said he didn't think it would be a problem but as its not standard he would have to get it approved by a supervisor and I agreed to hold.
After about 5 mins he came back and sounded almost as frustrated as me! His supervisor had told him he could not take an order for the 76mb package as the openreach would not accept it as my estimated line speed is below 40mb. I would have to order the 38mb package BUT there could be no deviation from the package and I would have to settle for 2mb upload.
I wonder what the point of "customer options" is if they are unable to offer any options?
So after 3 years with PlusNet migration to Zen has been started.  I know they are more expensive but I get what I want and hopefully the service will be better. I did the order by phone and even the sales staff were quite technically knowledgeable  and when I rang support later as there was a tech question I had forgot to ask the phone was answered in about 4 rings - that's how it should be done PlusNet!
Mike

[#4]

And here lies the fatal flaw in offering the 40/2 package. PN are still using the download estimate to determine what package you can get. So even in this case, where someone is willing to pay the higher package price (80/20) just to get the upload speed, PN say no because your line won't support the higher download speed.
I hope PN COT reconsider that approach. I am hoping that because the change to 40/2 is still new, they will change their procedures to allow 80/20 to be sold to customers that can't achieve above 40 download.
I wouldn't pay the price for 80/20 on a 40 line, choosing just to go to one of the providers that offers 40/10.

[#5]

I don't think it makes much sense for Openreach to not allow new 80/20 orders for sub 40 estimates, while presumably allowing existing customers with similar speeds already on the 40/20 Plusnet package to stay on 80/20. Wouldn't Plusnet be ordering via BTWholesale, not directly with Openreach anyway?
When Openreach initially launched 80/20 in 2012 it was available on any FTTC line, there was no minimum speed estimate requirement (apart from the 2 down and 0.128 up required to get FTTC at all). But there isn't much information publicly available from Openreach so I wouldn't know if that had changed recently.
Since the FTTC speed estimates are, after all, estimates, it's difficult to believe Openreach aren't going to allow an ISP to pay them more money to put someone on 80/20, especially if the estimates were nearer 40. It sounds more like Plusnet are just using the tried and tested strategy of blaming Openreach.

[#6]

I find it odd that Zen can still offer 40/20.
I wonder if they will be reigned in soon?

[#7]

Zen offer 40/10 or 80/20 as far as I can see.

[#8]

I really think that PN need to either offer the 40/10 product again as an option, or at least allow COT to offer it for retentions.
There will be a lot of people who can't get more than 40 download, but are capable of getting close to 10 upload (and even if not 10, considerably more than 2).
It is true that a vast majority of customers signing up won't care too much about upload speed, but for the ones that do, PN should have a package to offer. Right now, PN actually have no package to offer these people, because they won't even sell them the 80/20 package if their line won't support more than 40 download.

[#9]

Quote from: ejs

Zen offer 40/10 or 80/20 as far as I can see.

I'm pretty sure that Plusnet were the only major provider to ever offer 40/20.

Quote from: jafreer

It is true that a vast majority of customers signing up won't care too much about upload speed, but for the ones that do, PN should have a package to offer. Right now, PN actually have no package to offer these people, because they won't even sell them the 80/20 package if their line won't support more than 40 download.

It doesn't make any sense for Plusnet to offer only 2Mb/s upload to cutomers with a (lower) download estimate of less than 40Mb/s, this must mean that some customers will just go elsewhere.

[#10]

What concerns me is that my current 40/20 only delivers 17/3 due to aluminium. What I don't know is whether, as mentioned elsewhere, that my line is 80/20 as the OR engineer said the cabinet was pushing out 58 but dropping to 17 my end.
If PN only push out 40/2 then as a % will I get 17/0.3 which will stop my security camera working when triggered which was the reason I upgraded to fibre as ADSL had dropped to 0.2 up.

[#11]

I think that you are misunderstanding the speed drop on fibre - your upstream will drop to 2Mbps connected due to the product but won't drop further as the speed drop isn't a percentage of the speed at the cab

[#12]

Thanks Jim
If that happens upon contract renewal then that gives me time to consider all my options. I'm still intruged why this has been forced on PN and not Zen at the moment.

[#13]

I very much doubt that it has otherwise Plusnet wouldn't have been able to offer 40/20 which is 80/20 from BTw, with the download limited by Plusnet,.on a long line from the cab
I suspect that it is Plusnet systems but they won't admit it and try to blame BTw
Edit - just saw this

Quote from: Matthew

@SoFarSoGood As you ordered the package change before we changed it to 40/2 I've placed a order to move you onto the right offering. This will complete on Tuesday.

So he is being moved to an 80/20 from BTw

[#14]

I suspect moved onto 40/20 since that was the product available when he/she signed up.

[#15]

That isn't the point
Plusnet are now saying that an order for 80/20 on a line with a speed estimate below 40Mb/s will be rejected by BTw
If that was the case they couldn't be moved to it