Wish I never decided to move - For newbies be wary

[#1]

Get the engineer to drop them off at the pub (where I will be from 5pm onwards) and I will fit them on my way home.

[#2]

How I wish I had never moved to PN. Was previously with Zen but had 1G cap on download and was "up to" 512K, max I am supposed to get due to distance from exchange. Subsequent speed checks showed it as exceeding that speed, sometimes higher than 800K and the 1G was purely file d/l's. Downside was greater cost so decided to go to PN. As soon as my contract is up I am off back to Zen.
Highest speed on this now is about 18K on a good day for downloading files and drops to below 10K at weekends so reported the problem. Call centre said I should connect router directly to master socket and unplug everything else, leaving me with no phone service. If I did not wish to do so it would require BT visit which would cost £44+ if nothing their fault. At that point I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia so could not comply. I am going to leave and migrate away when I can as, as I explained to call centre, nothing has changed, same computer, browser, router, splitters, cabling, etc so only difference is ISP. Also telling that speed drops off at time of highest demand indicating insufficient capacity for subscription base, something that call centre first acknowledged "well that is a time of greater demand" then backtracked on when I pointed out that I was already starting from a low base speed which failed to match their advertised speed so he went back to the "connect into master socket" spiel.
As I now tell my (large) team of work colleagues "avoid PN" it says something about my perception of the service I receive and PN's reaction to my reasoned description of problem.
Been with them since Dec last year. The above is a simplified precis of my experiences and rolls several contacts with tech support since May together.

[#3]

Quote from: al446

As I now tell my (large) team of work colleagues "avoid PN" it says something about my perception of the service I receive and PN's reaction to my reasoned description of problem. Been with them since Dec last year. The above is a simplified precis of my experiences and rolls several contacts with tech support since May together.

@ al446.
ISTM that your complaint is becoming a vendetta against PN, given the comment about work colleagues and postings on others' threads. Or perhaps you just think that others are incapable of making their own assessments unaided.
TBH when I sense venfetta, I also suspect motives beyond the apparent cause or characters.
In all it makes me ignore such as not to be trusted.

[#4]

@lucerne
You wrongly perceive vendetta, what I describe is the way my severe disappointment and frustration manifests itself, considering the way PN publicises its customer satisfaction figures. There is an alternative viewpoint to theirs and I just don't happen to have the budget to counter their advertising so must use whatever (legal) means are available to do so.
Perhaps you should look at things from my point of view, I am locked into a contract with an ISP that advertised its service as "up to 2 meg" but, in my case and that of several other posters on this forum, it fails to approach my max figure. It is even considerably slower than dial up. I have reported this several times but am met with a call centre op blithely following a script which always ends up with the instruction to unplug everything but the router which should be on the master socket thereby leaving me with no phone service. Given that I had no trouble whatever with Zen and there has been no change to the system or wiring I am not prepared to do this. I would add that my background is in electronics and I am ex-BT. I have not yet mentioned that after the first couple of reports the download speed rose temporarily from 18k to 30k (wowee). A further symptom is that my upload speed is faster than d/l. I am definitely not given heart by reading some the other threads on here.

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Or perhaps you just think that others are incapable of making their own assessments unaided.

Had I read these threads before going to PN I would have made a different decision, colleagues can listen to me or not, see PN's advertising and make their decision themselves. Perhaps I should sit there mute and let them make a possible mistake?  I would possibly do so if I didn't like my colleagues but I do.
You may like to Google the definition of vendetta - "A feud between two families or clans that arises out of a slaying and is perpetuated by retaliatory acts of revenge; a blood feud.". I prefer the word "dispute"  which has only become aggravated by its protractedness and PN's CC staff's failure to listen and analyse.

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TBH when I sense venfetta, I also suspect motives beyond the apparent cause or characters.

Should PN sort this out I will stop giving them criticism, won't take away the bad taste

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In all it makes me ignore such as not to be trusted.

I do hope you are not suggesting I am being dishonest. I will refrain from  posting what your reply suggests to me apart from inappropriate choice of vocabulary.

[#5]

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and I am ex-BT

and therefore you should understand the importance using the master socket. I come in contact with a lot of Openreach guys and the majority of them do not know that the ring wire is the culprit for a lot of the speed problems

[#6]

@ al446
OK, but your comments do read as from one who wants to damage rather than one who is angry.
I really hope you get good broadband wherever from. and soon.

[#7]

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From lucerne TBH when I sense venfetta, I also suspect motives beyond the apparent cause or characters.

Seems to me that al446 has every right to be angry and disputatious with PN. The problem wouldn't be his house wiring if the downloads from Zen were OK. With different routing from PN to the premises than for Zen it's logical to say there's a problem with BT somewhere along the line and I therefore understand his frustation at being told to plug into the master socket. Having said that, he would be wise to do it (temporarily, to minimise loss of voice circuit) just to get it  out of the way and try to defray any costs that BT may try to apply following an engineer's visit.

[#8]

@itsme
Can't speak about present staff at BT, I left in '94, but I am appreciative of the issues, especially faults caused by ring wire. However ring wire was there when on Zen and, unless it is total coincidence, speed fault started when I moved to PN. That is indicative of something. I am also aware of the principles of fault finding, one of the first being to actually listen to symptoms and history reported rather than jump to step 1 in a script, unless of course you have zero technical knowledge. Another is to cause minimal disruption to the person who is paying good money to receive your (flawed) service, something Mikko seems to understand to some extent although he is unaware that to rearrange things to comply with the CC zombies would require considerable effort which I am presently incapable of due to recovery from illness. As previously posted, speed went up once after I had reported fault then slumped again. My original observation was that it slowed down at busy times and was informed that that was to be expected due to demand, this then changed when I asked if it was a contention ratio issue and we were back to the master socket issue. Technical genius? I think not.
@ Lucerne
No attempt to damage, simply frustration and anger, which can be manifested in many ways. Several colleagues have asked opinions of ISP/phone providers - if truth damages that is not my fault. Had PN lived up to its advertising I would be singing praises.
I am even less convinced of the technical/organisational prowess on offer when I read on a thread on here of the guy who had 4 unnecessary engineer visits when the work required was within the exchange. For this reason I am not prepared to jump through hoops and will probably go to mobile dongle for speed then ditch PN ASAP.

[#9]

Just to pick on a little point in regards to the "previous ISP faster than PN" - have to agree to a point. We were with evil BT before moving to PN, we were using an evil Voyager 2200v, Our Sync. was 5035k, moving to PN took our Sync. to 4056k, we did then use the shiney new router sent to us, made no difference. Also, surfing was sluggish, and after reading these forums last year I picked up the phrase "browsing through treacle", that is how it felt. PN did upgrade their capacity and surfing levels improved.
They were nicer people to deal with, and I'll be very honest, if it wasn't for Caz (I think she ascended to a higher plain within PN), we, friends and other family members would have never gone over to PN, especially knowing what we know now, however, it is currently better the devil you know the devil you don't 
On the same router, and on a superior exchange (not a hand me down like the one we had), our Sync is about 320k at the moment  despite I think what is now 7 engineers out including SFI's  Ongoing fault since April, properly reported May, then June, and still going on, and on, and on..........won't mention that advert again
So back to the point, it can just be PN being slug like, slimey and slow, it's true, doesn't say they're bad or evil, that's just BT, PN just have bad blood with the BT infection (yes I drone on and on about it, get over it ) - what shouldn't happen, is people getting to these levels of emotion, stress, anger and frustration, Plusnet, really do, need to get their act together very quickly, despite sometimes it being out of Plusnets' hands! Also, despite popular belief, PN staff are human, some take their job seriously, and go above and beyond their role level, there are others who work there who can do the job, but maybe don't like it, not up to it, do it through no choice, don't have it quite right, sometimes get it wrong, and yes there are a few there who just don't care, it is the same everywhere!
Fingers crossed!

[#10]

Quote from: al446

this then changed when I asked if it was a contention ratio issue and we were back to the master socket issue. Technical genius? I think not.

I believe if you know how dsl max work you will understand why PN customer support attitude change when you mentioned contention ratio.

[#11]

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I believe if you know how dsl max work you will understand why PN customer support attitude change when you mentioned contention ratio.

I think you ascribe too much tech proficiency to the CC bod. If you read my post carefully you will see that his attitude was not taken from that angle but one of defence or avoidance by returning to script. The point I was implying to him is that if their max  demand for the amount of subscribers on that exchange causes my downstream speed to drop from 18K to below 10 then they are over subscribed and should think of putting in more equipment.His return to script was probably because they have no control over that as they are purely resellers of a BT product as they are owned by them. Hence my intention to move else where as soon as I can, possibly O2 or a reseller of their product but this time I WILL research.

[#12]

Quote from: al446

..... 4 unnecessary engineer visits when the work required was within the exchange.

But surely the visits are actually done by BT personnel and that is where the blame lay?
I do wonder if the close relationship of PN to BT might not always have the expected beneficial effects.
It would be interesting what other IP Stream experiences are.
OTOH I and a number of relations and friends have had been with PN for years, and all the officers of my large local church are on its account with PN

[#13]

Quote from: al446

The point I was implying to him is that if their max  demand for the amount of subscribers on that exchange causes my downstream speed to drop from 18K to below 10 then they are over subscribed and should think of putting in more equipment.His return to script was probably because they have no control over that as they are purely resellers of a BT product as they are owned by them.

That is wrong..
Plusnet along with any ISP using the BT system, that is every supplier who isn't LLU, shares the same infrastructure in the exchange.The fact that they are owned by BT retail is completely beside the point
The responsibility for putting in extra capacity at the exchange is with BT wholesale and they are completely separate from the retail side as demanded by OFCOM.

[#14]

@ lucerne
It would appear that you are correct, the fault does probably lie with BT and PN have no control over it so why don't they just come out and say so instead of customers having to jump through hoops?
I am glad to hear of the positive experience of you and others but it gives small comfort. You are probably lucky enough to live within  reasonable distance of your local exchange. A trade off for the relative calm of living the village that I do is copper distance from exchange so max available is 512k, probably less as I believe BT put a lower limit on it. O2 use a different technology that may overcome that hence my inclination to switch to them but more research required, otherwise I may go back to mobile dongle which was faster but had lower download limit and was more expensive.

[#15]

@ oldjim
Please carefully read my post again, I stated that they have no control over the situation, the difference between retail and wholesale is irrelevant if you cannot control it. My point was that the CC op was NOT acting from an intimate knowledge of ADSL max but simply blundering through a script made irrelevant by equipment limitations and consequentially instructing me to carry out time consuming and unnecessary actions. See subsequent posts that may clarify.