Worse ISP Ever!!!

[#1]

Having checked both your ticket and post history, I can't see any faults (or anything related to a fault) since the one closed at the end of September last year. I can see the speed test results you've posted and could test and raise a fault if you wish however.

[#2]

I have to agree with OP on this one.
Plusnet have been absolutely useless over the past couple of weeks!
My internet speed has gone from around 4mbps to 0.3mbps!!
This connection is shared between me and my 2 housemates so we're effectively each getting dial-up speeds
which are practically useless.
I have run plusnet 4 times over the past week at different times of day, (being on hold for at least 10 mins each time)
and have just been told 'we're investigating the cause and doing line checks'. Plusnet have offered no compensation
or apology so I'm seriously considering changing ISP.

[#3]

Hi gw039,
I've just had a look and it seems you've noise on the phone line that's causing these issues, the ticket shows you had an engineer visit earlier on today - we've checked the fault but the notes state that it's still under investigation, I'll have a look later on and see if there are any engineer notes on there.
Has the phone line not improved following the engineer visit?
Apologies - reading further although access times were requested the engineer has not been tasked. I'll check the notes for updates and post back shortly.

[#4]

Right, they've apologised for the backlog and are hoping to task an engineer next week - as soon as they update to let us know we'll be in touch. I'll update your fault ticket as well.

[#5]

Interesting thread.  The OP raises some extremely valid points about the "coof off" period which should start on the first day of connection or be extended to 28 days.  I hope they will write to OFCOM to request this.
To be fair to Plusnet they are much better than a lot of the alternatives and really try to offer a personal service and they often leverage their position as a subsidiary of BT to a customers advantage.
What other potential customers can learn from this is that you should NEVER take up these 12 month free router offers, you are much better off paying the £40 and getting a decent router that meets your needs.  You should also find out about your exhange and its status, chances are if it is HOT with BT then the other vendors will probably have limited capacity too.
I think OFCOM was hoodwinked into accepting these 12 month (and above) minimum contracts for land lines. It started with the mobile phone market who offer a FREE phone but it is not free at all, some might think it is reasonable as they are subsidising the cost of the phone.  My view is that OFCOM and the OFT need to change the rules, operators should no longer be able to call a product FREE and should have a seperate HP agreement for the item being financed and it is this that should have a fixed term.  Imagine if you were told you could have a car free if you agreed to buy petrol from BP at inflated prices, it is not free if you pay for it via inflated prices.  I know it is happening all over the place with things like BOGOF where the price has been inflated so you are not really getting anything free, you are paying an inflated price for two which has usually been funded by increasing the product price for 28 days.
The mobile, phone and Broadband contracts should be no more than 90 days minimum and no more than 2 months penalty and no penalty if cancelled in the 30 day "acceptance" period.  Automatic renewals should be banned, they should require an explicit renewal by the subscriber.  Another thing that needs to be banned is forcing the subscriber to renew within a tiny time window or forcing unfair contract terms on them if they do not renew.
As I said OFCOM were hoodwinked, it started with Talk Talk with their 18 month minimum contract on broadband, being owned by CPW they successfully brought this over along with the nasty practice of an 18 month extension if you do not cancel on a specific day (yes a 3 year minimum contract).  BT was then able to claim this was a "standard industry practice" and so now you can't get a BT land line without a 12 month minimum period, again there is no cooling off period so if you downgrade a business line to home line you are stuck with them for another 12 months. 
I had a very interesting chat with an Exec at BT this week, he told me "as long as OFCOM let us we are not going to make it easy for you to leave, quite the opposite, we want to tie you in for as long as we can"  when companies do this they can forget about customer service, migrate their CS offshore confident in the knowledge that you can't move away from them.  When it becomes the "industry norm" it stifles competition and it makes it very difficult for those on low incomes and anyone who has to end a contract because of a change in circumstances, like redundancy.
This whole practice is so unfair and anti-competitive I am seriously considering asking the EU to look into it as OFCOM is a top heavy toothless organisation that is not fit for purpose.
All the OP can do is make a lot of noise and once we get the stealth tax in our phone bills, then demand the investment to get a basic service.

[#6]

Interesting post Zap - I agree.
Have you considered doing a lobby on 10 Downing Street website:  http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/
Regardless of whether you like the current PM or not - it is a central point where all customers of cellphones, land line phones and ADSL can sign up to complain.

[#7]

I think Gordon Brown has other things to worry about and to me this is an issue of competition being eroded over a period of time with tinkering here and industry lobbying there. The EU needs to look at this and how it is all tied together.
If I were Gordon Brown and I wanted to be re-elected I would promise to sack all of the watchdogs (which are top heavy and mostly not fit for purpose) and start over with giving them new teeth.  I would start with the OFT and the banks and make every watchdog a part of the OFT, giving each one powers that can be applied restrospectively on things like unfair charges.  I would create a fast track small claims court type service for unfair contract terms.
It is time they stopped treating us like cattle to be herded and bullied, we are customers, not consumers.

[#8]

I'm not suggesting Gordon Brown would look at it - but it highlights it on a much wider audience that just on on ISP's forum.
It would draw attention of other MP's, MEP's who one assumes do monitor what happens on the 10 Downing Street website.

[#9]

Yes but previously the number 10 site has had campaigns with millions of votes and they ignored them anyway.

[#10]

Yes that's what governments are all about.. They don't want to take notice of us mere mortals...
dick:quote

[#11]

Quote

Plusnet - Worse ISP Ever!!!

can't quite belive I read that - obviously you didn't suffer Tiscali or some of the earlier rubbish
I have been with plusnet since 2002 and have had consistantly great service throughout that time
(I was a bit miffed that I had originally singed on an 'unlimited' contract which was later changed - but it's 'unlimited' again now - so yay)
I have, over the years, been offered many deals and incentives to sign with another provider
I have even had people on the doorstep telling me I can have broadband "completely free" (as if!)
I told them I would not leave plusnet even if I was offered a cash incentive to go.
The only thing that has ever tempted me to leave, and would again, is download caps/limits/etc
I have 4 kids and the MSN, youtube, facebook, myspace, iPlayer, skyonline, more4, etc just eats d/l

[#12]

Quote from: joncooper

I have been with plusnet since 2002 and have had consistantly great service throughout that time

Hmmm, I have been with Force9 since 1998 which later was sucked into Plusnet. I loved Force9. I had hardly any problems at all. But the last years it has gone worse and worse. I have no idea why this has to be though. I have been ploughing through quite a bit of posts in the different topics. Can't read them all, but what I notice that I am not the only one that is grumpy about what is going on. You can read that here. http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,84001.0.html
Maybe the "oldies" should be invited one day to have a tour of the Plusnet premises so we can see what is really going on there. Because as far as I know, there is always a refurbishment going on.  
I wonder if it would look like this ? http://www.buildmain.co.uk/images/pages/refurbishment-large.jpg In the past we were allowed to look inside the Force9 building with IP webcamera's. Which was kind of funny. Talking about stalking,   I was expecting it to look more like this: http://www.labs2.com/brikks/customers/gigabit-in-lund ;
Things have definitely changed and I must say there is a little bit of improvement going on. But I can't say: Are we there yet ? So I will look around what will be posted here and there and give some comments what I deem fit. Slinkeying through the forum rule standards,  
Greetings,
KJ

[#13]

Quote from: joncooper

can't quite belive I read that - obviously you didn't suffer Tiscali or some of the earlier rubbish

You obviously missed the bit in 2006 where some 20,000 of us got the worst of both worlds when Plusnet (without mentioning it first) transferred us to Tiscali LLU as a wholesale provider. The move lost me 30% of my speed (which was only regained when I was moved back to BT) and gave us all a flood of daily disconnects. They refused to move anyone back without charging for 6 months after it started, telling us there was no problem at all, and weren't really interested in apologies or even mild contrition which would presumably have been seen as weakness or admission of liability. I think the resulting thread got close to being the longest in the forum's history. That and the two pretty significant email debacles (hacked webmail leading to a flood of spam that persists to this day, and 'losing' 700Gb of mail) have rather coloured my perceptions ever since. While Plusnet are much improved (and do retain some outstanding members of staff) I trust them as much as I trust the Tories/Labour and would be slightly less likely to recommend them to others.
Totally agree with Zap; part of the blame for poor ISPs of any description lies with Ofcom in allowing the once competitive (on something other than just price) market to be dominated by such a small number of players who now reduce competitiveness further by locking customers into ludicrously long contracts. They then take the view that they 'own' the customer and the deal then becomes not what you expect, but what scraps they are prepared to throw you in terms of service. Ban contract over a month and give customers more control over the process of moving and the ISP market would look very different in 12 months time. We need a regulator who does what they're paid for rather than spending lazy days in bed with the industry.

[#14]

Quote from: KJILM123

Hmmm, I have been with Force9 since 1998 which later was sucked into Plusnet. I loved Force9. I had hardly any problems at all. But the last years it has gone worse and worse. I have no idea why this has to be though. I have been ploughing through quite a bit of posts in the different topics.

Force9 *is* Plusnet, there were never two companies, we just changed the brand.

Quote from: KJILM123

Maybe the "oldies" should be invited one day to have a tour of the Plusnet premises so we can see what is really going on there. Because as far as I know, there is always a refurbishment going on.

We've had a few open days where we've invited customers to come and meet us.

Quote from: KJILM123

Things have definitely changed and I must say there is a little bit of improvement going on. But I can't say: Are we there yet ?

I'm glad to hear you're seeing improvements. We're always looking to make things better.

[#15]

Mand, would it better to say, since you got sucked into BT it got worse and worse ? And as far as I know, when the IP camera's were working we could "stalk" everyone of you. Plusnet had their own room with people in it. But's a long time ago, so I can't remember everything.
Just check on the forum when I spoke to the BT engineer last night. Even his wife agrees with me that BT is not good. I wonder why ? It's like David's Cameron's wife voting for Labour, lololol.
KJ