Find The Cheapest Broadband Article Discussion Area

flenk

I know that the primary goal of this website is all about saving money but I felt I just had to say something about Plusnet.
I have run my own small IT business for about 10 years and in that time signed up many, many people to an excellent broadband provider called Metronet.
Their service was excellent, cheap, and if they had a problem they would always admit it and sort it out ASAP.
If you needed to contact them you could always get to speak to someone who was technically competent and would help you.
Overall a truly brilliant service.
One day they were taken over by Plusnet and just about everything good simply disappeared.
The one and only good thing I am able to say about Plusnet is that the actual broadband down-time is quite low.
But every other aspect of the Plusnet experience is an absolute nightmare.
Very, very often you simply cannot contact them, hours waiting on the phone with sometimes not ever getting through.
Their ticket contact system is a joke.
Customer service is abysmal.
In the interests of trying to prevent people from having their own nightmares with this company I would very strongly advise anyone against using Plusnet.

craigiow

MSE_Martin wrote: »

To answer a few questions
The research is diliigent but this is "MONEY SAVING" expert and price is the focus; as stated very deliberately and obviously in the article.

As you wrote in your blog the other day, the idea of being a "MONEY SAVER" is not to slum it but to "get more, pay less". At the moment Plusnet definitely does not come under that category, and imho there is no way it should be prominently listed in a mailshot that influences a lot of people.

As for me saying "I dont like Plusnet so it should have been deleted", i'm not saying that at all. It should be included, and maybe even in the headline, but with a moderating note on their poor track record. There is nothing in the article mentioning problems, and we're not just talking bad customer service, this is gross incompetence of their techincal staff and underlying infrastructure.

Finally, i'm not just a disgruntled customer venting anger. I work in IT and deal with customers on a wide range of ISP's, including Plusnet. I use them as an ISP and never had any of their issues affect me personally, but my customers have.

klint

I agree with Martin's point that every ISP has both happy and unhappy customers. I bear this in mind when I read individual complaints in forums. There is always bound to be someone complaining about the service they received, no matter which ISP. When I first pointed out PlusNet's security breach, I did so to bring to people's attention a fact that the company itself has admitted and published on its own website. I thought if anyone was considering joining PlusNet, it would be in their interests to know what has just happened. But don't forget that this kind of problem could happen to any ISP (that's not to say that it is acceptable.)

craigiow

klint wrote: »

I agree with Martin's point that every ISP has both happy and unhappy customers. I bear this in mind when I read individual complaints in forums. There is always bound to be someone complaining about the service they received, no matter which ISP. When I first pointed out PlusNet's security breach, I did so to bring to people's attention a fact that the company itself has admitted and published on its own website. I thought if anyone was considering joining PlusNet, it would be in their interests to know what has just happened. But don't forget that this kind of problem could happen to any ISP (that's not to say that it is acceptable.)

Plusnet did not admit the incident without pressuring from their customer base who were complaining about increased spam. They had to admit it.

I would never condemn any company on isolated incidents, especially one concerning online security issues. If the US military can be hacked, anyone can! However, consider this snafu where one of their guys just deleted 700GB of customer emails: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/11/plusnet_email_fiasco/

As you say, any company gets its fair share of complaints and disgruntled customers. I am NOT one of them, my service has been fairly trouble free and this is not a personal vendetta. Plusnet have a long and distinguished history of !!!!-ups, and deserves to be singled out.

steveandel

I think it's the same as a company providing a service. Whether it's broadband, gas, electricity, financial services etc... There are bound to be a few customers who always end up getting treated not in the way they would like or expect. Show me one business that doesn't have any negative issues at all. I also think it's worth remembering that IMO people are generally far more likely to report bad experiences than good experiences so it's not always easy to ascertain how 'good' a company is buy the number of individual complaints. Obviously compaines such as Talk Talk do seem to get more than the average share of complaints but if you look at the results of the poll somewhere on this board, if I remember correctly the majority of customers seemed to have had either no problems at all or initial problems that were fixed within a reasonable time but that's not the impression you would get from looking solely at the messages on here.

On another note, I'm currently looking for broadband and before this article was published I had narrowed it down to Plusnet and Newnet, great minds think alike
For what it's worth I think I'm gonna go for Newnet :T

klint

steveandel wrote: »

For what it's worth I think I'm gonna go for Newnet :T

I am also thinking of going with Newnet when my year's contract with my current ISP (not PlusNet by the way) is over. They seem to have a lot more good reviews than bad ones. But, just to illustrate the point made in previous posts, there is a new post here today titled "Newnet = Worst Isp Ever - Stay Well Away!!!"

pxk101

Never forgave Plusnet for taking over Metronet. I left shortly after as things went downhill quickly. No idea what they are like now though (although I have a clue from the postings!). Currently with IDnet who are superb but not cheap.

klint

Martin mentioned some comparison sites but I didn't see any mention of the fact that you can get cashback by using some of these sites, including EnergyHelpline and USwitch.

See MSE's Energy Switching articles for more information on how to use these comparison sites to get cashback. Many of these apply to Broadband providers too.

chesham5

Hello Everyone

I just done the test and I can't fathom the results.

Speed Down 961.31 Kbps (0.9 Mbps)
Speed Up 241.22 Kbps (0.2 Mbps)
Port 8095

I'm with Orange who I'm considering getting rid of due to:
- bad technical help
- intermittent connection
- Slow speed

Appreciate any help explaining what speed I'm getting. Signed up to the basic package of 2meg

Thanks

dave49

I still think the ommission of UKonline is flawed. Iv been with them over a year £14.99 unlimited downloads - beats Madasafish hands down - my previous provider, who always charged more every month after exceeeding their palty allowance.