Installation delays with new Plusnet service?

quidsinquentin

Hi all - wasn't sure how to title this, so went with the above (now just changed it in case it was confusing).

My OH has recently (about a month ago) taken out a Plusnet Broadband and Phoneline contract. The installation date was supposed to be 27th Nov.

The phone line was checked and reconnected (she was previously a Virgin customer), but the router delivery and 'switch-on' date were put back to the 6th Dec (she was notified on the 27th Nov).

A couple of days later she then got another text saying that due to a number of reasons, the router delivery and switch-on date would now be mid January...but subject to review - meaning it could be put back even further.

Has anyone else encountered this, and does anyone have any idea what she can do about it - other than lump it? It's going to seriously throw a spanner in the works of their online xmas shopping!

Cheers all.

kwikbreaks

These installs are done by Openreach for all ISPs.

Sounds like your local Openreach don't have enough engineers. If you cancelled and went with a different ISP you'd just be further down the queue.

When I tried moving from VM to fibre a year or so back I had a three week wat followed by a no-show for the fibre install and a three week wait to the next promised date. As that was past when I'd cancelled cable I canceled the fibre and returned to VM (with a discount).

quidsinquentin

kwikbreaks wrote: »

These installs are done by Openreach for all ISPs.

Sounds like your local Openreach don't have enough engineers. If you cancelled and went with a different ISP you'd just be further down the queue.

When I tried moving from VM to fibre a year or so back I had a three week wat followed by a no-show for the fibre install and a three week wait to the next promised date. As that was past when I'd cancelled cable I canceled the fibre and returned to VM (with a discount).

The engineer came out and actually made the existing lines live, so the telephone works now. But the router won't arrive for a few weeks and she was told that the 'broadband switch-on' (whatever that is) won't go live now until mid January or later - that's whats confusing me.

The agreement was for all services to go live around 27th November, then 6th December, which was acceptable. Mid January or later just isn't.

kwikbreaks

Well I've just kicked off the process of moving from cable (again) so I do have a vested interest.

If this was fibre the requirements are..

1. A phone line
2. Connection to the fibre street cabinet
3. Installation of the fibre modem

These may all be done together but not necessarily. I think 2 and 3 are always done together.

If it's ADSL the requirements are
1. A phone line
2. Connection to the ADSL equipment in the exchange

Both will need some keyboard work to route the customer to the ISP.

All the physical connection work is done by Openreach. The phone line can be installed by a voice engineer but the fibre install requires an engineer trained and equipped for that.

It sounds like it's a lack of fibre engineers leading to your delay and I doubt Plusnet will be able to do anything to sort that out for you.

JJ_Egan

quidsinquentin wrote: »

The engineer came out and actually made the existing lines live, so the telephone works now. But the router won't arrive for a few weeks and she was told that the 'broadband switch-on' (whatever that is) won't go live now until mid January or later - that's whats confusing me.

The agreement was for all services to go live around 27th November, then 6th December, which was acceptable. Mid January or later just isn't.

Usual is you get the router a few days before OR turns up.
He connects master socket changes connection at the cabinet takes a modem out of the van plugs it in and tests .Then you are live .

Suggest Plus Net user forum .

forgotmyname

I would phone them and see what the problem is.

I had 02 ADSL, BT line. And went to Plusnet Fibre and Phone.

Install date for fibre was 2 weeks after the initial call. And installed exactly on time. Phone line swapped over a week or 2 later.

Only issue i had was the router didnt turn up, But i had a BT hub3 and used that until they sent me another router.

kwikbreaks

Be interested to hear if you've heard anything.

As for mine I got a date for phone line install as 19th. Now I've had a text saying it will be active from midnight on 20th.

It isn't clear to me whether midnight on 20th means I can use it on 20th or on 21st iyswim. What is clear is that the "phone line install" must be a combined phone line and fibre install or they couldn't activate it without a second visit.

A midnight activation suggests that is when the keyboard job setting up authorisation and routing to the ISP will be completed.

Incidentally if yours is ADSL another possible source of delay would be that the equipment at the exchange is full and you are having to wait for an additional unit to be installed there.

macman

Midnight on 20/1 means the last minute of 20/1.

kwikbreaks

That was my interpretation but it made no sense to me as the PN website suggests activation comes 5-7 working days after the install.

I've since had a reply from the PN rep on TBB which clarifies what will happen. It seems that there is some outdated information created by their system..

If we've confirmed the install date of the 19th, then that's when the account should be activated too. The message about the next day is an old piece of code that we're going to look at fixing as part of an upcoming project.

quidsinquentin

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Be interested to hear if you've heard anything.

As for mine I got a date for phone line install as 19th. Now I've had a text saying it will be active from midnight on 20th.

It isn't clear to me whether midnight on 20th means I can use it on 20th or on 21st iyswim. What is clear is that the "phone line install" must be a combined phone line and fibre install or they couldn't activate it without a second visit.

A midnight activation suggests that is when the keyboard job setting up authorisation and routing to the ISP will be completed.

Incidentally if yours is ADSL another possible source of delay would be that the equipment at the exchange is full and you are having to wait for an additional unit to be installed there.

As yet, she's heard no more than the text saying mid-January or later. She's supposed to call them today/tonight.

If the above is accurate, I'm going to suggest cancelling the contract as they're going to have real problems going without BB over the next month or two.

But thanks to all.

kwikbreaks

If the current contract hasn't been cancelled or can be reinstated then I'd say that's the way forward - at least until after Christmas as nobody wants a pile of extra issues then.

Was this fibre or ADSL?