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£30 to leave plusnet...
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Cheers greengreen, That's exactly it.
I've just checked and no £30 cessation fee is due or applicable in your case so I'm sorry if we've been the cause of any confusion over that.
Adam“Official Company Representative
I am the official company representative of Plusnet. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
thankyou adam
I've just seen your reply on my raised questions in my plusnet account
maybe the young man I spoke to today was confused at my question
so can you just clarify exactly when a £30 charge is enforced for myself and others maybe reading this forum to avoid further misunderstandings
kind regards greengreen0 -
Hi greengreen,
No problem, yes it does sound like we need to have a quick word to clear things up with the person you spoke with. Sorry about that! FYI It's part of my job to make sure that happens too.so can you just clarify exactly when a £30 charge is enforced for myself and others maybe reading this forum to avoid further misunderstandings
Absolutely, that fee is chargeable in the circumstance of a broadband connection being terminated altogether rather than transferred to another ISP via the process of ISP migration.
This may happen for example if someone is moving house and decides to take a new ISP in the process or for some reason wishes to no longer have a broadband service. That culminates in the need for what we call a "cease order" being placed which our supplier charges the same amount for.
Adam“Official Company Representative
I am the official company representative of Plusnet. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
Switching from PlusNet to EE.
Being methodical, I got the MAC Key from PlusNet first, which turned up at 16:00 today by e-mail. PlusNet says they will charge me £30 cessation fee if EE does not use the MAC Code.
Went through Quidco to get the £100 cashback as planned, and got the EE order reference number. Nowhere in the process does it ask for the MAC Key, so I called EE on 0800 079 8586, and got through to "David" after about 20 minutes. He says EE no longer uses the MAC Key from 16th November (presumably 2014).
This is worrying, because we have TWO telephone lines in this house, (obviously same address) and I am terrified that they will mix up the two.
One is BT with Infinity, on which I have pre-paid line rental and have an Infinity contract for another year. It is my main number, and I do not want them to touch it. If they take over this line and make it ADSL again, it will be a real hassle to correct.
The second line is the PlusNet line with the one year contract expiring, and I don't mind if they mess up and it stops working. for a while.
I am also concerned that they will allocate a new telephone number, instead of taking over the old one. there was no option to say I want to keep the number.
I actually take a lot of comfort in the MAC Key approach, as the new supplier cannot just see a phone line for an address and just take it over.
I had a fail safe method for preventing this happening, by making the address Room X, NN MyHouse Road, but EE does not allow the Room X part, so the address is now identical to the BT line. Arrrgghhhh!
The online form asked for my mobile number, and then an "Alternative mobile" number. In the confirmation e-mail, my contact information lists the Alternative number as my mobile! So any texts from the engineer will go to the wrong mobile!
"David" says the application hasn't shown up on the system, so I need to wait 24 hours before adding any extra notes for the engineer. Actually, I was hoping they are busy, and nothing will happen until January.
I am using this thread as a log of what happens to the £30 cessation charge under this new regime of no MAC Code (Key).0 -
I am also concerned that they will allocate a new telephone number, instead of taking over the old one. there was no option to say I want to keep the number
If you never entered a number the order will be placed on the main residential line at the address. So probably your BT line.
If you didn't give them the number you want to port then they will be provisioning with a new number.
ISPs use the post offices and BTs post code checker to confirm addresses and I'm pretty sure your bedroom isn't listed on that.
The other scenario is that they set up as a new line giving you, in theory 3 lines into the house. If you don't get notification of a cease in a few days from BT or plusnet then that is what they have done and will mean you will provisioned with a new number, be paying for 3 services until 1 is cancelled by you, and in a lottery as to which one the openreach engineer disconnects as they wont really install another line, they will use a pair that's already there.
Basically I don't think it looks good in any scenario.
If you call EE and there is definitely an order in place check if they are porting the number. I doubt they will be as you have never specified the number in the original order. If its not porting over, then the order will have to be cancelled and reordered with the number you want taken over.0 -
So, called the 0800 079 8586 (Lines open 07:00 to 23:00) number again today, and got through after one hour and twenty minutes. 0800 had better be FREE. Spent 45 minutes to place the order, and the broadband is now due for activation on 24th December. Should get the Brightbox 2 two days beforehand, so Monday 22nd.
The guy tells me submitting the order online on Tuesday means that nobody would look at it until Thursday, and if they have questions, they would have called me tomorrow. Since I called, he placed the order formally with me, resolving any issues on the spot.
£30 cessation charge
====================
Their process does not use the MAC Key I got from Plusnet.
They promised to refund me £30 if Plusnet does charge me £30.
Okeydokey.
Keep the old telephone number
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NO CAN DO! Plusnet refused to let go of the old number!
Cannot even reserve the number.
My main number is the BT Infinity line, so not an issue.
If it was my FAX number, I might have cancelled the switch, though.
If it was my ONLY number, Plusnet would have me hostage forever!
If it was somebody with only one telephone line, and depended on that number, SURPRISE! On switchover day, you have a new number.
Contact mobile
==============
Despite listing the Alternate mobile number in the confirmation e-mail yesterday, the order details has my main mobile number as the contact number, and the activation date text arrived correctly.
Activation Date
===============
Ten workng days literally! Placing the order on 10th December means Activation on 24th December. This means if they placed the order on 11th December, the activation would have been on 27th December!
Quidco
======
£100 cashback tracked.
Santander 3% cashback on Comms Direct Debit
=========================================
£132 Line Rental Saver
£6 delivery
Monthly £2.50 x 12
£168 Total, 3% cashback = £5.04
So, if it all works out according to plan, pay £168, get £100 + £5.04 cashback. This means a year of broadband for £63. No Amazon vouchers, real money.
The £30 cessation charge is a wait and see.0 -
About the old number -don't believe EE on that one !! PN are not a LLU supplier so never had their own "pool" of numbers -should be no issue with porting from them. Suspect EE just don't want to!!!0
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brewerdave wrote: »About the old number -don't believe EE on that one !! PN are not a LLU supplier so never had their own "pool" of numbers -should be no issue with porting from them. Suspect EE just don't want to!!!
The new number they gave me has the same exchange, only the last four digits are different, so it's pretty obvious EE just got a number from a public pool. The old number will be released by PlusNet, so should go back to the pool.
Years ago, they said you cannot guarantee the number when you move supplier, as there is a small chance of the number being re-allocated between release and re-acquiring. I understand there is now a "reserve" capability to stop somebody else getting the number, but the EE guy could not reserve the number.
Theory
=====
I requested a MAC Key from PlusNet, before applying to EE.
I am guessing that this uniquely identifies certain circuits and associated accounts, including the old telephone number.
What if this means PlusNet has to keep everything FROZEN (Let it go, let it go) for the 30 days the MAC is valid for?
If I had not requested the MAC Key, then the number would not be locked, and the EE rep would have been able to reserve the number.
If both sides had kept to the MAC Key process, the whole lot would have been taken over, with little chance of mistaken information. Under the new process, I should NOT have asked for the MAC, which has simply locked everything.
So, when EE tries to take over the line, they may find that it's locked, so they will need the MAC Key after all. I tried my damndest to give them the MAC Key, but they refused to note it down. I will be on holiday when they try to call next week, so the takeover may not happen after all.
Dining Philosopher's Problem, indivisible operation, timed resource lock and release. Fine programming, a pain in the butt if you want to keep the number.
If this theory holds, then the number will be released after the takeover.
So, if I call them afterwards, there is a chance that it has not been allocated.0 -
The text from EE on 10th December said:
"Hi, good news your landline and Broadband are progressing to be activated on 24/12/2014. Please note activation can take up to midnight of this date. Thanks"
It is now 25th December.
The PlusNet broadband is still going strong, the old telephone number is still active.
I am not complaining, though. The Plusnet one year deal ends in January 2015, so the Line Rental saver was paid up to the end of January. On the other hand, if I had waited, the Quidco cashback is now £50, instead of the £100 that is tracking because I applied in time.
The MAC key from PlusNet is only valid for one month, but since EE does not use it, it's irrelevant.
So, I am now depending on EE's incompetence and general inability to do anything on time, so that I get full value from the remaining PlusNet days, and still benefit from the £100 cashback.
I don't think I would have bothered switching to EE if the EE TV box hadn't come out. The tricky thing seems to be that some people are getting Now!TV boxes instead. I assume they are sending out Now!TV box because EE TV box is in short supply.
So it is not necessarily a good thing to chase EE for it, as I could end up with a Now!TV box, which is not what I want.0 -
Captain's Log, Star date 30th December 2014.
It's an on-going mission, to boldly go to the mythical system called EE, where the data is unlimited, and the phone is never picked up.
Called EE on 0800 079 8586, only 15 minutes to get through.
The switch was "rejected" due to a "wrong reference number". I offered to give them the MAC key again, but they still say they don't need it. Because I called, he has re-submitted the job, which is now scheduled to go active on 14th January 2015.
No idea why he thinks it will go through this time.
On the subject of the EE TV box: I can get it for free, but I have to call on the day of activation to ask for it, on a different telephone number. Not 0800.
Will PlusNet charge me £30 for not using the MAC?
Can I recover the old telephone number after the switch?
The suspense would kill me if I didn't have a primary telephone number not being switched, and getting £100 Quidco cashback.
As it is, I just find the inability to do anything properly a sign of the degeneration of western civilisation. Like Rome, Great Britain is slipping into a thousand year decay spiral, and we will all speak Italian eventually.0
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