Plusnet problems and charges.

StevenGW

Can anyone please advise.
I'm having issues with my broadband speed, especially in evenings. It's been fine since I got the service, but recently, the speeds have dropped from 70mb to under 30mb. I rang Plusnet support, who said their tests show no problem. But that they are only responsible to the cabinet in street, street to house is BT, house to internal is me. Plusnet then quoted that all faults in my house have to be paid for at 65£ plus parts.
Well there's some problems with this, I'm currently unemployed, I live in social housing, supplied by local council. I don't own the property, nor did I install the in house master socket or wiring inside house to outside. It was clearly BT whom installed this. So why am I responsible for its repair costs? To further this the Web is full of horror stories from talktalk and plusnet customers who are being charged 65£ even if engineer doesn't enter house.
So now the situation I'm in is that Plusnet read all this small print out on phone saying I'm responsible for all charges, I said I'm not, I don't own house nor did I fit the equipment, BT did. So Plusnet are refusing to send out an engineer. Now I've dodgy broadband and no way rlto get it fixed. The internal master socket is not damaged but it looks to be really old. 
On other fourms engineers are posting references to BT sin 349 which states that BT is responsible from the connection from my house. Plusnet don't want to know. They want 65£. The problem is not in my council house.
What can I do? I'm stuck with faulty broadband I can't get fixed unless I agree to a 65£ charge.

Neil_Jones

It's always been the case that wiring on "your" side of the master socket - such as extensions for example - is your responsibility.  Doesn't matter if you live in a house you own, a house you rent,be it a council flat on the 9th floor of a tower block, a private landlord or if you live in a cave. If a fault occurs on "their" side of the master socket, which is everything from the exchange (and beyond) to the telegraph pole to where it comes in your house to where the socket is, Openreach (via Plusnet in your ccase) will fix it at no charge.  They will also fix stuff on "your" side of the socket but that's not their responsibility and they are entitled to charge if they have to fix it.

If you have extensions, disconnect them.  Take the bottom of the master socket off to expose a test socket.  You can use a normal RJ10 phone cable from your router to this socket.  If the issue clears up something you have as an extension is causing the problem.  If you have filters, change them.  If you power cycle your router for whatever reason, stop doing it, there's no need to do that as that will cause speeds to drop.

If your speeds are fine during the day and only drop off at night when every man and his dog is also online, that points to a congestion issue at the exchange.  You can only report this as a fault.  Nothing else you can do.

littleboo

" But that they are only responsible to the cabinet in street, street to house is BT, house to internal is me."
That is not correct. Plusnet (via Openreach) are responsible for the service the service up to and including the master socket. You wont be charged for a fault unless there is some damage caused by you - damaged master socket, damaged cabling within the bounds of you property. 

StevenGW

Thanks for your replies, I've only my router plugged into my master socket and 1 x ethernet cable to my PC. Slow speeds are always in the evening. Plusnet refuse to accept responsibility for anything past cabinet in street. And insist on me accepting a 65£ charge. My master socket looks fine, there is no external cable evident, seems to be all underground. I personally feel is an exchange issue. Too many users on my line. But plusnet won't look at the issue unless I accept a 65£ fee. I'm not accepting it, it feels like scam. I've been with Plusnet for years, never had issues before, even with problems. But this new stance by their Tech support, is like them sticking 2 fingers in the air at me and its customers. I can't even discuss issue with them, they just hangup or transfer me to sales. They seem to not give a f***!

StevenGW

Ooh and only me using the broadband. Of which I'm paying full price for. They won't even discount after 10 years customer, cause only other supplier is BT. 

[Deleted User]

It's not a scam and never has been. It's standard across all providers.

As long as you've done the usual checks, you'll be fine.

Neil_Jones

StevenGW said:

Ooh and only me using the broadband. Of which I'm paying full price for. They won't even discount after 10 years customer, cause only other supplier is BT. 

If you're not happy, move provider.  What do you mean the only other supplier is BT?  Plusnet is owned by BT.  Any other BT line based provider should be able to supply you, unless you happen to live in Hull, but since you're with Plusnet that's clearly not the case.

What happens if you bash your postcode into here? https://broadband.moneysavingexpert.com/

JJ_Egan

You should only be charged the Open Reach fee if the problem is after the master socket or a non required call-out .

dreamypuma

How are you checking your download speeds?