Plusnet Renewal: No Joy - Options?

SJMALBA

savergrant said:

Surprised to hear you are thinking of moving from rwg, unless you are a heavy user which you don't seem to be, or you have reception issues. Best value for long term light usage, and no commitment if your needs change.

It was the £5 PAYG SIM, and has only ever been used for receiving OTP texts for online banking - I think I would have needed to make a regular chargeable use to keep calls active (or something?)?
All calls up till now have been on the landline, and it is only the current broadband/phone renewal 'difficulties' that have made me look at a mobile as a possible option for calls.

savergrant

Have you tried the phone to see if it is still connected?
They do say one outgoing call or text every 3 months, but they can reconnect you up until your number is reallocated.
But using a phone just for otp texts can give you a problem if you don't have a backup. 

SJMALBA

Yes, I tried making a call a few months ago, without success; texts, to date at least, still OK...

savergrant

Do you mean receiving texts or sending? If you can receive texts but not send them your account might be limited and on its way to being deactivated. I would contact them pretty quickly;

From their website

You must make an outbound call or text in any 90-day period for your SIM to remain active. If you don't do this, the SIM will enter a restricted state which means you will only be able to receive inbound calls and texts. If this happens you can contact our customer service team to reactivate the SIM...

we may terminate this Agreement by giving you 30 days’ notice in writing that your Account will be closed and your SIM Card deactivated. If we send you such a notice, we will close your Account and deactivate your SIM Card at the end of the 30-day period. This will mean that you can no longer use the Services and you will not be able to make or receive calls (though you will still be able to dial 999) or send or receive text messages.

SJMALBA

Receiving texts - I've never tried to send one.
I've had the SIM for around 10 months; so far, they haven't contacted me to give notice.

savergrant

So you put £5 credit on it but have never used it? Try checking your balance and bundle allowance, call *669# for credit balance, text
info ukrwg0 to 669 for bundle remaining.
Your bundle may not have been applied to your phone. You may only get the word "remaining" on an old phone, but at least that will tell you that you have a bundle. Then contact them, but you may need to find your payment confirmation if the credit/bundle isn't there.

armith

I used the RWG "free" (in those days totally free) package for almost a year with no calls made and no data used. I now use their £3.50 a month contract which gives unlimited calls and texts. I'm doing this to wean myself off the landline, which I'm hoping to\having to drop. The comment about "EE poor signal" is the only reason it would really be worth moving from RWG.

If you don't need particularly fast internet and want to keep a landline with unlimited calls then Now Broadband is very competitive. It's FTTC only but the price I pay (and I could probably save a few pence) is just over £20 a month - which it's been for 4 years. I don't know how long Now can carry on with not offering an FTTP product though, eventually that market will presumably go the way of dial-up internet? I'm only thinking of leaving Now because I'm miles from the exchange and only get around 6-8 Mb/s download (and very little upload). 

My path over the years from BT to Now was BT --> TalkTalk --> Post Office --> Sky --> Now - and I kept the same landline number every time.

SJMALBA

savergrant said:

So you put £5 credit on it but have never used it? Try checking your balance and bundle allowance, call *669# for credit balance, text
info ukrwg0 to 669 for bundle remaining.
Your bundle may not have been applied to your phone. You may only get the word "remaining" on an old phone, but at least that will tell you that you have a bundle. Then contact them, but you may need to find your payment confirmation if the credit/bundle isn't there.

Thanks.
I ordered the SIM, paying £5, and they sent it to me.
*669# shows £5 balance.
info ukrwg0 shows 50 minutes remaining.
When I tried making a call, I get the following message: - "I'm sorry, calls to this number are not being connected; if you've dialled correctly, I'm afraid it means that the number is not available from this network". I've tried calling a few numbers, with the same result. Restricted SIM or coverage insufficient  for voice?

SJMALBA

armith said:

I used the RWG "free" (in those days totally free) package for almost a year with no calls made and no data used. I now use their £3.50 a month contract which gives unlimited calls and texts. I'm doing this to wean myself off the landline, which I'm hoping to\having to drop. The comment about "EE poor signal" is the only reason it would really be worth moving from RWG.

If you don't need particularly fast internet and want to keep a landline with unlimited calls then Now Broadband is very competitive. It's FTTC only but the price I pay (and I could probably save a few pence) is just over £20 a month - which it's been for 4 years. I don't know how long Now can carry on with not offering an FTTP product though, eventually that market will presumably go the way of dial-up internet? I'm only thinking of leaving Now because I'm miles from the exchange and only get around 6-8 Mb/s download (and very little upload). 

My path over the years from BT to Now was BT --> TalkTalk --> Post Office --> Sky --> Now - and I kept the same landline number every time.

Thanks. I would certainly consider the RWG £3.50 contract you describe IF calls are an option with EE from our location...?

No FTTP in our area yet, only FTTC, but we get around 37Mbps down, so more than sufficient for our needs - keeping costs down overall for FTTC, landline and anytime calls is the goal - the latter does indeed seem to be the sticking point from a landline service, hence my consideration of this new-fanagled technology known as mobiles 🤣: and, yes, we too would be looking to wean ourselves off the landline.

savergrant

Try sending a text too, it may be a technical issue. Then email rwg and say you have a problem making outgoing calls (and texts?)

See if they say they (or now mobile) have restricted your service. If so they can undo it.