PlusNet introduces 30min auto-disconnect on ADSL

paul_h

I know people come on here extolling the virtues of their own ISP, but I do try to be as objective as possible... however, Rex_Mundi is right - PlusNet look really bad right now.

See what you mean about Zen, have these people ever heard the saying "be careful what you wish for"...

Rex_Mundi

See what you mean about Zen, have these people ever heard the saying "be careful what you wish for"

I like the answer one of Zens customers came up with. He said he phoned up Zen customer services to ask them to disconnect us for a while so we could complain about something. They told him if he wants something to complain about he should join Plusnet.

paul_h

he he

:rotfl:

Happy_Shrimper

Zen are expensive from what I can see. Plusnet is reliable, feature rich and the customer service used to be excellent. I say used to be as I have been enquiring about downgrading from Premier tariff to PAYG and the customer services now seem to be in India and a little abrupt on the Ticketing system.
I still think Plusnet are untouchable on features and reliability if you don't hammer the bandwidth to the extent that PN have to contact you under fair usage terms. I run Gentoo linux which relies on downloading and upgrading of packages and applications on a regular basis. My work also requires remote access which also hammers the bandwidth a little too and I have never been contacted.

Just hope the customer services was a glitch rather than a new initive!
Tony

Rex_Mundi

Zen are expensive from what I can see

Yes Zen are certainly nowhere near the cheapest ISP. However, there service is top quality. When I chose them I went for service and reliability rather than price and on these these factors they just can't be beat. When they advertise unlimited, that's exactly what they mean. They do not email you to warn you of overuse. They do not throttle any ports. And they do not come up with stupid rules like cutting you off after 30 minutes idle.

Like I pointed out. Look in the ADSL forums. The main subjects in the Zen forums are how to get hold of one of their coffee mugs and how boring it is having nothing to complain about. This is why I don't mind paying more. It's better than having to worry about what crackpot scheme the management are going to come up with next.

Zen are a serious ISP that are excellent for people that want a connection that isn't going to be fooled around with. You get what you pay for definately applies here.

PS..........The thanks was a mistake........I meant to hit quote!

Happy_Shrimper

I take your point, but I have never had any issues with reliablity, speed or customer service (until this week - and only slightly).
The usage warning kicks in around 150 Gb I understand which is way above what I'll ever use (until I start watching movies, teleporting myself etc ;-)) Never used about 3 Gb PM.

These 'Crackpot' schemes have never affected me personally, but I can understand that someone who is affected on what they thought was unrestricted would be a little annoying!
I will take another look at Zen as I like to be informed about the ISPs.

Rex_Mundi

Have a look at the comparison page at ADSLguide. ISPs are rated by their own customers according to speed, reliability and customer service. I've not seen Zen beaten in any of these categories on this page by any other ISP.

You can select up to 6 ISPs to see how they fare against each other. On the results page, if you hover over the bars on the graphs it tells you how many voted and the exact %.

Find it HERE

danmanchester

Grrrrr this thread has depressed me!

I've only just moved from Pipex to Plusnet recently (June) and it's only since joining Plusnet that I've noticed a lot of disgruntled PN users.I got the change of t&c's email last night too, and am pondering whether to request a MAC code and look for another ISP...

Having said that, I don't think there's a way "out" of paying the £83.75 as I took up that joining offer knowing I'd have to pay it if I left within 12 months anyway...so I don't know what to do really-part of me is thinking stick with them and see what happens, I can't really judge PN good or bad after only a couple of months. On the positive side I haven't experienced any cutoffs/downtime and the speed is excellent
- I am getting the same 2mb speed/service for 21.99 per month that was costing me £33.99 with Pipex.

Oh well, I've got 12 days or so to make my mind up! Any other Plusnetters leaving/staying?

paul_h

danmanchester wrote:

Having said that, I don't think there's a way "out" of paying the £83.75 as I took up that joining offer knowing I'd have to pay it if I left within 12 months anyway...so I don't know what to do really-part of me is thinking stick with them and see what happens, I can't really judge PN good or bad after only a couple of months. On the positive side I haven't experienced any cutoffs/downtime and the speed is excellent
- I am getting the same 2mb speed/service for 21.99 per month that was costing me £33.99 with Pipex.

Oh well, I've got 12 days or so to make my mind up! Any other Plusnetters leaving/staying?

If you're paying £21.99 I assume your on BB Premier? If so, the cut offs won't affect you... at the moment, anyway.

Don't forget that the £83.75 you'd have to pay does not go away after the first 12 months - After 12 months you'd still have to pay £67, decreasing by £16.75 until you are free to leave without payment after five years. I very nearly joined plusnet myself until I noticed this 5 year tie-in myself, although it was very well hidden in another page linked to the plusnet t&c.

A family member joined PlusNet BB+ recently, he's not very happy with the changes but is even less happy that he'll have to pay £58.75 to leave (he didn't have the modem). He also paid an extra £11 for a monthly contract, he's hoping he can get this refunded and he obviously doesn't want to pay the deferred fees if he can get away with it...

blinky

Staying for the moment. Only migrated in on Friday....
P2P speeds are okay for me.
Not happy about the explusion of the 2 users.
Will wait to see what happens - too much going on with many ADSL providers at the moment.

Danmanchester - if you migrated in with a mac code you only have to pay £14 (?) for the 'free' migration.