Broadband Plusnet v Broadband

[mark]

A year or so ago I switched my phone to Plusnet as part of a phone/Broadband package.

Since had calls from BT trying to lure me back.

Latest was yesterday. He told me it would be faster and more reliable with BT. I suggested that the cables are the same so how would it be faster. He told me that their fibre cables run parallel to the old wire cables. how can I confirm this?

I don't know enough about it to know if I'm being feed BS, that's why I'm here.

I was given some attractive deals but I said I would need to see the deals in writing as it was a lot to take in over the phone. He wasn't allowed. To me that's in the same area of sales techniques as the double glazing salesman phoning his manager to get a better price.

He's calling me next week to see what I've come up with after my 'think about it'.

Any pointers?

[Tim+]

Tell 'em to eff off.

Plusnet are basically a BT subsidiary who offer better prices (generally) and better customer support. There's no reason that a BT line should be faster or more reliable than a Plusnet one as they're the same lines.

It maybe that your neighbourhood has just been upgraded to FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) and BT are trying to get their fibre offering in the door to you before you've checked out Plusnet's pricing.

Tim

[Broadback]

What they do not tell you is what happens when you get a problem. As I Plusnet user I have found them very friendly, supportive and knowledgeable. The only downside is they are a tad slow, certainly compared to IDnet my previous supplier, however they a cheaper.

[nemo]

Both ISPs offer fibre broadband[1] at 17, 38 and 76Mb, using the same wires and fibres, so the "faster and more reliable" claim is bullsh*t. General experience is that PlusNet offer better support if/when there are problems and are usually cheaper. However, check out the details of various bundles offered to see what's best for you. Watch out for the small print - introductory rates, connection fee, minimum contract duration, exit fee etc.

[1] It's actually fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) then twisted pair wire to your house.

[Tim Watts]

Only if he means "switch to FTTC" which is Fibre-to-the-cabinet.

And you can do that with anyone. FTTC is sold by BT as BT Infinity but it's the same as VDSL/FTTC and is known by lots of trade names.

[Andy Burns]

That's copper

There is one recently introduced difference with Plusnet, their 38Mbps service had the upload speed cut from 10Mbps to 2Mbps - maybe they think it will mean anyone who wants fast uploads will chose the 76/20Mbps service - to me it's a backwards step.

[tony sayer]

Yes do just that why anyone would want to deal with BT when there are alternatives is beyond me;!....

[Reentrant]

If your Range B / impacted downstream speed estimate at

is below 40mbps PlusNet will only let you have the 40/2 package. They will not let you pay the extra for 80/20 even if you could get much faster upstream than 2mbps. Other ISPs still offer 40/10.

[Tim+]

You can buy your own Fon access point which gives you free access to Fon hotspots worldwide. This doesn't include non-Fon BT access points though.

Tim

[newshound]

+1

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , mark escribió:

uk.telecom.broadband is that way ------------------>

[News]

In message , Tim Streater writes

Tangent alert. The local DSLAM cabinet was installed outside our house a year ago, and since then, there is often an Openreach van there, with a little man doing things in the cabinet. Daft question perhaps, but presumably an engineer is not required to make a connection within the cabinet every time someone switches to FTTC broadband?

[Andy Burns]

MSAN they call it for VDSL/FTTC, DSLAM implies ADSL.

They shouldn't need to visit the new cabinet for each FTTC migration, because they install a multi-pair "tie" cable between the old and new cabinets, but they do need to visit the old cabinet to divert each line to the new cabinet, and the voice part back from the new cabinet to the exchange.

[News]

Ah, thanks.

So an Openreach engineer is required to visit a cabinet every time someone migrates? Didn't realise that. Interestingly, the new MSAN cabinet did not replace and old cabinet, at least not in the same place. The new installation is actually two cabinets, the large green MSAN with a smaller green cabinet beside it.

Interestingly, prior to the installation of the new cabinet(s) against our garden wall, we received the usual planning application from the local authority. Needless to say, I did not object. The planning permission showed only one cabinet to be installed, but two appeared. I did not object to that, either.

[dennis]

It depends on what's in the cab.

On the old systems they have to jumper between the voice and the dsl racks if the user wasn't already on dsl.

On the newer stuff there is a software switch that changes between the adsl and the vdsl protocols so no visit is needed to move from adsl to vdsl.

On the very new stuff the voice and the dsl are in the same rack and there is no visits to enable dsl in any flavour.

[Brian-Gaff]

I thought Plus net was actually owned by BT? Brian

[Brian-Gaff]

I'm on Virgin and in the last couple of months my snail mail and my phone have been plagued by them telling me how much better and cheaper I can get everything through them. They seem to know also that I have an unused old bt line in the property. I find this sort of thing a little worrying. Indeed they obviously have access to some very detailed info about me. However their main problem is that its obvious that their people doing the selling are ringing over a voip connection from foreign parts, and every time now I hear that long delay as I lift the phone i just replace it without even bothering to find out what scam or angle is going to assault my ears. Since I cannot see any number displays, I find this an almost foolproof way to choke them all off. Brian

[Fredxxx]

A second or two of silence after receiving the call suggests an autodialler is at work, where their system is waiting for the next operator to become available. After 3 or more seconds and no one can take the call in their call centre they will simply drop the line and you're none the wiser.

If they were smart they would employ a noise or sound to keep you on the phone! Thankfully they're not.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yet another reason to avoid them like the plague. My street has Virgin cable going down it and I get bombarded by pleas from them to join up. Suppose it's natural they do this to existing customers too.

Other good reason not to use them is the mess they make of running a cable from the street to a house. Obviously taught by Radio Rentals.

[Bob Eager]

Yes.