Plusnet - affordable broadband…
Plusnet was founded in 1997 and has gradually become one of the UK's leading Internet Service Providers. The Sheffield based company was acquired by BT in January 2007 and acts as an independent subsidiary. Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) equates ... Read review
Advantages: Good Value Broadband with lots of extras Disadvantages: Occasional connection problems
==Plusnet - affordable broadband…==
Plusnet was founded in 1997 and has gradually become one of the UK's leading Internet Service Providers. The Sheffield based company was acquired by BT in January 2007 and acts as an independent subsidiary. Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) equates to making a very difficult decision. There are lots of aspects to consider based on the information available, which of course is mostly being touted ... ...experience of Plusnet was when I signed up for a free dial-up account a decade ago. As technology advanced and the millennium celebrations subsided it was time to upgrade. I made a big mistake and signed up with BT broadband and then regretted my decision. I was on a 12 month contract. So for 12 months despite paying for broadband I was still using my Plusnet dial-up account for email. I transferred to Plusnet broadband as soon as my BT contract ... more
Plusnet - affordable broadband…
Plusnet was founded in 1997 and has gradually become one of the UK's leading Internet Service Providers. The Sheffield based company was acquired by BT in January 2007 and acts as an independent subsidiary. Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) equates to making a very difficult decision. There are lots of aspects to consider based on the information available, which of course is mostly being touted by the ISP's themselves. My first experience of Plusnet was when I signed up for a free dial-up account a decade ago. As technology advanced and the millennium celebrations subsided it was time to upgrade. I made a big mistake and signed up with BT broadband and then regretted my decision. I was on a 12 month contract. So for 12 months despite paying for broadband I was still using my Plusnet dial-up account for email. I transferred to Plusnet broadband as soon as my BT contract was up and have been much happier with my broadband ever since. I really like the fact that you provide the name for your account. You register a username which is used in your email and web addresses. So your email would be yourname@username.plus.com and your website would become www.username.plus.com and you can register a domain if you prefer a more professional email and web address but this will cost a little bit extra.
Support
I have read several reports of how poor the help and support is with Plusnet. I have never had a cause to phone them so I can not comment on their phone support. I have used the ticket system which is web-based support. You raise a ticket which is read by their tech guys and you get an email when the problem is sorted out. Then when you're satisfied you can close the ticket. In addition the discussion forum is also a good place to get assistance and can be quicker than raising a ticket for minor or common problems.
Speed and Downloads
I am on a Pay-As-You-Go account but Plusnet provide a full range of packages aimed at different internet usage. Packages range from £9.99 to £29.99 per month and usage ranges from 1GB to 40GB. Over-night usage is free. I get adequate internet speeds based on internet speed checking tools.
Email
Email is an important part of your broadband package. Plusnet offer you multiple POP accounts which means emails can be down-loaded to your computer's email program or opened online as webmail. This means you can create as many email addresses as you like with your username. Each member of your family can have their own email address. Plusnet have always done this and I think it is simply brilliant.
Members Cente
The members centre provides account members access to a labyrinth of support, tools and utilities. An example of this is Plusnet's Fax2Email. Activate this in email settings and you get a fax number. Now my boss can send me a fax and it arrives as an email (image.tiff). This saves us both time and money and I receive a lot of work documents this way. Plusnet are very innovative and the members centre is a useful place to visit. Usage can be viewed here and is displayed using graphics for illustration. Webmail and most other available resources are accessible through this part of the web-site. ===Spam Scandal=== In May 2007 Plusnet were left red-faced by a serious security issue when a malicious attack was performed against Plusnet's webmail database. Plusnet accounts received a tidal surge of spam emails some of which included profane content. Like everyone else I was unhappy about the situation Plusnet apologised and took the blame for the entire scandal before sorting out the problem. Understandably there were a lot of very disgruntled Plusnet members at this time and some of them left. Plusnet implemented a lot of changes at this time and provided Plusnet account holders the option of setting up a new domain for free. (I got a free co.uk domain) ===Summary=== Plusnet have had their ups and downs over the last decade and I came along for the ride. Despite the unfortunate spam scandal (you can find more details about this on the internet) I am happy to endorse Plusnet as a very reliable broadband Internet Service Provider. If you sign up with them you can expect a few outages from time to time. On the plus side you get a very good deal for your subscription.
250Mb Free Web Space
POP and Webmail with Multiple Addresses
1 Month contract
Pay by Direct Debit or Credit Card
Free Overnight Usage
Referral System
They have had their knockers and to some members they may have acted like a pair of them, but I have never had any problems that could not be resolved. I recommend that if you're new to broadband or thinking about changing your internet provider then take a look at their website. Plusnet are very innovative and I expect their offers will change slightly but the principle of good broadband at an affordable price is likely to stay the same. I know there are people who have had problems with Plusnet and they are entitled to their opinion but how many people have been with an ISP for 10 years? Wholefruit☺
Advantages: Great Customer Support, Good online facilities Disadvantages: Experience of their routers not great - optimistic about the new one though!
...all the sraches I did, Plusnet appeared in the top three every time for value and customer service, and seeing as I'm demanding but not technically minded, opted for the service that would also provide someone on the end of the phone seemed like a good idea! Having disposed of the PC on the bookcase and obtained a wireless-enabled laptop, we soon took delivery of our wireless router, a D-Link. This was easy to install and we were soon up and running ... ...router died on us, but Plusnet were very quick to identify the problem and ship out another router. This one was also DOA so that got sent back too, and our third D-Link soon made an appearance. I was rather sceptical about the latest arrival, but at least I was experienced at setting it up! This one served us very well for nearly a year, but finally developed a fault as well and another router was ordered. I must say I was getting fed up with D-Link ...
Vixterbelle 05.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Plusnet
Advantages: Good value - reliable Disadvantages: Not so well heard of
I signed up with PlusNet back in March last year on the advice of my IT technician brother (nice to have someone in the trade to help out!). I was moving from NTL (cable) as I was fed-up with the cable wire trailing around the fireplace and through the lounge/dining room wall.
I opted not to buy any equipment from PlusNet as I could get it cheap through my bro' - and I was after wireless. Having said that, there prices weren't too far off those ... ...I went for their £14.99 package which was 512KB at the time, it's since been upgraded to 2MB for free!!!! They are also in the process of rolling 4MB and 8MB sometime in April where available (I mean as in upgrading people, think you can place an order as a new customer already - not sure, so check it out). Of course, these will be free upgrades too!
The package I went with (Broadband Plus) does have a 1GB download limit per month (extras cost £2.50 ...
mightyred 15.02.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Plusnet
Advantages: Superb Reliability, Excellent browsing speeds at all times, good support Disadvantages: Serious "file-sharing" limitations. Annoying peak-time allowances.
I have been with PlusNet now for 7 months after being referred there by a friend. I had never heard of them before and i consider myself to be extremely knowledgeable of the internet and available ISPs.
I'm a heavy user and have been very satisfied with the service. They employ a Fair Usage Policy which limits your bandwidth between 4pm and 12am to a certain level depending on which package you choose. You get a "GB per month" limit between this ... ...such as FTP, Usenet and P2P. During 12am to 4pm the service is Unlimited, however between 10am - 4pm the restrictions on "file-sharing" type activities becomes heavier and heavier reducing your speeds during these times.
This can be frustrating if you want to download a large HD trailer or something during peak times, but have to think twice about your bandwidth, but it does mean that surfing the web, playing online games and using VoIP is all silky ...
bobdobs 01.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Plusnet
Advantages: Cheap, speedy, webspace with PHP and MySQL and unlimited email. Disadvantages: Seems unreliable at times.
...night! As you probably know, PlusNet (or any other ISP) doesn't have full control of the speeds. BT effectively decides the 'cap' on your speeds by its contention ratio at your local exchange, and some of the bigger exchanges are now starting to see this speed limit affecting them at peak times as some exchanges become more and more packed with ADSL subscribers.
What this means is when you sign up to PlusNet (or any other ISP), full speeds cannot ... ...slowed down any further because PlusNet has ample capacity! At least not yet, anyway.
-Ping-
Being a gamer, a good ping is essential to me. I sort my servers by ping so that I always connect to the fastest server, and I'm glad to say my ping is almost always steady at the 20-30ms mark. This is good enough for me! Here's the results of a ping check done a few minutes ago:
Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.224.126] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from ...
Pendulum 08.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Plusnet
Advantages: Broadband itself is good Disadvantages: Customer Service will ruin everything
...a Broadband Plus customer with PlusNet for over a year, I have found their broadband connection to be generally fast and reliable. Their technical support was also competent and I was able to set up a wireless broadband connection on PC and Mac without any problems. It was only when I tried to cancel my broadband service due to an imminent move out of the UK that I got an unbelievable amount of trouble and frustration in dealing with the company. ... ...to terminate my account with PlusNet in a letter dated 23rd of September 2006 which was sent by recorded mail to ensure delivery. This was in fulfilment of the 1-year contract I had with PlusNet and I wasn't expecting any difficulty in closing my broadband connection. The requested termination date was on the 30th of October 2006 thereby providing more than 1 month notice for the services provided by PlusNet to be stopped. During the course of communicating ...
Silverbeam 20.10.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Plusnet
Advantages: Wide-ranging forum facility Disadvantages: Poor response time to problems, email slow
broadband with a different ISP. What a refeshing change! Plusnet will own up to problems and explain what went wrong and what they did to make sure it won't happen again. They also give a queue length for responses to problems, this may be measured in hours, but they have always come through within the forecast time and solved our problems. Tiscali would take days and then run through their standard 'ain't our fault' routine!
Tiscali may get better but from the very frank forums (an excellent facility) they aren't showing too many signs yet. The latest concern is the exporting of the 'support' service to India, my guess is that it might actually get better, it can't get much worse!
I would not be able to recommend them on our experience. ...
langhorns 04.02.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Tiscali
