I am trying to choose between PlusNet's Easy Start package (costing UKP
24.99 per month) and the standard ADSL Home (costing UKP 21.99 per month)
and am getting conflicting information about what happens after one year
with Easy Start.

On the face of it, Easy Start looks like a good deal because - for an extra
cost of only UKP 36 in the first year - you get Actuation worth UKP 58.75
plus a 'free' USB modem. However, if you don't want the modem and if you
have to go on paying at the higher rate for ever, you break even in less
than 20 months.

So the question arises as to whether - when the minimum contract period of
12 months has expired - you can 'downgrade' from Easy Start to standard ADSL
Home.

This has been discussed before and, in a post back in January, Ian Wild of
PlusNet Support wrote:
"Just to clear this up, the Easystart account does NOT automatically
change to a standard ADSL Home account after 12 months, however we can do
this, free of charge, on request once the 12 month minimum contract has
expired."

However, when I recently phoned PlusNet's sales line to confirm this, I got
a completely different story - to the effect that downgrading would involve
a cancellation and re-provide, for which there would be a new actuation fee
and a downtime of a week or more.

I have tried several times to get written clarification - both by filling in
an on-line enquiry form and by sending direct emails to Ian Wild (who may or
may not still work for PlusNet!) and to Sales. To date I have received no
replies - other than an automated acknowledgement of my query.

Can anyone point me towards a definitive source of information which will
clear this up, once and for all?

[My interest in going with PlusNet stems mainly from favourable reports
posted in this NG. My own experience to date - with their refusal to answer
emails, and the somewhat off-hand attitude of their sales rep on the phone,
has been rather less favourable. Any comments?]

--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

"Tiscali Tim" <tele@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:c4gn84$2gqg5i$1@ID-217758.news.uni-berlin.de...
Steer clear. Your experience gives you a very good taster of their
customer service over such a simple query.
Also, my own advice would be to choose an isp with a 1 month
contract. A 12 month contract ties you in to a big wad of cash and
who can tell how happy anyone can be with their isp in terms
of connection or service. It gives you options.
adslguide has a great list of 1month contract isps.

Happy customer here, have been for 2 years!! With sales they should reply to
you though if you go to "plusnet.service.customer-feeback" they will answer
your questions or even the PlusNet forum in ADSL Guide.
However i do know what the score is as i chose this root i was on the
EasyStart account and after 12 months you can downgrade for free with no
downtime though it did take 30 days (30 days notice to downgrade).

Hope this clears the matter up........

cUnDaLl]

cUnDaLl] <Mark@{no spam}mrcundall.co.uk> wrote:
Err, that's only on plusnets servers...

On 01 Apr 2004, Ian Stirling wrote:

create a free (0845 access) account via the portal and then you have
instant read and post access via the web interface. Only the forum
system won't let you make contributions. It is handy if the paid-
for account ever stops working, as I could use a browser on another
ADSL link to view the newsgroups to check for network reports. PGM

Yeh sorry u are correct

Duh!

cUnDaLl]

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:26:24 +0100, Tiscali Tim wrote:

Ordered mine today and my first experience with them is quite good
though I have not try to call them up. Took them less than 3 hours
until the status changed to ADSL line ordered from BT. Setting up
mailboxes is also a breeze ..

I would believe Ian Ward, yes you can downgrade, but it has been pointed out
that you then (should) loose the SPAM filtering, but save £3 per month.
Regards,
Martin

On Thu, 1 Apr 2004 10:26:24 +0100, Tiscali Tim <tele@privacy.net> wrote:

Hi Tim,

If you choose EasyStart then you can downgrade at the end of your 12
months to either ADSL Home (at £21.99 per month) or Home Surf (at £18.99)
without charge. We'd just need 30 days notice of your request via Contact
Us on the portal. You would however lose the features of EasyStart, such
as the spam and virus protection if you downgraded (and CGI, FrontPage,
Fax2Email, etc. if you changed to Home Surf).
As regards contacting us, if you don't have an account with us, the best
method is the Sales Enquiries link on the portal or

http://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=contact_sales

--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Unmetered & ADSL solutions
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
PlusNet Support Team <dtomlinson@plus.net> wrote:


Many thanks for this clarification. It seems that your sales team need a
modicum of re-education - since they are putting out a story which conflicts
with this! I *did* submit a query last Friday, using the on-line enquiry
form referenced above (and using my real name with an email address which
contains 'mills37') but no-one has seen fit to reply.

One further query. . . Are there any Windows system requirements relating to
the 'free' modem which comes with Easy Start? Your website is explicit about
the versions of MAC OS supported, but only says that a Windows PC must
support the use of USB. Presumably anything from W95 OSR2 onwards is ok? [I
ask because some of the kit sold commercially specifies at least W98 SE,
whereas I may want to use it on a PC running the original W98].
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 09:30:14 +0100, Tiscali Tim <tele@privacy.net> wrote:

Hi,

Unfortuntely I can't find the form you filled in. Did the auto-response
send you an ID, it should have been a five digit number probably starting
with 20 or 21?

The Binatone modem we are currently supplying only works with Windows 98SE
and above as far as I'm aware. I wouldn't advise using it on Windows 95 or
original 98.

--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Unmetered & ADSL solutions
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
PlusNet Support Team <dtomlinson@plus.net> wrote:


I don't recall seeing a 5-digit ID. Should this have appeared on the screen,
or have been sent in an auto-generated email? I saw nothing on the screen,
and didn't get an email. I forget exactly what happened to the screen, but
my pressing the Submit button appeared to have been accepted.

When I repeated the query in an email to Ian Wild and to Sales, I *did* get
an auto-generated response from Sales (with no reference ID) sent on Tue
30/03/2004 at 9:40 PM - but nothing further.

It's a pity about the 'free' modem requiring W98 SE - your website had ought
to make that more explicit. I was hoping to use it with an old W98 PC -
using WinRoute to share the connection prior to buying a new wireless
router.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

"Tiscali Tim" <tele@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:c4k0ll$2iflqv$1@ID-217758.news.uni-berlin.de...
A USB modem (or any USB device) may work on pre Win98SE systems but its very
hit, as its generally acknowledged that before this, USB support in Windows
was flaky..

Its more likely to work in Win98, then it is on Win95 though..

Regards
Sunil

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mugwump <me@privacy.net> wrote:


That's the whole point! My setup *can* handle USB. Anything above W95 OSR2
can handle USB. But USB functionality has developed with successive versions
of Windows. If the modem supplied by PlusNet needs a particular *flavour* of
USB over and above a basic USB setup (which I have with W98), they should
say so on their website!
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

Tiscali Tim" <tele@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:c4gn84$2gqg5i$1@ID-217758.news.uni-berlin.de...

True, the main reason for this deal really, I would say is to compete with
other ISP deals with free everything for a hefty monthly fee. Obviously
worth it if you can change down though.
As far as I know he does still work for plusnet, other people have been
posting in usenet etc though - with discussion forums, usenet, adslguide and
various other forums to cover though this isn't suprising.

They have a sales line? Seriously though they always have been better
technically.
This suprises me, contact us isn't exactly fast but you should get a
response (i'm assuming you have a free account or something).

Email doesn't suprise me, support don't really use email for customers but
they do post with valid email addresses - enough said, I would expect your
message got bounced or lost in the spam or something.

They will not answer email, they will answer usenet, discussion forums,
contact us and their phones. Personally I find them excellent and prefer
technical expertise from their staff over fake nicities.

Sam


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"Tiscali Tim" <tele@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:c4kavs$2jopb4$1@ID-217758.news.uni-berlin.de...
USB Modems take a lot of power, its my understanding that some USB ports
can't deliver this, whatever version of windows you may have more luck using
a powered usb hub.

Sam

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