# PlusNet - avoid



## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

If you are using PlusNet, or thinking about using PlusNet, as your ISP, I just want to share this with you.

My usage allowance is 10GB. Yesterday, the last day of the month, I went over this by 0.1GB and was charged for it. Now, fair enough - it doesn't matter how much you go over by, but I could hardly connect to the internet yesterday (or the day before, and in general I tend to have terrible connection with PlusNet). So I sent a message to them saying I don't think I should have to pay for a service that I'm not receiving and I explained to them that I was hardly connected and kept getting an error screen that said 'could not connect to your Internet Service Provider.' 

I got this reply, basically calling me a liar, from some bloke called Matthew Cruise:



> In regards to you stating that the connection is "terrible", I find it  difficult to believe that you would have been able to exceed the usage  allowance with such a "terrible" connection.



I am _so_ angry.


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## Boneman (Feb 1, 2013)

Wow! Sorry to hear that, M. Customer service is alive and well, but not at PlusNet. Blimey, use some decent graphics programmes and you can excedd 10GB in no time...


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

How patronising is he though? The "quotations." What a vile man. I've replied to say I'm not lying and the next time my internet cuts out I will take a screenshot. I've asked that he not call me a liar again, and I've also made a complaint to the complaints department about him.


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

Complain complain complain and threaten to switch. That's my advice. What fecking cheek to call you a liar! He's probably pissy because they're getting a lot of complaints. To be fair to Sky every time I've rung them to complain they've always been helpful and sorted it out.


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

You definitely know I'm not lying, amw, cos I was complaining to you about my crappy connection!  I will definitely threaten to switch. What a scumbag.


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## thaddeus6th (Feb 1, 2013)

Might be worth browsing around (if you haven't already). When a problem or issue arises [with anything] good or bad customer service can make a big difference either way.


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

Send him our email transcripts...oh wait..maybe not. 

Well since you've complained to customer complaints I imagine they'll sort it out pretty sharpish, I always had a feeling that for mobile and internet companies retention is one of their most important departments.


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## Brian G Turner (Feb 1, 2013)

I'm impressed you can survive with a 10GB limit!!


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

I said:


> I'm impressed you can survive with a 10GB limit!!



Yeah me too  We'd be forever paying surcharges if we didn't have unlimited.


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

thaddeus6th said:


> Might be worth browsing around (if you haven't already). When a problem or issue arises [with anything] good or bad customer service can make a big difference either way.



I will, I think. I used to be with Orange (and had no probs with my connection) and had free, unlimited Broadband. Then they decided they were going to start charging me £15 a month, which I can't afford, so I switched to PlusNet, who are six quid something.



allmywires said:


> Send him our email transcripts...oh wait..maybe not.



Eek!



I said:


> I'm impressed you can survive with a 10GB limit!!



So am I really!

--

I've just run their troubleshooter, and even that can see I'm not lying and gives me this message:



> Our records show that your connection has dropped at least twice a day  over the last week. When your connection drops, what does the Broadband  light on your router do?



(At least twice is an understatement!)


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## Jo Zebedee (Feb 1, 2013)

Send him a hyperlink to this thread and threaten to get it on twitter and facebook: big companies hate bad publicity.


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## Abernovo (Feb 1, 2013)

Grr! Dear Sir/Madam, Not only is your internet provision lousy, so is your Customer Service Department.

I hope you got the little twerp's name. With employees like that, they won't be keeping their customers. Find other providers, and threaten to switch, as amw suggests. Having names and figures at your fingertips when you talk, scares the pants off of them.


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## Kylara (Feb 1, 2013)

Oh Mouse that's terrible. I always rant at people on the phone when they try to get me to switch internet to them (we have tv/phone etc with different providers) mainly because we are lucky to get 3 down, we normally get about 1.5 or 2 (shocking I know) but our limit is about 50GB so we pay overcharges quite a bit, purely I think for the time it takes to constantly try to access stuff with it cutting out...unfortunately that is just our line from the exchange but people saying get up to 15 down bugs me like hell because our connection just can't take that...but yeah complain and threaten to switch, and have a look round at other providers and then switch if they are better. I second that Sky are very helpful.


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

springs said:


> Send him a hyperlink to this thread and threaten to get it on twitter and facebook: big companies hate bad publicity.



Ha! Yeah, and he can see where I've called him a 'scumbag.' 



Abernovo said:


> Grr! Dear Sir/Madam, Not only is your internet provision lousy, so is your Customer Service Department.
> 
> I hope you got the little twerp's name. With employees like that, they won't be keeping their customers. Find other providers, and threaten to switch, as amw suggests. Having names and figures at your fingertips when you talk, scares the pants off of them.



Yep, Matthew Cruise.



Kylara said:


> Oh Mouse that's terrible. I always rant at people on the phone when they try to get me to switch internet to them (we have tv/phone etc with different providers) mainly because we are lucky to get 3 down, we normally get about 1.5 or 2 (shocking I know) but our limit is about 50GB so we pay overcharges quite a bit, purely I think for the time it takes to constantly try to access stuff with it cutting out...



Well, this is why I think I went over, cos of constantly trying to refresh and reconnect. Is that possible that bumps the usage up? I have no idea.


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## Abernovo (Feb 1, 2013)

It's very possible. It's also possible to have data dripping through, without having enough of a connection to raise a webpage.


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

Somewhat spookily, I was just going to reply to this thread and my internet dropped out...

I'm not sure how using up broadband allowance is calculated but if you can find a way of pinning it on them, all the better. Because then it would be doubly their fault: sh*tty service plus said sh*tty service causing you to pay surcharges.


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## Vertigo (Feb 1, 2013)

Mouse, first let me say that the bloke who responded to you is clearly and ignorant *&%$*! However I have been with PlusNet for many years now with no problems at all (I've just moved to their unlimited package from a 60G package)

Secondly, in fairness, if your connection is dodgy it is almost certainly a BT problem. Unless you are on cable, ie. assuming your connection is through the telephone line, then I believe all the actually connection hardware in the exchange is 'hired' from BT, no matter who your ISP actually is.


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

So how come I never had a problem with Orange, but have constant problems with PlusNet?


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## Vertigo (Feb 1, 2013)

I can't explain that Mouse, and your first port of call has to be the ISP (PlusNet). I don't know how the hardware in the exchange is managed but when you switched you almost certainly will have switched onto a different bit of hardware (one hired by PlusNet as opposed to one hired by Orange). Maybe the bit of kit you are on now is a dodgy one. I can only suggest you speak to them about it (hah! sorry) and hope you get a more competent and more polite member of their support this time. Also I would recommend ringing them and specifically bringing up the insulting attitude of the first person.

Also the reponse to the first person, would be that a totally s****y connection can still easily use 10G; that is nothing in the modern day.


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

By hardware do you mean the router? Cos I'm using the exact same one. (Wasn't prepared to pay however much PlusNet would charge for one!) So apart from the ISP, nothing's changed here. I was with Orange for six months at my new address with no probs. Been with PlusNet for three months and have a crap connection. 

If I ring them at the moment I'll end up shouting at them, so I'll wait until I've calmed down and see what sort of response I get.


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

Not the router* but the actual cabling and connection that's managed at the exchange, which would be run by BT, I think. Have you always had rubbish internet ever since you switched?

*it could be the microfilter, actually


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## Mouse (Feb 1, 2013)

allmywires said:


> Have you always had rubbish internet ever since you switched?



Yep. Couldn't be bothered to complain before though!


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## allmywires (Feb 1, 2013)

Definitely sounds like something their end then. Complain away!!


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## Ursa major (Feb 1, 2013)

Mouse said:


> Yep ...  Cruise.


Does this explain why he was short with you...? 





Mouse said:


> Well, this is why I think I went over, cos of constantly trying to refresh and reconnect. Is that possible that bumps the usage up? I have no idea.


I have a 10G/month limit, and I can only live within that because I download no audio-visual stuff (give or take the adverts that run lower down a page, i.e. not on the screen, so you can't stop them before all the crap's taken a bite out of your download allowance).

And yes, repeat downloads do (or can) eat up the allowance: I finally succumbed to my blu-ray driver's demand to be updated (when it said** it couldn't play _The Dark Knight Rises_ without the update): after 100Mbytes - and far from complete - it told me that there'd been a problem and started from the beginning. (At least, it said 1% progress just before I cancelled the damned thing.) Who knows what, say, Microsoft's updates do when faced with a crap connection?


** - It was lying.


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## Dozmonic (Feb 1, 2013)

You're well within you right to complain about a dodgy service. Had it been working, you wouldn't have had to download some much redundant data from failed attempts to access what you wanted. It's no unfair to suggest that the connectivity issues made you exceed your allowance. It's also not unfair to ask to be treated with respect by the face of the company and, as others have said, threaten to move service provider due to unacceptable connectivity and customer service. More than that, let them know that you intend to make people aware of just how you were treated and how they choose to resolve this issue.

They may give you a free month or two as a courtesy.


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## Vertigo (Feb 1, 2013)

Yeah complain away +1. Considering I'm way out in the country (although very close to the local exchange) I get exceptionally good speeds and in the last 5 or 6 years I've only lost connection once and that was a problem with BT (all my neighbours on different ISPs also lost connection at the same time).


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## mosaix (Feb 1, 2013)

I think I may have mentioned before that when I was with TalkTalk some of my emails used to take 3 or 4 weeks to arrive. Some didn't arrive at all. I got a letter from my bank asking me to update my email address as they'd emailed me and got a reply saying repeat 'sends' had timed out. My email address was correct.

I complained to TalkTalk. Response? *Please forward us one of the emails that you didn't receive. 

*That resulted in a letter to "The Office Of The Managing Director" which resulted in a grovelling phone call from his P.A. 

The net result of all that is that now I am an entirely satisfied customer of The Utility Warehouse.

Most support and complaint departments are a buffer between you and senior management and you'll never reach _them_ via email, the only way to get to them is by post.


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## mosaix (Feb 1, 2013)

Vertigo said:


> Secondly, in fairness, if your connection is dodgy it is almost certainly a BT problem. Unless you are on cable, ie. assuming your connection is through the telephone line, then I believe all the actually connection hardware in the exchange is 'hired' from BT, no matter who your ISP actually is.



That's true Vertigo. But what most ISP's have is the ability to log in to local BT exchanges and run diagnostics on _your_ line and _your _connection and reset error conditions (The Utility Warehouse have done this with me _while I've been on the line_). Of course this means trained, skilled, BT approved staff and that means spending some money. 

The alternative and all-to-frequent scenario is that the ISP raises a support call on BT and you can imagine what priority that gets when they're supporting their own internet customers.


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## Kylara (Feb 1, 2013)

Haha that reminded me of the last time our connection dropped to .3 (yup .3) luckily my boyfriend was over and he enjoys playing with routers and stuff in his spare time and so whilst we were on the phone to the ISP he had turned his phone into a wifi hotspot (impressive considering we have poor 3G signal at our house) and was using a load of specialist diagnostic stuff he has on his laptop so we were relaying our rants with proper high tech references to the people on the phone, I have to say that it was amusing, especially as the bf has a short temper with what he calls 'idiot engineers who have no right to the ******* title' (ie not technically qualified engineers) and yelled at them for asking us things that had nothing to do with the problem...we ended up sorting it out ourselves, but did get a nice discount for a couple of months...


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## Vertigo (Feb 1, 2013)

mosaix said:


> That's true Vertigo. But what most ISP's have is the ability to log in to local BT exchanges and run diagnostics on _your_ line and _your _connection and reset error conditions (The Utility Warehouse have done this with me _while I've been on the line_). Of course this means trained, skilled, BT approved staff and that means spending some money.
> 
> The alternative and all-to-frequent scenario is that the ISP raises a support call on BT and you can imagine what priority that gets when they're supporting their own internet customers.


 
That is why I said the first port of call has to be with your ISP. And again to be fair I have had exactly that attention on the occasion that my connection did die (can you believe none of my neighbours had contacted their ISP - they just accepted it and figured it would somehow fix itself).

Incidentally, PlusNet is actually owned by BT


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## crystal haven (Feb 1, 2013)

I'm also with PlusNet. 

We've had very good service, and like Vertigo, no problem with the connection except for a few weeks, which was a couple of years ago.

There is no excuse for the way you've been spoken to, Mouse. But this hasn't been our experience. I would definitely complain.


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## Dave (Feb 2, 2013)

Vertigo said:


> ...all the actually connection hardware in the exchange is 'hired' from BT, no matter who your ISP actually is.


 Some ISP will split lines in two and do other things to save money. And have call centres in India who have no idea of English geography. And tell you that you signed up to things that you most certainly did not. Cowboys basically!

The end of it is that you get what you pay for. A cheap provider like PlusNet must be cutting something somewhere in order to make a profit. I was happy with AOL for many years until they became AOL Europe (which I think is the same as Talk Talk now.) Overnight the service deteriorated. We were getting download speeds a tenth of what was advertised. So, as soon a BT installed Infinity in my area we switched. I had never got rid of my BT landline in any case, though we had been paying well over the odds for separate TV, Telephone and ISP. (I refuse to get Sky for reasons of conscience.)

BT Infinity is great. I have never had my connection drop out since, and the speed is... well I remember the 54Kb modem connection! We still had some customer service issues with them, but that may be a British problem rather than a IT industry problem.

And I do realise and appreciate that I live in London. I have friends in Cumbria who I still can't send any attachments in emails to. Like Mosaix, the emails never arrive. I don't think there is much hope for them unless they get their village to club together for a microwave connection.


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## Dave (Feb 2, 2013)

Kylara said:


> ...especially as the bf has a short temper with what he calls 'idiot engineers who have no right to the ******* title' (ie not technically qualified engineers) and yelled at them for asking us things that had nothing to do with the problem...


I hate Customer Service departments anyway. I once asked someone if I could talk to the organ grinder rather than the monkey. However, IT helpdesks are the worst because the way they are structured means that the first person you speak to knows less about computers than my wife does. If you are lucky, they will pass you on to someone with a GCSE, and on a very good day, they will pass you on to a supervisor who speaks English and actually understands what you are calling about.


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## Mouse (Feb 2, 2013)

I've now had someone different come back to me and say 'Your connection was dropping on the 30th but hasn't done for the past two days.' Which is bullcrap, it was at its absolute worse on the 31st! And how come their own troubleshooter told me my connection had dropped _at least twice_ every day for the past week? I'm sick of these people.

Also just got sent a 'customer service support' survey by them to fill in. I put 'extremely dissatisfied' on everything.


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## Foxbat (Feb 2, 2013)

I had a similar experience of losing connection (with BT). It eventually went altogether. I followed all their troubleshooting advice and came to the conclusion that it was a fault at the exchange but they wouldn't believe me. One caller tried to reprimand me for having the audacity to try modems other than BT models. I asked him what he was going to do about it and he changed the subject.

 It took about a week  of phone calls before I finally got somebody to send an engineer to check. I had to take a day off work because they told me I needed to be at home for the engineer.

The engineer called me on the phone and told me that there was indeed a fault in the exchange. He fixed it in half an hour. He never had to visit my house and I wasted a day's holiday.

The reason I mention all of this is for two reasons - 
             1) you may have a similar problem 
             2)  If it is the same problem, switching provider won't solve it because (as previously stated) BT has all the exchange stuff.

Still, even if switching doesn't solve your problem, you could switch anyway and make sure that your ISP knows it was because of the scumbag you had to deal with. Chances are, he'll get his ***e felt


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## Mouse (Feb 2, 2013)

Good advice. Thanks, Foxbat!


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## StormFeather (Feb 2, 2013)

Hi Mouse.  Sorry to hear that you're having such crappy service.

A few years ago I watched one of those consumer affairs programs - 'Don't get done, get Dom' I think it was, where that bald chap helped out various people with their problems.

With one, who had an issue with their mobile company, he ended up going to the Marketing Department, and letting them know how unhappy he and his client were with the customer service that they had received. Within 24 hours the problem, which had taken months to get to this point, was fully resolved,  and a letter of apology issued.

Shortly after, we were issued with an un-applied-for credit card, which had large monthly charges on it.  We asked for it to be cancelled several times, and demanded to be shown the application for the card that we knew didn't exist.  Of course, each month we'd be charged interest on the debt so far accrued, plus another monthly charge, plus late payment charges.  When we got a letter from the debt collection agency I suggested that my husband followed the same route, as he'd had no joy with any other department.  I admit that he was helped by working in the financial publishing sector.  He contacted the marketing dept, explained the situation, and threatened to get his industry colleagues to write up articles about the unscrupulous practices of Lloyds TSB.  Again, within 24 hours we had the whole thing cancelled, the debt written off, and an apology.

I've had a quick look for you.  I could find a pressroom email:  pressroom@plus.net and on this page at the bottom, they've got links to their various FB & twitter pages:  http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/

I've also found these two pages - the first is a news letter, not necessarily so useful, but has the name of the Carol Axe, the Customer Support Manager (handy to know), and the second is the discussion forums where there is a place to complain (well, give feedback, but with this it's the same thing!)

https://portal.plus.net/features/news/newsletter_issue19.shtml

http://community.plus.net/forum/

Go through all routes and threaten to go ballistic on their FB and Twitter pages about the appalling state of both the connection, and the customer service you've received.  If you didn't take a screen shot from their diagnostic thingy, run it again, take the shot and post it everywhere!

Good luck!


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## Mouse (Feb 2, 2013)

Ooh, thanks for that, SF! I'll try that. I've not heard anything from them since my last message now. Nor have I heard anything back from my complaint.


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## TheTomG (Feb 3, 2013)

I just have to say... 10Gb??! Ive downloaded installers that were 6 to 8 Gb, which is one day's worth, and of course streamed movies that are 3 to 6 Gb depending on whether they are blue ray or not.

Heck even my mobile phone is allowed to move 6Gb a month. So, errr, wow, that sucks all o on its own and I'd be off looking for a better provider even if they talked nicely to me (which apparently they do not, by any means.)

Of course not sure what sort of alternatives there are back in the UK in terms of data caps so maybe that's fair and reasonable over there, but, it sure doesn't sound it. Hope you get satisfaction soon at any rate!


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## Mouse (Feb 3, 2013)

Well...



> Thank you for your message.  I agree with your statement about the  dropping connection possibly causing the over usage on the account.   Therefore I am willing to offer a refund of £5, as a good will gesture  due to the fault on the broadband.
> 
> I apologise for the tone taken by my colleagues this was fairly spartan.



Result.


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## iansales (Feb 3, 2013)

StormFeather said:


> I've also found these two pages - the first is a news letter, not necessarily so useful, but has the name of the Carol Axe, the Customer Support Manager (handy to know), and the second is the discussion forums where there is a place to complain (well, give feedback, but with this it's the same thing!)
> 
> https://portal.plus.net/features/news/newsletter_issue19.shtml




Carol Axe has not been with the business for several years. But do post in the forums, they are watched by customer service and they will answer. Incidentally, Plusnet's call centre is entirely UK-based.


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## crystal haven (Feb 3, 2013)

Well done, Mouse.


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## StormFeather (Feb 3, 2013)

iansales said:


> Carol Axe has not been with the business for several years. But do post in the forums, they are watched by customer service and they will answer. Incidentally, Plusnet's call centre is entirely UK-based.




Thanks for that - should have checked more thoroughly!

Great result Mouse - congratulations!


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## Abernovo (Feb 3, 2013)

As you say, Result! The apology is better than the £5 refund.

Well done, Mouse!


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## Mouse (Feb 3, 2013)

Ta. Yeah, I'm very pleased!


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## Vertigo (Feb 3, 2013)

Yeah, result, Mouse! Though I would have to say that 'fairly spartan' sounds like a bit of a euphemism to me!


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## Mouse (Feb 3, 2013)

I don't even know what it means and I Googled it and everything!


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## Vertigo (Feb 3, 2013)

Well yes, I think I would have used slightly more blunt terminology


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## TheTomG (Feb 4, 2013)

You googled it? Well there's where your data usage is going! Best buy a dictionary


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## mosaix (Feb 4, 2013)

Vertigo said:


> That is why I said the first port of call has to be with your ISP.



Sorry, Vertigo, it seemed I was contradicting you. I was just supplying extra info.


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## mosaix (Mar 22, 2013)

Which?, the monthly publication of The Consumers Association, report in their April issue on broadband providers. Results as follows, highest rated first:

*Best For Speed:* Zen, Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, John Lewis Broadband, O2, Virgin.

*Value for Money:* Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, O2, Post Offce.    *Worst:* sky

*Best For Technical Support:* Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, O2, John Lewis Broadband.      *Worst:* AOL Broadband, TalkTalk.

*Cheapest Broadband / Phone Package (top 3):* Zen, Utility Warehouse, Plusnet

*Cheapest Broadband Only (top 3):* Zen, BE, Plusnet


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## Mouse (Mar 22, 2013)

They're definitely cheap.

My connection is still dropping constantly though.


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Mar 22, 2013)

Haha. This sounds even worse than Comcast here in the States. We've had our services drop all the time, and god knows what else. But being cable, at least we don't have a limit to worry about...


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## Mouse (Mar 22, 2013)

I deal with Comcast. Do all their training. And they've not done any for a long while now. Could probably do with some.


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## J Riff (Mar 23, 2013)

Mought be a problem with your router. Older routers can be slow, there's boxes of them round here, we scrap them daily. Ask someone to look at it and jiggle the cables or move the antenna around,
 I assume it's a wireless connection? Give us the specs from the router, we can googool it and see how ancient n' outmoded it is.


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