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George.
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  • 1 month later...

Pondering changing to Plusnet, in theory as they use the same hardware as BT there shouldn't be any issues, right.. ?

Though I am reminded of how a mobile phone here works fine on a Plusnet SIM, but not a BT SIM via the same cell tower, so what is up with that !
(No SMS service, asked BT, they don't know why, and won't bother to investigate further unless more than a few people complain about the same issue..)

Anyone negative experience of changing from BT to Plusnet internet and something being different ?
(I'm aware that Plusnet routers are not as good as BT ones, but you can use your BT router instead.)
 

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Bear in mind that the only carrier (on most of Shetland) is BT.  The only thing you will really be gaining is that you might end up paying less for the same level of service.

Downside is that you will be "putting an extra joint into the plumbing" if something goes wrong.

 

I was with Plusnet a couple of years back until their prices started going up.  Switched to Origin for a better deal and got a better router out of it but, nothing else has changed.

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Depending on your location, EE's 4GEE broadband is the first real alternative to BT in Shetland.

 

We just moved over and get 80-100 down and 30-60up depending on usual factors. Home broadband plus mobile contract still cheaper than the basic package from BT. 

 

Well worth a look if you can see one of the new masts.

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I know nothing about changing over from BT to Plusnet, but concerning Plusnet themselves i can't say they provide any better service than BT, which is what the better half uses.

 

Speed is okay I guess for what it is, bog basic broadband, and for the first year or two I couldn't fault them, but these days there's an annoying amount of short lived drop outs, peaking and flat spots from time to time. Possibly may only need tweaking someplace, but when having to choose putting up with it, or risking having to deal with a customer (dis)service department staffed by Gita and Sanjay, wherever in the world they are, a sentence of expletives whenever it acts up in winning so far.

 

On the plus side, they only rob me of £15/month for it (although it took being with them four years to get it that low), and their billing department are considerably more civil and polite when it comes to dragging the cash out of you, than their Mafia trained counterparts over at BT.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Last I read it was 99%, is it really 100% ?

 

https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2019/04/11/superfast-broadband-promised-for-all-by-the-end-of-2021/
> Community / Superfast broadband promised for all by the end of 2021

So a bit under 3 years then ?

Will they be using the same ductwork as the council is having laid on Yell / Unst, or plugging into the fibre cable being laid there shortly ?
 

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Whilst testing speeds, I came across this site which appears to show the distance from your rough house area to the your telephone exchange. (Previously you could find that out via a phone command, but that is now blocked for non-telephone staff to use, and no longer appears available to find out online.)

https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest

Oh wait, here is another one:

https://www.broadbandexposed.co.uk/broadband/tools/exchange-search/

Though they disagree on the distance, and also where the exchange is..

Does that mean there two very close to me, or that one has moved, or its choosing the wrong one, or its miss-reporting for some other reason ?

FX [ Goes to check google maps and street view.. ]

Oh I see, either BT have taken to disguising their exchanges as bungalows, or its pointing to the wrong place. :-)

As such, the second link doesn't appear to be as reliable for distance measuring as the first one.
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Email from Plusnet:

 

-----------------

When you signed up for Plusnet Broadband, we gave you an estimated line speed range. Now that your Unlimited (Contracted) broadband has been up and running for 14 days, we wanted to let you know your line speed as it stands today, as a comparison.
 
Estimated peak time speeds:
Download: 5 - 6Mb
Upload: 1Mb
These are the speeds your line is capable of at peak times.
Current line speed: 7.15Mb
This is a measure of the actual line speed you are now receiving based on the product you have taken.
Minimum Guaranteed Speed: 3.4Mb
This is the minimum speed you should expect to achieve on your line.

-----------------
 

No real mention of how on the same hardware I was getting 8.8Mb before on BT..

Oh well, at least its half the price !
 

Just means it takes longer to download stuff..
 

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^Instead of accepting what you're told about line speed, it may well be worth testing it yourself.

 

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/how-to-test-your-broadband-speed/

 

https://broadbandtest.which.co.uk/

 

https://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband-speed-test/

 

Just tested my broadband speed on broadband.co.uk and it showed a download speed of 48 Mb and an upload speed of 7.9Mb. Whether these speeds are all the time or not I don't know, but it's better than expected.

Edited by George.
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