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Plusnet review

From £9.99 a month

Manufacturer: Plusnet

Our Rating: We rate this 4 out of 5

By | PC Advisor | 11 January 11

With 15 percent of customers who answered our survey using Plusnet, we were able to find out quite a lot about this good-value ISP. A broadband-only provider with no add-on services to push, Plusnet focuses on raw connection speed, and this enables it to win our 2011 Recommended ISP award.

With 15 percent of customers who answered our survey using Plusnet, we were able to find out quite a lot about this good-value ISP. A broadband-only provider with no add-on services to push, Plusnet focuses on raw connection speed, and this enables it to win our 2011 Recommended ISP award.

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Most users pay £15 or £20 a month, with a landline carrier-preselect service provisioned via the ISP for a third of customers.

Slightly fewer leisure hours are spent online by Plusnet users than were cited by BT, Sky and O2 customers, with nearly a third of users enjoying 15 to 20 hours online per week. Aside from shopping, BBC iPlayer is easily the most popular activity for users, with 57.8 percent listing it. Social networking, web radio and music streaming are also popular.

See also: What's the best UK broadband ISP? PC Advisor's 2011 Broadband Survey report

Plusnet offers its predominantly Windows-based customers between 5 and 8Mbps broadband connections, with a further 20 percent signed up to 2 to 5Mbps connections. Off-peak unlimited downloads are enjoyed by more Plusnet users than other ISPs represented here, with the remainder signed up to 10GB or 60GB subscriptions.

NEXT: our expert verdict >>

Plusnet Expert Verdict »
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Landline, Plusnet account
  • Overall: We give this item 8 of 10 overall

Perceived speeds are underwhelming, perhaps because Plusnet doesn’t offer the 10 or 20Mbps connections some ISPs do. But actual measured speeds tell a more impressive story. Plusnet users enjoy relatively fast connections with a 5.5Mbps average and are among the most content overall, with a 95.7 percent satisfaction rate and 95 percent for connection rates. Customer service gets a similarly good report, with 94 percent satisfaction. It’s really only the value and speed issues that hold Plusnet back from earning a Best Buy award.

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Comments

Aquick said: I dont normally get moved enough to write a review especially a negative one I had previously been a customer for 8 years with Plusnet Their service was passable in the days of 56k modems In short their Broadband is sporadic slow and basically usuable in todays world They tie you in and they charge more just to leave Im so upset at the whole experience that should I meet someone in person who works for Plusnet I will feel compelled to just move away shaking my head Utter utter con artists

Mistraras said: I cannot imagine where you found your customer reviews I have yet to come across anyone else who is a verified user of PlusNet who doesnt hate them with a fiery passion They are the textbook definition of useless unreliable and misleading They advertise products they cannot deliver they charge randomly and they clearly dislike the nuisance of having to deal with the customers they mess up REALLY terrible company to be avoided completely

Dean said: Plusnet are a joke have asked to have my line fixed twice still not fixed has the same problems thay bill for calls you dont make thay are going down hill fast but then again thay are owned by BT join them at your own risk

Jldunphy said: had plusnet for 4 months now Service and response to possible faults excellent and v g VFM Only real problem is BTs wholesale ADSL2 that PN uses Its slower that Zens basic ADSL because the rate adapation algorithm BT uses is too conservative It reduces rate from nearly 5Mbps to about 3Mbps despite a v good signal to noise ratio of 16dB presumably due to infrequent dropouts in BT wiring PN want about 150pds to investigate but Im not paying because I know BT will not find a hard fault Im 36kM from exchange and independent ADSL estimations cite 5 to 6Mbps as expected

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