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| Plusnet - 21 days to cease and re-provide ?? |
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| message from Tim... on 28 Jun 2005 |
The present account is an " Always on DSL Connect" type account, one of
those that only connects at 256k or thereabouts.
The user of such would like to pay £1 a month less, and get the full 2Mb
speeds now available, opting for one of the newly formed "Plus" accounts.
Unfortunately, Plusnet are offering a potential 21 day lead time on such a
transfer, and, it seems cannot commit to a pre-arranged period spanning
aprox 10 days in which to deactivate the present account, and re-provide the
new one, this period being when the user is away on holiday and won't be
affected by the downtime.
Essentially, if an upgrade order is placed, this user has to wait for his
connection to go off, sometime in the next 14 days, then wait for it to come
back on, sometime in the 7 days thereafter.
Appreciative that one technology is different from another so far as BT are
concerned, and a cease and re-provide of such is required, I find it
remarkable, in this 'digital age', that even given a 10 day time span to do
whatever needs to be done, whenever you need to do it, the answer is "it
can't be done" and a 21 day window is the option on offer.
Plusnet, your ticket 16900917 refers ... FWIW.
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| PlusNet Support Team replied to Tim... on 28 Jun 2005 |
<invalid@invalid.domain.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
Unfortunately this process is something that can take time because the
ordering system at BT Wholesale deals with telephone numbers and can only
place one order at a time. So in order to move from dsl Connect to one of
the new accounts we have to place a cease order for the old service (which
takes 7 days to process but the downtime won't start until the end of the
7 days), we then need to allow a few days for the ordering system to
update to show that the old service is cancelled, before placing the new
order, which again has a 7 day leadtime.
As such what I would suggest is that your friend requests to change
accounts about 7-10 days before they go away. They'd still have access to
the Internet until just before they go away and most of the downtime would
be while they were away.
With Regards,
Dave,
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| kraftee replied to Tim... on 28 Jun 2005 |
Not enough imformation but if they are moving from a data stream to an Ip
stream, there isn't a mechanism in place to migrate (though there may be a
limited ongoing trial) hence the stop of the old service & then the
provision of the new.
By the way it's up to 2Mb, not a guaranteed 2Mb, hope your friend isn't
disapointed...
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| Tim... replied to kraftee on 28 Jun 2005 |
Yes, I appreciate the [potential] difference in technology, but that is not
actually the point.
Plusnet were advised that the user was going to be away between 2 dates, and
subsequently, due to the downtime, it would be ideal time for them to
arrange for the changeover. I find it difficult to accept that it will take
anything up to 3 weeks to arrange to send an engineer to the exchange, for
said engineer to unplug one 'thing', and plug something else in (which is
simplifying it admittedly, but in essence, is what happens)
I doubt he will be ... next door, over the road, is the main telephone
exchange for this town. If he can't get 2Mb (like his neighbour in the flat
below) then he'll still get faster than the 256k which he is currently on,
and for less :-)
Nonetheless, 2Mb for him is very much on the cards methinks. And he isn't a
friend, incidentally.
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| Peter Crosland replied to Tim... on 28 Jun 2005 |
You are missing the point. Plusnet like many other ISPs are dependant on BT
to do the work. Unfortunately because BT are such a badly organised company
with, for many people, a monopoly on lines they can get away with being
useless. The ISP has little or no clout in trying to get things done however
much they would wish to. You, or your non friend, should direct your
complints to BT not Plusnet.
Peter Crosland
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| Tx2 replied to Peter Crosland on 28 Jun 2005 |
No, I am not missing any point ... I am making one.
Hence my mention of sending engineers to exchanges. I am fully aware BT are
involved, but Plusnet are the customers 'gateway', and it is to Plusnet whom
the customer looks for help in such matters. I also realise what a
monolithic company BT is, and how difficult they can be to deal with.
On that, i don't disagree at all.
No complaint, just making a point that I find it bizarre that in this
'button pushing' age in which we live, things can't happen more quickly than
3 weeks, or at the very least, a forward planned arrangmement be made to do
the work in a window which is convenient to the customer, and gives the
supplier quite some considerable scope for flexibility.
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| cw replied to Tx2 on 28 Jun 2005 |
It could happen quicker if BT reprogrammed their systems to provide a
better mechanism for this type of migration.
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| Alfie [UK] replied to Tim... on 28 Jun 2005 |
They're limited by the lead times BT specify, and BT always
over-specify. It may be done a lot quicker, but there's a lot going on,
it has to be done in a set sequence, scheduled into an engineer's
workload, and scheduled into any other exchange/line work going on.
Very basically, they have to cease the existing service, not sure about
the tech for Connect likely 'move' the line from the Connect equipment
to PSTN/POTS at the exchange, they then test the line to see if it can
handle the new service, then 'move' the line to a new frame (PSTN/POTS
to DSLAM) at the exchange, and carry out a test to see if it's now
working, before telling PlusNet that it's operational.
Kraftee can tell you more but I'm guessing that these are scheduled as
individual jobs, cease, test, provide, test, go live. Some testing may
be carried out remotely, some might need an exchange visit, or even site
visit if a 'D end' line fault shows up. The exchange needs to be
adequately provisioned, i.e. sufficient power, frame space, switch
capacity, etc which may need to be adjusted beforehand if the exchange
is already a 'busy' switch site. Other lines might have to be moved to
ensure correct operation. It all takes time and planning.
All in all their aim is to provide you with the service that you are
asking for without doing something that will affect someone else's
service, so their lead times have adequate buffer space in case it isn't
a simple job.
I know it doesn't help but there is a reason that PlusNet can't give you
a firm date, they just won't know how long it will take, and BT won't be
able to tell them at the first order point.
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| Tx2 replied to Alfie [UK] on 28 Jun 2005 |
No, it helps a lot. Shame Plusnet couldn't have explained this in the first
instance, even if not in so much detail.
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| poster replied to Alfie [UK] on 28 Jun 2005 |
One thing I had considered was a migration to one of the ISPs which does
accept users from DataStream (but I still don't know whether they're yet
clued up to give out a MAC, and without that it would all be academic in
making the attempt...) Worst case possible would be if the 'cease' did
not take place, as once happened to me, with a delay of 2+ months from
losing one ISP and the other being able to get me activated. Peter.
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