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Old 06-12-2016, 12:52
jonmorris
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P.S. The introductory £10 for 4GB sim-only tariff seems quite good value. On a 30 day contract too, and one has to assume they'd honour it for a decent amount of time (i.e. at least a year).
You'd hope it remains that price for as long as you keep paying. That's how things used to be, before Three decided it could use 'out of contract' as a means of forcing you to pay more - and without Ofcom being able to say or do anything.

Thankfully the industry as a whole doesn't seem to be copying Three's approach, but there's always a risk. After all, once out of contract (which on a 30 day contract is the first month only!) they can do what they want because you always have the option to leave.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:03
binary
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What are the oldest contracts still on the go out there I wonder? Any Orange Everyday 50 or One2One tariffs with free local calls? The Orange OVP price match of the now defunct Virgin Mobile £0 a month contract was quite popular for a while. Haven't operators closed down some pretty ancient tariffs?

I imagine - but haven't checked - that Plusnet Mobile will be able to raise prices in line with RPI.

On the more general point Jon, I get where you are coming from regarding Three's (then new) approach, but once a contract has run its course in terms of the minimum period then legally speaking there's nothing to say it has to stay the same.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:18
jonmorris
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On the more general point Jon, I get where you are coming from regarding Three's (then new) approach, but once a contract has run its course in terms of the minimum period then legally speaking there's nothing to say it has to stay the same.
Of course, but networks haven't (generally, as there may be other exceptions as you've mentioned) done this - or else we'd all be seeing price hikes the second we are out of contract all the time, and nobody would want or dare get a 12 month contract, let alone 30 day. For good deals, people would beg for 3 or 4 year contracts!

I think the early Orange plans may have gone because the billing changes would have rendered them impossible to manage, but I can't remember what customers were offered as a replacement. I doubt they were told their bill was going to double, while having to accept a reduction in service.

In the case of the PersonalCall tariff on one2one, I know that remained for years - but eventually it simply wasn't better than newer plans that came along. People said early on they'd keep it for life, but then we got unlimited (or huge amounts of) minutes and texts and there was obviously no data on that plan, which people wouldn't be able to live without today.

one2one said they'd let people keep the plan for as long as they wanted but would lose it if they wanted to upgrade their phone or missed a payment. In the end, I doubt anyone still has a m301 to get weekend calls for free, and left before they were pushed.
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Old 06-12-2016, 15:38
alan.w
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I left one2one as they started putting it up each year in large ingress if i remember right and most would have left as others were cheaper by then
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Old 06-12-2016, 15:46
d123
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What are the oldest contracts still on the go out there I wonder? Any Orange Everyday 50 or One2One tariffs with free local calls? The Orange OVP price match of the now defunct Virgin Mobile £0 a month contract was quite popular for a while. Haven't operators closed down some pretty ancient tariffs?
I've still got an Orange OVP Virgin sim.
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Old 08-12-2016, 14:49
SkipTracer
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Not a week gone by since the switch from Life mobile to Plusnet and already my current accounts page is showing mistakes with my current usage showing from the 11/12/16 to 11/01/17 and this being the 5/12/16 today.

What it is showing for usage is my usage from 11/11/16 to 11/12/16 or should be so will they be adding that to the next month usage and therefore extra charges.

I’ve had no problems with Life Mobile but if they muck up my billing after a week I’m off elsewhere and time, a very short time will tell.
Update, noticed today my account is showing correct information now so must have been teething problems earlier in the week.
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Old 08-12-2016, 16:35
blueacid
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I've still got an Orange OVP Virgin sim.
What was that deal like? I seem to remember it being pretty good...
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Old 08-12-2016, 17:54
wantoosoon
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Had the £7.50 deal for 24 hours and have now cancelled. No phone signal at home, no data signal in my neighbourhood, couldn't log into the website 5 times out of 7, and the porting (thankfully) didn't go through. Their signal strength checker app was simply wrong.

While it's a great deal on paper, I don't want to deal with the stress of Plusnet customer service and technical incompetence.

I hope the rest of you have a better experience.
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Old 08-12-2016, 18:29
Stig
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Had the £7.50 deal for 24 hours and have now cancelled. No phone signal at home, no data signal in my neighbourhood, couldn't log into the website 5 times out of 7, and the porting (thankfully) didn't go through. Their signal strength checker app was simply wrong.

While it's a great deal on paper, I don't want to deal with the stress of Plusnet customer service and technical incompetence.

I hope the rest of you have a better experience.
Can you get an EE signal where you are?
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Old 09-12-2016, 16:32
JSemple3
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Been having a hassle trying to sign up for plusnet mobile. Today I thought I had finally sorted it (entered my bank card details for direct debit and the card number what not for the one off payment) then as soon as I done the one off payment thing I got a whoops something went wrong message (and the money's been taken out my account too) so got no mobile still with them after 3 weeks and 15 quid out of pocket
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Old 19-12-2016, 10:06
binary
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Several references in this MSE forum thread to Plusnet Mobile making a right hash of porting numbers in to their system.

I was going to recommend it to a friend, but they wouldn't thank me for it!

Shame as LIFE Mobile as was didn't seem to suffer from any particular problems.
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Old 19-12-2016, 10:21
Denco1
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Several references in this MSE forum thread to Plusnet Mobile making a right hash of porting numbers in to their system.

I was going to recommend it to a friend, but they wouldn't thank me for it!

Shame as LIFE Mobile as was didn't seem to suffer from any particular problems.
Eek one of my friends has just started the port process, I'll let you know whether or not it goes smoothly.
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Old 19-12-2016, 11:08
jchamier
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Eek one of my friends has just started the port process, I'll let you know whether or not it goes smoothly.
Two people I know have just ported without problem, one was from a Vodafone corporate plan to PlusNet, and the other was from legacy TMobile to PlusNet.
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Old 19-12-2016, 11:45
Gigabit
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Plusnet have gone right down the drain in the last couple of years so this doesn't surprise me unfortunately.
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Old 19-12-2016, 14:10
clewsy
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The problem appears to be upscaling. Plusnet can't cope with the demand placed on them and seem to be still on the small staff base for an increased customer base.

Makes me laugh in that MSE forum as one user left Tesco for Plusnet. Now at the time Tesco were matching the 4gb of data to Plusnet and are known for their excellent customer service.
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Old 20-12-2016, 08:51
SkipTracer
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The problem appears to be upscaling. Plusnet can't cope with the demand placed on them and seem to be still on the small staff base for an increased customer base.

Makes me laugh in that MSE forum as one user left Tesco for Plusnet. Now at the time Tesco were matching the 4gb of data to Plusnet and are known for their excellent customer service.
With Tesco I can see they do 1 month at £7-50 and you get 500 mins, 5,000 text and no data so where is the nearest equivalent to Plusnet’s 1 month at £7-50 1,000 mins, unlimited text and 2GB data or perhaps you have to be a haggler to get the Tesco best deals.
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Old 20-12-2016, 09:10
jonmorris
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The network you'll actually use, including coverage and average speeds, also plays a part in deciding who to connect with, I'd have thought.
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Old 20-12-2016, 09:23
philt74
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The network you'll actually use, including coverage and average speeds, also plays a part in deciding who to connect with, I'd have thought.
I'd be surprised if most 'normal' people bother to check until they've signed up and it's too late...
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Old 20-12-2016, 09:32
jonmorris
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I'd be surprised if most 'normal' people bother to check until they've signed up and it's too late...
I am sure you're right. That's clear when you also have people who like to brag that they get better coverage on, say, Virgin, than EE. Okay, so with 4G there is a difference (and VoLTE will also make a difference) but in the past, there was no difference coverage wise.

Data speeds, perhaps, like Giffgaff vs O2, but Joe Public are clearly ignorant - although increasingly MVNOs will say what network they use. At least the ones that use EE usually do!
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Old 20-12-2016, 11:10
clewsy
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With Tesco I can see they do 1 month at £7-50 and you get 500 mins, 5,000 text and no data so where is the nearest equivalent to Plusnet’s 1 month at £7-50 1,000 mins, unlimited text and 2GB data or perhaps you have to be a haggler to get the Tesco best deals.
Yes it was at the black Friday time they were matching it. I notice it's no longer on offer, however I bet they will match it if you ring up.

In the post in question it appears the user was happy with the coverage they got on Tesco so guessing they moved because of the offer.
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Old 20-12-2016, 19:18
Denco1
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Two people I know have just ported without problem, one was from a Vodafone corporate plan to PlusNet, and the other was from legacy TMobile to PlusNet.
Unfortunately they have indeed messed up my friends port, also legacy T-Mobile-Plusnet, although the account is so old it's a one2one sim
Same case as been reported, T-Mobile number disconnected, but not moved over to Plusnet, so no one can reach them.
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Old 20-12-2016, 19:51
SkipTracer
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I bought the £7-50 sim only deal today as I couldn’t let that bargain go by.

Before ordering today I spent an hour last night reading through the Plusnet mobile phone forum and came to the conclusion that there are two problems. The first and the worst one is the porting problem that apparently their working on and has acknowledged there is a problem.

The second problem seems to be APN related and getting data to work with some Androids and Apple phones though it seems this is a problem that does not affect many.

If I do port my current number to Plusnet I will leave it a month or so until the dust settles and as far as the APN problem goes I think I will be alright.

Time will tell if my risk of a £15 outlay is worth it.
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Old 22-12-2016, 16:10
SkipTracer
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Sim turned up today and everything is working fine, almost.

I put the sim in a Chinese’s branded phone and it automatically selected ‘Orange’ (who are they ) for the APN but a quick manual input of Plusnet’s APN settings had the 4G icon up straight away.

Did a speed test and got 26 Mb down and 9 up over 4G. Now here’s a thing about the desire to have 4G, my OH’s phone has a Life Mobile sim with 3G only though the phone can handle 4G but doing a speed test from exactly the same spot here in my front room with her phone I got a download speed of, wait for it, 26 Mb down and 9 up.

I’m not going to port my number in for a couple of months so no problems there but I have hit a problem with tethering as I could not get that to work however putting the Plusnet sim in an old Huawei 4G phone and tethering works fine. Not got a clue to why tethering does not work in my Doogee but switching the dual sim phone to use data from my GiffGaff sim and the tethering works fine so Dodgee and Plusnet don’t seem to see eye to eye with tethering. Both sims slots in the Doogee can do 3 & 4G but not at the same time but I can’t see why that would effect tethering.
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Old 23-12-2016, 21:15
TellyToday
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Had 3 contracts with Life Mobile, since PlusNet took over they have managed to lose a ported number, so when anyone tries to call they are told the number does not exist. I have phone customer services till I am blue in the face, but the TV Face of PlusNet is nothing like the real thing. Even the Twitter Mods are no help at all.

"I'm just going to call you now and see what the message states, then raise it again with our Operations Team, who have said they'll look in to this as a priority. This would normally take up to 5 working days, however, I wouldn't want to give you any false expectations with regards to when this will be resolved, especially during the holiday period.
I can only apologise for the inconvenience and disruption this will no doubt be causing and can advise you that you will be provided compensation once the issue is resolved."

So partner is left without any phone service over Christmas and I expect New Year.

He signed off the Twitter DM with:

"Is there anything else I can do to help today?"

Toi add insult to injury they sent the new bill overnight.
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Old 24-12-2016, 08:11
Heanor_Man31
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What are the oldest contracts still on the go out there I wonder? Any Orange Everyday 50 or One2One tariffs with free local calls? The Orange OVP price match of the now defunct Virgin Mobile £0 a month contract was quite popular for a while. Haven't operators closed down some pretty ancient tariffs?

I imagine - but haven't checked - that Plusnet Mobile will be able to raise prices in line with RPI.

On the more general point Jon, I get where you are coming from regarding Three's (then new) approach, but once a contract has run its course in terms of the minimum period then legally speaking there's nothing to say it has to stay the same.
Like BT Mobile it says the following:

Prices, content and terms may change at any time during your contract. We'll tell you about important changes in advance, and if a change is detrimental you'll be able to end your contract without any fees.

So at the moment it looks like RPI doesn't apply-yet.
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