Hi Alan
Thanks for that.
We have been having EXACTLY the same problems here running on fibre optic broadband from PlusNet (Windows 10 on one pc and 8.1 on the other).
However, our iphones and ipad run normally.
We also run Norton and Super Antispy which show up no unusual problems.
We've also been in contact with PlusNet but they haven't mentioned to us anything about a known fault.
Their only suggestion was to suggest changing channels on the router which hasn't altered anything.
I have raised a priority support call from them (on Monday) but have heard nothing since.
Martin

Quote from: port perran on February 24, 2016, 09:02:00 PM
Hi Alan
Thanks for that.
We have been having EXACTLY the same problems here running on fibre optic broadband from PlusNet (Windows 10 on one pc and 8.1 on the other).
However, our iphones and ipad run normally.
We also run Norton and Super Antispy which show up no unusual problems.
We've also been in contact with PlusNet but they haven't mentioned to us anything about a known fault.
Their only suggestion was to suggest changing channels on the router which hasn't altered anything.
I have raised a priority support call from them (on Monday) but have heard nothing since.
Martin

Hi Martin,
don't know if this be of any help, but the relevant piece of 'chat' reads as follows :

"Ok we have had an issue with the TG582n and computers using windows 8.1 and windows 10. I will send an email to our products team and they will be able to send an update to your router to resolve the issue. This should be done within the next 24-72 hours."


regards
alan

Oh dear ... one of them ... to my knowledge, this has been replaced by PN at least once - can you not get them to issue you the current unit to plug into your BT box ?  What you have is pretty basic and under-specced for the fibre service you should be getting ...

this is the router they fitted when they did the upgrade to fibre optic.
unfortunately it looks like you have to take what you are given, but if it doesn't get sorted by the update, then I shall be asking for a better router, plus something for the last two weeks of  internet 'service' 

Received a reply today from Plusnet which was totally unhelpful.
They seem only interested in passing the buck.
I had a look at their Community Forum and am staggered by the number of complaints and problems.
I have decided the easiest resolution is to switch suppliers Asaph

Quote from: port perran on February 25, 2016, 07:17:13 PM
I had a look at their Community Forum and am staggered by the number of complaints and problems.

Of course there's loads of complaints ... be honest : when things were great for you, did you go on the boards & praise the ISP ?

Grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere - every ISP's boards have loads of complaints : that's the nature of them.  The trick is to find an ISP that deals with the complaints 

Quote from: MikeDunn on February 25, 2016, 08:06:44 PM

Quote from: port perran on February 25, 2016, 07:17:13 PM
I had a look at their Community Forum and am staggered by the number of complaints and problems.

Of course there's loads of complaints ... be honest : when things were great for you, did you go on the boards & praise the ISP ?

Grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere - every ISP's boards have loads of complaints : that's the nature of them.  The trick is to find an ISP that deals with the complaints 

Do you have a suggestion?

Well, I left Virgin & joined PlusNet    Does that help you ? 

Whatever you do - avoid EE & TalkTalk ... !!!  Use sites such as http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php to see who is getting good current ratings, draw your shortlist from those & see which are in your area.

MikeDunn says <Whatever you do - avoid EE & TalkTalk ...>.

What leads you to say that - do you have evidence that they are not to be used? Is it just a personal opinion that you can't substantiate?

Norman

You mean apart from the appalling ratings they get pretty much everywhere ?  The abysmal customer service they give ?

Read the independent reviews - no-one rates them at all ...  I surmise from your tone that you use one of them ?

Yes I do use one of them, without any problems. I would venture that only the moaners and whingers go onto the forums to complain. You don't see many posts praising the good service people have had.

Which was my point earlier - however, that does not mean that these are good providers.  Like I said - read the independent reviews (such as Which?), they pan them - and for good reason.

I know people on each, and they can't wait until their contracts expire so they can get the hell away from them.

I was with o2 Broadband and it was brilliant until the router went silly and asked for another and they could not care less that is about 8 years ago, went to Plusnet worse thing I have ever done, thought I would try Talk Talk and that was a joke I would be lucky if a page would load, been with BT ever since best connection I have ever had it has never let me down, but I do know if you want to talk to someone its hard work keep getting some one in India and can never understand what they say.

Always a nightmare choosing the right Broadband for your area I know been there got the T-shirt, we have Talk Talk at work and its good not sure if they look after businesses more than Joe Public but we have been through 3 routers failing, so maybe it is a hardware thing as well.

I've used BT for years now and only ever had one problem in that time. Geoff is right about the overseas call centre. It took me days to get it sorted out. They just kept asking me to do standard checks which most people would already have done before they reported a problem. Apart from that problem BT have been very reliable so far.

Well ... the acid test for any ISP is : how well do they deal with problems ?  Not queries etc but actual problems.  And a lot of the large ones do very poorly on this test, especially for residential customers (commercial ones, especially large commercial, get far better service than us mugs).  And you also need to look at who owns who - BT, for example, own PlusNet ... and I think TalkTalk own AOL    Or is it EE who own them ?  One or other, I recall.
[edit : seems BT has bought out EE broadband ... !]

WRT hardware at our end of the link ... unless you've gone out & bought something decent (remember the days of 9600 modems and earlier ? ) you are given low-end kit - for what you pay for the service, no way will the ISP give you anything decent unless you're paying an arm & a leg !  I took one look at what Virgin provided me for ADSL & bought something far superior !  Rarely had any issues ... unlike those who stuck with the freebie ...  Worst problem I had was when my box died of old age ... lasted me through 3 house moves, on 24/7 for many years    NetGear used to make good kit in those days !

Sadly, on fibre the choices are more limited - the residential market is still in its infancy.  There is good kit out there - at a high price (£100 upwards), happily more is coming along at lower prices that promise to be as good.  I'm still using the BT modem + DSL/fibre router from PlusNet because of the limited and expensive choice to replace them with (I don't like having two boxes & want a combined fibre modem/router, for example - that increases the cost); it's adequate (especially now I can access the proper mgmt interface instead of the lobotomised one PlusNet tell you about !) but some bits do annoy me about it (occasional drop of service that the system tells me aren't happening - in that case, how come I have no connection, hmmm ?).  When a decent alternative at a decent price comes out, I'll move on; but some people don't have this option, as the ISP ties them onto hardware they provide only <cough>Sky<cough>.  Another area to research before you move ...