I hope you’ve had a great summer. It’s the time of year when many workplaces go quiet. Not at PlusNet! We always operate around the clock but this month there's been even more effort and commitment than usual.

To reduce the number of incoming questions and faults we temporarily paused our 8Mb upgrade programme (both BT Max and Tiscali LLU) - more on this below. We've also had some major outages or problems with email, connectivity and some CGI websites which has generated even more demand in our customer support centre.

Over the last few months everyone at PlusNet has been working over and above the call of duty to cut down waiting times for calls and questions. A lot of hard work is paying off and we've got the number of questions awaiting a response down to something approaching normal levels.

I've already said thank you to everyone at PlusNet for their extra commitment during this time. I'd also like to thank you for bearing with us during the last couple of months whilst we have been working to reduce wait times for calls and online questions.

We know that PlusNet can continue to provide you with a quality service. We’re working to get our customer support back to the level that has won us awards year after year.

Carol Axe (Customer Support Manager and Plus Editor)

PS - If you're keen to keep up with what's happening at PlusNet, take a look at the PlusNet news section on the website where you'll see all our latest news articles - Check out the PlusNet news

Up to 8Mb Broadband Upgrades - An Update

Over the last two newsletters you've read about the upgrade programme for up to 8Mb. You might even have had your upgrade already. Lots of customers contacted us after their upgrade with questions and some had faults, which contributed to our long response times recently. In response we put the up to 8Mb upgrade programme on hold and we've been working with BT and Tiscali ever since to improve the upgrade process.

We're now in a position where upgrades to the BT DSL Max product can start again! The upgrades will go through in smaller numbers than before. If you requested an upgrade via our website then you will be processed first. Don't worry if you're not on up to 8Mb yet - it's coming this autumn.

If you have not requested an up to 8Mb upgrade yet you still can - go to http://max.plus.net

We've also temporarily put transfers to the Tiscali LLU platform on hold for similar reasons to the BT Max upgrades. We'll email you individually before the programme is restarted if your broadband is eligible for the change. We’ll also offer you the option of opting-out if you want to.

Move your landline phone to PlusNet

Wouldn't it be easier if you only had to deal with one company for your broadband and phone calls? Well, now you can move your landline over to PlusNet and make your life a little bit simpler.

Home Phone starts at just £11 a month and calls are up to 17% cheaper than with leading competitors. That makes it not only convenient, but also great value.

Find out more and sign up today

Support improvements and developments

We're keen to listen to your suggestions on improving our online Help & Support. That's why we've been scouring our Discussion Forums and conducting customer tests to further understand your day-to-day experience.

Our website team, responsible for the online support and self-service tools, have also been gauging customer feedback by answering Questions raised through the Help Assistant. This, along with building a closer relationship with the PlusNet Usergroup, has given the team a great insight into what customers think, leading to a real drive to improve the website.

Keep track of the resulting improvements by looking at the news section of the PlusNet Usergroup website, where you'll find a weekly summary of what the team have been working on.

PlusNet Usergroup News

Investing in a network for now and for the future

Ever wondered what we're doing to build a network that will continue to give you the best online experience possible? Well, if you know your Sun V440s from your Sun T2000s, or you're an expert on ERXs, you'll love our summary of where the network is going.

Even if you don't understand the detail of what we're talking about you'll see that we're investing a lot of money in a platform you can rely on. You won't see many other ISPs willing to discuss this kind of thing with you. We're happy to answer any further questions in our Discussion Forums.

Read the network investment summary

New - Dial-up backup for broadband faults

We understand how frustrating it can be when your broadband connection isn't working. To try and ease this frustration, we're now giving a free dial-up connection to customers with a broadband fault. This means that while we're working to fix your problem, you can still keep up with your email and browse the web at no extra cost to yourself.

Find out more about free dial-up backups at http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1155232716.htm

One of our customers earns over £170 a month with My Referrals!

You can get great discounts on your subscription by recommending PlusNet to your friends and family. We’d rather reward you each and every month for your recommendations because we think it makes more sense than pouring money into expensive adverts. What do you think? Give us your feedback on My Referrals

We’re sure you’ll be impressed to hear that our top referrer in July earned more than £170 a month - because you could do it too.

News flash! The Hottest Ticket in Town

You will have noticed over the summer that we changed the name of Tickets to Questions. We’ve listened to customer feedback, and the verdict was that many of you have found this confusing. As a result, we’ll be changing it back to Tickets in the coming weeks. We’ll be in touch by email when the change is complete.