Plusnet Email Outage Causes Frustrations

British Internet Service Provider (ISP) Plusnet has confirmed that its customers are not receiving emails.

Complaints to the Downdetector website began on Wednesday morning, starting just after 6am. And as of 2pm on Wednesday, there is still no sign of a solution.

The outage only seems to affect email addresses. It does not impact Plusnet’s broadband or phone services.

Ongoing issue

Plusnet has acknowledged that its email service is down, and engineers at the company at already working on a fix.

The official Twitter account, @Plusnet, provided a short update, but only in response to a number of disgruntled customers.

“Some customers are having problems logging in their email and we’re working quickly to resolve the issue. Plusnet broadband, mobile services are not affected and we’re sorry for the inconvenience caused,” it tweeted in response to a complaint.

But the ISP has yet to provide any update on its official Twitter feed on the outage.

The Plusnet Support Twitter account has been shuttered.

Users phoning Plusnet customer services are informed there is an issue with the email service, but no other update is provided.

The only update comes via Plusnet’s Server Status page – which is used to highlight any known issues with the online service.

The ISP confirmed that the solution was taking longer than expected.

“We’re really sorry but its taking a little longer than we expected to fix the issue. We’re working hard to get it resolved as quickly as possible,” it said in an update at 10am.

As of 3pm Wednesday, Plusnet’s email service is still down.

BT owned

Budget friendly ISP Plusnet was acquired by BT in 2006, but has managed to keep its own identity by operating at an “arm’s-length” from the carrier, and stressing its Yorkshire heritage in advertising campaigns (it was founded in 1997 in Sheffield).

For years Plusnet has touted itself as a friendly no nonsense ISP. But it is fair to say that there has been problems in recent years.

In 2019 Ofcom figures revealed that Plusnet and TalkTalk were ranked at the bottom of the broadband market, over poor connectivity, and issues with broadband speed.

Plusnet has also had a problem with its billing system, which forced Ofcom in 2017 to fine Plusnet £880,000 for continuing to bill customers for broadband and landline services after they had cancelled their contracts.