Plusnet cashback offer: 8Mbps broadband for £4/mth

Former_MSE_Lawrence

09 March 2009

What's the deal?

It's possible for anyone with a BT line, living near a Plusnet-deigned 'low cost area', to get broadband with a 10GB download limit for £4/mth.

To do it you need to take advantage of a special cashback offer, which pays £35 when you sign up, knocking £2/mth off the £5.99 'Value' package over the course of the 18 month contract.

How the cashback works

Specialist cashback sites list retailers and product providers and get paid by the retailers if you click through to them, but importantly, if you're registered the then give some or all of this cash to you. For a full explanation read the Top Cashback Sites guide.

How to get the cash

• Step one. Get a cashback account
  
  Lots of sites offer cashback, but Quidco* exclusively offers the full £35 (always check that's the amount you get, it can change). It's free to register, but the site takes the first £5 you earn each year as its admin charge. So if this is the only cashback you earn all year, the total will be £60 (making the broadband £4.32/month).

• Step two. Sign up for a Plusnet broadband contract
  
  Next, sign up clicking through Quidco for Plusnet's value package. While the cashback works on its other packages, this one's the cheapest. You'll be asked for your BT phone number so a quick check can be made to see if you're in a 'low cost area' - where there's fierce competition between providers. If you aren't you'll be charged £11.99 a month after 3 months, which is easily beatable, so steer clear, and read the full Cheap Broadband article for other options.

• Step three. Check the transaction has tracked, then wait
  
  Once you're all signed up, leave it a couple of days, then log in and check the cashback has 'tracked' - that is, that it appears on your quidco account page.
  
  It's likely you'll have to wait a couple of months before you receive any payment, but you should nonetheless be able to see the transaction.
  
  If there's no sign of it you may need to get in touch with the cashback site, but read the full Cashback Sites article first.

WARNING! Cashback sites payouts aren't 100% guaranteed

As cashback sites rely on the retailers paying them, it's never a sure thing until it's in your bank account. And occassionally there are tracking problems too.

Yet Quidco knows we're including this deal in the weekly email so there's nothing to suggest it won't work for the vast majority of people. And as it is the cheapest of its breed anyway, the downside risk is small.

If you're a first time cashback site user, please do read the full Best Cashback Sites article for a full explanation of the pros and cons. Plus to see how the different sites' payouts compare use the Cashback Sites Maximiser.

What does 'unlimited downloads' mean?

This package has a monthly download limit of 10GB, which should be plenty for most e-mailers & web surfers, yet if you watch web TV (e.g. BBC iplayer), download music or play online games, you might use it up pretty quickly. One upside to Plusnet broadband though is that access between Midnight and 8AM isn't charged, so if you can schedule downloads at this time you'll be able to get more data.

Does Plusnet shape traffic?

On the downside, as DatabaseError's noted below, one drawback of Plusnet's value package is it's subject to some pretty serious traffic shaping measures, which will strangle the download speeds of certain types of traffic. While this won't affect light users, serious users should check the likely speeds out.

What else do I get?

The deal also includes a free wireless router so if you have a laptop you'll be able to connect to the net anywhere in the house. If you don't have a wireless-equipped computer it'll work in the same way as a normal modem. Providers charge up to £40 for these, though it's possible to pick up a good model for under £20.

Note: Thanks to all MoneySavers who spotted various incarnations of this deal. This post has been started to provide detailed explanation and focus on this specific version of it.

* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via commercial price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or Find, which then pay this site per click.

You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it is still recommended and still included. The following comet.co.uk is an identical unaffiliated link provided for the sake of transparency. Click on the following link for more details on how this site's financed.

DatabaseError

Perhaps it would be helpful to link to Plusnet's Traffic Shaping details to save complaints when people find they cannot use their internet connection as they expected...though for those just browsing and checking email the restrictions won't apply

Quentin

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

It's possible for anyone with a BT line, living near a Plusnet-deigned 'low cost area', to get quick, well-rated broadband...

Where does the "well-rated" description come from?

This is a brand new product with drastic new traffic shaping conditions, so no-one has yet had the opportunity to rate it have they?

bristolleedsfan

It should be noted that both Topcashback and Cashback Kings will match Quidcos 35.00 Cashback via a HCP claim as soon as the item has tracked, neither of these charge a 5.00 yearly admin fee.

Advantage of TCB is its up to 110% cashback scheme

"CashBack Guarantee
If you can find a better rate of cashback for your transaction from another cashback provider, then we will match the rate if you choose to use TopCashBack for the transaction...This will also benefit your Top-Up rate for next month! "

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/topuprates.aspx?detail=1

Nixter

Has anyone played online games (Xbox Live, PS3) with this broadband offer?
Is it suitable for gaming? Any lag issues?

JohalaReewi

Nixter wrote: »

Has anyone played online games (Xbox Live, PS3) with this broadband offer?
Is it suitable for gaming? Any lag issues?

The £5.99 offering is not really suitable for gaming. Check the Plusnet website for more information.

http://www.plus.net/?home=hometop

Although they offer 'unlimited' this too might not be suitable for gamers which is why they have the broadband pro product (which is not £5.99 a month )

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/unlimited/unlimited_faq.shtml#unlimited15

Quentin

Quidco cashback is now £40 for plusnet. (£50 if you take their phone rental too)