Cheapest Broadband Provider Discussion

ctodd84

Bojangles wrote:

Take note Gingertom & Funky monkey. I have just sent this email to Wanadoo:

I WANT HEAD OF CUSTOMER SERVICES & THE MD OF WANADOO TO READ THIS EMAIL. PLEASE COPY IT TO THEM.

My contract ends on 6/1/06 & I will leave Wanadoo & will be posting why on the consumer based internet site: 'money saving expert.com'.

I am very unhappy with the service from you.

It seems only new customers can get £14.99 8 meg deal - I would have to continue to pay £17.99 per month PLUS you want another one-off £20 to put my speed up to 2 meg. I have read on 'money saving expert.com' chat forum that you have given some people a deal, but this has not been offered to me. Why? Can I get the new deal as of 6/1/06?

Tonight I have just rang 01642 732794 to speak to customer services as I refuse to pay the extortionate 0870 charges when calls to landlines are free from my line. But the girl who answered would not put me through and said she had been told not to. Her name was Rachel but 'can't disclose' her second name, where she works or her extension. Her supervisor was Eric but she 'couldn't disclose' any information about him either. I said I was going to complain about this complete lack of co-operation. So, is it your policy to get your customers to pay the 0870 national rate charges? If so, I will be writing a letter to Ofcom about this.

I was ringing to ask about the wireless package but I do not think I'll bother now.

What are you going to do to help? I would appreciate a FULL answer and even a telephone call to sort out my issues otherwise I am off come the 6th january.

Perhaps my approach is wrong??

Hi your email to wanadoo seems to be just a little bit of a rant. Have you ever heard the saying you'll get more with honey than vinegar?

you've said that you read on moneysavingexpert.com that people were 'given' a deal I'm not speaking for others here, but I rang up and asked for it, not given, which is what you more than likely need to do come June when your 12 month period is up.

I don't think wanadoo will do anything before then, but it cant hurt to ask .

Oh and I can't really blame them for not giving there names out, theres a lot of nutters running about you know

ccluedo

ccluedo wrote:

Update to my AOL move:

Called them and was polite but firm and was offered same service as I currently have for £24.99 (£5 less per month). I declined and re-iterated my request for migration code and received it by email within the hour with none of the hassle I had heard about. Hopefully the changeover will go just as smoothly.

btw, I passed this info onto a friend who is on same AOL package as I was but actually has no wish to migrate - he called them up, asked for MIG code, and was also offered a fiver reduction EVERY month for same package as he is currently on which he graciously accepted so maybe worth a shot all u AOL users!

(note: important that u only ask for migration code - dont say u want to cancel)

midgers550

I've been with Wanadoo and have their 1mb service. I saw Bulldogs offer of upto 8mb for £9.50 a month so called to get my MIG code. They asked why and I told them I wanted to leave, they offered a wireless modem and cheaper broadband but I politely declined. I've since found out Bulldog cant supply me, so I'll be recontacting Wanadoo to get the offer... May be worth doing if you have Wandaoo just to get an upgrade; they're not too good with exsisting customers so if they believe you'll be leaving you may get a new wireless modem. I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel...

madmumatuk

I am hoping someone out there can help me. Metronet was recently acquired by Plusnet and I received the new T&C this week. I have two weeks to migrate if I want to before I am under the new t&C.

Is anyone familiar with the changes? I am happy with the service to date and prices don't seem to be changing. Can I get some advice from someone about what these changes mean?

The changes are on the metronet website.

Thank you!

poorbabe

I am a Metronet user also and, like you, received the email detailing the changes to the service as of end January.

I need to read the new terms again, but I suspect Metronet pricing will change to the current Plusnet pricing. I download around 12gigs per month and benefit a lot from price capping. From what I understand this will no longer exist and either I download 'off peak' within my limits during the monthly timespan, or they will 'knobble' me. So what to do? I am currently checking out other companies to see what's on offer and then I need to make a decision by 30 Jan whether to stay or jump ship.

I haven't got a problem with downloading 'off peak', apart from having to set my alarm for a midnight start *lol* but am concerned about the penalties if I go over my monthly allowance.

madmumatuk

Poorbabe said "I need to read the new terms again, but I suspect Metronet pricing will change to the current Plusnet pricing."

The terms are full of jargon, but they don't seem to be changing the prices at all - though I am tempted to jump ship now while I won't be penalised because I suspect they will change in the near future and I know I ruled out Plusnet when I was looking in October.

Christopher_3

As Martin's article appeared in The Guardian I would have been interested to see what he has to say about The Guardian's BT broadband offer, which I have just taken up (mainly because I have been a long-term BT Anytime subscriber and found the switch fairly easy). Apart from the reasonable (but not cheapest) monthly payment I got their modem / wireless router for £25 and should be getting a £40 cash back cheque which seems good to me, and the service so far seems OK.

theloft

mamazaac wrote:

I am tempted by V21's 8MB broadband for £9.98 per month. However, I do not have broadband at the moment, so the application page is saying that there will be an extra charge for a modem (£29.99) plus a one-off Activation charge of £47.00 which is apparently for BT to activate my telephone line for broadband. My questions are:- can anyone tell me if the £47.00 charge is a legitimate BT charge that I would have to pay whoever I sign up with? I understand there are companies who offer free set up - does this cover this BT charge? Effectively this £47 would equate to paying £14 per month for the 1st year's use - are there any providers out there who charge less than this per month and offer free set up and also don't tie you in for more than a year? Also if the free set up includes a modem, do you have to return it if you move to a different provider? Also, with regard to a modem there would obviously be no charge if I provide my own. To this end I did a quick search on ebay for "usb modem" and it returned 484 items, with lots of different specifications and jargon. We don't play any games on the internet so all we need to do is basic surfing. Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for in a modem, or recommend an adequate make and model please? I'm sorry to ask so many questions all at the same time. Many thanks for any help that can be given on any of the above.

Most ISPs charge an activation or connection fee (unless you are migrating from one BB ISP to another). £47 is about the lowest. When you are offered free connection this is usually where you agree to pay 1 or 2 years fees up front. E7broadband were offering this and now appear to have problems. The cheaper the activation fee usually means there is a snag, such as 12-month contract. (V21 have a 1 year contract for BB). You are correct in saying that it is nearly always cheaper to supply your own modem (& microfilters) unless again the ISP are offering this free with the package. As for recommending a make, there are many good reliable ones and unless you want to use more than one computer a simple external USB modem will suffice. Netgear, BT & Speedtouch are well known makes. A lot of companies who offer free connection and or modems, spread the cost over as much as 5 years and if you leave before then, charge pro rata.
ISP's who do not insist on a yearly contract include https://www.newnet.co.uk & https://www.adsl4less.com. I have heard good reports about both these companies, but always remember the cheapest are not necessarily the best. Always check the Terms & Conditions.

hmmph

I am writing this to inform those who are interested about plus.net.

I signed up for unlimited download broadband with plusnet in setember 2005.

But over the months I have found the following.

P2P is capped. Meaning you dont get a full speed broadband service for P2P.

Also general downloading is capped to 5GB. When you go beyond this limit your service is throttled to the same speed as P2P downloading - which is incredibly slow. And there is an ultimate download limit of 6GB.

Having repeatedly contacted them via their web interface to ask to leave, I can report the following.

You are locked into a very restrictive and costly contract. First, it was claimed when I signed-up that connection was a free setup. It's not. The connection cost is as they euthamisticaly term "defered". This means that even if you stay a full year with plusnet, then cancel the contract, you are then charged the setup cost.

In addition, if you want to leave before the year is over, you are charged for the remaining year plus the setup cost.

They will not in any way do the decent thing and allow someone who is unhappy with their service to leave without making them pay.

They swear that black is white, and whatever you signed up for - you had not.


In addition, I made a complaint and asked to leave within the specified time when plusnet introduced a cut-off period

The reason being is that plusnet have in the contract that if anything is introduced by plusnet which could and does affect the service detrimentally then you can ask to leave within the time limit. Is not a cut-off period a disadvantage.

I tried to take advantage of this and followed procedure to leave. They refused to allow me to leave.

Plusnet are bad. They will force you to the letter of the contract but when it comes to them doing the same they become coy.

My advice is not to have anything to do with https://www.plus.net.

Stumpy

I moved to plusnet a few months ago - about 6 maybe? - and not found any problems with them. You do have to make sure you select the right service - if you are paying £14.99 per month then it clearly states that it is not for p2p use - it is primarily aimed at those of us who mainly use the internet for browsing and e-mail. If you want p2p you go for the £21.99 service where, depending on the speed of service you are subscribing to, it is "capped" (in that after that point the service gets slower until the end of the month, when it is reset) at between 100 to 200 GB. See here.