Sky to Plusnet

jem16

Looking for some advice if possible.

I was originally an O2 BB customer with BT for line rental. Moved last year to have BB and Line Rental with Sky as offered free Line rental for a year and BB was £7.50pm as I already have Sky TV.

Now coming to an end of my free line rental so checked out other deals. Looked at PlusNet and can have unlimited BB at £2.49pm plus Line Rental at either £15.95pm or £155.88 for upfront line rental. So total of £191.75 over the year which includes the cost of the new router. PlusNet are currently offering a £75 credit if signing up online so brings it down to £116.75 or the equivalent of £9.72pm.

So phoned up Sky and was offered half price Line Rental of £8.20pm (taking into account the £1 increase due soon) plus BB at £7.50pm. Total of £15.70pm.

Despite telling him exactly what Plusnet would cost he wouldn't budge any further. Did eventually say it was a good price but for new customers. If it wasn't for the £75 credit Sky would be cheaper with their half price line rental offer I was told!

He then tried to convince me that PlusNet had traffic management whereas Sky doesn't. Told me my average usage per month was 35gb - told him that was a load of rubbish. I have downloaded about 2 series of 24 since August which obviously takes up a lot but prior to that only surfing and emails. Downloading 24 is unusual and not likely to continue. Tried to then convince me that Skype would take up a lot - one hour a week on Skype at most is not going to get to 35gb per month.

Anyway we left it at that with him telling me I wouldn't need a MAC.

Quidco are also offering £100 cashback on top of the earlier offers making it even cheaper.

However just want to make sure moving to PlusNet would be the right thing. LLU was always needed for me as I'm too far a way from the exchange to get decent speeds - get about 6mb with O2 and now Sky. However exchange now shows ADSL2+ as being enabled and PlusNet estimate 5mb which I'm sure Sky did too. So would I likely get similar speeds?

Is PlusNet traffic managed and would I see a slowdown at peak times?

Is PlusNet usually considered a good choice or will I have problems switching? I want to keep my number preferably and PlusNet says I should be able to.

Any help appreciated - there is a big difference in price for the first year but don't want to end up with problems/issues.

masonic

I've been with them for the past couple of years until very recently. I was never able to detect the effects of any traffic shaping at my line speed of about 5 Mb, even over bit torrent, which they penalise most heavily. If you're interested, their policy is here.

I was very happy with them while I was there and fully intend to return if I can get a good deal as a new customer when my current contract ends.

teddysmum

Try Sky again. I was third time lucky.


The good deal came from the Derby call centre and the meanies were in Scotland.

jem16

teddysmum wrote: »

Try Sky again. I was third time lucky.


The good deal came from the Derby call centre and the meanies were in Scotland.

The person I spoke to had an English accent although I didn't ask where he was calling from.

When you tried again did you say anything about previous conversations?

teddysmum

jem16 wrote: »

The person I spoke to had an English accent although I didn't ask where he was calling from.

When you tried again did you say anything about previous conversations?

I don't know where the call centre that I used on Monday was, but told the Derby man that he had made me an offer to think about, but hadn't called back,as arranged. I mentioned that the offer he made was still dearer than any but BT or Tesco unless I dropped to evening and weekend calls, which I would be happy to do.


The person I spoke to on Monday, hadn't even logged the call, so never intended to call back.

Swipe

Plusnet's traffic management actually works properly unlike others that just throttles all content when you hit a threshold. So with Plusnet, traffic is prioritised for surfing and streaming so you don't get slow downs. Not sure what Sky were on about 35GB average usage for as it's irrelevant if you are on unlimited.

jem16

Swipe wrote: »

Plusnet's traffic management actually works properly unlike others that just throttles all content when you hit a threshold. So with Plusnet, traffic is prioritised for surfing and streaming so you don't get slow downs.

Yes I was reading about that.

So basically although Sky say that they have no traffic management, their speed can slow down if there's a lot of heavy usage?

I know that one night when I was downloading an HD episode of 24 early weekday evening, it took over an hour for it to be ready to watch. On another occasion it was ready much sooner.

Not sure what Sky were on about 35GB average usage for as it's irrelevant if you are on unlimited.

Yes it is irrelevant but I think he was heading along the lines of whether it was unlimited or not even though I had told him already.

My main point was that there is no way I have an average usage of 35gb over the last year. The last 2 months perhaps as each episode of 24 is just over 2gb. I think what annoyed me most is that he thought he could blind me with technology. Even asked me about whether or not PlusNet has UK help centres - considering Sky's use of foreign call centres reading off scripts I thought that was rather funny!

jem16

Quidco's £100 cashback was due to finish last night so I decided that Sky was never going to be able to match PlusNet's offer and signed up.

Basically £191.75 minus £75 PlusNet cashback minus £100 Quidco cashback would end up at £16.75 for phone and BB for a year.

So far so good. Quidco has already confirmed the purchase has tracked at £100. PlusNet has confirmed move date of 10.11.14 and say that phone and BB can be ordered together so BB should be up and running within 48 hours - let's hope for sooner. When I moved from BT/O2 to Sky for phone/BB it all happened on the same day.

One last question - Sky confirmed that I don't need a MAC as I'm transferring from a full LLU service to a non-LLU service. However I don't want to end up with a cessation charge for BB so should I request it anyway?

masonic

jem16 wrote: »

One last question - Sky confirmed that I don't need a MAC as I'm transferring from a full LLU service to a non-LLU service. However I don't want to end up with a cessation charge for BB so should I request it anyway?

You might as well make use of PN's award winning customer services to double check this. If you request a MAC an PN don't use it, then it wouldn't make any difference anyway. In this type of migration, BT wholesale should charge the gaining provider for the work carried out.

jem16

masonic wrote: »

You might as well make use of PN's award winning customer services to double check this. If you request a MAC an PN don't use it, then it wouldn't make any difference anyway. In this type of migration, BT wholesale should charge the gaining provider for the work carried out.

Is it better to ask on the Community forum or phone?

They've certainly not asked me for one as yet.

masonic

Now you mention it, it might be better to ask in the forum as there are some quite knowledgeable people who post there and you might get more detailed info that way from others who have gone before you.