Broadband providers in NI??

fivebobeach

Was with BT for 5 years, top speed Infinity unlimited, with basic phone package (no TV I have Freeview). They were looking £24'ish per month renewal, plus over £170 annual line rental 'saver'.


I switched to PlusNet 2 months ago, same company, same line, same top speed Fibre unlimited, basic phone once again, and no TV... THE SAME DEAL. No engineer required, they sent me out a new Router and all I had to do was unplug the BT one, plug in the PlusNet one, and away it went in 10 minutes!

For an 18 month contract with PlusNet I paid £155.88 annual line rental up front, £5.99 delivery for the router, £10 a month for the first 6 months package, then £19.99 a month after that. I also went through Quidco and am getting £85 cashback!

I have had no problems so far with PlusNet if compared to BT, and speed is exactly the same.

BT over 18 months would have cost me £690...
PlusNet is going to cost me £454.69!

As of today the '£10 for 6 months' PlusNet deal is still active, and Quidco are still offering £85...

No brainer !


Oh and Tara747, I have Virgin in a second property and recently renewed the contract.

I'm on Broadband size L, Phone size M, and TV size M+.
I paid £164 line rental up front, and am paying £14.29 a month - a total of £27.95 a month on a 12 month contract.

I rarely use the property (once a week or less) and told them so, I think that may have helped...

... or maybe you just need to work on your haggling skills lol ;-)

Hope all this helps :-)

tara747

This is very useful info, guys! Thanks - and yeah, maybe I do need to work on my haggling skills

So... I can get RTE channels on Freeview, that's good.

Seems I could do the same as fivebobeach , move to Plusnet and just plug in the new router?

RikM

Broadband providers in NI? Almost any of them. All you need is a BT line, to start with. The provider can be anywhere in the UK (I think ours is in Yorkshire somewhere).

fivebobeach

RikM wrote: »

Broadband providers in NI? Almost any of them. All you need is a BT line, to start with. The provider can be anywhere in the UK (I think ours is in Yorkshire somewhere).

Yeah a BT line is reqd (unless you're on virgin cable of course), but when switching from ADSL to fibre it appears you need a different phone socket fitting, not sure how it works exactly but when I first switched to BT Infinity they sent an engineer round to change the wall socket.


Once that's fitted and you're connected for fibre it's just a matter of changing the Modem/Router if you switch providers.


** Also tara747, not everybody can get RTE via Freeview, it depends on which transmitter you receive your signal from. I live in the Newcastle area and I don't get it. Follow the link above from Old Git in post no 6 and type in your postcode to see if you can...

warmhands.coldheart

As queried before, Do you need to have a Landline. If on a contract mobile, most people nowadays, if like myself, would struggle to use their full allocation of minutes & texts so you could get rid of the landline and save a fair bit.
Again as said before, if in a fibre area, virgin do Broadband only with o landline required.... it's by far the cheapest "long term" option when you disregard the short term deals used to get you in like the half price line rental etc....
I've checked it out many times and always comes back to Virgin Broadband only with no landline as the cheapest option...

RTE channels can be got on Freeview but it must be HD freeview.

ballyblack

BT over 18 months would have cost me £690...
PlusNet is going to cost me £454.69!

It seems to me all BT customers are subsiding BT in paying big bucks for pricey football matches......... BT sport


.

Mrs_Mac_1

Forgive me if this is a stupid question...but...if you change broadband providers, do you also have to change your email address... and how do you all manage to let co's know your new email address,esp if you're on mailing lists, etc??

warmhands.coldheart

Mrs_Mac_1 wrote: »

Forgive me if this is a stupid question...but...if you change broadband providers, do you also have to change your email address... and how do you all manage to let co's know your new email address,esp if you're on mailing lists, etc??

Good question... I don't know but it's one of the reasons I have always kept my Hotmail account and use it rather than BT/Virgin/etc.etc.etc...

ballyblack

never a good idea to have say a 'service specific' address as they can cut you off if your not a customer. Better to have a free hotmail or better still a freee Gmail address, no such issues.

Recently a friend of mine had an 'o2' address and lost it for that reason

BT policy;
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13140/~/what-happens-to-my-bt-internet-email-account-when-i-stop-having-bt-broadband%3F
.

tara747

RikM - I have a Virgin Media line, don't think this house has ever had BT.

fivebobeach - I did the postcode check, I can get RTE where I am.

warmhands.coldheart - yes, I may need a HD Freeview box though as my TV isn't HD!). I don't need a landline at all, so will check out the broadband-only options.

ballyblack - wow, shocking to think that all BT customers are subsidising those who want sports channels.

Also, I've done the same as you two and always had hotmail and gmail addresses rather than service-specific ones, it makes sense!


Oh yeah, one more question. Do you get any food channels on Freeview? I quite like Good Food