Updated Find the cheapest broadband discussion thread

one_bill_at_a_time

Just switched to plusnet broadband extra (60 gb monthly limit) via topcashback.
12 months line rental up front - £113.88
12 months half price broadband - £5.49 x 12 = £65.88
Currently cashback from plusnet (£25)
Topcashback (£50)
Total annual cost = £104.76 or £8.73 a month

This saves £12 a month against the equivelant sky package so I'm pretty happy.

i'd tried to switch to talktalk but they would only register me if I got a new phone line put in as they thought I had cable (I don't).


PS - the TCB amount is currently tracking at £60 do I'm not sure where the extra tenner came from.

stulynes

Primus dont provide any way of monitoring usage, other than a phone number. Their overuse charges are savage (my bill for April jumped from £20 to £144) and they refuse to see this as a problem.

Unless you only browse the internet sporadically I'd say stay away.

James_Ham

Dear All,

I have recently been investigating the cheapest broadband rolling contract I can find. The details of that which I believe to be the winner are provided below. If anyone knows of a cheaper was to get broadband with the ability to end the contract at short notice I would very pleased to hear from them.

Plusnet rolling contract:
£25 activation,
£12.99 line rental monthly.
Free broadband for first six months, then £11.49 after.
10 days notice required to end contract.
The plan is probably to quit at the end of the free six months, and review the market at the time (unless £12.99 + £11.49 happens to be the cheapest).
NB. I discount the £40 fee for the router as I already have a Netgear one, which should be fine.

Regards,

James Ham.

Missli

stulynes wrote: »

Primus dont provide any way of monitoring usage, other than a phone number. Their overuse charges are savage (my bill for April jumped from £20 to £144) and they refuse to see this as a problem.

Unless you only browse the internet sporadically I'd say stay away.

I use the internet loads, and have never been over my allowance with my current provider. I am thinking about using Sky+ anytimes service once my new phone line is in, so will probably upgrade to unlimited broadband with Primus, just in case.

It will still be a cheap deal, for phone and broadband combined.

Update:

I had my new phone & broadband activated today. I phoned up Primus to upgrade my broadband, and was offered up to 40GB data allowance (the same as I had with my previous provider which I have never gone over), plus evening & weekend calls (including landline), for £15.78 monthly (18 month contract).

I could have had unlimited but would have cost £21 approx. I will monitor my useage regularly with them, AnVir task manager has noted 43.7 mb received, and 4.9 mb sent so far today, so should be well within my limit, even watching the odd streamed film.

Extremely good value. :j

makara

makara wrote: »

Hi, Folks

Currently about to complete a fantastic 18 month deal with Orange Broadband - where I was getting "Simply Broadband" for £10 per month (instead of the usual £15 p.m.) due to being an Orange mobile customer

- but instead of the £180 (18 months x £10), I paid about £80 in total - as I went via Topcashback, who were offering £100 Cashback (which was honoured).

Effectively I was paying just over £4 per month for 8 Meg broadband and Unlimited downloading!

I am now no longer with Orange Mobile (switched to TalkMobile) - and my Orange Broadband contract is set to expire next month.

I now am looking for a similar deal.

However, as I am on Jobseeker's Allowance - I get B.T. Basic (£4.50 or so per month) phone-line rental - so obviously I don't want to have to switch away from my B.T. Basic package.

I am a paying SKY TV customer - is it worth asking them what they can do? However, it seems to get a "good" broadband from them, you have to also take your phoneline with them? Which is why I left Sky broadband some years back...as I find B.T. do not block you using 0844-dial-through numbers to make cheap international calls (whereas Sky did).

B.T. Basic does not allow 0844-dial-through numbers either - BUT the line rental is so damn cheap, it matters not to me.

Any companies currently giving Unlimited broadband download for the same amazing £4 or so that Orange gave me?

Also - since I am with Talkmobile - are they part of TalkTalk?

Great news (apologies for the long post, but others may find it useful for NEGOTIATIONS) -


When I joined Orange Broadband 18 months ago, there was a FANTASTIC offer for Orange Mobile phone customers via TOPCASHBACK -



- normally non-Orange Mobile customers would have had to pay £15 per month - but as I was an Orange mobile customer, I got the 18 months contract for only £10 per month



- BUT also Topcashback gave me £100 cash!



So the overall amount was £180 (18 months x £10) - less £100 = £80 for 18 months!



BUT one day a few months ago, my Broadband went down for just a couple of hours - 2 guys in a Call Centre took my call and remotely tried to repair my connection - then in the end they found it was something to do with my B.T. socket


- they repaired it somehow after a couple of hours - but due to the outage, I asked for compensation - and the chap said he will authorise 1 month non-chargeable


- LOL, so I got £10 discount (1 month free) for only a couple of hours of outage !!


So I paid £70 overall (not £80) for 18 months


- meaning each month was only £3.88 for 8 Meg broadband with Unlimited downloading! i.e. £70 divided by 18 months = £3.88 per month!




By the way - when I was with O2 Broadband a couple of years ago, they promised up to 20 Meg speed - and I always got between 11 to 15 Meg - fantastic.



But when I moved to Orange Broadband, they told me my local B.T. Exchange WOULD get up to 20 Meg DURING my 18 months - but they could not say exactly WHEN - as it was “all a matter of capacity”



- they said initially I would get up to 8 Meg speed which MAY then increase to up to 20 Meg - but FOR ALL OF THE 18 MONTHS, I only ever connected between 5 to 6 Megs - i.e. “up to 8 Meg” - I never got more than 8 Meg.



In the last 2 months of my Orange Broadband contract, I LEFT Orange Mobile - and although my monthly charge SHOULD have increased from £10 up to £15 (as I was no longer with Orange Mobile), they seemed not to notice - and left it at £10 per month.



Now -



Orange have changed their Broadband cost for Orange Mobile customers - instead of £10 per month (as I used to pay) if you have an Orange mobile - they will only charge £5 per month.



But I am no longer with Orange Mobile, so...


...as my 18 month Broadband contract was about to end - I phoned Orange on Sunday June 10th - and told them their rivals (O2) were offering me a 12 month contract - and so I was looking at moving to O2.


I also complained I had never got “up to 20 Meg” - whereas I KNOW from experience that O2 have got me 11 to 15 Megs.



The chap at Orange's "refuse to lose" team said he can do me a special deal - if I stay with them FOR JUST 12 MONTHS MORE, he will keep the price as £10 per month (instead of £15 per month) even though I no longer have an Orange Mobile phone contract - but he will also give me the FIRST 3 MONTHS FREE.


That would mean £10 x 9 months = £90 - divided by 12 (as paying 9 months, and 3 months free) = just £7.50 per month.



I asked him “What if I agree to an 18 month extension instead of 12 months?? Can you make the price lower per month??”. He went to check with his Manager, who refused.




I told him I would see what O2 could offer - and get back to him - but he said he is only back at work on Thursday June 13th.


As it was a Sunday, O2 had already gone home - so I phoned them on Monday - and they got back to me on Wednesday with a price that was more expensive than Orange’s offer.



So on Wednesday June 13th I phoned his department, hoping to maybe speak to another person - and got another chap at Orange.




I told the new guy that O2 were offering me a slightly HIGHER price per month for 12 months than Orange had offered me - BUT they were guaranteeing me speeds of between 8 to 11 Meg (so more than Orange’s “up to 8 Meg”).



I complained that despite being with Orange for 18 months, I had never got over 8 Meg - and that his colleague had told me that my local B.T. exchange was already filled to “Capacity” with other Orange customers who were getting “up to 20 Meg” speeds.



He then said...


IF I AGREE TO STAY WITH ORANGE, HE WILL GIVE A PRIORITY ORDER TO THE ENGINEERS TO RE-GRADE MY LINE IMMEDIATELY FROM ORANGE-ANALOGUE TO ORANGE-DIGITAL FREE OF CHARGE!

The new speeds would be 7 to 11 Meg according to Orange (so on a par with O2 telling me it looks now that my line is 8 to 11 Meg)


He also said he will send me a new “Bright-box” router FREE OF CHARGE - designed by CISCO for Orange - it has TWO Antennas (rather than the single-antenna Netgear router Orange sent me 18 months ago, which has been damn good - but he said the Bright-box is much faster than the Netgear).



When I asked him to confirm it was for 12 months extension - he turned round and said NO, IT’S 18 MONTHS.



I had a long argument with him that his colleague had told me 12 months - and in fact it was ME who had suggested 18 months with MORE FREE MONTHS INCLUDED.



He went to check with HIS Manager, and then came back to tell me all Extension packages are 18 month - and that only his colleague's manager can “verify” he offered 12 months.




When I refused the 18 months agreement, he said he would wait for his colleague to return to work (on June 14th) - and then they would phone me back.



No one phoned today - so I tried calling the first chap, but there was no response.




I got put through to a female colleague - and I ran all the above past her.




She went to speak to HER Manager - and then came back and told me that her Manager ALSO said 18 months is the correct extension period - BUT as the first chap's manager had agreed to offer 12 months, then they would honour it!!!!




I also re-confirmed with her I would get the free Bright-box router - and the Re-graded line (from Analogue to Digital) - and she told me that if I do NOT see my Broadband speed go up within 10 working days from today - to call them back to chase it up.



She said I would get an E-mail saying “18 month contract extension” as that is their “default” - but I pushed her to also send a separate E-mail for the 12 months - and THEY HAVE BOTH JUST ARRIVED! So I have it in writing about 12 months :-)




So fantastic result - £7.50 per month for the next 12 months for up to 20 Meg speed - and Unlimited broadband - and new Twin-antenna router. All cheaper than O2

(I'm not with either Orange or O2 for my Mobile phone)

makara

Topcashback offering £100 Cashback for Plusnet -

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/plusnet_broadband/

irshadkhan8

My experience with Plusnet for phone and broadband is not very good. Poor communication during transfer. Plusnet blame BT for not giving feedback??? Broadband speed start at 0.25 Mb and after 8 days I am getting below One Mb.

Phone - after connection date allow atleast one day without use of your phone

Broadband - after connection being able to use broadband at reasonable speed allow two weeks plus.

I am stuck with plusnet as I paid in advance but would look elsewhere after one year contract.
Broadband - allow

autocrazy

Hi

I am contemplating getting the Talk Talk Essential's package currently on offer

12 months contract
£ 3.25pm for broadband (half price offer)
£ 114 for 12 months advance phone line rental
£ 50 Tesco gift card
Effective cost per month £ 8.58

I would like to know if anyone in Tile Hill area of Coventry is on TalkTalk and if so how do they rate their broadband connection/speed? I have read and they are not highly ranked nationally, but so are Orange - however being on orange for last 18 months, it has never failed me. I get speeds of 5Meg - which I am satisfied with

If anyone can guide/help - the deal sounds too tempting, but do not want to have an illusionary money saving when the phone calls to customer services could cost a bomb + additional loss of peace of mind!

Thanks

fiddiwebb

Interested in Talk Talk essentials as well for my daughter who is a student and moving into her first rented flat, phone line is not connected at the moment but believe Talk Talk will waiver connection fee.

autocrazy where are you getting the £50 Tesco gift card from, can;t see anything on Talk Talk website about that?
I can get £24.50 back via topcashback but no vouchers.

Anyone using this service, any reviews would be appreciated.

autocrazy

fiddiwebb wrote: »

Interested in Talk Talk essentials as well for my daughter who is a student and moving into her first rented flat, phone line is not connected at the moment but believe Talk Talk will waiver connection fee.

autocrazy where are you getting the £50 Tesco gift card from, can;t see anything on Talk Talk website about that?
I can get £24.50 back via topcashback but no vouchers.

Anyone using this service, any reviews would be appreciated.

Hi

Click via MSE (cheap broadband article) and it takes you to the link where it offer £ 50 Tesco gift voucher