Updated Find the cheapest broadband discussion thread

JJ_Egan

ffox wrote: »

Could someone point out if it's generally allowed to take a BB contract with you when you move to another address? Or are the contracts only applicable to the single address that you start out with?

The contract is for that address and requires paying in full .
But some ISPs may allow you to transfer to a new address and start a new contract term . Providing that is they supply the new address .

G6JPG

JJ_Egan wrote: »

The contract is for that address and requires paying in full .
But some ISPs may allow you to transfer to a new address and start a new contract term . Providing that is they supply the new address .

PlusNet "allow" you to move (that is to say, they absorb the cost of the transfer) a certain number of times - or did when I joined them; I haven't checked since. I think the number of times was one per year (which may now be once per renewal).

I don't know if any other ISPs do similarly; I suspect at least some do.

Scientomology

Scientomology wrote: »

I had a look at the recommendations for Fibre 76Mbps on the MSE page and and on querying PlusNet I was surprised to see that whilst you can pay the line rental up front for approx £155 for 12mths, the (separate) FTTC contract is for 18mths.

After 12mths of pre-paid line rental are up then you have to pay £15.95pm (£95 for 6mths) or you can again pay 12mths line rental up front - which means you are basically stuck with them for another 6mths after the FTTC contract ends, being unable to move away to another provider for internet without losing 6mths (~£75) of line rental.

At this stage, most people then would probably renew the Fibre for another 18mths with them as it's easier which would mean since they are existing customers and have no leverage (such as threatening to leave), then they would not get any deals and would have to pay the full £19.99pm for the Fibre. The line rental can be renewed and paid up front for 12mths again until finally both contracts come to an end at the same time. This would mean that PlusNet have snared you as a customer for 3yrs and you would have to pay everything at FULL PRICE (except upfront line rental) for the last 18mths. :mad:

This deal promoted on MSE for PlusNet appears to be a big CON! They should at least let you get a reduction in the line rental for the whole period. Evidently, this is a ploy by the company to confuse and trap.

Further to my posting, I have realised that EVERY company does this line rental entrapment and actually PlusNet have one of the cheapest line rentals after the yearly line rental paid upfront. Indeed, the upfront yearly line rental is also much cheaper than the competition (£155.88 compared to £180 for TalkTalk).

TalkTalk also charge some stupid 'Simply Broadband' fee of £3.50, and when I asked an advisor about this they told me it was because I was taking a phone line and this fee was standard. When I asked if I took Fibre with no phone line then they said this fee still applied which sounds totally stupid and greedy. I am actually not sure what this charge is but I have concluded that since TalkTalk's prices for Fibre seem cheaper than the rest (£10 for Medium 36Mbps/£15 for Large 76Mbps), they try to ensnare people that way as that is not the true price of their Fibre since the £3.50 'Simply Broadband' charge applied brings the real cost to £13.50/£17.50. Oh and they also charge you a connection fee of £25 (half price they try to fool you with but PlusNet don't charge this at all!) It's confusing really and that is their hope since their offerings are one of the most expensive and least value I have seen.

I am going to go for PlusNet's 38Mpbs service as the max speed they say I can get for Fibre is 50Mpbs so I don't see a value in paying the £5pm for the up to 76Mbps service only to get an extra 12MB. TopCashBack also have a £101 promotion at the moment (I'm sure it was £110 a few weeks ago..never mind) so I have calculated the following 18 months total for this service:

£5.99 - Router P+P
£22.50 - 6mths Fibre at £3.75pm (Current Promo)
£179.88 - 12mths Fibre at £14.99 (months 7-18)
£155.88 - 12mths upfront line rental
£95.70 - 6mths line rental at £15.95 (months 13-18)
-£101.00 - TopCashBack credit

---

£358.95 or £19.94pm

This is 6p less than what I am paying for 6Mbps ADSL2+ (£15 with Sky, ex-Be Broadband customer) with BT Basic so I would get a better deal by paying full price and get a huge bump in speed than using the reduced line rental scheme; on which it is not permitted to use with Fibre.

Therefore, ignoring my previous post, I would recommend PlusNet for anyone wanting Fibre based on cost and also I note that they rate the highest for customer service.

brightonman123

Can MSE do REGULAR b/bband deals- ie, for those with not enough to pay for a year upfront?

Ta, muchly.

valeriej43

KJust checked in to see who rates which broadband provider the best and cheapest, just looked through them all and plusnert is looking good to me
I have been with talktalk,for about 5 years, but they seem to have got more expensive every phone bill i get, i was on a half price deal which finishes in April, but nothing like half price really, the only reason i got that was because i was planning to leave last year, i have only really stuck with talktalk mainly because i use my home phione more in the daytime and i am on an anytime plan, which gives me free calls to local and national no,s, i see plus net have a similiar deal,which is what attracts me to them, free evening and weekend cals are no good to me, i very very rarely use my phone at night
I am going to ring plusnet tomorrow and cgeck everything with them, dont want to do it online,prefer to talk to someone
Meant to say, i can get another half price deal, but only if i have the TV youview box, which i havwe already tried once,but never really used as it took ages to get a programme to start, and dont watch that much TV anyway

Doc_N

valeriej43 wrote: »

KJust checked in to see who rates which broadband provider the best and cheapest, just looked through them all and plusnert is looking good to me
I have been with talktalk,for about 5 years, but they seem to have got more expensive every phone bill i get, i was on a half price deal which finishes in April, but nothing like half price really, the only reason i got that was because i was planning to leave last year, i have only really stuck with talktalk mainly because i use my home phione more in the daytime and i am on an anytime plan, which gives me free calls to local and national no,s, i see plus net have a similiar deal,which is what attracts me to them, free evening and weekend cals are no good to me, i very very rarely use my phone at night
I am going to ring plusnet tomorrow and cgeck everything with them, dont want to do it online,prefer to talk to someone
Meant to say, i can get another half price deal, but only if i have the TV youview box, which i havwe already tried once,but never really used as it took ages to get a programme to start, and dont watch that much TV anyway

You and me both - I'm in the process of switching from TalkTalk to Plusnet for a considerably better deal. TCB of £94, coupled with a £75 Amazon gift voucher, helped considerably.

TalkTalk made little effort to beat the Plusnet deal, which is a change, because last time I was thinking of moving they came up with an excellent retention deal.

valeriej43

Thats good to know, there is a deal where you pay an extra £5 i think it is to get anytime calls, even if i take the 6 months half price offer,after that its going to be £35 a month, a big jump from the £19-99 it was when i first joined, and the customer service is supposed to be better and all English, although i must say most of talktalks people i have spoken to have been very polite, are you in the middle of changing now, ? didnt see anything about an Amazon voucher lol, would be handy,my contract with talktalk runs out on April 16th, so just about nthe right time i guess
Sorry edited to ask if you had to change your phone no, i dont mind if i do, maybe it will stop the scam calls etc

Doc_N

You shouldn't need to change your phone number. Check what deals are around at the moment and what you can get via Topcashback and Quidco. I'm adding on the £5 for anytime calls too. Caller Display is also chargeable, unlike with TalkTalk.

valeriej43

Just spoken to 3 people who have plusnet and said they cant praise it highly enough, i dont mind paying for caller ID i like to know who is ringing, saves time answering idiots trying to get you to claim for accidents you never had etc
Do you mean Quidco, and topcashback have deals for broadband providers?

valeriej43

Also ,never heard of topcashback, could you enlighten me please,how do i find this? thank you