Stick with Plusnet or switch?

egyptiancotton

My £23.50/month 12-month deal with Plusnet is coming to an end. I quoted deals elsewhere to Plusnet's retentions department and they offered me the following deals to stay :

• Unlimited Fibre (38Mb - 40Mb download, 8Mb - 10Mb upload) - 12, 18 or 24 months - £22.99/month
• Unlimited Fibre Extra (40Mb - 58Mb download, 9Mb - 14Mb upload) - 12, 18 or 24 months - £26.99/month

Due to a problem with my contract renewal last year, Plusnet gave me the Unlimited Fibre Extra package but for the price of the Unlimited Fibre package. I was thinking of downgrading to the Unlimited Fibre package as I live on my own - could I get away with the speeds offered, do you think?

I've looked around elsewhere and found the following deals (I've tried to order them from best to worst):

• Shell Energy - Superfast Fibre (38Mb download, 9.5Mb upload) - 12 months - £24.99/month (plus £120 bill credit)
• Shell Energy - Superfast Fibre Plus (57Mb download, 12Mb upload) - 12 months - £29.99/month (plus £120 bill credit)
• NOW TV - Fab Fibre - (36.2Mb - 37.1Mb download, 8.3Mb - 9.5Mb upload) - 12 months - £23/month (plus £100 cashback)
• NOW TV - Super Fibre - (37.1Mb - 53.9Mb download, 8.3Mb - 13Mb  upload) - 12 months - £25/month (plus £100 cashback)
• Vodafone - Superfast 1 (35Mb download, 10Mb upload) - 24 months - £23/month
• Vodafone - Superfast 2 (63Mb download, 20Mb upload) - 24 months - £25/month
• TalkTalk - Faster Fibre (32.2Mb - 37Mb download, 7.7Mb - 9Mb upload) - 18 months - £23.50/month
• TalkTalk - SuperFast Fibre (32.2Mb - 52.4Mb download, 7.7Mb - 12.8Mb upload) - 18 months - £26/month
• BT - Fibre Essential (32Mb - 36Mb download, 7Mb - 9Mb upload) - 24 months - £24.99/month (£19.99 upfront)
• BT - Fibre 1 (36Mb - 50Mb download, 8Mb - 9Mb upload) - 24 months - £27.99/month (£9.99 upfront)
• Sky - Superfast (37Mb - 53Mb download, 8.2Mb - 12Mb upload) - 18 months - £27/month (£19.99 upfront)

Some are attractive offers. Would be grateful for advice on which one to choose.

shilcor2560

lloydyyy said:

My £23.50/month 12-month deal with Plusnet is coming to an end. I quoted deals elsewhere to Plusnet's retentions department and they offered me the following deals to stay :

• Unlimited Fibre (38Mb - 40Mb download, 8Mb - 10Mb upload) - 12, 18 or 24 months - £22.99/month
• Unlimited Fibre Extra (40Mb - 58Mb download, 9Mb - 14Mb upload) - 12, 18 or 24 months - £26.99/month

Due to a problem with my contract renewal last year, Plusnet gave me the Unlimited Fibre Extra package but for the price of the Unlimited Fibre package. I was thinking of downgrading to the Unlimited Fibre package as I live on my own - could I get away with the speeds offered, do you think?

I've looked around elsewhere and found the following deals (I've tried to order them from best to worst):

• Shell Energy - Superfast Fibre (38Mb download, 9.5Mb upload) - 12 months - £24.99/month (plus £120 bill credit)
• Shell Energy - Superfast Fibre Plus (57Mb download, 12Mb upload) - 12 months - £29.99/month (plus £120 bill credit)
• NOW TV - Fab Fibre - (36.2Mb - 37.1Mb download, 8.3Mb - 9.5Mb upload) - 12 months - £23/month (plus £100 cashback)
• NOW TV - Super Fibre - (37.1Mb - 53.9Mb download, 8.3Mb - 13Mb  upload) - 12 months - £25/month (plus £100 cashback)
• Vodafone - Superfast 1 (35Mb download, 10Mb upload) - 24 months - £23/month
• Vodafone - Superfast 2 (63Mb download, 20Mb upload) - 24 months - £25/month
• TalkTalk - Faster Fibre (32.2Mb - 37Mb download, 7.7Mb - 9Mb upload) - 18 months - £23.50/month
• TalkTalk - SuperFast Fibre (32.2Mb - 52.4Mb download, 7.7Mb - 12.8Mb upload) - 18 months - £26/month
• BT - Fibre Essential (32Mb - 36Mb download, 7Mb - 9Mb upload) - 24 months - £24.99/month (£19.99 upfront)
• BT - Fibre 1 (36Mb - 50Mb download, 8Mb - 9Mb upload) - 24 months - £27.99/month (£9.99 upfront)
• Sky - Superfast (37Mb - 53Mb download, 8.2Mb - 12Mb upload) - 18 months - £27/month (£19.99 upfront)

Some are attractive offers. Would be grateful for advice on which one to choose.

I'm in a similar position. Plusnet screwed up my billing over a year ago when I renewed Line Rental Saver and have never fixed it so I've had free broadband for over a year but my contract ends on September 10th. Shell Energy looks tempting but the forums are full of various issues so I'm a bit reluctant to try it. I just want a good reliable fibre broadband. John Lewis use Plusnet under the covers and you can get £50 cashback via Topcashback. They also provide a decent Xyzel router, much better than the very basic one Shell send out so I'm thinking about going for that but am yet to make a decision.    I just spoke to Plusnet and they would match the Shell price but NOT including the £120 account credit.   

bill888

fwiw, if you work from home and rely on broadband, switching may not always be a good idea. Often overlooked is the small risk the switch may go wrong resulting in broadband outage and it takes Openreach a few days to sort it out....

What do you use your internet for?
If the most demanding task is just streaming video from BBC or Netflix etc, then Fibre Unlimited from Plusnet or similar products from other ISPs is more than adequate.

Only other issue to consider is the ISP supplied wifi router. There can be differences in wifi coverage and reliability between ISPs. Plusnet's own Hub One (rebadged 2013+ BT Home Hub 5A) has its issues - replacing it with a BT Smart Hub 1 (2016+) costing as little as a tenner off eBay is a popular upgrade to improve wifi coverage.  NOW TV Hub 2 is a rebadged Sky Q hub (2015)

brewerdave

Re downgrading to U/L Fibre - for a one person household more than adequate. I'm still managing fine with a standard ADSL connection @ 16Mb - that allows me to run two HD streams without buffering for almost all the time, plus random surfing.
Re changing supplier - if your connection is critical for work then personally I wouldn't risk a switch at the moment as things are still not fully back to normal - a faulty swap could take several days to sort out (at best!)

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the replies. I use the internet for general browsing, emails, Netflix streaming and YouTube streaming (4K). I was with BT before I joined Plusnet, so I when I joined Plusnet I just re-used the BT Smart Hub 1 that I had from BT during my time with them. After reading the forums about Shell broadband, I might give them a miss.

I've noticed that the cashback deal for NOW TV has changed from £100 to £68. If I renew with Plusnet, I'll downgrade to the Unlimited Fibre package and pay the line rental upfront for the year, so it works out at £209.88(line rental saver) + £3(/month) x 12 = £245.88. The deal with NOW TV would work out as £23(/month) x 12 = £276 - £68(cashback) = £208. So there's only a saving of £37.88 with NOW TV, and that's if the cashback is paid out. I'm not sure it's worth the switch now - what do you reckon?

Is it worth paying line rental upfront for the year with Plusnet? Also, Plusnet said they'll do the Unlimited Fibre package at £22.99/month on a 12, 18 or 24-month deal. Is it worth sticking with 12 months and seeing what deals are available at the end of the minimum term? Or would it better to lock in for longer?

bill888

NOW TV offer free Anytime calls for 12 months if that is important.  The NOW hub/Sky Q hub is inferior to the 2016 BT Smart Hub 1 Type A.   One of my relatives moved from expensive BT to NOW in June, and noticed degraded wifi speeds with the NOW hub, but not so bad to justify spending up to 100 quid to buy a new router or Access Point.

Choosing contract length will depend on your circumstances.  Are you planning to move in which case it would not be a good idea to sign up to a very long contract?  eg. FTTC possibly might not be available at new address and Plusnet don't offer FTTP if it is available, so you'd have to pay early termination fees to escape the contract if you did not want Plusnet ADSL broadband.    Line Rental Saver is not refundable btw.

If the fibre service has been reliable for you and you can afford the upfront lump sum payment for Line Rental Saver, and you don't plan to move or change ISP, then it makes sense to take up 12 months LRsaver contract to earn the 'equivalent' extra £2.50 pm discount.  So £22.99pm - £2.50 pm = £20.49 pm

I understand customers joining Plusnet after May 2020 are NOT entitled to sign up to Line Rental Saver btw.  I'm informed there is no plan to withdraw Line Rental Saver offer to existing customers at present, but it could change in future.  Your guess is as good as mine.

If you stay with Plusnet, opt for 12 or 24 month contract if offered.  I'm surprised they gave you 3 contract length options.  It makes no sense to choose 18 months because it will leave you 'out of sync' and in a 'weak' bargaining position when wanting to renew broadband contract after 18 months if did you choose to renew LRsaver from month 13 taking it to month 24.   

Important to tell the agent you wish to pay for Line Rental Saver when you accept the new retention deal on offer.   I'm reliably informed there is a known billing issue whereby if you sign up to LRsaver AFTER agreeing a new retention deal, it will cause billing problems.  The agents are apparently aware LRsaver must be processed, BEFORE putting any new contract through the system to avoid this particular issue.

Plusnet offer a Fixed price guarantee, but this is only on the Broadband element.  Telephone call charges might rise.  If you have Line Rental Saver, you are protected from line rental increases.  In the past, it was possible to use the 'price rise' to escape a Plusnet contract, but I'm not entirely sure if that is still true since they introduced the Fixed Price guarantee on broadband.  Line Rental Saver is not refundable.

(I don't work for Plusnet btw)

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the reply. I don't plan on moving anytime soon, but I might stick with a 12-month contract so that I can shop around for another deal sooner, otherwise I'll have longer to wait if I go for a 24-month contract.

Appreciate the advice regarding telling the advisor that I want to pay the LRS at the time of accepting the retention offer. The advisor is due to call me tomorrow to sort out the renewal and then call me back on 2nd September to process the LRS. Glad I know what I know now so that I can avoid the dreaded billing issues. 

bill888

hmm, is your normal billing date the 2nd of each month? 

All contracts commence from the start of the next billing cycle. 

LRS is paid using credit/debit card. (Not via direct debit) btw.

Is Line Rental Saver refundable?

You can cancel Line Rental Saver within the first 14 days after ordering and get a full refund. After this, you can cancel the service at any time, but the fee is non-refundable.

brewerdave

Just a comment on ALR with Plusnet. When I renewed my deal last June, I mentioned ALR but the agent said he couldn't process it ,advised me to go via the email link I'd been sent. I then agreed a 24 month price with him for broadband only.

bill888

Do you recall whether the agent put the newly agreed broadband order on 'hold', perhaps for a day or two, to give you opportunity to go online and complete the LRSaver order, before they pushed through the new broadband-only order?

JJ_Egan

Likewise BT agree contract prices BB phone TV etc based upon ALR for 12 months .

Contract starts and its up to me to save the 10% by taking out ALR or not .

Likewise as BB is 18 months and TV is 24  months , ALR can be renewed after first twelve months at users choice .But not forgetting its non refundable ,