MSE News: Plusnet Mobile customer? You need to switch provider as it's closing down

miller

savergrant said:

Slight tangent but is there a good reason why lebara hasn't been mentioned yet? Would fit the bill of regular payment from credit card each month.

They look the best for me, but I need to maintain a DD on that account for the TSB £75 bonus and Lebara look credit/debit card only?. I hate BT already for peddling their extortionate broadband deals over the last 2 decades, and this doesn't help. As a previous poster said, this could have been run down gracefully or migrated without the hassle. Find your best deal and switch.

savergrant

I'd agree that there was a very small window between closing to new customers and issuing advice to existing customers to look elsewhere (AFAIK they haven't issued a disconnection date yet). It suggests that they simply don't want plusnet's existing customers as they aren't prepared to incentives you to join ee (as they did with btmobile).

flaneurs_lobster

savergrant said:

I'd agree that there was a very small window between closing to new customers and issuing advice to existing customers to look elsewhere (AFAIK they haven't issued a disconnection date yet). It suggests that they simply don't want plusnet's existing customers as they aren't prepared to incentives you to join ee (as they did with btmobile).

Will BT/Plusnet not continue service until all existing minimum terms have expired, a year after the last contract was started/renewed? Can they simply cease service mid-contract period, even if they give notice? 

Does look like they want to market EE as a "premium" offering, and just don't want Plusnet's oiky masses.

savergrant

miller said:

savergrant said:

Slight tangent but is there a good reason why lebara hasn't been mentioned yet? Would fit the bill of regular payment from credit card each month.

They look the best for me, but I need to maintain a DD on that account for the TSB £75 bonus and Lebara look credit/debit card only?. I hate BT already for peddling their extortionate broadband deals over the last 2 decades, and this doesn't help. As a previous poster said, this could have been run down gracefully or migrated without the hassle. Find your best deal and switch.

Could you get around that by using PayPal and registering your bank (sort code and account number with them?). That was an option last time I used paypal.

https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/trouble-topping-up

savergrant

flaneurs_lobster said:

savergrant said:

I'd agree that there was a very small window between closing to new customers and issuing advice to existing customers to look elsewhere (AFAIK they haven't issued a disconnection date yet). It suggests that they simply don't want plusnet's existing customers as they aren't prepared to incentives you to join ee (as they did with btmobile).

Will BT/Plusnet not continue service until all existing minimum terms have expired, a year after the last contract was started/renewed? Can they simply cease service mid-contract period, even if they give notice? 

Does look like they want to market EE as a "premium" offering, and just don't want Plusnet's oiky masses.

I would guess they have the option to terminate the service mid-term by giving 3 months' notice or similar. I've not seen the letter so no idea whether this constitutes a formal notice or simply early warning.

savergrant

Plusnet mobile t&c's

22.1. We can suspend or stop providing our services and/or end our agreement where:

22.1.13. we are no longer providing the service or particular plan to customers.

... We'll normally try to give you 30 days' prior notice before suspending or stopping providing our services and/or ending our agreement). However, we may not do this if we believe there is a real risk of loss or harm to us

mr_mf

I would suggest reviewing the FAQs here https://www.plus.net/mobile there is quite a bit of info, but no news on when it will actually end. 

The official reasoning was announced over a year ago https://newsroom.bt.com/consumer-sharpening-our-focus-to-create-a-better-business/ but I don't think many people noticed it.

savergrant

mr_mf said:

I would suggest reviewing the FAQs here https://www.plus.net/mobile there is quite a bit of info, but no news on when it will actually end. 

The official reasoning was announced over a year ago https://newsroom.bt.com/consumer-sharpening-our-focus-to-create-a-better-business/ but I don't think many people noticed it.

From that press release;

"And Plusnet, our value brand, will continue to serve customers with basic no-frills broadband and landline."

So writing was on the wall for plisnet mobile back then.

brewerdave

savergrant said:

mr_mf said:

I would suggest reviewing the FAQs here https://www.plus.net/mobile there is quite a bit of info, but no news on when it will actually end. 

The official reasoning was announced over a year ago https://newsroom.bt.com/consumer-sharpening-our-focus-to-create-a-better-business/ but I don't think many people noticed it.

From that press release;

"And Plusnet, our value brand, will continue to serve customers with basic no-frills broadband and landline."

So writing was on the wall for plisnet mobile back then.

And there are no plans to offer a VOIP service with FTTP - So in theory PN would become an FTTP only brand - can't see that surviving for long either !!

savergrant

ProDave said:

MissLFC said:

Cannot sleep after reading virgin mobile reviews on trustpilot! The app is also quite invasive in regards to data collection compared to plusnet so I'm going to cancel it.

With 1p mobile -am I being dumb, if you have unlimited calls & texts & more than enough data what would you spend the top up on? Wouldn't credit just keep accumulating if you have to keep topping up every 4 months but not spending?

If you pay for a boost, like I have for a inclusive calls and text deal, there is no requirement to top up during that period.  e.g I have paid for 12 months calls text and data so I don't have to top up anything for 12 months.

If you use it purely as a PAYG and don't use much you have to top up £10 every 120 days.  So potentially you could just accumulate a big credit.  However when i had mine as a PAYG to start with, they offer you the chance to "top up from your credit"  So you could spend £10 of your unused accumulated credit to buy another 120 days of use.  I have not done the maths to see how low you could get ongoing bills as a low user doing that.

Potentially you could topup £20 for the 1st 8 months, then sacrifice £10 credit after 8 months and topup again after 12 months, paying £10 every 8 months (£1.25 per month equivalent) and living off the original £10 topup until you have used 1000 mins/texts/mb.