NOW price increase. Move to Full Fibre?

spud17

I renewed with NOW in January at £24/mth.
I was verbally reassured that this price would not be subject to any price rise this year, I asked a couple of times to be sure.
I didn't really check any of the paperwork, I'm not complaining, but looking back there's no mention of it being a fixed price.
The latest letter says that I'm allowed to leave penalty free by calling within 31 days. 
The problem is that I'm in an area changing to full fibre and my property will require fairly major works with, I suspect, a fair lead in time. 
The property is split level, built in the 1970s, the current cable runs "direct in ground" up a steep bank, around the house to the "front" door on the side, then black duct to the middle of the house.

Question: If I tell NOW that I want to leave, how long do I have? 

Speaking with one of the 2 neighbours that have moved to full fibre, it took weeks for it to happen, even though the actual works took just over a day.
The concrete drive has to be dug up and duct laid from the footpath.

Ayr_Rage

As per your post, you've got 31 days to decide.

Once you invoke that right they will agree a service termination date according to their Ts and Cs.

Rob5342

I was in the same position and I think it was about a week from phoning them to the service getting cancelled. I ordered a service provided by CityFibre, they turned up the next day to install the fibre to the house but as the duct was blocked they had to come back a few times to sort it and it took about two weeks overall. They came on a seperate occasion to install the equipment inside the house.

Do you have a mobile you could tether too as a temporary solution?

spud17

TBH I can do without the upheaval of Full Fibre installation at this moment in time.
I've spoken to NOW, it's not a brilliant deal but I can live with it.

Currently £24/mth.
New 12mth contract of £22/mth with a £12 credit and a £3 price rise in July, evens out to the equivalent of £24/mth.

Looking at other deals, there's nothing below £26/mth available to me, apart from Onestream who I don't rate at all from reading this forum.

HaroldWhistler

spud17 said:

I renewed with NOW in January at £24/mth.
I was verbally reassured that this price would not be subject to any price rise this year, I asked a couple of times to be sure.
I didn't really check any of the paperwork, I'm not complaining, but looking back there's no mention of it being a fixed price.
The latest letter says that I'm allowed to leave penalty free by calling within 31 days. 
The problem is that I'm in an area changing to full fibre and my property will require fairly major works with, I suspect, a fair lead in time. 
The property is split level, built in the 1970s, the current cable runs "direct in ground" up a steep bank, around the house to the "front" door on the side, then black duct to the middle of the house.

Question: If I tell NOW that I want to leave, how long do I have? 

Speaking with one of the 2 neighbours that have moved to full fibre, it took weeks for it to happen, even though the actual works took just over a day.
The concrete drive has to be dug up and duct laid from the footpath.

Usually via Openreach, there is a minimum 14 day mandatory activation time/lead period before Full Fibre installation can take place at a property. This is usually reflected when arranging installation with a (new/existing) provider and the available dates to choose when to start your service being 14 days out and beyond. Openreach then usually state whether the installation at a property will be a 1 Stage, or multiple stage install depending on any works required. Whilst it sounds like there may be some works required, there is a benefit of having Full Fibre and once it's installed, it's installed. From what you say regarding the neighbours, the works took place over a single day. Usually a single stage installation takes a few hours. Meaning at that point, in the future you can switch between Openreach providers by simply giving the new provider your ONT (the new box that gets installed in the property) number (a bit like giving a mobile number a PAC code when switching providers).

Ultimately FTTP is where broadband is heading and has significant benefits over FTTC broadband. The initial installation can be considered an investment in the future like other home improvement works. In this case, it only needs to happen at the start. 

If you don't require a phone line, then there are Full Fibre providers who do fixed prices. You mentioned the £24 mark. A quick browse online shows Aquiss do a 12 month contract on fixed prices (during the contract and after the contract is over) for their "Pure Fibre 80" Full Fibre product. It's regular price is £36 a month, but their website shows their products have the first 6 months half price. So at £18 a month and then £36 a month, that works out to £27 a month on average over the year. Assuming there wasn't a better offer from them to re-contract in 12 months time (wholesale prices on Full Fibre generally speaking go down over time), the price would continue fixed at the same £36 a month (at which point you are free to move to another FTTP provider as well).

You would have to buy your own Broadband Router (unlike those given by NOW, Sky, BT, Vodafone, etc, buying your own means it is unlocked and can be used with any Broadband provider now or in the future). A decent one (e.g. Asus, or TP Link) could likely be had for a one off of circa £35 to £50 from places like Amazon, or Currys, which would likely be far better than those provided (or these days rented out) by a lot of broadband providers. I.e. having better Wifi 6 speeds as well and you would own it. Buying your own means you can design/build your own internal Mesh wireless network in any case with more flexibility. 

If the £24 a month quoted is for FTTC and with Now Broadband, I would say £27 a month for Full Fibre is the better value for money option given the investment for the future, higher speed, consistent speed, reliability of Full Fibre etc. Aquiss are a long standing small family run business as well with an excellent telephone customer service reputation according to the rankings at ISPreview of broadband providers. If you Google "ISPreview Broadband Provider Reviews and Rankings", you can see the providers which are highly rated by customers. 

bristolleedsfan

Quidco offering £90 cashback for existing Now Broadband customers to upgrade to Full Fibre 100 which is powered by Sky. ( that rate is shown as ending today, likely will go up and down periodically)