BT, EE & Plusnet (re)introduce Activation Fees

151Taddy

According to "ISP Preview" the BT "Group" are reintroducing an activation fee for new customers from today, 31st July.

Quote:"New customers to BT or EE will be charged a "one off" £30, Plusnet customers only face a £20 fee (thought to be because Plusnet uses older and/or re-branded BT/EE kit."

They then go on to say " History tends to show that w(h)ere BT leads on pricing, others will follow……."

So expect the other ISP to show a "Sheepish" tendency to "grab that ca$h".

Full article here:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/07/ee-bt-and-plusnet-to-reintroduce-uk-home-broadband-activation-fees.html

bristolleedsfan

BT currently offering new customers Full Fibre 150 for £23.99 + yearly increases + £30 set up fee, was not all that long ago BT Full Fibre 150 was £29.99 per month + annual increases.

+ New customer incentives, sometimes it is prudent to look beyond article headlines. 😎

dnpark38

When I do comparisons I now add the two increases to basic and use that to compare with others.

At present my contract does not have set increases but allows in contract prices rises.

zagfles

So PlusNet have introduced a £20 installation cost but have increased their prepaid Mastercard signup reward by £40 to £160. I'm sure there's some genius marketing logic there in taking with one hand and giving more with the other…

brewerdave

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087627#Comment_82087627

Presumably the prepaid Mastercard offer is not always successfully applied ,either because it gets forgotten or the new customer trips up over some required condition or other ,whereas an upfront payment is in their bank ?

forgotmyname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087627#Comment_82087627

Maybe they are betting on the fact most people still think of the old mobile incentives where you had a very small window in
which to claim your reward and they often failed? I do tend to look for deals where I do not need to jump through hoops to
get the advertised price which often includes the rewards.

I have found Plusnet easy to deal with when you find a deal online and they so far always just given me the deal unlike
Vodafone who refused the deal even though I know others were getting the deal. After I left they offered me a better deal
but they left it too late and I was happy with my connection. Been with Plusnet for a fair few years now although they
do not offer the 1600MB Broadband so I may move to EE? Still deciding if I really need 1600MB or get the easier option
of 900MB which will make the networking easier with some devices on 2.5GB and most others only on 1GB.