New broadband supplier

[Tim Lamb]

Yes. I know this has been discussed before. Sadly my brain doesn't handle Google group searches:-(

Currently with John Lewis who are again threatening to drop the service. (Plusnet)

I must be outside the original contract period. Existing overhead copper incomer speed 13MB download.

Requirement:- Similar BB speed, phone line + anytime calls. Some mobile calls included would be good but not essential.

Kindly remind me how the 18 month contract trap works.

Comparison site gives BT ! to be best on pricing and calls. Plusnet don't offer anytime/mobile calls and more expensive anyway.

[Chris B]

You pay "up front" for 12 months of phone line/talk time (called line saver or whatever), but enter an 18 month broadband contract. At end of

12 months you either pay through the nose for 6 months of phone line/talk time, or pay again for a 12 moth "saver package". this takes you 6 months beyond your BB contract so you pay through the nose for 6 months of BB or enter another 18 month contract......

Don't know if those 12 month "up front" deals still exist as its a while since I changed supplier. They might have disappeared with the latest pricing deals, where line and BB seem to be integrated.

[Jeff Gaines]

I use Plusnet for combined 'phone/broadband and have an "eat all you want" 'phone deal that covers landline and mobile calls.

I have found their service excellent, even if the Yorkshire accent is a bit harder to understand than Mumbai :-)

[Sam Plusnet]

PlusNet stopped doing Line Rental Saver deals some time back & loaded the line rental into the monthly charge.

PlusNet do offer both of those things, but I don't use their mobile service & only use the basic "Evenings & Weekends" landline package - since the price increase for 'Anytime' would cost me more than it's worth.

[Tim Lamb]

Hmm.. The BT offer seems to be a 24month contract. The only potential weasel bit I can see relates to an £11.50 discount for bundle with no mention of the duration.

Ta!

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[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Jeff Gaines [e-mail] writes

Hmm. I'll try a different comparison site. How much are you currently paying?

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[Tim Lamb]

Maybe that is what has upset John Lewis!

Ok. I'll have another look. Shell have been cheapest so far but have a poor feed back record.

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[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Tim Lamb [e-mail]> writes

Hmm. again.

Plusnet don't like you printing off the order details from their checkout. Contract 18 months.

£34.27 to include unlimited UK and mobile calls, Unlimited BB £0.80/month for 18 months then £12.74 thereafter.

[Jeff Gaines]

£45.24 per month, includes line rental, fibre broadband (I get 30 mb/s) and all calls to landlines or mobiles.

[Theo]

The weasel is they aren't fixed price contracts. BT and others (I forget who) have an RPI+3.9% rise baked into the contract. If RPI is 11% then that's a 14.9% rise.

Given the rises tend to come in April, they're been critised for advertising juicy rates over Christmas which are only going to apply for 3 months. Can't find the original story on this, but this is a recent one:

ISPs like Zen offer a true fixed price deal.

Theo

[Jeff Layman]

Not any more in the same way that they used to be: "As of 1st June 2022, our Price for Life guarantee will no longer be available on new Zen contracts and be replaced by our Zen Contract Price Promise.

The Zen Contract Price Promise is our assurance that the broadband prices you sign up for will remain fixed throughout the lifetime of your contract. In other words, the price you pay on day one will remain the same throughout your contract..."

I'm on "price for life" FTTC, but that will disappear when the copper connection goes and and I'm forced to go FTTP. That will involve a new contract. At present, though, there are no plans for FTTP at my location. :-)

[Theo]

That's fixed for the duration of the contract. Unlike others who can raise it mid-contract, and you aren't allowed to get out of it (the rise is baked into the T&C). For example "apply the change in April each year, in line with your terms and conditions":

After your contract term ends, all bets are off. Zen previously had 'the same price forever' but that clearly won't fly with inflation at 11%. Keeping the price for the duration of the contract is just what everyone else was doing before BT, Vodafone and friends came up with their new cunning wheeze.

Although it seems that Plusnet *are* fixing for the duration of the contract:

Theo

[SteveW]

I'm currently with Virgin. I was given an offer for 18 months of £55 per month, with calls included and 350 MB/s download, 30 MB/s upload. After

18 months it was supposed to go up to about £75, but I suggested that I might move to the new 5G broadband with 3 and they reduced it to £55 for another 18 months.

[alan_m]

With phones going digital in future there is unlikely to be a separate line rental charge - it will all be incorporated into the broadband changes.

I still pay my broadband supplier an itemised line rental charge BUT for new customers the same broadband service I get (without phone line) cost the same as I'm paying. Effectively the broadband now includes a VOIP facility without a itemised line rental, requiring an additional fee for X hours of anytime calls of VOIP.

At some time soon I expect my analogue phone line to stop working and I will be transferred over to VOIP but with no reduction in what I pay. My ISPs supplied router already incorporates a DECT compatible answerphone and also a socket where I can plug in my existing DECT answerphone.

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Jeff Gaines [e-mail] writes

Ah! That agrees with their *out of contract* published price. The chance of fibre arriving down a rural lane of 8 properties seems remote currently.

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[alan_m]

They used to offer a fixed price for the length of time you were on the same service, or the same fixed price if THEY moved you (upgraded) because they no longer provided the service/package. They no longer offer this lifetime guarantee. It used to be that they not only held the price for a 12/18 month contract but also the same fixed price for the rolling 1 month contracts afterwards.

[Jeff Gaines]

I suspect that rural broadband is going to end up coming via the mobile network - I get the same speed on a tethered mobile as I do on my landline about 3 miles west of Fordingbridge.

[Andy Burns]

plusnet, a whisker under £30/month, 80/20 speed, fibre to the cabinet, evening & weekend calls, line rental.

[Tim Lamb]

Current cost for Zen here would be £32.99/m. Sadly they don't offer any phone packages.

Plusnet with a review at 18 months seems best for now. Be interesting to see if they can re-use the John Lewis router.

[Theo]

Indeed - it's all pricing smoke and mirrors. If you want some fun ask Plusnet if you can have their 99p broadband without the 23 pounds a month line rental.

It has long been the case, just that a few have clung onto the old model of 'free broadband*' Tiny print: * plus your usual line rental of 99.99/month.

Theo