OpenReach have just notified me that *ultrafast full fibre* is now available to my premises! With 6 months left on my contract with Plusnet and currently an adequate/reliable 12meg service, how best to proceed?
All advertised services are for new customers only and start at several hundreds of pounds.
Plusnet want me to phone them!
Try a different ISP, IDnet do not do 'contracts' and the cost to install is less than a hundred I think
Or a hundred if you do a 12 month contract it seems
You need 24 month contract for a free router.
£36/month 75MbI'll see what Plusnet have to say.
Keeping the landline may be a consideration.
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Do you still use the phone line/number on the current service?
Do you have a fixed IP on the plusnet service (probably - they are one of the few that gave them out as standard). If so, do you need to keep it? (if the answer is "I don't know" then you probably don't!)
Do you need to retain the username.plus.com email address for any reason?
I would be tempted to go to a different ISP (I would second TNPs suggestion of IDNet - small ISP still focussed on decent customer service).
You have some options...
Buy whatever FTTP package you want. That then leaves the plusnet service unaltered. At your convenience you can then cease the broadband on the plusnet line (just after you have got it working :-) )
You can also then migrate the number to VoIP, accessed via the new FTTP, and cease the POTS line before it ceases itself anyway.
Or:
Buy new service, but keep plusnet as a backup. Stick dual WAN load balancing router on the FTTP, and wire in the plusnet ADSL service as a backup. Configure for "failover" and you then have a fallback if the FTTP is ever interrupted. (probably not worth the expense unless internet access is business critical)
At some point plusnet would presumably migrate your POTS line to VoIP running on whatever their favoured platform is anyway, and run it over your ADSL service.
Might be worth seeing what deal they are prepared to do - they might be keen to keep a customer.
Havent you got a router already?
You can transfer that to idnet too.
When VDSL contract is up later this year, I plan to go FTTP but haven’t decided on which supplier - so far PN doesn’t seem a bad bet. When the current contract ends (by which time I will have the FTTP running) I’ll port the LL number to A&A (£20 setup fee, £1.41pm) and configure the service to switch straight to voicemail, which emails you a .wav file of the call. Outgoing calls will be by mobile.
Calls via A&A are cheap enough anyway, but my route avoids an ATA and a phone.
Plusnet unit supplied last Christmas:-)
I don't know of any land line outputs.
Certainly a consideration. I plan to wait a few days and see if I get an offer from Plusnet:-)
Yes. Currently use a Panasonic KX-TGC220E. Not directly compatible with VoIP:-(
Don't know:-) We were with John Lewis..
Er. Not understood. My username with Plusnet is not important.
Good thought.
I actually got 3 months rebate!
Not business critical now. Although I will miss the Govt. telling me how to help save the planet by planting trees and not actually growing anything saleable!
I'll give it a few days. There was an engineer up a pole here this afternoon so something is happening.
If you move to FTTP with plusnt, you can't keep a phone service, as they do not provide one, the number will get ceased.
According to OFCOM (since last April) you can retrieve your old PSTN number up to 30 days later, plusnet's own pages give the impression that's not possible, I tend to assume Plusnet would get a rocket from OFCOM if it really isn't possible, but it's all rather early days ...
How important is the number to you? Might be worth keeping the copper line, have a new fibre installed, pay double for a month or two, and only when *both* are working, port the old number to a VoIP provider of your choice (e.g. voipfone).
With the addition of an Analogue Telephone Adaptor (ATA) or suitable router with ATA capability built in it will be.
If you have a plusnet username, then you normally also have the option of using their mailservers. So if you username say "myfarm", you could use snipped-for-privacy@myfarm.plus.com for email.
So by the sounds of it, there is nothing tying you to them particularly.
Nice :-)
Don't worry, they will be along to nag you about something else shortly :-)
Yup, it can be a long time coming, but once it arrives, it can then go pretty quick.
It might have changed, but PlusNet seem to expect you to phone them and haggle.
When thinking of porting your LL number to a VOIP provider, I found the following advice to be relevant:
Make sure there isn’t a clause in your VOIP contract that bars you from moving your telephone number to a new provider – it might be that you got a special cheap tariff package that included that condition.
In other words, if it is important to you to keep your present land line number, make sure you can still keep it, should you later want/need to change VOIP suppliers.
Thanks for that. I’ll email A&A and see what they say about it.
Ah. So better to run down my contract and then change as suggested.
Importance? Hard to say. When the farm business was fully active, it was crucial. Currently? Hard to say. I prefer it to a mobile and the messaging gets some use. Long calls are usually my wife's friends/relatives. Probably time to move on.
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Ok Sam. Point understood.
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So new router as well.
My login with Plusnet starts 666 which may have been allocated to all the ex-Demonites:-)
No, I went there from Demon, and have no sign of the Beast. I jumped somewhat earlier than the end, which could be seen coming after Vodafone took over, and I had been using non-Demon domain names since
1998, so it was not too traumatic and I had no dealings with Namesco.
Still should work as an email address with a .plus.com tacked on the back end :-)
Indeed. The Fritz!Box supplied by Zen certainly has this built in.
Timber is highly saleable, one day :-)
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