What offer/retention deals are people getting?

I am getting close to having to renew my 80/20 + line rental contract and the best I can get is a £5/month discount over 18 months and continue to pay line rental saver. I do not think this is a great deal especially being forced into such a long contract with OpenReach changing to 1 month FTTC contracts from 12 October.

If you change to BT you can usually easily get £200 (via cashback and credit card) and only a 12 month contract. Even taking the ridiculous £50 activation fee into account (why - I already have fibre what is this for!) you are probably looking at £20-25/month (for a combine line rental and broadband package as it should be). Is it me or have BT not put upload speeds on their pages - if they have they are well hidden!

BT have 10Mb upload on Infinity 1 and 20Mb upload on Infinity 2. BT don't use the 40/2 package from wholesale that some others (eg PlusNet) use.

I totally agree with you. Pretty very stupid to hold you for another 18 months bercause of the discount offer u take it with PN. Without offer u remain as a rolling month contract but it will cost you as a standard FTTC and line rental to £38.98 per month (if you are in market 3 area)

Just getting fed up with PN don't offer a good deal anymore. The best deal is for new customer who will have this offer for 12 months contract is FTTC (up to 76 Meg) with line only is £29.99 a month (Market 3 area) buy still required £25.00 activation fee for openreach to migration the fibre / line switch over for new customer.

Edited by adslmax (Fri 14-Jul-17 16:41:04)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I totally agree with you. Pretty very stupid to hold you for another 18 months bercause of the discount offer u take it with PN. Without offer u remain as a rolling month contract but it will cost you as a standard FTTC and line rental to £38.98 per month (if you are in market 3 area)

Just getting fed up with PN don't offer a good deal anymore. The best deal is for new customer who will have this offer for 12 months contract is FTTC (up to 76 Meg) with line only is £29.99 a month (Market 3 area) buy still required £25.00 activation fee for openreach to migration the fibre / line switch over for new customer.

What's a 'Market 3 area'?

Ofcom Classification

Market 3
Four or more 'principal' operators provide broadband services at this exchange. Service in this area has been deregulated!

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Ofcom Classification

There hasn't been a Market 3 for several years;

e.g. https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/6262-ofcom-consu...

Market 1,2,3 classifications went out in 2014. We now have Market A and Market B. I expect a Market 3 became Market B. That can be checked in the Ofcom Review June 2014.

Market A on pages 59-65, Market B on 66-69. (Document pages not PDF Reader pages).

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 14-Jul-17 21:32:14)

In reply to a post by Rastus:

There hasn't been a Market 3 for several years;

True, but a lot of people still rely on samknows, who have never updated their database.

I have a feeling Plusnet still apply their higher rate on the old Market 1 listing . Naughty of them.

Just renewed my 80/20 Fibre with line rental and evening and weekend calls included.

Phoned up and said I was leaving and going to Talktalk, and they were offering £31.50 for 80/20 inc line rental (no call package)

Plusnet said they would match the price of £31 and also throw in the evening and weekend call package for free. 18mth contract though.

Kind of wonder now what else I could have got offered if I had lied abit about the Talktalk offer !!!

Plusnet do not seem to be moving that much to be honest, I have been out of contract for over 2 years and said to them today about Talk talk being £25 a month for 38Mb/s, but all they offered me was £31 a month a month for 24 month contract, plus a new router and free calls, which i do not use.

They have also given me a free month due to not having broadband for 2 weeks.


The problem is there is nothing out there any cheaper apart from Talk Talk and no way would I go to them and to be honest until now i have had few problems with Plusnet and this problem was not a plusnet problem but a BT Openreach one and the fast that our network in the Uk is getting old and is falling apart.

I just moved to BT Infinity 2 today after being with Plusnet I think for nearly 3/4yrs. To be fair the service and gaming was great at £20 for 80/20 (BT for the line)

Only moved to save money, Quidco and BT were offering cashback up to 200 odd quid.

Which after cashback gives me:
Unlimited 80/20
Unlimited anytime calls (+£7)
Caller display (free first year)
12 month contract
£32 p/m

You do know that BT have started giving Infinity 1 customers free upgrades to 80/20?

I wonder if that depends on how long they have been on Infinity 1? Possibly also their download volumes. (Lower, better).

I was aware, but uncertainty of not being upgraded then losing out on a higher cash back would have annoyed me.

My Unlimited Fibre Extra contract expired a couple of years ago, I'd been getting fibre from PN and line rental from BT. I was paying BT annually for line rental but sick of the constant hikes (£159 in 2014 to £208 this year) for exactly the same service.

I phoned PN today and got them to match the new customer price of £29.98 per month for Unlimited Fibre Extra and line rental combined on an 18 month contract.

Several of us ducked out of phone rentals a couple of years ago, some moving it from Plusnet and some from BT, to Pulse8Broadband.

A few months later I also left Plusnet FTTC for AAISP, but my line remains with Pulse8 with rental of £14pm including caller display and 1571, and calls typically 2p per month at 1p per minute metered by the second. Nearly all outgoing calls are using my mobile contract minutes.

In reply to a post by narz:

I just moved to BT Infinity 2 today after being with Plusnet I think for nearly 3/4yrs. To be fair the service and gaming was great at £20 for 80/20 (BT for the line)

Only moved to save money, Quidco and BT were offering cashback up to 200 odd quid.

Which after cashback gives me:
Unlimited 80/20
Unlimited anytime calls (+£7)
Caller display (free first year)
12 month contract
£32 p/m

I would not go back to BT even if it was cheaper and yes I know BT owns Plusnet, but they are very different.
At least plusnet treats me as a person, have British call centre and they seems to know more than what BT does. Also, i have never had a problem with my payments, something which BT well and truly mucked up.

Saying that it is only because of the cost that I do not go from one of the smaller providers.

I agree with what you say about TalkTalk, Zyborg47. I had the worst customer experience with them that I've ever had and although this was several years ago now, I would never consider them again.

I found moving to a large ISP again like PlusNet not too bad, but nevertheless It's all about balance and you tend to get what you pay for.

Edited (removed) the latter part of my post as I had made the classic mistake when comparing pricing - I was comparing Ex Vat to Incl Vat prices, Doh.

Edited by Vorlon (Wed 11-Oct-17 11:42:24)

I just got to the end of my 2-year deal with them so I rang up to see what they would offer me to stay.
I've been on £15/month plus linesaver at £185/year, giving a total of £30.40/month for Fibre Extra (I get the full 76/20 since 100m from cabinet).
The new offer was £12/m Fibre, £198/yr linesaver, a total of £28.50/m. Not too bad I thought, but I decided to survey the market before committing. Looks like there isn't too much else out there - £30/m is the lowest for new customers (including Plusnet).
I looked at the Pulse8 line rental (£13/m) but Plusnet want £21.50 for the Fibre if you don't take their line, so £33.50/m offers no advantage.

I'm inclined to sign back up with Plusnet. They've given me a pretty good service over the last three years.

two year deal should be banned. Not allow more than 18 months on the residential.

Similar situation other than I can only get ADSL1 no fibre yet the offer I was given for BB was also £12.00 a month which after some prodding then came down to £10.00 a month with PN LRS or monthly LR having to be taken/renewed.
Your deal for a FTTC product seems to be good, I am still pondering whether to stay with PN but doing the maths from other ISPs I might well migrate, I don't get the cheap headline PN deals/offers due to the exchange being market A and not in a PN "low cost area".

In reply to a post by adslmax:

two year deal should be banned. Not allow more than 18 months on the residential.

I was surprised when I saw Tesco was offering a 24month contract on their phones. I guess the market/companies will continually push up the contract period.
I always liked the 30 day contract that Zen, Idnet & others offered. Since Fibre though I believe that has changed a bit.

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

I was surprised when I saw Tesco was offering a 24month contract on their phones

Pretty much all phone contracts are 24 months IME.

They've been kind enough to send me an email to remind that my contract is nearly up and offer me a new 12 month deal.
The price they offer me is £20.99 for ADSL. The problem I have with this is that I rang them a few months ago and they told me at the time they'll offer me same deal as for new customers (£18.99/month for 12 months at the time). Now their new customer pricing is still the same but with a 18 month contract.
I reckon I'll move to EE fibre, it works out at £22/month after cashback.

Phone retentions again, the email is just their opening offer.

The final offer I got a few hours ago for ADSL1 BB via a market A exchange (12 month contract) was £8.50 per month with monthly line rental (£18.99) on top of that or I could purchase the 12 month line rental saver package for £197.88p

New customers in low cost areas pay £0 for BB and £18.99 for monthly LR (18 month contract ) or you can purchase the 12 month LRS for £197.88, those not in a PN low cost area would pay £7.50 for BB plus £18.99 monthly LR or LRS.

I was wondering with FTTC if BT had better speed reliability than PlusNet, as per this 4 month old review suggests:-
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/06/h1-201...

I do favour PlusNet's UK call centres over those of BT, but is the trade-off your broadband speed?
ideally I'd prefer to be with Idnet/Zen/AAISP, but as with others it's down to affordability .

I looked at Sky too, but I'm not quite sure what sort of service and call centre support they provide let alone the speed/quality of their Broadband

I guess other forum members have had to weigh up BT vs Plusnet recently when considering renewing their Broadband service? I keep being drawn by the possibility that I may have more solid fibre speeds. At the moment the Plusnet Hub reports Line rate at 79.99/20Mbps, yet often it struggles for a stable 72Mbps. I appreciate that's not to be sniffed at and when it's working well it's excellent. I just wonder for similar money if I could do better?

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

I was wondering with FTTC if BT had better speed reliability than PlusNet, as per this 4 month old review suggests:-
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/06/h1-201...

There is some evidence that you lose 1Mbps or so due to Plusnet's profiling system, although whether this still applies now that they have dropped traffic management I don't know. Other than that, your speeds should be the same with either. I have had no speed issues with Plusnet, even at peak times.

A quick look at websites tells me that at first glance PN Fibre Extra is £29.99 a month just now to new customers and BT Infinity 2 is £44.99 a month, the prices are for 12 month contracts.

I was offered £7.50 pm for ADSL at a Market A exchange a couple of months ago. John Lewis broadband which is run by Plusnet, would have been cheaper.

Edited by Michael_Chare (Fri 13-Oct-17 23:04:41)

John Lewis broadband which is run by Plusnet, would have been cheaper.

Yes I spotted that last weekend it is £20.00 a month for ADSL and LR etc. at the moment.

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

I do favour PlusNet's UK call centres over those of BT, but is the trade-off your broadband speed?
ideally I'd prefer to be with Idnet/Zen/AAISP, but as with others it's down to affordability .

Actually, Zen have got a very good offer on at the moment, in association with The Big Deal which makes their pricing very competitive.. There is a £35 activation fee but you get a free Fritxbox 3490 which you can either keep or sell. It's only on for another few days though.

Bear in mind though, it's a 2 year contract. Personally, I don't mind that because it's Zen and I have been very happy with them for years. (The offer is also open to existing customers, who effectively just get a price reduction.)

Link

In reply to a post by lodge:

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

I do favour PlusNet's UK call centres over those of BT, but is the trade-off your broadband speed?
ideally I'd prefer to be with Idnet/Zen/AAISP, but as with others it's down to affordability .

Actually, Zen have got a very good offer on at the moment, in association with The Big Deal which makes their pricing very competitive.. There is a £35 activation fee but you get a free Fritxbox 3490 which you can either keep or sell. It's only on for another few days though.

Bear in mind though, it's a 2 year contract. Personally, I don't mind that because it's Zen and I have been very happy with them for years. (The offer is also open to existing customers, who effectively just get a price reduction.)

Link

I just tried a quick trial order with Zen and for me they were around £10 more per month than I'm currently paying Plusnet and appear more expensive than Idnet. Personally I do put it down to you get what you pay for as I have been a customer with Idnet & Zen in the past - both excellent imo.

My Current Package (with PlusNet) and Requirements:-

Package Fibre 80/20
Line Rental included
Anytime calls
1571
Caller display

Right now I'm deciding come December if I should stick to Plusnet or to move to BT, providing costs are reasonably comparable.

Do you know the number of calls and total length of the calls you make on average each month? Are many of them to mobiles?

In reply to a post by jelv:

Do you know the number of calls and total length of the calls you make on average each month? Are many of them to mobiles?

Not sure on the amount of calls I make a month but the upto 1 hour "free" is an option I've taken up for many years now. Interestingly if you are having a "marathon"call and you go over those 60minutes by mistake some providors can really sting you on the cost per minute. Of course the idea is that you hangup prior to the end of the hour and redial if you wish to continue.
Also I've noted the big ISP's usually making the most of the Landline addons like caller display and 1571 (which i use) whereas I think IDnet for example bundles half a dozen or so in with their plans.

I make no calls to mobiles off my landline. Rarely I may make calls abroad, but not enough to really warrant an extra addon plan. I think some years ago BT had a low cost option for dialing to certain countries which was priced reasonably low.

I'm pretty sure now I'm going to have to stick with one of the large ISP's and I've looked at Plusnet again (who I'm currently with) BT and Sky. For some reason I've always side stepped Sky and I feel the same about them now. Not sure what makes me negative about them to be honest.
So I'll probably decide between BT and Plusnet.
I'd be happy to have a 55/10 service too, as opposed to the 80/20 I have at present, especially if an offer at that rate can bring the costs down.

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

For some reason I've always side stepped Sky and I feel the same about them now. Not sure what makes me negative about them to be honest.

Coming to the end of a 12 month contract with Sky and apart from a small glitch at the beginning, I've had no problems with them. They have provided the service at the agreed price, unlike EE for example.

Tried to sign up with Plusnet again, but they make things so difficult. Their one off £5 for a fixed IP was great, but their doing away with 24 hour support and unacceptable call waiting times really do put a dampener on what otherwise is a reasonable service.

Over the past few years I've been with Sky, TalkTalk, Plusnet and now Origin.

I usually pay annual line rental in advance but TalkTalk, Plusnet and Origin have all attempted to charge me monthly line rental in the second month! In the case of Plusnet they actually cut off my line for 3 days when I refused to pay again for something I'd already paid for.

Customer service is generally appalling. Sky have an impossible to use web-site where everything is directed towards selling you more. Plusnet can only be contacted by phone, where they make you wait for up to an hour at a time before cutting you off. It's possible to e-mail Origin, but they do not reply and phoning leaves you hanging there for long periods. TalkTalk allowed my personal information to be stolen so now I get calls two or three times a day from scammers in India attempting to get me to compromise my computer - just had one as I write this!!

Only Plusnet has managed to give me close to the speed I know my line is capable of. All the others have been way short, with Origin only giving 50% of the speed I was getting with Plusnet. Origin has also been unreliable, with no connection to the internet for hours on end. Sky, very annoyingly, force you to pay for and use their router.

As for retention offers, they have been very poor too, which is why I have moved so much!

It is a mystery to me why these companies give initial contracts at one price then up the price ludicrously at the end of that contract. All that happens is that the vast majority of customers simply leave.

Stop going with the cheapest then!

Contract ends in December and PN offered me to continue paying £2.50 for BB for 18 months. I paid line rental for the year back in June. Quite happy with what they said except when I mentioned whether their Hub 1 will work on a standard ADSL line; they said no.

But I've been told previously it would, so not sure where I stand. I haven't taken up their offer just yet. I'm going to see if they'll include the Hub 1 regardless since I'm starting on a new contract.

What are the chances they'll do that?

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Will-Hub-1-w...

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Stop going with the cheapest then!

This is why I enjoy being an IDnet or Zen customer. I do really believe you get what you pay for.
But when needs must, there's a thin line between it would seem the larger ISP's. I suppose you take the best feedback at the time and hope for the best.

Personally i hate the adverts from the large ISP's offering the fantastic and sometimes close to the absurd, but sadly that seems to be the status quo with UK broadband at present.

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Stop going with the cheapest then!

This is why I enjoy being an IDnet or Zen customer. I do really believe you get what you pay for.
But when needs must, there's a thin line between it would seem the larger ISP's. I suppose you take the best feedback at the time and hope for the best.

Personally i hate the adverts from the large ISP's offering the fantastic and sometimes close to the absurd, but sadly that seems to be the status quo with UK broadband at present.

I am eyeing up my usage with Plusnet so I can see if I am under 1TB and if so when the price rise hits ill be off to better pastures!

Edit:: Even if it is double the price!

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-Oct-17 10:18:13)

Assuming you are considering AAISP - have you seen the Quota Bonus that launched in September?

https://aa.net.uk/broadband-quota.html has details.

In reply to a post by Conrad3000:

I mentioned whether their Hub 1 will work on a standard ADSL line; they said no.

By the sound of it, you've been speaking to the sales team who often haven't got a clue (I worked in a sales team before. I didn't have a clue. I was still selling. Often by promising the impossible in future firmware updates ).
Hub 1 works with ADSL. I got one. It works. And Plusnet's tech team didn't mind it when I said I was having problems with my ADSL and I had Hub 1.
Except, I've put OpenWRT on it, can't promise ADSL will work on standard Plusnet firmware.
Re getting Hub 1 with ADSL package - no chance imo. Just get it on eBay, I got mine new in wrappers for 23 pounds.

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-Oct-17 20:55:36)

Also, I wouldn't pay 2.50 for ADSL broadband since both Plusnet and the competition (TalkTalk, EE) are offering it for free to new customers right now. Also Plusnet are offering fibre right now for 22.99 with free activation - and that's 1.50 extra to what they offered you, and you could get your free Hub 1 through that
I'd still not renew with Plusnet because when I tried to move home mid-contract, they were going to totally abuse the situation and push a nearly full-price 18 or 24-month contract upon me.

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-Oct-17 20:57:47)

In reply to a post by jelv:

Assuming you are considering AAISP - have you seen the Quota Bonus that launched in September?

https://aa.net.uk/broadband-quota.html has details.

I am, and I have. I thought 4K all day would be a lot but turns out it's only about 4GB a day so plenty of scope for that!

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Stop going with the cheapest then!

This is why I enjoy being an IDnet or Zen customer. I do really believe you get what you pay for.
But when needs must, there's a thin line between it would seem the larger ISP's. I suppose you take the best feedback at the time and hope for the best.

Personally i hate the adverts from the large ISP's offering the fantastic and sometimes close to the absurd, but sadly that seems to be the status quo with UK broadband at present.

I am eyeing up my usage with Plusnet so I can see if I am under 1TB and if so when the price rise hits ill be off to better pastures!

Edit:: Even if it is double the price!

Can you enlighten me as to the 1TB usage figure and as to what ISP that applies to?

He confirmed it's AAISP in his reply to me.

https://aa.net.uk/broadband-home1-terabyte.html