Out of contract prices

My contract is finishing but is there any reason the new price should be so high?

My area is about to get FTTP but I’ll switch away from Plusnet rather than re contract as I don’t feel like these out of contract prices are fair.



“When your contract ends your monthly price will go from £28.59 to £54.39. Annual price changes apply.”

Why not recontract at the lower price and then when FTTP arrives switch your PN contract to FTTP and maybe, as I gound, the price will drop!




And three months in, I need to cancel FTTP soon due to a bereavement - no early termonation chanrges either.

Plusnet and other large ISPs offer large discounts during the contract period and have what are effectively surcharges out-of-contract compared to smaller ISPs. Offering larger contracted discounts may help retain customers, the out-of-contract charges for those who fail to recontract helps pay for this.

There are a number of smaller ISPs who offer 1 month rolling contracts - often with no setup fee, if migrating in an existing service, except for a router unless you have a suitable one of your own.

What service is that price for and do you have anything on top like bundled calls? That seems very high for a non-FTTP contract if it is just for broadband. But, they do keep the out of contract prices high to encourage people to recontract to keep a known steady stream of income.

It’s just a basic 80Mbps FTTC service with no call package.

When FTTP comes I want to be able to pick a provider based on options available then and not be locked into plusnet. If plusnet are the best option at that point I would go with them but this is really putting me off.

How many old folk are sat paying £55 a month? Or people moving house etc?

I get that pricing is discounted but realistically £25-£35 is normal for FTTC from a mass market provider. Paying even 2-3 months at this inflated price just feels like profiteering.




I think I’ll look at Now or Pulse8 - they seem to offer 1 month contracts.

It doesn't matter whether it's fair because if you re-contract you won't be paying it, just the same as you are now or lower.

I agree. My price has virtually doubled out-of-contract, but I don't want to re-contract with them. But I've been procrastinating about migrating (and paying dearly for it) as I don't have any backup access to the internet (no smartphone) and am nervous of anything going wrong.

In a similar position I went for a Pulse8 rolling monthly contract, gave me the flexibility to move when I needed to and their prices at the time were pretty competitive with the rest of the market. I certainly wouldn't stay on PlusNet at that price for an 80Mbps FTTC service. Pulse8 look to be £37 a month but doesn't include a router if not taking a contract.

Assuming that it's Openreach FTTP that is due to arrive with you soon (our situation was different as CityFibre arrived first)...
If you're satisfied with Plusnet's service I would give them a call and negotiate (use a price comparison site such as Comparethemarket to find out what you should be paying and aim for at least a similar price to what you're paying now). Then negotiate a free transfer to Plusnet FTTP when it's available, which could actually be cheaper.

If the anticipated FTTP provider is an altnet such as CityFibre, seek out a short-term monthly contract such as Pulse8 instead.

I was paying a similar amount for Plusnet 36MB or so but on renewal last spring was offered FTTP 80/20 for about £27 pm, a couple of £s less. All the ISPs seem very keen to get us on FTTP, I wonder are they getting a bonus? Only problem is promised FTTP is one thing, actually getting it is another. I too suggest you give them a ring and tell them about the better deals you can get elsewhere.

By the way, I think you may have to give a month's notice before leaving, and rentals are paid in advance. After your contract expires this advance rental will be at the exorbitant no-contract rate.

They were very keen to get me onto FTTP - so much so that they forgot to mention there was no included phone service.

Luckily, I had my wits about me and noticed before agreeing to anything, but I don't think they planned to tell me at all!

I know that for some people who already never use their landline, this will be no big deal, but some of us still want and use it. And the price doesn't look as good when you realise you'll need to pay for separate phone arrangements to replace the landline you've just given up.

There’s Openreach FTTP and Nexfibre (Virgin Media) being rolled out in the town.

I hope one will be available this side of Christmas but don’t want to be paying £30 a month extra to plusnet whilst I wait on one of those being available as I may be being optimistic on timelines.

I will l likely migrate to pulse8 and find a cheap router. Or Now TV and pay the connection fee (was £60 last time I looked)

Disappointing as I am happy with plusnet and would stay until I can see what connections are available to me in the next few months.

If they had a £35 “out of contract price” I’d just stay and then likely sign up with plusnet for FTTP. If I migrate to another ISP the chances of me coming straight back are not high.

An Openreach CBT was installed on my pole today, so hopefully it won’t be long before something faster comes along.

Other parts of the town have been connected within a few weeks of CBT install.

It’s almost certain that someone on Plusnet , but within a minimum term , could upgrade to Plusnet FTTP without any penalty whatsoever , not even any FTTP installation charge , although it potentially increases the minimum term, but probably ties the consumer into OR network, hindering any move to an Alt Net , if the Alt Net is available first
Openreach do incentivise ISP’s to get their customers onto OR FTTP once it’s available, the only issue potentially with Plusnet is if they don’t offer an IP telephony service and telephony is required by that customer , they may not want to continue as a customer , ( and don’t want to a ‘free’ move onto BT with DV ),

Edited by Iniltous (Thu 05-Oct-23 14:21:51)

Talktalk will give me a much better router and the option of cash back though

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

It’s almost certain that someone on Plusnet , but within a minimum term , could upgrade to Plusnet FTTP without any penalty whatsoever , not even any FTTP installation charge , although it potentially increases the minimum term, but probably ties the consumer into OR network, hindering any move to an Alt Net , if the Alt Net is available first
Openreach do incentivise ISP’s to get their customers onto OR FTTP once it’s available, the only issue potentially with Plusnet is if they don’t offer an IP telephony service and telephony is required by that customer , they may not want to continue as a customer , ( and don’t want to a ‘free’ move onto BT with DV ),

Openreach have just enabled FTTP on our street. I upgraded to Full Fibre 145 by logging in to my account and clicking edit package. It's £27.99 (54p more than I was paying for FTTC). The only downside is it's a 24 month contract (I still had 9 months to run on my current contract). There's no installation fee. There's the annual price increases to consider though of course.

Installation is in a couple of weeks.

Edited by _Resonance_ (Fri 13-Oct-23 17:37:20)

The 24-month contract that people are being pushed into these days are annoying and one of the reason why I would not take up a FTTP contract, the problem is it is also happening for FTTC, which is one of the reason why I dropped Plsunet and the price.

In reply to a post by MHC:

when FTTP arrives switch your PN contract to FTTP

Sadly only possible if Openreach FTTP is in your road. No point if you have CityFibre, Toob and Virgin, but no Openreach....

I am in the same situation with the same message. If you click the offers and upgrades you will be able to extend (Broadband and phone) for 24 months at same price or 18 months at £31.

The problem comes if you want to go to SOGEA (£25) and port your phone number to VOIP. This is the scenario in which they (i.e. PN) suck.

Edited by Rerun28 (Tue 24-Oct-23 23:58:25)

The problem is that you are likely to lose the phone number in the process, if that is important to you.

I have placed an order at A&A, and consequently PN have been told by A&A that I'm leaving.
Now PN have come back and offered me broadband and phone for £25.99 for 18 month contract.

In reply to a post by Rerun28:

I have placed an order at A&A, and consequently PN have been told by A&A that I'm leaving.
Now PN have come back and offered me broadband and phone for £25.99 for 18 month contract.

It always amazes me how companies ignore the reputational damage caused by posts like this. I wouldn't be particularly proud when people are posting that we tried to rip them off then when they took other steps we suddenly abandoned our attempt to rip them off and found a price that undercuts the price we charge to the mugs.

Still we know that the moral compass of those at the top of major businesses is losing direction year by year so probably no surprise.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

It always amazes me how companies ignore the reputational damage

Look no further than the Royal Mail price increases over recent years, crazy greedy [censored] although my post man is the nicest guy you are ever likely to meet.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

It always amazes me how companies ignore the reputational damage

Look no further than the Royal Mail price increases over recent years, crazy greedy [censored] although my post man is the nicest guy you are ever likely to meet.

Unfortunately Royal Mail is caught between a rock and a hard place. They are legally required to maintain the Universal Service Obligation of delivering to every address in the UK six days a week (subject to a few specified exclusions) so they have to keep a massive network of delivery offices and associated staff. That means that their costs are very much weighted towards the fixed rather than the variable end. As the volume of mail drops there are only limited opportunities to downsize the delivery network due to the USO requirement. I suspect that what you are seeing in action is not crazy, greedy etc but merely the only possible reaction to a reducing market while servicing the USO.

Hi,

Just like politicians. Local ones can be quite nice but the higher you go....the lower the IQ they appear to have.

Cya,

Just to close out this thread, I’ve migrated to pulse 8 today.

£37 a month on a one month contract.

It’s not super cheap but it’s far better than the £54.39 that Plusnet expect me to pay to stay on a 30 day contract.

No obvious progress from openreach FTTP but the checker now say it’s due by the end of the year rather than 2026. Nexfibre have done the first install of their network on my street (digging and ducting etc) but no fibre cable yet.