Leaving PlusNet

After being with PlusNet for year's it's time to move my Mum to another ISP. Why?

Because PN don't offer a Digital Voice product.

It's time for her contract to be renewed and it turns out they don't offer DV, and her being an old school person in her 80's she likes having a landline. With all the changes occurring it's sad but it's necessary. So, she's going to move to....... Zen Internet.

Fingers Crossed no issues.

Could you not re-contract with Plusnet still keeping your landline?

I've just re-contracted with them and kept my landline, they offered me a discount to have no landline (don't use it anyway) but it was to sign up for 2 years (no other option), however I could keep my existing setup which is for 18 months at a good price, as I'm hoping for FTTP in the next 1 to 3 years!

Good luck with your move to Zen.

DV is just glorified SIP so you could source a SIP service and an ATA to plug the phone into - not as simple as moving to an ISP that supports DV but an option.

For exactly the same reasons we are doing exactly the same thing. We go live with Zen on the 26th.

There are lots of alternatives but Zen felt like a high quality one stop shop. I am perfectly happy with our decision.

I have asked a couple of telephone questions in the Zen forum which will hopefully make set up easier.

Good luck.

You shouldn't need to set anything up, Zen will automatically provision the broadband and DV on the supplied FritzBOX router when first connected after they have taken over the service.

For a wired phone it is just a case of plugging it into the FON socket via the supplied BT - RJ11 adapter. You can register compatible DECT handsets directly with the FritzBOX and do away with an existing DECT basestation, many of the Gigaset (formerly Siemens) handsets work.

A plus point is that if you decided to migrate just the DV service to another supplier once out of the initial contract period you are not locked in by Zen, unlike some other suppliers.

It is worth checking your options as Plusnet will hopefully just allow you to renew keeping your existing package including landline for the time being.

It will just move the problem to a later date but at least you can continue with hopefully cheaper Plusnet prices for the time being?

Plusnet send end of contract emails approximately 1 month before it is due for renewal. It should have wording in this email on whether renewing keeps your landline or not with a price and link. End of contract date is available in the Plusnet Dashboard.

If Plusnet do remove the landline service and not provide an alternative I would say that is a big enough contract change and you would be free to move elsewhere without penalty.

If your mum has a mobile and can tolerate it and you renew it may give a good number of months to wean your mum off the landline and give mobile number for contact details instead.

In reply to a post by think26872:

It is worth checking your options as Plusnet will hopefully just allow you to renew keeping your existing package including landline for the time being.

It will just move the problem to a later date but at least you can continue with hopefully cheaper Plusnet prices for the time being?

Plusnet send end of contract emails approximately 1 month before it is due for renewal. It should have wording in this email on whether renewing keeps your landline or not with a price and link. End of contract date is available in the Plusnet Dashboard.

If Plusnet do remove the landline service and not provide an alternative I would say that is a big enough contract change and you would be free to move elsewhere without penalty.

If your mum has a mobile and can tolerate it and you renew it may give a good number of months to wean your mum off the landline and give mobile number for contact details instead.

Or is it possible to port the landline number to a VoIP provider and put their app on your mother's mobile so that the landline number will ring on her mobile?

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Or is it possible to port the landline number to a VoIP provider and put their app on your mother's mobile so that the landline number will ring on her mobile?

Might have been better to reply to the OP not me.

VoIP is a possibility but just moving to a mobile phone may be a big step having the complication of a VoIP provider may be a step to far. You will also have to trust that the separation of broadband and landline also goes without a hitch.

Updating contact numbers to a mobile phone number should just work. Just need to remember to sign up for a £5/month SIM with unlimited Voice and SMS.

Separating out broadband and contact number is a good idea as it also opens up the opportunity of hopefully moving to altnet providers who do not offer voice services but getting a faster cheaper broadband service even taking into account the £5/month SIM.

Edited by think26872 (Fri 19-Apr-24 19:12:13)

In reply to a post by think26872:

VoIP is a possibility but just moving to a mobile phone may be a big step having the complication of a VoIP provider may be a step to far.

For a transition period you can get the old landline number to forward calls to the new mobile number, and it can be cheap if there aren't very many minutes of these per month.

e.g. https://numberpeople.co.uk/call-forwarding-rates-bun...

Finding someone who can divert to a recorded message would be even better.

In reply to a post by BB4Tickton:

Could you not re-contract with Plusnet still keeping your landline?

I've just re-contracted with them and kept my landline, they offered me a discount to have no landline (don't use it anyway) but it was to sign up for 2 years (no other option), however I could keep my existing setup which is for 18 months at a good price, as I'm hoping for FTTP in the next 1 to 3 years!

Good luck with your move to Zen.

We could, but as it's due to be discontinued I didn't fancy the hassle of having to deal with this at a later date. If we move now we go onto DV at a price that suits Mum. PN could only advise they could not promise when the phone would be discontinued but we'd have 3 months notice.