The charity of which I'm a trustee (www.becg.tv) uses Plusnet as its ISP. As with other business customers we have been notified that the service will end in September. I can't see a FTTP provider coming to our premises in the near future so it seems like our options are:

1: Find a different ISP
2: See what a Plusnet to BT transfer will cost

None of the trustees like BT (Plusnet is OK because it's fairly autonomous).

All we need is a basic no-frills connection (we have FTTC 80/20, running at about 60/20 in practice). We don't need phone. We use our mobiles and if we really need a number then VOIP is the way to go.

The webmaster and I need to look at what's available but would appreciate any thoughts and recommendations.

Edited by ppppenguin99 (Thu 15-Jun-23 07:02:26)

Is it essential that you have a Business Broadband service? A number of former Plusnet Business customers are just transferring to residential.

Plusnet have recently started offering SOGEA FTTC connections, that is FTTC broadband with no Phone service. The price is around the same as the existing FTTC but could be a lot more palatable than a move to BT business.

In reply to a post by Netfreak:

Another oddity that’s come to my attention is the fact that three of my near neighbours who have had FTTP installed also still have the old copper wire running from the same pole as their new fibre connection. Apparently Openreach refused (in at least one case) to remove the old wire and even put a new identical bracket next to the existing one to carry the fibre cable! Since they’d gone over to FTTP (with Sky) and don’t want a landline what is the point?

Because the owner could change their mind next week, and ask for a copper service to be re-activated - which Openreach would be obliged to deliver. Even if the owner were to sign a declaration saying they most definitely won't, they could sell up and the next owner could ask for it.

This should change when the exchange goes into a copper stop-sell mode, at which point it's clear that the owner won't be able to activate a new copper service.

However, if you really object to the old cable now, there *have* been some reported cases where Openreach has agreed to take it down. There are also cases where at installation they replace the existing copper cable with a "hybrid" copper+fibre cable. I guess it depends what they have on the van at the time.

I doubt if PN would provide a resoidential service to a business address. Also their residential bills are explicitly stated as not being VAT invoices. We're VAT registered so that would be an extra expense.

We've looked around and the best deal we've found is from ringing the number on the PN email. £25.95+VAT/month for broadband only. 24 month contract with CPI+3.9% increase each April. Much as I hate BT we're going with it. Next best was IDnet at £32.50/month.

When I phoned back to do the deal I was offered a slightly better price of £23.94/month. This was with dynamic IP. Static IP was £5 higher. At present we don't need static IP but was assured that we could get it at any time if we pay for it.

I liked the video of the museum at the website. www.becg.tv

Apparently A&A do have business customers.
They can supply broadband and or VOIP. You could find out more.

https://www.aa.net.uk/

In reply to a post by ppppenguin99:

When I phoned back to do the deal I was offered a slightly better price of £23.94/month. This was with dynamic IP. Static IP was £5 higher. At present we don't need static IP but was assured that we could get it at any time if we pay for it.

With Plusnet, it used to be that a static IP was a *one time* charge of £5. If it still is, then I'd take it now: they could withdraw this at any time and start charging monthly to anyone who decides to take it later.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by ppppenguin99:

When I phoned back to do the deal I was offered a slightly better price of £23.94/month. This was with dynamic IP. Static IP was £5 higher. At present we don't need static IP but was assured that we could get it at any time if we pay for it.

With Plusnet, it used to be that a static IP was a *one time* charge of £5. If it still is, then I'd take it now: they could withdraw this at any time and start charging monthly to anyone who decides to take it later.

At home I've had static IP since I joined PN in 2002 and at no extra charge. At the BECG charity we had static IP as a standard part of our business deal, again at no extra charge. We probably won't ever need static IP. Our security and solar power systems don't rely on static IP for remote monitoring. Though the data does seem to go via China which it wouldn't if, for example, our CCTV recorders had their own web servers built in.

What a surprise. BT have fouled up the transfer. It's not easy to understand the guys in Mumbai when they phone (BT are still using offshore call centres - I can understand Plusnet in Yorkshire) but it seems that BT gave Openreach the wrong info to do the transition from an ordinary FTTC service (with POTS) to SOGEA (broadband only). They are now having another go. I wonder if it will work this time.

At least we still have our Plusnet service and there isn't a great hurry. Glad I started early and didn't leave it until close to the deadline to move from PN.