FTTC now available - BT contract expired BUT!

I looked at TBB's offers page and for £12.50pm for 12mths I could get up to 38Mbps follow the order and they want £23 for existing customer for same deal. So I have to move to get a deal - seems dumb but so be it.
Where can I find ratings please for Plusnet vs TTalk vs Sky <- started trawling threads here but got bogged down and figure there is a TBB place where this has already been distilled
Only discovered today my BT contract expired in April when BT's Indian support told me that the replacement HomeHub4 [mine randomly reboots] would not be arriving after all as the contract had expired [moving house 5 days before last Xmas blew stuff like this right out of my brain duh! not to mention the 6 week delay getting the BT line in - I was fairly compensated by BT however]

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html lets you pick the providers where we have a decent number of ratings to allow comparison.

I believe BT have a retentions department. If you rang them saying you are about to leave because the "New Customer" deal on FTTC is not available to you, the result may be of interest to you.

Wise to gen up on other provider's offers first of course, so you can compare whatever offer is made against those as well as the New Customer deal. The second offer may be even more interesting .

Good luck, and please let us know if you do get an offer, and what you do.

Edit - Note - the retentions department, not the sales department.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 14-Sep-15 14:02:59)

BT retentions dept 0800 587 7216
Do not necessarily accept first offer. If you aren't happy decline and ring to speak to another adviser
You should be able to get near current offers (excluding vouchers/cashbacks)

Edited by deleted (Mon 14-Sep-15 14:30:06)

If you're not on a contract with BT, then they will replace your hub but they charge £40 for a new one. I complained and they reduced the broadband cost (I was on ADSL2 at the time) quite a bit. Of course now I'm on FTTC they have put the price up

It's worth calling their retentions dept as they can often do something, however it's a bit of a lottery...

Thanks Andrew a very valuable link

Thanks RobertoS
Got no offer nada zilch!

Thanks for that number 961a
Unfortunately no movement whatsoever

I realise as has been stated that perseverance might get the BT price down a bit, but the last 4 weeks of dealing with BT support in India did it for me.
Those bar charts Andrew pointed me to tells me that Plusnet may be the better choice anyway based on all metrics including deal price.

If you don't mind can I ask the forum a couple of specific questions regarding Plusnet ?
I hope it's OK to ask here rather than start a new thread.

1) PNet states that the engineer needs to place the fibre router adjacent to the OR master

"The fibre version comes with an extra cable to connect it to the Openreach modem. Unlike the BT Home Hub 5 and Sky Hub, the Plusnet Hub Zero doesn't have a built-in modem, so you'll still need an engineer to install one"

I know it's against all advice BUT my existing HHub4 is on an extension socket (brand new house FWIW) and currently on ADSL2 (max?) I'm getting the 18Mbps as advertised

It's in the room above the sitting room where the master is located. Thing is I'd prefer to use 1Gig ethernet and don't want CATx cabling nor do I want homeplugs [had too many Solwise AV500's pack up on me. The PNet site says the engineer can fit extended wiring, will this go through a ceiling??

2) Does the PNet router have 1 Gig ethernet, I couldn't tell from the image I looked at?

3) I've prepaid BT for line rental and have a good 3 months left, will I lose this? or will BT refund it, or will PNet adjust accordingly?

Sorry in advance for not posting a new topic but I wanted to convey the outcome and get some extra advice.

In reply to a post by jayteepics:

It's in the room above the sitting room where the master is located. Thing is I'd prefer to use 1Gig ethernet and don't want CATx cabling nor do I want homeplugs

How can you run Gbit Ethernet without Cat5e or Cat6 cabling?

I'm assuming they want to run the telephone extension so the router gigabit ports are available in the location rather than running catx to the location.

Yep ethernet from PC upstairs 8 feet to the HHub4 on the upstairs window ledge. Don't want it to run down to sitting room where the master is. Now if the router extension cabling is as thick as CAT that won't help

The extension kits do use CAT5 cabling.

You can use VDSL2 on extensions but it may impact on the performance, running one pair of wires to a single extension from the VDSL2 faceplate for a few metres should be fine though, even if using CW1308 internal cable.

A lot depends on what other phone extensions you have in the property.

Hmm Thanks

Regarding extensions there is one in every room as seems to be the standard for new houses, only two are in use. The master has a DECT base station in it and the other is upstairs by the PC and has been used exclusively since Christmas quite happily by the HHub4 at max speed.

Thing is I doubt an OR engineer would install this modem on an extension ??

So options are

1. Order and ensure data extension kit is on the order and get that installed
2. Let engineer install at the master and fit the faceplate and figure the wiring out yourself
3. Just use microfilters and the likely reduction in speeds that having ring wires and LOTs of extensions can create

Thanks Andrew.
Now ordered

I'm sure I had the extension wiring option ticked but the order review page didn't mention this unfortunately the system wouldn't let me go back and check saying I had booked the install.
Hope the wiring does arrive

Thanks for all the fast help everyone much appreciated.
I ordered Plusnet Unlimited Fibre up to 38Mbps with Phone and some options including the router and wiring.

I know you have ordered from PlusNet but I had the same thing and arguments with BT, I did eventually get the unlimited 1 for £13 instead of £23 but it wasn't easy!

Thanks Storm_Force but the grief over the las t 4 weeks with BT India claiming to have shipped a replacement HomeHub4 THREE times and in the end informing me [of what I had overlooked] that no router replacement would be forthcoming as I was out of contract since April [unless I paid for it or re-contracted] did it for me! They could have told me that 4 weeks ago, but thereagain my cabinet/exchange Langport has only just started delivering FTTC and 4 weeks ago I might have done something stupid no knowing it was imminent

I hope Plusnet support lives up to its reputation