Switch to Pluse8 Line rental but keep PlusNet's FTTC ?

I'm having PlusNet FTTC umlimited broadband (76/20 Mbit/s) on a BT Landline, which is relatively expensive when added with even basic BT phone Call-Plan. In fact I'm paying to BT about £110 (incl VAT) quarterly just for normal National's Landline phone calls!!
Currently I'm happy with Plusnet's FTTC broadband but consider switching to Pluse8's for my Landline instead of BT line (i.e Pluse8's Landline Rental is £13.00 + VAT??) while keeping the SAME phone number. Could I do that and how do I go about that in Steps? Alternatively just remind me the "Link/s" if it had been asked before.

Many thanks

Edited by deleted (Sun 10-Apr-16 13:43:18)

£13 including Vat.

You are thinking of doing exactly what I did do.

Initially I just switched my line from BT Retail to Pulse8, then set about thinking whether to stay with PN for my FTTC, move that also to Pulse8, or possibly go for AAISP Home::1 (76/20, 100GB). In the end I plumped for AAISP, though have not ruled out moving back to Plusnet. My reason for leaving them was concern over the new support systems and the never-ending problems some people were having with speeds. That was before anything was known about their upgrading of their backhaul which I think is still in progress.

There was no problem at all - I simply filled in the online form, then the couple of editable PDFs that came back re the order confirmation details and T & Cs etc. All very efficient and smooth. No problem with keeping my number, as it remains on WLR3 with just a different message on 1571. If I moved the FTTC to them then I believe it would become LLU'ed.

Note that the £13 includes basic 1571 but does not include caller display. I opted for that so am paying £14pm.

I also contacted Plusnet re not closing my account completely when I left, but moving me to an email-only one. That allowed me to keep receiving referral payments from them. Only relevant if you do receive referral credits at the moment, or use their email system, which I don't.

(Edit - you have Pluse8 in the subject and contents. It's Pulse8, or more precisely Pulse8broadband).

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 10-Apr-16 14:46:14)

In reply to a post by OCdragon:

In fact I'm paying to BT about £110 (incl VAT) quarterly just for normal National's Landline phone calls!!

If you make a lot of phone calls, do you have the anytime call package? BT line rental plus anytime calls should be about £78 per quarter, the only caveat that mobile calls aren't included.

Unless the OP has been caught out by them starting to charge for caller display and 1571.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Unless the OP has been caught out by them starting to charge for caller display and 1571.

Could be, in which case subscribing to Free BT Privacy with Caller Display and obtaining a real answerphone is another option.

Maybe they don't have the unlimited plan or make a lot of calls to mobiles or overseas countries, or even a lot of calls longer than 60mins

Yes, you can do this. It's exactly what I did last November. Doesn't really save much money though. About one pound a month I think. Only thing I did lose was SMS on my landline as Pulse8 don't support it. Wasn't a huge loss but I did occasionally use it as my landline phone supports it.

Edited by Andrue (Sun 10-Apr-16 21:20:55)

Well i had the BT unlimited anytime calling plan with free caller display and line rental saver and based on a lower rate any time calling plan i am saving around £10+ per month, depending on how many calls or how long i spend making calls , otherwise its £14 per month as opposed to £24+ per month
As for the free 200 sms ( If mobile located in uk only) i can't say that i really miss it, some months i didn't even use it BT Retail are a rip off

Edited by tommy45 (Sun 10-Apr-16 22:06:43)

In reply to a post by tommy45:

As for the free 200 sms ( If mobile located in uk only) i can't say that i really miss it, some months i didn't even use it BT Retail are a rip off

The SMS I was referring to wasn't related to my mobile. It's a service that BT provide on all their landlines called BT Text. There are no charges and no limits although that wasn't why I used it. I used it because the mobile signal in my house can be dodgy to the point where I can't even send text.

These days I have a signal booster so it doesn't matter as much but there are still times when it would be more convenient to send a text using my landline.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9043/...

Edited by Andrue (Sun 10-Apr-16 22:09:02)

Oliver, thank you for replying!

I thought BT's Anytime/Evening & Weekends Calling Plans INCLUSIVE numbers would cover only their numbers beginning with --- 01, 02, 03, 0845 & 0870 plus Local numbers. Unfortunately for me though, apart from using these numbers I'm also using 0844 or 0871 special access numbers for, say, cheap landlines or mobile numbers access, for which I have to pay for including about 17P Setup Charge per call. I'm not sure HOW MUCH Pulse8 would be charging for these PAID numbers, but their £13/month Landline Rental including VAT sounds attractive though!

P.S: BT's Landline Rental for non D.D/Saver Plans are currently £19.99

No. I'm currently on BT's Evening & Weekends Calling Plan but I specifically disabled 1571 feature!

In reply to a post by OCdragon:

Unfortunately for me though, apart from using these numbers I'm also using 0844 or 0871 special access numbers for, say, cheap landlines or mobile numbers

Landlines are usually 01/02/03 so you shouldn't need indirect access codes for them. Mobiles are the main problem, so if you ring those a lot you could consider moving your phone and broadband to a provider which includes mobiles within Anytime Calls (e.g. Sky or TalkTalk).

In reply to a post by OCdragon:

P.S: BT's Landline Rental for non D.D/Saver Plans are currently £19.99

You're paying the price for "Line Rental Plus" which in my opinion is a waste of money over the normal £17.99 BT line rental.

You can check those 0844, 0871 etc numbers for an inclusive or geographic rate one (if available) here:-

http://www.saynoto0870.com/

In reply to a post by OCdragon:

Unfortunately for me though, apart from using these numbers I'm also using 0844 or 0871 special access numbers for, say, cheap landlines or mobile numbers access, for which I have to pay for including about 17P Setup Charge per call.

It no longer makes any sense to use those numbers for that sort of thing, there are usually much cheaper alternatives (however, you should find there is no longer a setup charge for those numbers, only a per-minute access charge on top of the service charge). Anyway, going back to your original question, I too have moved my line rental to Pulse8 whilst keeping my FTTC with Plusnet, the only downside is the £2.50/month increase in the FTTC, which reduces the saving a bit (if you're not currently using Plusnet for line rental, that is not applicable). The changeover is simple - contact Pulse8 and they do everything.

Edited by kasg (Mon 11-Apr-16 20:12:13)

Kevin, Thank you for your reply!
Could you further explain : "only downside is the £2.50/month increase in the FTTC" please??

I'm currently with BT for my Landline (that is I fould BT's Landline Rental expensive) and Plusnet's FTTC (paying £19.99/month incl VAT ) for my unlimited fibre broadband. If I switched to Pulse8's for my Landline and requesting SAME phone number, I would expect to pay their £13.00/month incl VAT to Pulse8 for the Landline and £19.99/month incl VAT fibre broadband to Plusnet ONLY. So where is this £2.50/month came from?? Or did you refer to IF switching from Plusnet's Landline to Pulse8's Landline as well???

In reply to a post by OCdragon:

Or did you refer to IF switching from Plusnet's Landline to Pulse8's Landline as well???

?
He says that in his post.

My setup and pricing was exactly like yours and my Plusnet FTTC stayed at £19.99 when I moved the line rental from BT to Pulse8.

On the current products Plusnet charge £2.50 per month extra these days if you don't take their landline. You and I signed up to their FTTC before that surcharge was introduced, which is why you, and I did, pay only the £19.99. You will stay on £19.99 just like I did.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

On the current products Plusnet charge £2.50 per month extra these days if you don't take their landline. You and I signed up to their FTTC before that surcharge was introduced, which is why you, and I did, pay only the £19.99. You will stay on £19.99 just like I did.

Thanks for answering OCdragon's question. I wasn't sure whether I would be charged the extra £2.50 as I too signed up before that was introduced, but I have recontracted since, so it's unclear whether I should have been charged. I haven't got the inclination to argue the point at the moment, maybe when my Plusnet contract is nearing its end I'll haggle a bit.

Thank you for the "clear-up" reply! Thanks to Kevin as well. Yes, I will consider switching to Pulse8's Line-Rental seriously, while keeping PlusNet's fibre broadband, when I am satisfied with Pulse8's Call-plans/Traiffs etc in the next few days.

Many thanks ALL.

Apologies for the potential thread hijack here but I'm confused ! I know this thread specifically refers to a Pulse8 line with PN FTTC but would it be much the same situation if it were PN standard ADSL as well ?

The reason I ask is that I've looked at switching line rental and phone service from BT Retail to Pulse8 several times now but I just can't seem to get a definitive statement from BOTH parties to confirm that it is actually possible without risk of experiencing any problems. Latest attempt being as follows.

(1) PN Ts&Cs currently state "you'll need to pay line rental to Plusnet or another BT-based landline provider to get our broadband"

(2) Following an enquiry to Pulse8 asking specifically if Pulse8 line rental plus calls but without Pulse8 BB would technically be a 'BT-based' line and explaining my desire to abandon BT Retail but with a need to retain PN BB at this time they state: "No problems with the line rental take over, we have other customers that use partly us and partly Plusnet. Our service is on the Talktalk network"

(3) Following an enquiry (stupid chat session, grrrrr) with PN, they state words to the effect: "not possible, must be a BT line with a BT phone service, cannot be a Talktalk service in any way whatsoever, you would need to obtain a new BT line if you have a talktalk service on the line you want PN BB on, what Pulse8 said is wrong, blah, blah, blah"


Based on my (very) limited knowledge plus the discussion here and elsewhere, I suspect the PN advice is perhaps somewhat wrong needless to say. However, I certainly don't want to risk enjoying a sudden loss of BB along with the inevitable and outrageous cease/reprovide charges if I did move the phone service to Pulse8 and someone at BT/PN actually pulled the plug on everything !

Any suggestions on how to get a definitive statement from both ends that actually tells the same (and hopefully factually correct) story would be much appreciated and all that

The Plusnet advisor is wrong, through lack of proper training and not through any fault of their own.

A "BT line" for ISP purposes is one provided over Openreach Wholesale Line Rental (WLR3). The arrangement you want is called SMPF (Shared Metallic Path Facility) where one provider gives WLR3 phone service on the line and another gives the broadband. That is what those of us who have done this are on.

The difference is that if you are on a TalkTalk, or Sky, or Vodafone full LLU service for line and broadband, (MPF), then your phone line is not WLR3. It is completely taken over by the LLU supplier at the exchange.

TalkTalk can provide a WLR3 phone service without broadband, but if you take their broadband you are then moved over to full LLU.

I'm not sure how clear that is, but what Pulse8 have said is in fact definitive.

If you decide to go ahead then you must first move your broadband to Plusnet making sure BT do not start you on a new 12-month line rental contract. Once the broadband is up and running you then order line rental from Pulse8.

Note that Pulse8 landline does not have inclusive calls packages. Just absurdly low call charges. For instance is it BT that have £7pm Anytime package? That's 700 peak-time minutes on Pulse8.

But it doesn't help if the Pulse8 staff member uses phrases like "Our service is on the Talktalk network". To my mind, the "Talktalk network" is MPF and the "BT network" is WLR3. From what you have said it's clear Pulse8 provide their phone service over the BT network (WLR3) when the broadband is not with Pulse8.

Edited by Oliver341 (Wed 13-Apr-16 18:18:58)

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

From what you have said it's clear Pulse8 provide their phone service over the BT network (WLR3) when the broadband is not with Pulse8.

That was my take on it too. There was certainly no mention of TalkTalk by anyone when I switched line rental.

I think the provision could be WLR3 via TalkTalk.

For instance the 1571 message is not the same as with BT.

I've also just checked 17070 just to see what that says. It starts the same as it did on BT, but includes something I don't remember being there before. "Welcome to the Openreach line test facility".

Is that new? Didn't it say "Welcome to the BT line test facility"?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Is that new? Didn't it say "Welcome to the BT line test facility"?

17070 says "Openreach line test facilities" if the WLR3 provider isn't BT retail, this happened on a relative's line on Sky WLR3. I still wouldn't call it the "Sky network" though, since aside from billing everything is handled by Openreach as far as I'm aware.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Is that new? Didn't it say "Welcome to the BT line test facility"?

Newish - yes it did.

Matt

Which reminds me of something I realised whilst walking the dog that I should point out to the both the enquirers.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 13-Apr-16 19:05:53)

@ambrougham
@OCdragon

It's worth noting that Pulse8 are not the only provider offering much lower line and call prices than the mainstream ones, with no requirement to take their broadband.

The two best known on these forums are uno, who have just posted, and aquiss. IIRC like Pulse8, Aquiss prices include Vat. Uno prices do not, so multiply by 1.2.

You may like to consider those if unsure about Pulse8. Though I am perfectly content with them.

Deeply thank you and others who provided good comments for our issues!
I shall do a few more day researches prior to making final decision on "switching my Landline Provider" from my current BT Landline!

Thanks

I'm another happily using Pulse8 for line rental and Plusnet FTTC.

and another one who will be moving his phone once the Plusnet prices rise (as BT have already announced)

That is very reassuring!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

@ambrougham
@OCdragon

It's worth noting that Pulse8 are not the only provider offering much lower line and call prices than the mainstream ones, with no requirement to take their broadband.

The two best known on these forums are uno, who have just posted, and aquiss. IIRC like Pulse8, Aquiss prices include Vat. Uno prices do not, so multiply by 1.2.

You may like to consider those if unsure about Pulse8. Though I am perfectly content with them.

Uno, is it not a requirement that you have to have bb with uno to have their line rental? ( they don't sell stand alone LR), I'm sure i was told something along these lines when i enquired some time ago, or have things now changed ?

Edited by tommy45 (Fri 29-Apr-16 12:08:05)