would a new contract keep me on FTTC?

Not sure what to put in the subject box, and I was going to put this in the Plusnet section, but it may affect other people on broadband from other providers.

Now as I have said before I am on Plusnet FTTC and my contract runs for another 7 months, Plusnet have put an offer which is about 60p off what I am paying now if I go for an 18-month contract, now I know 60p is not much, but it would certainly help offset a bit of the rise that will happen in March, now for some questions.
(A) would that 18 months start from now, or would it be added on top of the 18 months I have now? If it is not added to what I have now, then it would to be honest just add another 12 months to my contract, which is what I would have wanted at the end of my contract in June.

(B) If I recontracted it would be on FTTC, does anyone think Plusnet would force me to FTTP in that contract as it is now availabkle here?

(C) would I be better staying as I am and waiting closer to the end of my contract and seeing if I can get something cheaper from another provider when I get to the end of my contract? At the moment now broadband does a 36Mb/s package for £20, it may go up a little in 7 months, but i don't think it will go up a lot, and it is a 12 months contract.

Cheers peeps.

It will start from the day you agree the new contract ... so an 11 month extension.

No, unlikely to move you to FTTP

I'm more confused why you don't want to move to FTTP given latency is usually lower and speeds more consistent.

The only real problem with FTTP is the minimum contracts tend to be longer, but that's something you agree when re-contracting, they can't just randomly extend it without your permission.

If you're in an FTTP priority exchange area with FTTP available then you can make any agreement you want with your ISP, but they cannot do anything that involves an order being raised to Openreach unless that's an FTTP order. So you cannot regrade, move from WLR3 to SOGEA etc.

If you are not on an FTTP priority exchange area then your ISP can order whatever they want. There are no forced moves to FTTP until service withdrawal starts, but I expect ISPs to start withdrawing copper services long before Openreach mandate it for reasons of taking advantage of promotions, reducing support costs, and being able to sell higher tier services.

If you aren't really concerned with speeds and are very price sensitive then have you considered tethering to your mobile?

There a few points here.

Plusnet couldn't change you to FTTP without explicitly asking you because you will currently have voice services with your FTTC and they currently don't offer voice on FTTP (unless that very recently changed).
They couldn't move you to FTTP without removing your voice service which they would need to explain to you.

Any new contract would start immediately.

There are a small number of exchanges (roughly 130? out of 5000+) that are "FTTP Priority Exchanges", with more exchanges being added frequently.
If someone is on an FTTP Priority Exchange and has FTTP available then ALL orders must be FTTP.
You wouldn't be able to recontract, change speed, change provider, order a new line etc, unless it was an FTTP order.
Anyone on said exchanges without FTTP available is unaffected.
The BT Wholesale checker tells you if you are on an FTTP Priority exchange or not.

TL;DR your new contract would start immediately and they won't move you to FTTP without asking you.

In reply to a post by alexatkin:

I'm more confused why you don't want to move to FTTP given latency is usually lower and speeds more consistent.

The only real problem with FTTP is the minimum contracts tend to be longer, but that's something you agree when re-contracting, they can't just randomly extend it without your permission.

Hassle of having it installed, which is one of the reason I will not have a smart meter and as you have put the long contracts. But mainly because I really don't want the hassle and also FTTC works for me, so why change if I don't have to?

I don't think i worded things right, I realise that they just can't come and change me over, for a start they have to have access to my house, but what I meant will they bug me to change?
I forgot about the voice line since I don't use, so yes because plusnet don't have digital voice it would be more difficult for them to push people to FTTP.
I don't know when the stop sell is here, I did have a link to a checker, but I can't find it now, I think it was 2023.

I had a feeling my new contract would start from now, but just wanted to make sure, so all it will do is add another 12 months to my contract.


@JPM, can't tether to mobile, too much stuff in the house uses the broadband, I did think about mobile broadband. When you say price sensitive, I just don't want to pay more than I really have to, which is why I thought about Now broadband after my contract ended, but in June next year will they be taking FTTC orders?

Maybe if Zzoomm offered a slower cheaper option I would go for them, even if it means hassle, prefer to give them my money than any of the large providers. But the minium they offer is 150Mb/s and that is £33 a month.

Cheers peeps for the answers, I will have a think about it over the weekend and then decide what to do and also do a bit of research

It doesn't take long to fit FTTP on a standard house, very often only around an hour. You may as well go FTTP now and your set for future upgrades.

IIRC the smart meter took about 20 minutes to fit.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Maybe if Zzoomm offered a slower cheaper option I would go for them, even if it means hassle, prefer to give them my money than any of the large providers. But the minium they offer is 150Mb/s and that is £33 a month.

Just on this point, a lot of these AltNets are not small family firms fighting against incumbents. Zzoomm for example are majority owned by Oaktree Capital, a US-based firm with $164bn in assets managed.

…indeed or Emirati, Saudi or Qatari money….