Should I change my PlusNet product?

Hello All

I'm assessing whether my current PlusNet product remains the right one for me and thought the residents here would be able to provide some useful advice.


I'm currently:

- On "PlusNet Broadband Plus up to 8Mb (Monthly Contract, No Modem)";
- paying £14.67 pcm; and
- have been on it for (easily) 2+ years now (as a residential customer).

My current usage is:

- One or two weekends a month at most;
- averaging ~1.5Gb (50% of which is during peak time) pcm;
- mostly for browsing, e-mail, website file downloads (including YouTube etc); I don't generally use any specific P2P applications;
- I use ~25Mb of the 100Mb webspace (but could sacrifice this if necessary).

I'm now considering:

- Plusnet 'Value';
- for £6 pcm on an 18 month contract (as it'd be a downgrade I expect);
- with no webspace (but as mentioned above, I can forgo that);
- note that I'm in a market 3 'low cost' area.

My question:

Given the broadly 10Gb usage allowance (plenty for me), is it a no-brainer or is there a catch (or other hidden 'nasties' or costs) that I'm missing? I've looked through the 'Value' product's Q&A but nothing sprung out at me.

I obviously already have a modem router, filters etc - is there any alternative to the 'freebie' provided under the product to reduce costs/obligations further? (If not then obviously I'd just retain any equipment provided as a spare.)

Hope you can provide some useful input - thanks for your time.

Regards
Neil

I switched to Value, at £5.99/month, back in April and have had no product problems. At that time existing customers were required to agree a 12 month contract and kept webspace.

I worked it out that, even with 12 month contract, I'd be in pocket after 5 months as I was paying £14.99/month.

I'm also on a Market 3 exchange which is why this product appealed to me - I used existing wireless router so no further commitment was involved.

Hope that helps.

I think you can decline to have the router which means if you leave within a year it doesn't have to be paid for.

You can compare the two traffic management policies side by side on Kitz.

OK to give a definitive answer to as many points as I can - having done it myself.
You would keep all your current add ons such as webspace
You only get the "free" router if you specifically ask for it - the normal downgrade proces doesn't give the option I believe.
The notice period for all new and existing customers will be 10 days from October 22nd.
Finally - as far as I can tell there are no catches just a lump in my wallet from the money I am saving.

Many thanks to Nadger, RobertoS and Oldjim for your helpful responses - that was just the input I needed.

Despite the more restrictive download site/server traffic shaping, on the whole I'm sold, so I'll raise a ticket with PlusNet to get me moved over. I note the new notice period about to be imposed - my renewal date is 21 October so hopefully I'll catch them in time!

Thanks again - much appreciated.
Neil