Product Refresh - Setup and/or Migration Charge?

Looking at the very recent product change can anyone confirm that the "£30 setup charge" applies to BOTH new broadband and migrations in. Looking at the small print seems to confirm this but not in so few words.

I realise there is the option to agree 12 month terms and so defer the charge until you leave or get it for free after 12 months. This would however make a short lived migration in nearly as expensive as LLU and makes it 3 times the normal BTW migration.

Unless things have changed and I didn't spot it the £30 setup for migration is when you are transferring from a full LLU (phone and broadbamd)

Yep, it applies to both.

Bear in mind a lot of the migrations these days are to and from LLU suppliers and we've also reduced the cost of a new provide.

I take some of your point James about adjusting other fees and it must be far simpler from a customer service (explanation) point of view to have a single fixed charge. And I assume most of your market is very non-techie so just explaining why they can't have the market 3 price in month 4 must take some time.

As a counter argument though you gave up the strict 12/18 month contracts (well done), but effectively get an extra £20 income from a BTW customer who migrates in and leaves because the traffic shaping does not suit them (or because of the current congestion).

It's also worth pointing out that we've charged £14.99 for LLU migrations for the last couple of years

James,
Can you be specific.
Where a migration is from a BT line is there a charge or not.
I refer you to this FAQ http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/value...

4. How much does it cost to move to Plusnet?

In most cases this is free. There may be costs if your line is with a provider other than BT. If you're not sure, give our sales team a call on 0845 140 0200 and we'll be able to confirm.

Jim,

That refers to the costs associated with moving the phone line back to BT.

So if the user was with BE for example which is broadband only but still LLU would there be a cost even though the phone line was with BT

Jim - You're confusing the issue.

What I'm referring to is the cost of moving your phoneline back to BT from a fully unbundled supplier. This refers to the cost of moving the phone product, and not the broadband.

I didn't think I was - I was trying to clarify the point
Original Question

Looking at the very recent product change can anyone confirm that the "£30 setup charge" applies to BOTH new broadband and migrations in. Looking at the small print seems to confirm this but not in so few words.

Your response

Yep, it applies to both.

Bear in mind a lot of the migrations these days are to and from LLU suppliers and we've also reduced the cost of a new provide.

I was under the impression that the question was regarding broadband provides and broadband migrations. In which case my answer was correct.

To clarify, James seems to have confirmed my interpretation re-broadband fees. Going forwards plusnet will charge as follows:

New broadband provide - £30
BTW broadband migration - £30
LLU broadband migration - £30

I assume if its full LLU (eg. TT, some Tiscali, some Sky, Opal) then you have to get the phone line back to BT either as return-to-donor or as a new line and then its a new broadband provide.

You have the option to pay or defer the fee. If you defer the fee then after 12 months plusnet absorb the charge. If you leave before the 12 months is up then you just owe the fee. So as I see it its never worth pre-paying as that only makes PN more money if you do stay for the 12 months. The same applies to the their router if you take that.

Basically £10 of it is the old BTW migration charge and £20 compensates PN for the lost profit if you do migrate out early. Its a mild incentive to make you stay. I think the other benefit for such a mass market ISP is that its simple - always the same and to avoid the cost most punters will accept the 12 month contract option and not even realise that its not a severe lock in.

In my opinion what PN forget is if you are worried that the throttling may not suit you its another reason not to risk it. Their £30 is close to most LLU setup charges so the short term risks/costs balance out. Were I, say, tempted to try plusnet and only move on to a C&W reseller (eg. Xilo, Vivaciti, Aquiss) if I didn't get on with the throttling then now I pay an extra £20-£30 which would have paid 50-90% of my LLU setup charge!!