To a light user on a market 3 Exchange why not... very well priced £5.99 a month hard to beat for the allowance, plus "unlimited" overnight..

To heavier users maybe not though for web/email/iplayer on a Market 3 exchange again its a competitiive product.

To myself - No.. I have been a customer of 5 or so years have seen the ups and downs, and witnessed excellent higher level customer service and communication. But if I wanted to switch to one of the new products Plusnet want me to commit to an 18 month contract with no tangible benefit to me.. I dont need a router and would forgo the initial discount.. But 18 months is a very long time, Plusnet would commit you to 18 months with no reduction should your exchange become a market 3 in the meantime. They say the opposite applies but why should it, If you move to a more expensive area then you pay more for everything, house, beer etc... If you move further away from work - it costs you more.

The new plans reportedly have a house move built in... why? I dont plan to move house and if I do I'll pay for it or commit to a contract that defers the payment. If a house move is "costed" in then if I dont move I'm being overcharged to pay for someone elses move.
I have also not seen anything as yet to confirm that customers will be upgraded to ADSL 2 without change of contract.

For new customers 18 months contract is a commercial decision and how long it stays will be determined by sign ups.. I would however like to see PN offer shorter contracts, for 12 months and a month but at higher cost.

Theres an apparent feeling of apathy towards existing customers which is not something I'm accustomed to from Plus Net and is as far as Im concerned a major change in attitude..

I still can see a change coming, PN were pulled up on BBYW changes and rightly so and quickly restored the ability to change between those legacy products so hopefully a similar change will occur to allow change to new products with no contract extension.

Will I leave.... No not for the forseeable... No availibilty for LLU O2 or Sky and no other BT line based ISP has ever really tempted me.

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Feb-09 10:19:40)

I have to confess I have to question the sanity of PlusNet introducing 12 & 18 month contracts in the present economic climate. Nobody can be sure of their jobs these days so certainly do not want to be lumbered with long contracts for anything.

I got the feeling something bad was afoot when the top bod and some on the senior staff started to leave. Looked to me as if PlusNet were sliding back to the bad days again.

The new plans reportedly have a house move built in... why? I dont plan to move house and if I do I'll pay for it or commit to a contract that defers the payment. If a house move is "costed" in then if I dont move I'm being overcharged to pay for someone elses move.
I have also not seen anything as yet to confirm that customers will be upgraded to ADSL 2 without change of contract.

The marketing bods have not kept up to speed with the credit crunch. No one is moving house just now. So that part of the deal for many has little or no value. Those moving home are increasingly more likely to be the victims of repossessions, in which case +net will stand in the que for their money along with all of the other creditors.

For new customers 18 months contract is a commercial decision and how long it stays will be determined by sign ups.. I would however like to see PN offer shorter contracts, for 12 months and a month but at higher cost.

If the product is robust, reliable and the company enjoys a good reputation, then I see no need for a contract any longer than a 30 day notice period. I wouldn't be paying extra for that either.

Theres an apparent feeling of apathy towards existing customers which is not something I'm accustomed to from Plus Net and is as far as Im concerned a major change in attitude..

Cant really comment too much, I am just coming up to my first month. What I have seen so far is that on day 1, customer services phoned me to make sure everything was OK. Yup surprised me to, no other isp has ever done that and I was impressed. Couple of things not going well, voip and the free web space is naff. But I didn't buy on the strength of those features, it was the BB service that wanted and that is working well. Good speeds, low latency and continuity of service.

Will I leave.... No not for the forseeable... No availibilty for LLU O2 or Sky and no other BT line based ISP has ever really tempted me.

Same as yourself re LLU. Now, would I leave? As long as the services holds up as it has done AND the 15 gig remains sufficient for my needs, no. If the service drops, or I need more than 15 gig then its shopping time. Option three is of no use due traffic shaping, and you don't have to buy too much extra bandwidth before you are looking at the likes of zen, idnet etc. So for now, staying put. I just wont be having any of my mates joining me.

The question is a fair one, but not particularly incisive, I feel.

Surely, for most people, it's not as black and white as recommending or not recommending? You would (hopefully) outline the pros and cons, and let people decide for themselves.

So if somebody asked me about Plusnet, I would say, truthfully, that I have been fairly happy with them, and they have some pretty keenly-priced deals at the moment, but they are only offering 18 months minimum contract. I would definitely mention the contract length, as it would exclude them from the shortlist if it were me. But somebody else might not mind.

afraid not, only a week or so ago I was recommending plusnet to entanet people, but this one single change has made me change my view. Any long term contract is a risk but for an ipstream based isp its a definite no no in my book.

may surprise you but a lot of people are still moving, there is a rental market you know

in fact 6 month tenancies are very common in the rental market so for people who rent isps and telcos with contracts that exceed 6 months are a big problem. I wonder how many customers plusnet have that are people who rent where they live.

To a light user on a market 3 Exchange why not... very well priced £5.99 a month hard to beat for the allowance, plus "unlimited" overnight..

Exactly my thoughts, anyone with low usage requirements on an market 3 exchange will struggle to beat £5.99 a month (unless they have Sky, etc).

I'm actually going to recommend it to my parents, despite my annoyance with it all and having requested my MAC

I will still recommend Plusnet to people but I will make sure they know the risks of entering a 12-18 month contract. I have been extremely happy with my Plusnet connection and the support is second to none. I also love all the tools on the website and the community at Plusnet.
I will still recommend it to friends and family.

Veering toward no. Contract too long and the reason why I joined from
Pipex was the one month contract. Naturally as the service is OK I have been here
for much longer!

Meldrew