Which FTTC provider for around £20?

Hi all.

I'm currently with Virgin on their cable broadband, L tier, paying £23.65/month for up to 30Mb.

I'm looking to save some money per month, and BT have recently activated my exchange and cabinet for FTTC. The checker estimates my download speed at around 60Mb. In my brief look around so far, I've identified Plusnet's Unlimited Fibre @ £19.99/month as an ideal replacement for my Virgin service, as its slightly cheaper per month and will provide me with faster speeds than currently.

However I'd like to throw the question out to all of you on here: Would you recommend Plusnet? If not, why not, and who would you recommend in their place? I'd like to pay around £20.00/month (or less if possible) for the up to 76Mb fibre service from a reliable provider. I don't game online, but I do use iPlayer/Demand5/4OD and Netflix, and also rent HD films from iTunes occasionally.

Let's hear your suggestions!

Edit: Just to add that I'd like to discount Sky or TalkTalk right off the bat for various reasons, so please don't recommend these, thanks.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-May-13 12:22:11)

I'm fine with Plusnet.

My first FTTC connection was with IDNet, then I moved to PN on cost grounds, then 11 months into my PN 18-month term I upgraded to the latest unlimited product. That meant starting a new 18-month minimum term.

They aren't perfect, but no ISP is. At least the UK first-line support can sort simple issues, and the Digital Care Team who visit the Community forums a lot and here very frequently are good, and do take ownership of bigger problems and have clout within PN.

In case you are worried by the 18-month term, you can buy out the FTTC at £5.75 per outstanding month, and the phone if you take that for £2.25-£5.25pm depending on call package. See the full price list.

Have you already got a BT phone line? If not don't forget you are going to have to pay rental for that too.

PS - Plusnet are pretty good these days.

EDIT: By BT of course I mean BT based not necessarily bought from BT (many providers now do BT phone lines including plusnet).

Edited by ian72 (Fri 03-May-13 12:56:53)

Plusnet have been fine for me too. The link has been reliable, support has been fine, and the one-off £5 for a fixed IP seems fair to me.
The router isn't the best. I think it's OK is your demand isn't too great, but mine was overheating at times. But then, with 4 laptops, a desktop, a server, 2 xboxes, a tablet and 5 smartphones all trying to use it, I suppose it's not too surprising.
All in all, no regrets. I'd make the same decision to if I had to do it again.

Yes, already have a BT phone line.

Thanks for the replies so far!

I migrated from TT (ADSL) to PN (FTTC) in november and upgraded to the unlimited package in Feb when my initial offer ended and have found the service excellent and would have no trouble recommending them.

The same can't be said of TT, from my own experience.

The only negative is the wireless performance/throughput of their supplied router, so be prepared to source an alternative (though some have no issues, so maybe its location/interference dependant)

Edited by Davey_H (Fri 03-May-13 13:25:56)

Only been with PlusNet for 5 days, I migrated from BT retail infinity to PlusNet's unlimited fibre and apart from minor issues with order having to be put through manually and activation date, I'm noticing the difference already "videos not stopping to buffer, 10ms ping, Peer to Peer not being throttled, upload speed increases by 1Mbps", also you get to speak to UK customer service team that actually know what they are talking about, unlike BT's indian call centre that haven't got a clue past their scripted answer sheet. Also PlusNet staff are very active on these forums and their own. So far quite happy with their service & price, so I'd add them to your sort list.

Sorry RobertoS, clicked on reply to you instead of iFibre

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-May-13 22:31:26)

I've just moved back to plusnet after 4 years with BE. Migration instigated by Sky's takeover of BE and the enabling of my cabinet for FTTC. I had a good look at other providers with FTTC but plusnet won on UK support, cost and their portal. Minor issues during migration were handled well by PN via the ticket system. No regrets so far and at reduced cost compared to BE .

Well it's looking like a resounding thumbs up for Plusnet, then. Looks like I'll be giving Virgin my 30 days notice and waving them bye bye.

Thanks for all the responses.

If you're interested in PlusNet's fibre & phone I'd sign up in the next 4 days and take advantage of their 6 month half price deal, It can take a couple of weeks to get activated so you won't lose out much on your 30 days notice to Virgin.