my 24 month PlusNet business fttc with /29 is ending soon

Hi everybody,

As per the subject, my 24 month PN FTTC business deal (only went business to get the /29) is up on 23rd January 2021. Currently paying £34.20 pm on a fixed 24m contract.

I've previously been with Zen (nearly 18 years) A&A (5+ years for work) and now 2 years with PN.

I want to stick with FTTC, ideally with 20mb upstream.

Currently I get this with my Draytek 2860:

Line 1 Information (VDSL2 Firmware Version: 576D17_A/B/C with Vectoring support )
Profile State UP Speed Down Speed SNR Upstream SNR Downstream
17A SHOWTIME 18,074 (Kbps) 66,997 (Kbps) 5 (dB) 8 (dB)
Vectoring Active

I'm in rural East Devon about 150m from the green cabinet

I don't need a router, I want at least a /29 net block (I run a homelab / VMware virtual DC and a couple of low bandwidth servers) as I need at least 4 static IPs.

I've used A&A L2TP services in the past for mobile fixed IP and presenting an internal voip extension as a (sim based) native number on a mobile but not their L2TP fixed ip block over internet product which were a bit too pricey when I looked last.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

David

If it ain't bust, don't fix it.

Changing ISP isn't going to fundamentally alter your connection speeds.

Just make sure you speak to the Retentions department, not first line support or sales, to get a good deal. If the first person you speak to doesn't play ball, try another a few hours or a day later. Repeat as necessary.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 02-Jan-21 22:17:21)

Agreed with the above, try get a new retention deal from Plusnet, sounds like you've a specific requirement setup there and its working for you so don't change it if you don't need to.

Here's the offer I've been made by Plusnet which I accepted today

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your Plusnet Business service

Hello David

Account username: ##########

We love having you with us and want to make sure you're getting the best value from your Plusnet Business services. So, we wanted to let you know about the great options available as your current contract comes to an end.

Please be aware, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, it may take longer to get through to us on the phone. Remember you can also visit our help and support pages or login to your account online.

Your broadband (Unlimited Business Fibre) and line rental contract is coming to an end on 5th February 2021.

When your contract ends your monthly price will go from £28.50 to £43.50.

Please note all prices quoted are excluding VAT

But don't worry, we have some great offers for you - even new customers can't get better. Take advantage of one of these deals to continue getting the great value award-winning service from us at Plusnet Business. Once you get to the end of your contract, you can leave free of charge and either switch to another provider or cancel your service by giving us 28 days' notice. If you'd like to talk to us about your options give us a call on 0800 023 2221 or check out your exclusive deals below.
Services included as part of your contract

• Speeds of up to 76Mb

Take a look at the end of the email for a list of all the other services you have because you're a Plusnet Business customer.
Sign up to one of the offers set out below before 3rd February 2021, and you’ll be on a fixed price contract. This means your broadband and line rental price will stay the same until your fixed price contract minimum term ends. When it ends, the broadband and line rental price you’ll pay will increase to the then applicable out of contract price as set out in the Price Guide at that time.

Any offers taken on or after 3rd February 2021, will not be on a fixed price contract. Instead the price for broadband, line rental, call plans and call charges will be subject to price increases from March 2022. This means each March from March 2022, we’ll increase the price of broadband, line rental, call plans and call charges by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year plus 3.9%.
Our best price - get the same great deal as new customers
Get Unlimited Business Fibre and line rental for just £21.00 a month. 24 month contract.

Call us on 0800 023 2221 to renew your contract
We'll always do you proud and contact you at the end of your contract to help make sure you're on the best plan for you.
Don't forget the other great perks of being a Plusnet customer

• Speeds of up to 76Mb
• Free email address
• Plusnet Safeguard
• Static IP address
• Multi award-winning UK based customer service

Thanks for being part of Plusnet,

The Plusnet Team
www.plus.net/business

So I confirmed with them that this would roll over my current 24m fixed term contract for another 24 months and bring the price down to £21 + vat = £25.20 which includes line rental and existing /29 public subnet.

The current contract cost is £28.50 + vat = £34.20 so I'm pretty chuffed with the saving.

Hi farmerdave,

Was the offer made today (8 days before contract end) or earlier?

Did you attempt negotiating by phone before that time or give notice to cancel?

Glad it worked out for you. I have their FTTC service too and they have provided a good service at a reasonable price.

That's good .

Just one niggle in my head. Your closing remarks suggest they actually did specifically confirm the /29. I just want to be sure you haven't assumed the /29 simply because you have a fixed IP address and they are "renewing" your contract.

Sorry, necroposting

The /29 was retained, all that changed for me was the DD amount.

So this came into my inbox on Wednesday 03 January 2023


Your Plusnet Business service

Hello David

Account username: XXXXXXXXXX

We are getting in touch to let you know about the options available to you as your current contract comes to an end, and to inform you about some upcoming changes to the Plusnet business broadband service.

Your broadband (Unlimited Business Fibre) and line rental contract is coming to an end on 5th February 2023.

When your contract ends your monthly price will go from £21.00 to £49.80.
Your current package also includes Business Phone Call Plan, charged at an additional £0.00 per month.

Please note all prices quoted are excluding VAT

Once you get to the end of your contract, you can leave free of charge, and either switch to another provider or cancel your service by giving us 28 days' notice.

Upcoming changes to your broadband service

We're making some changes to the packages and services we'll be offering in the future, and within the next 12 months we will be closing our business broadband services. Don't worry, your service will continue as normal for the time being but we recommend you contact us to discuss your options ahead of your contract coming to an end - as part of the BT Group we can provide alternative services that meet the present and future needs of your business.

To find out more and to talk to us about your options, please give us a call on 0800 389 7854 or click here for more information.

Services included as part of your contract

• Speeds of up to 76Mb

Thanks for being part of Plusnet,

The Plusnet Team
www.plus.net/business

So basically you have one month to find a new ISP or face a 237% rise in monthly cost (which will rise by another 14% in April).

I think it is immoral to rise the price like that and not provide any option to renew your contract. At the least I think they should keep the price the same until they close the business service (later this year).

BTW if you use Plusnet e-mail, that will end too.

I doubt you will get anywhere close to your current price given inflation, you might be able to get a deal from BT Business with Plusnet being part of the same group and pushing their business customers that way. You will loose your existing static IP assignment but can negotiate for a new /29 as part of a deal.

Whilst larger providers such as BT Business and TalkTalk Business may offer discounts both apply annual CPI+3.9% increases so it may be worth looking at smaller providers. These usually don't discount but have the same in and out of contract pricing, and don't apply the maximum price increase Ofcom permits.

So a 24mths contract is a 12mths contract in plus NOT's eyes They mis-sold you a 2yrs contract they won't or can't f honour They should charge the same price until the service is pulled by BT , And there is no way i would be paying that amount excluding vat

Whirlwind few minutes and now migrating to Vodafone Business.

24 month contract, nothing up front, 12 months free and then £24.17 + vat = £29.00 a month for 12 months.

No charge for additional 4 IPs so I guess that's a /29 with one IP consumed by the router.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business/business-connect...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Business Superfast 2
Speed to your WiFi hub
Minimum guarantee 65.4 Mbps
Download speed 72.6 - 73.5 Mbps
Upload speed 17.5 - 18.3 Mbps

Plan details 24-month contract
Unlimited broadband usage

Intelligent WiFi automatically optimises your signal throughout the day, giving all your devices the fastest, most-reliable connection

Plus get all of the following delivered when you sign up

Vodafone WiFi Hub- our fastest and most powerful router to date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All ordered and good to go with cutover on 23 January 2023

Apparently the 12 months free offer applies to all copper based business packages (but not the Business Pro Superfast 2 with 4G backup and wifi on steroids)

Post deleted by seb

Try reading the thread you are posting on. The OP had to leave Plusnet because they are closing down their Business broadband service and has already moved to Vodafone. So your advice was not relevant.

There are two years between 2021 and 2023, the 24 month contract has been provided and notice of it ending has been provided by Plusnet.

In reply to a post by farmerdave:

No charge for additional 4 IPs so I guess that's a /29 with one IP consumed by the router.
not the Business Pro Superfast 2 with 4G backup and wifi on steroids)

Let us know what you get, but it sounds like a /30, which (if you use it as a LAN network) will only allow you 1 device + the router.

"Additional" four IP addresses would imply either a /29 with the router taking one, or a routed /30 as well as the single static IP address allocated to the router. I think Vodafone offer a /29 from memory.

Thanks everybody for joining in the discourse.

I have an update.

Well that all went to sh*te very quickly.

Vodafone support have been useless.
Apparently because my now Vodafone phone line is now VoIP that means I have a part fibre connection. As we all now know, part fibre means the copper bit isn't used anymore and that means its impossible to have more than one ip address. Whaaat?

Aha! I hear you say, that's wrong! because the copper bit between the cabinet and my router is the part that's not fibre and is definitely still there because no one has been into my house to change it.

So my good deal is looking to be a terrible deal. But it has a tiny little silver lining ......

Vodafone have decided to "compensate" me by "letting me out of my contract" - so I pointed out that letting me out of my contract would be a remedy. Compensation is what they offer me over and above the remedy for selling me a service that they can't/don't/won't then deliver.

Their starting offer is in and it looks like I'll be up on the deal taking into account I've just bought a month of A&A /29 via L2TP which is £2.40 setup and then £18+vat a month. I suggested we left everything as is and they just cover the additional cost of the A&A /29 for the next 2 years (which is a potential alternate remedy, not compensation). Its taken them exactly a week since the service was activated to have a conversation with a real person so thats a pretty good reason not to deal with them ever again.

Anyway, back to the original question ...... My contract is up, where should I go to get 60ishMb down, 20ish Mb up and a /29?

In reply to a post by farmerdave:

Anyway, back to the original question ...... My contract is up, where should I go to get 60ishMb down, 20ish Mb up and a /29?

Cerberus will do that - they say "1, 4 or 8 IPs" - but I don't know what the charge is for the extra IPs. Worth asking. But it won't be the cheapest.

The AAISP L2TP service that you mentioned before is only £10 per month, but I don't know how much they'd charge for the extra IPs either.

I have 4 IPs (which came with my FTTPoD), but I've moved to the following model where a single IP would suffice:

* run servers on IPv6
* each server has TLS with Letsencrypt certificates
* have a proxy server on a single IPv4 address for forwarding traffic inbound from v4 to v6:
-- for HTTPS and other TLS protocols I use sniproxy (I believe haproxy can do this too)
-- for DNS I use dnsdist
-- for SSH I use socks5 (danted)

The DNS has AAAA records pointing to the "real" server address, and A records pointing at the proxy server address. So clients which grok IPv6 talk directly; those which don't go via the proxy. But it's all end-to-end encrypted either way.