Plusnet Option 2 to O2 Standard or better.

Hi,

I am with Plusnet Option 2 .

Market 3 Area.

Thinking of moving to

O2 Standard. Unlimited Usage. £12.23 or £7.34 with O2 mobile.

Just wondered if this will be a good move. How it compares with Plusnet Option 2 which has 15 GB allowance.

There is two months free and £50 Cashback available. So looks a good deal.

15 GB allowance is adequate for me, as I am using less than half of that at present.

With all the videos and TV catch up around, it would be nice not to have to think about usage allowance.

I only use Email , general browsing and downloading videos occasionally - and software downloads.

I am on ADSL IP stream. and like to stay with that. I had a bad experience with LLU when I was transferred to it by Plusnet.

Open to any other broadband services.

Main reason for change is that I have been with Plusnet for several years, and I am on monthly contract. Now I am being forced to sign up for a twelve month contract if I move to another contract or get reduction in price.

This has been discussed here :

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/f/3665843-e...

I don't really like long contracts.

With the money off from O2 ( 2 months free and £50 cashback ) seems to cushions the pain.

Thanks

JM

Edited by deleted (Wed 22-Jul-09 16:53:25)

I don't really like long contracts.

Don't O2 products come with 12 month contracts?

Edit >>> Yes they do, see http://broadband.o2.co.uk/home/packages.jsp

Edited by Apprentice (Wed 22-Jul-09 17:25:51)

O2 Standard is LLU. Although you may have had a bad experience of Plusnet moving you to an LLU service, (was that Tiscali in which case enough said?), O2/Be LLU is extremely good.

I was concerned about going to LLU when I left Newnet, but it was an irresistible deal once I remembered I had an old mobile I could use for O2 PAYG. Full details included the money aspect here.

There wasn't a free period when I joined, but a 50 or 100 day money-back getout, and it was that that gave me the courage. There is still a 30-day one so you aren't locked in to 12 months at Day 1.

The two major feelings of relief, (and so ongoing pleasure) come from:-

(a) the thing you mention- not even thinking about allowances, you just do what you like. My usage has nearly tripled due partly to just what you describe - iPlayer and things like Ashes streaming commentary/score-board);

(b) escaping from the BT IP Profile system. If you get a low sync for any reason, thunderstorms are the most common for me, a re-sync afterwards gets you back immediately to full download speed.

There is no traffic-shaping and nearly everyone gets a download speed consistently above 80% of sync. 83%-84% is the norm. I get 83.8% most of the time and never under 81.5%.

The theoretical maximum is about 85% of sync - 10%-12% you get inside the IP Profile and 5% or so is between you and the exchange now as well.

Go for it. It is truly a completely different experience.

O2 Access is the IPStream product at a much higher price, (£22.02/£17.13) and nearly always heavily congested in many parts of the country as the adding of capacity doesn't manage to keep up with demand. Avoid!

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 22-Jul-09 17:34:40)

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

I don't really like long contracts.

Don't O2 products come with 12 month contracts?

Edit >>> Yes they do, see http://broadband.o2.co.uk/home/packages.jsp

Yes its 12 month contract.

Less 2 months free

Less £50 Cash back.

There are few ISPs around, and funny how so many now follow the same policy. Very Unfair.

JM

In reply to a post by JM_:

Yes its 12 month contract.

Less 2 months free

Less £50 Cash back.

There are few ISPs around, and funny how so many now follow the same policy. Very Unfair.

JM

Just a bit of arithmetic . Not to really argue the case, but to put the 12 month contract in a proper light.

The first year will cost you £73.40. Less £45 cashback. That's £38.40.

How many months would it take on PN to spend £38.40? Because after that period even if you had to pay off the O2 contract in order to leave, you would still have saved money.

(All the above ignoring the Vat increase due 1 Jan, which tilts it even more in O2's favour).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

O2 Standard is LLU. Although you may have had a bad experience of Plusnet moving you to an LLU service, (was that Tiscali in which case enough said?), O2/Be LLU is extremely good.

I was concerned about going to LLU when I left Newnet, but it was an irresistible deal once I remembered I had an old mobile I could use for O2 PAYG. Full details included the money aspect here.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your post. It gives me more confidence.

I didn't realise it was LLU with O2. I just hope it works out OK. With Plusnet I can't remember if it was Tiscali.

Still not sure about the mobile phone. I looked at O2 web site. Can't make out which PAYG Sim card do I have to get.
Just want the minimum to qualify for the broadband discount.

Just wondered if I have to get the mobile before I sign up .

Or can I get it after signing up for the broadband, but before the two months free time is up - when I actually start paying for the third month.

Thanks again.

JM

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-Jul-09 00:18:00)

In reply to a post by JM_:

Thanks for your post. It gives me more confidence.

I didn't realise it was LLU. I just hope it works out OK.

Still not sure about the mobile phone. I looked at O2 web site. Can't make out which PAYG Sim card do I have to get.
Just want the minimum to qualify for the broadband discount.

Just wondered if I have to get the mobile before I sign up .

Or can I get it after signing up for the broadband but before the two months free time is up - when I actually start paying for the third month.

Thanks again.

JM

Confidence is the key! It's a bit like swimming - the water can seem very cold until you dive in. But then the fun starts. You really will be amazed once you are away from ADSL Max and even Plusnet.

The web site is a mess in my opinion so not surprising you are confused. Also it seems to change every few weeks .

Get a free SIM here. I advise getting that immediately as even that can become hard to find as the site changes. They are valid (to register) for a couple of years or so, I've even got a spare that I think is still able to be used.

You can sit on that until a few days before a billing date approaches. Which because of the free two months will be Month 3 of your contract.

The top up has to be at least 3 days before the billing date. So I would do it a week or even more early to make sure everything goes smoothly. It isn't that critical, as you will see later in this post.

You do not need an O2 mobile to sign up, but you must have (access to) an active mobile as all delivery and activation information is sent by text message.

When you do activate the SIM, afterwards you ring support and ask them to associate the number with your broadband account. You can then, via your control panel, also alter the text message contact number to it, or leave that on your existing mobile. There are two separate number fields that don't need to be the same.

Once the SIM is up and running you go to this page or wherever the equivalent is by then . I chose Favourite Place, as you probably read in my migration link.

Looking at all that and also the alternatives, it looks as though you have to top up every month.

You don't!

What happens is you top up in Month 1 of the three. You get the benefits you have chosen for that month. For the next two months you do not get those benefits but the £10 credit is valid at standard call charge rates. Also on Favourite Place, during Month 1 away from the post code area chosen. In other words, a bog standard mobile PAYG.

Month 4 you top up any time up to 3 days before the broadband billing date and get the broadband discount on the next 3 bills. So this is where you can slip a few days if you wish from the first one discussed earlier. The top-ups don't have (in themselves) to be within exactly 3 months of each other.

If for any reason you fail to top up in any "Month 4" all that happens is you lose the BB discount that month. Topping up 3 days before the Month 5 billing date regains discount for the next 3 months, ie instead of Month 4 becoming the new Month 1, Month 5 becomes the new Month 1.

More arithmetic. If you miss a top up you lose £4.87 discount. But you save £3.33 top up. So the penalty for a missed topup is only £1.54.

Similarly to relevant bits above, if you didn't have an O2 mobile even after your real billing starts,at any time in the future you can get one and have it associated with the account.

Furthermore - the associated O2 mobile doesn't even have to be in your name or at your address! But any particular O2 mobile can only be associated with one O2 broadband account. So the owner cannot also get the discount. However you can't just use any O2 number you know - at association time they send a text message to it with an authorisation code and you have to enter that on your account. Thus proving you have permission/access to use that number.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 23-Jul-09 00:57:46)

Hi Bob,

Thanks for that very comprehensive post.

I wasn't sure whether there were different PAYG sim cards.

I had seen a free sim pack that a relation had got. ( She has not signed up, unfortunately ). It said top-up monthly. That misled me.



Thanks again.

JM

In reply to a post by JM_:

I had seen a free sim pack that a relation had got. ( She has not signed up, unfortunately ). It said top-up monthly. That misled me.

I think it is meant to . But so you do to get the plan benefits each month, as explained. But missing 2 months doesn't cancel your sign-up to the plan, just stops the benefits temporarily.

Good luck. I hope you jump. I assure you 99.9% of LLU joiners are happy.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for all your assistance.

I can confirm that when I had trouble with LLU connection with Plusnet, they were using Tiscali LLU.

MKD report is very useful. Thanks.

There is an addendum to the original report at the above link.

I understand that after 12 months with O2, the contact becomes monthly.

Also one can change ' products - tariffs ' and remain on the duration of the twelve month contract. That is one does not have to start another twelve months.

Also after twelve months , when the contracts becomes monthly and a person wants to move to another ' product - tariff ' the contract remains monthly.

So Existing customers who have done their time - 12 months - remain on monthly contract even if they change their product / tariff.

It would be nice to have confirmation of the above.

Thanks

JM