Migrating from Plusnet ADSL - avoiding cessation fee

My plusnet ADSL BB+Phone contract is near to it end and I rang plusnet to request a MAC.

Now, I am aware that Plusnet charge a cessation fee of £30 if you switch to another provider without a MAC. IMO, this clause should mainly apply to folks who switch from ADSL to FTTC or Virgin Media.

AFAIK, Plusnet are the ONLY provider in the market at present who charge this fee. Plusnet don't agree with this however. I could not find ANY other provider which charges this fee when the customer leaves(even BT don't).

The snag is that even if I moved to another ADSL provider, and the new provider decides to put me on their LLU - then Plusnet will charge me the £30 fee as the new provider will not use the MAC.

A couple of years ago, when the plusnet cessation fee was £25, it was also mentioned that 'LLU migrations excluded' from this charge.

But, now plusnet have removed the condition 'LLU migrations excluded', which means that literally there is no way out of plusnet without paying this charge.

Most new providers, I have spoken to will put me on their LLU - Sky, TalkTalk etc. and will not need a MAC even for ADSL broadband.

I am really struggling to find another ADSL provider which will accept a MAC and I can 'safely' migrate to them without plusnet.

Cease charges are NOT raised by their wholesaler where the appropriate migration path is used.

So for SMPF that means a MAC
So for MPF LLU (full LLU) it means a MPF Migrate Order

I don't recall the last time someone moaned about a cease charge on leaving PlusNet.

All providers will charge a cease fee, a bb cease is where you decide not to migrate to another ISP And just stop the service
Sky and TT are mainly full LLU so both phone and adsl/fttc if they have their equipment in the exchange ,you phone line will be physically moved from BTwholesales kit, to theirs,

Full LLU( FMPF ) does,'t require a MAC code, if fact the scope of the MAC system doesn't cover FMPF migrations, hence why they tell you no MAC needed

If you are migrating to another supplier there should be no cease charge raise by BT or plusnet, How ever it is best to request the MAC code from plusnet, this then should inform them that you indend to migrate to a new ISP ,

You can then give that to your new provider,

Edited by tommy45 (Wed 02-Apr-14 16:02:17)

In reply to a post by koolk:

Now, I am aware that Plusnet charge a cessation fee of £30 if you switch to another provider without a MAC.

Not true! What's wrong with:

In reference to www.plus.net/info2/legal/index.html:

18.A broadband cease charge, as set out in the price guide, is payable if you cease your Plusnet service and do not request and use a migration access code (MAC), OR another recognised transfer process to move to another service provider.

A migration to Full LLU counts as a recognised transfer process.

Still wise to request a MAC from PN, even if your new ISP doesn't use it.

The Plusnet web site says:

"Cessation charges don't apply if:

- You use a MAC key to switch to another provider (this is called a migration)
- you're a Plusnet Essentials or Plusnet Unlimited customer without a contract"

So once your contract ends you should be able to cease the line without a charge if that is what your really want.

Regardless of what happens, koolk, you should log time, date and content of every call. I hope you won't need this record but I have been very glad of it when things go wrong in these paperless transactions.

Just for my own interest, do Plusnet (owned by BT) have their own equipment in the exchanges, or do they share with BT? What happens if someone moves from PN to BT or vice versa?

PlusNet buys a wholesale service from BT Wholesale.
BT Retail buy a wholesale service from BT Wholesale.

Each provider can specify various parameters like how many hand over capacity they are willing to pay for. So in terms of modem connection speed the two will be the same, but performance due to provider network differences will create variations.

To move from BT to PN, or PN to BT it is the standard MAC process.

Plusnet use the same BTWholesale kit in the exxchange as BT retail and other ISP's that supplly BT based bb & WLR3 phone services

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

The Plusnet web site says:

"Cessation charges don't apply if:

- You use a MAC key to switch to another provider (this is called a migration)
- you're a Plusnet Essentials or Plusnet Unlimited customer without a contract"

So once your contract ends you should be able to cease the line without a charge if that is what your really want.

My contract ended a couple of days ago. I did not use the MAC provided by Plusnet yet as I could not find any new ADSL provider who will need a MAC (except BT who are very expensive).

I contacted plusnet again about the £30 cessation charge and it seems that they are hell bent on taking it from me. I quoted the exact terms & conditions from their website and here is their reply:

Thank you for getting in touch.

I can confirm that switching to an LLU provider with incur a cessation charge as you will be switching away from the BT network and therefore our line will need to be ceased to allow your new provider to take on the line.

Even though you are out of contract this charge will still stand, as this only does not stand on customers who take our non-contracted option, which is charged at £2.50 more per month, thereby nullifying the £30 cessation charge. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

I hope this clears things up for you. There is no need to reply to this ticket if the matter is resolved. This ticket will remain open with you for the next 14 days. After which It will automatically close leaving a full copy of the notes on your account.

However, if you feel the matter needs further investigation do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://portal.plus.net/wizard/?p=search if we can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards,
--

I really need help with finding out ADSL providers which will use BT line and will therefore require a MAC to switch me from Plusnet.

After Plusnet's recent reply - the LLU providers are out of question.

An obvious answer is to switch to BT themselves, but they are very expensive.


One last thing - Does Tesco Broadband use BT line or their own LLU?