Am I right in thinking that 20% VAT has to be applied to those prices?

In reply to a post by jelv:

https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/line-packages

£13/month. 1p/minute peak time, no call set up fee and per second billing.

So that's at least £26+13= £39 a month without call charges. That's for 40MB too.

I know uno is a good company and I'd jump to them in a heartbeat if could afford it but the prices are still very high.

Edited by deleted (Tue 13-Mar-18 21:55:04)

In reply to a post by uno:

You can just add our standard rental?

Matt

Hi Matt, unfortunately your line rental isn't available to my number. Thanks though.

Edited by deleted (Tue 13-Mar-18 21:54:05)

In reply to a post by Dodgexander:

Hi Matt, unfortunately your line rental isn't available to my number. Thanks though.

???

In reply to a post by Dodgexander:

In reply to a post by jelv:

https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/line-packages

£13/month. 1p/minute peak time, no call set up fee and per second billing.

So that's at least £26+13= £39 a month without call charges. That's for 40MB too.

I know uno is a good company and I'd jump to them in a heartbeat if could afford it but the prices are still very high.

I know what you mean, I was in the same dilema myself when deciding what to do for upgrading my Uno ADSL connection recently.
I'd been with Uno/Xilo for years and am a bit wedded to them but whilst BT's fibre package starts at pretty much the same kind of price (the free weekend calls aren't much use to me), Talk Talk's equivalent is £20 cheaper per month which is pretty significant.

I ended up paying the extra and stayed with Uno's TTB 40/10 package purely because I've always found them to be incredibly helpful, responding to tickets (not that I've had the need for many) stupidly quickly.

At the end of the day though it's entirely possible I could have got the same quality internet direct from Talk Talk's domestic service for loads cheaper than I'm paying now, which is a bit daft really.

I've resigned myself to this fact by viewing it as an isurance policy, something that is required but hope never to have to use.

That extra £200 per year would have bought a decent amount of beer though

One of us previous customers that are on the banned list. There are a few of us and as you know always denied, but all previous customers who had a little problem or moan previously.

Pulse8

I think you're looking at the bundled service.

Line rental is available with any other product - you just add this when ordering.

Matt

For those interested I created my own spreadsheet to calculate the differences in cost based upon my own usage (as reported by Plusnet) over the last 11 months (annoying how they don't give you 12 months). If you want to try using it yourself you can edit the call minutes month by month from your own bill. Obviously some of it is tailored towards me personally, but perhaps it helps someone else?

I calculated the average, plus how much I save having any call plans on top the best I could.

Of course I couldn't compare evening and weekend call costs because plusnet do not itemise between a free call and a paid one, so fishing through each call I thought would be too much work.

One thing I have to say, Matt, or to Uno in general. You really should put your prices as VAT included on your website as it makes it very hard to compare and it isn't the clearest to a new customer either.

Bear in mind this is market 1 so prices will be different to some, Plusnet for example charge extra for market 1 users.
My Spreadsheet

This is for 80/20 only.

Summary:

Vodafone if I include the £8 a month unlimited call bundle works out at only £444 a year. Incredible value really.

Aquiss: The cost is calculated including their 3 months free offer currently in place, otherwise their pricing isn't competitive.

If you are on large provider they have terrible PAYG call charges so if you use your home phone be sure to go with unlimited or evening and weekend calls, be strict with your usage as this does cost you an arm and a leg if you don't.

If you are someone rarely uses their home phone or you have very irregular usage then the small ISPs are actually pretty good value. Without any call bundles included Vodafone is only £20 per year cheaper than Aquis and thats with my phone usage and only £80 cheaper than Pulse8.

If you are someone who doesn't use the home phone at all then you might be tempted to go with freeola's silent line rental at around £9 a month with your own BB on top which would bring prices down of the small ISPs even more.


Be warned:

1. Plusnets £10 a month offer including 1000 hour mobile minutes is sneaky. Those 1000 hours free are evenings only!
2. Vodafones £8 a month anytime mobile and landline calls is much better value.
3. Uno's PAYG is very cheap for mobile calls otherwise, they are cheap in general.
4. Pulse8 and Aquiss call costs aren't bad either for PAYG.


My personal conclusion:

I am going to find it very hard to justify the cost of any small ISP compared to Vodafones potential savings. The cheapest small company provider would work out as Aquiss (only because of 3 months free) followed by Pulse8.

That is a good £100/£150 more. Not as bad as I expected because call costs are actually low compared to large providers but definitely a decent chunk of money.

I haven't come to a conclusion yet but I think that Uno and Zen are far too expensive, I can't really justify another £250 a year compared to Vodafone. Perhaps if they had call bundle deals or rental savers it would be different, or even if they cut the cost slightly per month.

I think right now Aquiss due to offer and Vodafone are leading the race.

Anyone have any suggestions or others I can add?

I know some of my methods are flawed, firstly I calculated Uno home calls based on an average of day, evening and weekend and I also didn't take into consideration any evening and weekend deals.

But is there anyone else with a good reputation/cost I could add in?

Edit* Added IDNET who sit in the middle ground, oddly for me their unlimited call bundle would cost more. I guess if you have heavy phone use this would increase in value.

Edited by deleted (Sat 17-Mar-18 04:11:03)

When I do this for my comparison I always like to see the second years cost as well, unless you want to switch every 12-24 months to keep the new customer deals.

I now value up-time (during migration) and even care level.

I am with Pulse8 for line and (very few) calls and BT Business for ADSL, both have prompt care and with BT I have a £8 discount per month.

This compares well with other providers standard pricing ( £15.50 Line and calls and £17.88 ADSL on a market 1 exchange)

Ian