Broadband renewal

[thatsagoodcuppa]

My contract with Plusnet is up for renewal. Despite quoting competitors' deals, Plusnet offered £25.99/month on a 12 or 18 month term, or £24.99 on a 24 month term. Other competitors are offering:

• Vodafone - £22/month - 24 months - 63Mbps
• NOW - £22/month - 12 months - 32.5-45.5Mbps
• TalkTalk - £23/month - 18 months - 36-37Mbps
• Sky - £28/month - 18 months - 32-37Mbps

NOW are tempting but apparently the routers that NOW supply are rubbish and I'd be better off picking up a cheap Sky SR203 modem/router from eBay for anywhere between £20 - £35 but that erodes the savings and £80 cashback.

With Vodafone, I can get a £110 Amazon giftcard via MSE which is also tempting.

What are NOW and Vodafone like?

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Thursday 12th August 18:53

[randlemarcus]

I've had Vodafone for four years, and its been nearly 100% fine (gone bang about three times when I have been awake enough to notice), and the router is upgraded remotely by them. Don't assume advertised speeds are reachable - what you have today is roughly what you are going to get.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

randlemarcus said:

I've had Vodafone for four years, and its been nearly 100% fine (gone bang about three times when I have been awake enough to notice), and the router is upgraded remotely by them. Don't assume advertised speeds are reachable - what you have today is roughly what you are going to get.

I used to get about 61Mbps with BT and Plusnet - I dropped a package with Plusnet because I didn't need the faster speeds. Vodafone are offering the faster speeds for the price of the lower package. The speeds for the other providers are based on my address and landline number.

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Thursday 12th August 16:34

[Percy Cushion]

I switched from Virgin to Vodafone as it's half the price and I couldn't be doing with the number of Virgin price increases. Vodafone has been great. Should have switched years ago.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

I'm tempted to give Vodafone a try. I'm not usually a fan of long contracts but £22/month for 24 months is good. I can't see other providers offering cheaper prices during the term with Vodafone. I used to go with 12 month contracts as then I could shop around every 12 months rather than 18 or 24 months, i.e., I could switch more often.

Just tried the online Plusnet portal and the offer is indeed better than what I was given over the phone earlier. Online renewal is £22.50/month for 12 months.

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Thursday 12th August 18:36

[mmm-five]

Percy Cushion said:

I switched from Virgin to Vodafone as it's half the price and I couldn't be doing with the number of Virgin price increases. Vodafone has been great. Should have switched years ago.

Was that for the same speed, or was there a 50% speed reduction too?

[thatsagoodcuppa]

I've just pulled the trigger on the Vodafone deal. The Vodafone router looks better than the NOW one; there seems to be a better spread of antenna. I'll be glad of the 2-year contract as it gets tiresome having to chase up deals every year, come to think of it.

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Thursday 12th August 22:03

[HantsRat]

Go with whoever has the best price/customer service. Unless you can get Fibre, they all use the same Openreach infrastructure so max speeds will be the same.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Would love to give Virgin a try but can't get their services in my area, unfortunately.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Would love to have more than one provider!

Broadband is a monopoly in our city, whilst it is a good fttp in most areas, prices aren’t that competitive.

[juggsy]

I hope your experiences with Vodafone are better than mine. Singularly one of the worst providers I’ve come across for anything, had loads of problems with their broadband (numerous devices not getting internet despite being connected to the Wi-Fi) which I mainly put down to their router.

But it’s how they handled it which means I’ll never darken their door again, no attempts to resolve the problem, no call backs, just woeful customer service. Problems immediately solved by using the cooling off cancellation period and moving to sky. This was a couple of years ago though.

[ARHarh]

HantsRat said:

Go with whoever has the best price/customer service. Unless you can get Fibre, they all use the same Openreach infrastructure so max speeds will be the same.

This exactly why do people think something will change when they change supplier. It wont suddenly get faster, it wont suddenly get more reliable. after all they just flick a switch on the computer to change your supplier. The only difference will be the person on the helpline, and that will just be pot luck if they understand how telecommunications networks work. You may get a nicer / better router. I always go on price, and in the last 4 years since they put the new fibre cabinet in there have been no faults so no need for customer services.

[anonymous-user]

I’ve been in Vodafone for 2 years now. Apart from a 2 day loss of service when I moved house temporarily they’ve been superb.

Quoted top speed where I live was 35mb iirc and I’m pretty much ch getting that every day.

[Wings]

garyhun said:

I’ve been in Vodafone for 2 years now. Apart from a 2 day loss of service when I moved house temporarily they’ve been superb.

Quoted top speed where I live was 35mb iirc and I’m pretty much ch getting that every day.

Obtaining same above speed from Vodafone, free telephone line, plus two extenders for additional floors, plus static IP address, plus USB dongle 4g, all for £30 per month

Edited by Wings on Saturday 14th August 21:15

[thatsagoodcuppa]

Since placing an order with Vodafone, Plusnet have made a better offer - £21.99/month over 12 months with no cashback, 18 months with £50 cashback or 24 months with £75 cashback. The cashback is guaranteed - it'll be sent to me as a cheque. I'll stay with Plusnet as the service has been solid and my BT Smart Hub 6 provides great Wi-Fi coverage around the house. Just can't decide on a contract length.

[cayman-black]

That's a good deal, they are not even offering £21pm for new deals.

[quinny100]

Plusnet don't currently offer FTTP, which if it is being rolled out in your area in the near future might be a reason to choose a shorter contract length.

However I can't imagine they won't have a FTTP offer in 12 months time given they use BT infrastructure - and that is already in place. They just need to get the commercials, systems and staff training sorted.

[cayman-black]

I,m waiting until the 1st of September then looking for the best deal , if anyone can recommend it would be much appreciated. I just need reliable broadband and no more than 12 months as i,m renting. thx.

[Prawo Jazdy]

I’m able to get a decent-seeming deal with Shell Broadband. 63Mbps is the same equivalent price as 35Mbps for the contract term (larger cash back explains that I think), but I’m a bit confused about the speeds. We get 30-35Mbps now, with the phone line coming in overhead from a nearby pole. Does this mean it is FTTC, or is it not that simple? If it is FTTC, am I really likely to be able to get a higher speed than I already get?

Another provider recently dug up the entire town to put fibre to every property, or rather every boundary. I don’t fancy digging a trench in our front garden to join our house the their network as we don’t need that speed (yet), but I assume that if they went to all that effort, that means they’re the only option for FTTP/H?

Any experiences to dissuade me from going with Shell?

Edited by Prawo Jazdy on Friday 20th August 21:22