Broadband Renewal.

plusnet, 18 month contract, fibre unlimited broadband and weekend calls. I never use that as I unplugged my landline due to scam calls. £24.50 same as my neighbour. Lovely when I phoned up

I got a message today from TalkTalk to say my contract had expired and I would now have to pay £10 more per month. Just spent ages doing price comparisons, then went into my account to check better deals with them and ended up renewing my contract at it’s current price. No idea how that happened. It just said ‘thank you for staying with us’ which I didn’t intend to do. A result, I suppose but not sure how I got there. So dependent on my broadband/phone/tv. They’re a nightmare to deal with. I’m sure they do it deliberately!

It really does, Calendargirl. Apparently Plusnet win awards for their customer service, but my experience wasn't great. I was passed from CS to 'tech', then on again to procurement or something, who apologised and sent me back to tech. At no point in all this were my notes passed with me, so I had to keep answering the security questions - not onerous but it doesn't make you feel like the 'valued customer' they insist you are.

In the end, the tech lad said I'd need an engineer to the house. He came in, looked at the various bits of kit and determined that I'd plugged one of the cables into the wrong socket on the router 🙄. Entirely my fault, but if the tech department knew their salt, they could have saved a lot of hassle by asking me to unplug everything and put it back under 'supervised conditions' . The engineer said it happens all the time. They should colour code the cables, or have sockets that only fit the right ones.

I think we've got the same package as you - no landline calls (or I can make them for a million pounds a minute) and unlimited data. It is some sort of fibre, but not the fancy stuff, which isn't here yet. It's half the price of the BT package, so that suits me fine .

Thanks for all replies, an update.

Rang Plusnet again this afternoon, what a difference.

This time a young man took my call, explained everything in a way even I could follow, not pushy, never said I sounded ‘unsure’.

Have ended up doing an Unlimited Fibre Extra Broadband deal, faster than my old plan, keeping landline but no calls out. He’s sending a new router as old one won’t be suitable for faster speeds, (not charged but think he could have made me pay postage but said it’s free),;and an 18 month contract. £23.99.

Feel much happier. Think it will be suitable for what we need, cheaper than what we pay now by about £15.

Hopefully by the time it’s finished I will be more confident about it all, and ready to ditch my landline completely when I get full fibre.

He was so pleasant and helpful, felt I could ask him stuff without sounding dense, unlike the girl yesterday.

The call operator makes such a difference to the experience.

I've just had an email from Plusnet telling me that my reward is on its way, and I should enjoy planning what to spend it on.

I wasn't expecting a reward - does anyone know what it is? A voucher?

Huh! Forgive me.....£18 per MONTH.

Update - it is working with a better signal than before 🥳🥳

I take it all back. I married a genius. Don’t tell him though - it’ll go to his head

Thanks, Missedout. I'll do that, although I can't say I understand what you mean. He's moved the router, and the tv and broadband are all fine downstairs, but I haven't tried upstairs yet. The spare bedroom with the tv in it is directly above the kitchen, so it should work, I think. I'll try it while I'm running my bath later, and look up Powerline networking if it doesn't.

I'm with NOW tv. £18 year with free calls at all times. Found it through Martin Lewis newsletter. Doesn't have ultra fast speeds but that suits me fine.

Doodledog

Oh dear. I mentioned to Mr Dog that I was going to ring them to see about a booster disk and he has decided to relocate the router and hang it a wall in the kitchen. I foresee another long spell with no broadband or TV, as I can't see this working. If I disappear without trace this afternoon you know he's got round to it - see you all in the new year

Perhaps suggest to Mr Doodledog that he looks up Powerline networking. Rather than move the WiFi router, he can use the power sockets in your house, one by the WiFi router and the second where the required signal is weak. The second power socket can act as a WiFi extender or be connected by ethernet cable to a static device such as a printer or TV.

Just had a similar debate with Sky (who tell me every time that I am a valued customer 🤣🤣🤣).
I pointed out that the offer they were giving me was poorer than that for new customers and how did that reflect our valued custom.
After some wrangling and my offer to cancel my contract (would cost me 1 months payment as notice) they came back with a 12.5% reduction, so I decided to stay. It gives me a headache though.

tanith I’m not sure as yet. Dh has only so far spoken to our current internet supplier (he likes them as they are a small UK supplier and always been very helpful). Dh enjoys a project! We’ve had £37 quoted and a leaflet through the door from sky £34.

CalendarGirl - no you're not feeble - just had a look for the definition of fibre broadband and found this:

"Fibre broadband is a type of high-speed broadband. It uses fibre optic cables, which are better at transferring data than standard copper cables. And by data, we're talking online gaming and streaming movies and music. Basically, you can do all the things you love on the internet faster."

There are lots of comparison sites, where you put in your postcode to find best deal and coverage in your area, e.g. uswitch.com.

We pay £30 pm with Talktalk and have no problems with them - Fibre 65, no calls included but we still have a landline.

I was with BT for literally years,very slow broadband and really high price, then we had Jurassic Fibre moved to our area,oh my goodness practically half the price and a wonderful Fibre service, I am in the Southwest and I think that’s all they cover. I did have to pay quite a substantial sum to get away from BT but it was really worth it…

Good luck Doodle

Oh dear. I mentioned to Mr Dog that I was going to ring them to see about a booster disk and he has decided to relocate the router and hang it a wall in the kitchen. I foresee another long spell with no broadband or TV, as I can't see this working. If I disappear without trace this afternoon you know he's got round to it - see you all in the new year

Oldbat1 can I ask who you are moving to?

* Hetty58* - yes the last sentence of your comment is important, because everyone does NOT need super fast/whammy jammy/fibre optic/ better than ever etc etc
Example: if your main use is watching catchup on the main channels such as iPlayer, itvplayer, all4 and using iPad/laptop for this and googling and reading, then cheapest is adequate usually.
Millions have been spent digging roads and streets up all over our city with mass disruption to transport (and employees/employers) to install this “must have” at absolutely zero benefit to me and many others……and? Well “they” need to recoup that money somehow 🤔

Fibre has just arrived in our street last week. Only the man opposite so far has transferred as he works from home and needs the speed. We’re sacking BT after Christmas as we pay them £36 a month and we only made 3 calls last month! On top of that we pay £26 a month for slow speed broadband. With fibre we get much faster internet speed plus no longer any need to keep BT line and it is cheaper overall. There is a 5wk wait as they can’t find enough engineers.

Like you Hetty, I don’t want to end up paying for speeds and extras we don’t need or use. DS is a bit inclined to suggest stuff that his family think is essential, but we don’t. And then DH is inclined to agree, so I feel pressured all round.

And the prices quoted don’t always show just what is included, so can be a shock when it actually comes down to it. All headline grabbing prices, with little * nearby!

Calendargirl It's not "feeble". I am the same. My daughter says they use jargon to baffle people.

Do note that if any of you are on specific benefits (eg'guaranteed Pension Credit), then many of the major provider do some very good deals.

I have one with BT - brilliant.

I wish I were still with Plusnet. I was persuaded to change to Virgin/O2 superfast fibre and I'm locked into an 18 month contract. I find it awkward (have to use my mobile except at weekends) and I really don't need the speed and extras I'm paying for.

Oh, tell me about it!

I changed ours at the weekend, and it was a nightmare. We were with BT, with an employee discount from my SIL, but as he's left them now we lost the discount and the price went up to £54 or something ridiculous. We've gone to Plusnet on what looks like the same deal as you. It took a bit of setting up and they had to send out an engineer (which wouldn't have been necessary if the customer service staff had asked the right questions instead of fobbing me off), but it's working fine now. Unfortunately I can't get a signal upstairs though, which is a pain. I think we'll need a booster disk as the house is quite 'long' and the room with the upstairs TV is a long way from the router. I'll have to get onto that before my children arrive for Christmas.

Re fibre - they should be able to tell you that! When I am logged into the website it ways that it is coming soon to my area, so they obviously have a map of where it is. Plusnet is owned by BT, so fibre is likely to be everywhere soon, as they also own EE, which has the largest reach (I believe), and they all use one another's equipment.

Know how u feel.. u are not feeble .I'm sticking with Sky TV/Broadband as kept landline but only to receive calls in as making calls out too expensive...cannot do the haggling over price as not confident enough..good luck!