topic Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013 in Community Announcements

Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Chris — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:46:25 GMT

Hi all,
As some of you have noticed we've made changes to the pricing of our broadband only products. Even though nine in ten customers take both broadband and phone, we still feel it is important to offer customers both choice and flexibility. We're one of the few ISPs who still offer broadband only and the changes we've made mean we stay very competitively priced whilst continuing to maintain high levels of service and product quality.
The main change is that any new customer signing up for broadband only will have an additional £2.50/month compared to those who take both broadband and phone from us. This does not affect existing customers unless they wish to switch onto a newer product.
Thanks
Chris Parr

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Anotherone — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:59:29 GMT

Second post I've spotted today that's said that, but the information for existing customers is hardly clear on the main pages

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

gswindale — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 19:59:38 GMT

Hmm,
Not sure I fully agree with this option.
Part of the reason I've stayed with PN over the years is the fact that they've never "suggested" I should take the phone line to them.
Currently BT line rental is cheaper than PN. If I changed package now; I'd certainly be paying more either by keeping my line rental with BT (pay PN an extra £2.50) or switch my phone line to PN and pay an extra £1.50/month in line rental. Would be a small saving each month I guess to switch; however I believe that Broadband products should cost the same regardless of who your phone line rental is being paid to.
Maybe it is time to look for a honest ISP when my 12 months is up who provides Broadband at the same cost wherever you are and whoever you have your phone line with...

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Luzern — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:59:44 GMT

So,please clarify what will happen when my 12 months unlimited ADSL BB contract is up? It could be a bigger problem for those like me, who have BT's line rental saver whose expiry date does not match the PN BB contract.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

dvorak — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:22:39 GMT

As long as you don't move package nothing will happen

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

glloyd — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:48:23 GMT

Surely it would make far more sense to stop this non stop price cutting for six month war and offer cheaper all round charges. Increasing charges when everybody else is cutting there's does not make sense. The broadband + phone market is now getting as bad as the mobile phone market --- Confusing!!!

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Scribe — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:59:49 GMT

It's commendable not to increase the price for existing customers, but for how long, one wonders. I just hope there won't be a 'stealth' increase later.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

x47c — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:02:51 GMT

Seems all pretty normal to me. ( I have my phone with BT)
You take two products from the same company you get a cheaper price than if you ordered only one.
Gas/Electric companies do the same - you get a dual fuel discount if you take both Gas & Electric from one supplier.
Have two cars with the same insurance company and you'll get a discounted price from the normal quote on the second one
So the company has one admin charge for two products sold rather than one admin charge for one product sold.
Exactly the same in practice as a quantity discount - the more you buy the cheaper it gets per unit.
Try going on a skiiing holiday as a single person and see how much more you are paying/person than the couple next to you. Go as a group of 5 or more and you can really get some serious level of discount on the price/person.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Strat — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:49:26 GMT

Quote from: Scribe
It's commendable not to increase the price for existing customers, but for how long, one wonders.

At the next product refresh maybe :-\......cynical that I am.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

w23 — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:59:20 GMT

Quote from: glloyd
Surely it would make far more sense to stop this non stop price cutting for six month war and offer cheaper all round charges. Increasing charges when everybody else is cutting there's does not make sense. The broadband + phone market is now getting as bad as the mobile phone market --- Confusing!!!

I can understand this kind of marketing practise being perceived as the only way to keep attracting new customers but I generally agree that constant discounting (for new customers), cashback deals etc. largely serves to increase churn and often leaves long-term customers feeling unvalued. Somebody is subsidising the 6 or 12 months half price and various cashback deals and it's not the customers who will move again as soon as their contract is up and someone else offers a similar deal.
Inceasing prices for new customers only combined with short term discounts surely serves to increase customer turn-over.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

RobPN — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:55:18 GMT

So, as things stand an existing customer won't see their monthly payments go up as long as they don't change the product they're subscribed to - fair enough.
But what about the position of long-standing loyal customers (such as myself) when the time comes to make the natural progression from ADSL to Fibre (either flavour)? Is changing from, say ADSL 'Unlimited' to FTTC/FTTP 'Unlimited', changing your package? It certainly seems that way to me, and in my view is grossly unfair - what are people supposed to do, stay on ADSL for the rest of their life?

Edit: Typo

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

glloyd — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:58:49 GMT

It seems to me that the way to keep down cost is to keep your loyal customers. All this churn from one company to another must be damn expensive in terms of all these promotions. And who pays for these promotions? The loyal customers who are not as well looked after as new customers. Would it not be nice if an ISP would to say thank you for being a loyal customer we will drop your payments by x amount as a thank you. Instead they would prefer to pay millions on advertising and promotions to entice new customers to replace those they have lost.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

RobPN — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:30:41 GMT

Further, in introducing this increase I don't think PlusNet have properly considered how it looks as a percentage of what the Broadband-only deals may have previously cost. I'm not sure what the cheapest 'Essentials' package was launched at but I think it was around £5.99 (Market 2-3), so;
On a £19.99 account it is a 12.5% increase;
On a £9.99 account it is a 25% increase;
On a £5.99 account it is a 41.7% increase!
I don't think it looks good presented that way - food for thought PlusNet!

Why should we be penalised for choosing to not take PlusNets phone service / line rental, which in my opinion (from what I have read about the PlusNet phone service here and elsewhere) is a combination of more expensive and inferior when compared to BT? Just a couple of examples are the frequent billing problems, and being charged for Caller Display (which can be obtained from BT for no charge).

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:47:02 GMT

Quote from: RobPN
what about the position of long-standing loyal customers (such as myself) when the time comes to make the natural progression from ADSL to Fibre (either flavour)? Is changing from, say ADSL 'Unlimited' to FTTC/FTTP 'Unlimited', changing your package? It certainly seems that way to me, and in my view is grossly unfair - what are people supposed to do, stay on ADSL for the rest of their life?

That is EXACTLY my reaction !
I had been looking forward to the possibility of FTTC if the BDUK funding gets approved for my exchange.
Being on a Market-1 exchange I could barely justify the pre-price rise cost for unlimited fibre,
but NOW I really can't afford to upgrade to fibre - the best I can hope for is upgrading from 20CN to ADSL2.
The only good thing for me was that I managed to upgrade to 'Unlimited' ADSL just a couple of weeks ago and avoided the price hike.
It is one thing to inflict these prices on new customers, who are in a position of choosing their ISP based on the packages presented.
For existing customers, who are with Plusnet but want to keep our phone with BT, it seems very unfair to now restrict our future upgrade path by imposing a new £30 annual surcharge for us not taking the Plusnet phone package THAT WE DON'T WANT !
I am bitterly disappointed that 'Unlimited' fibre is no longer a possibility

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Oldjim — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 13:02:47 GMT

To be brutally honest - if I was on a Market 1 exchange I would seriously consider switching to BT

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

gswindale — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 14:45:04 GMT

Quote from: x47c
Seems all pretty normal to me. ( I have my phone with BT)
You take two products from the same company you get a cheaper price than if you ordered only one.
Gas/Electric companies do the same - you get a dual fuel discount if you take both Gas & Electric from one supplier.
Have two cars with the same insurance company and you'll get a discounted price from the normal quote on the second one
So the company has one admin charge for two products sold rather than one admin charge for one product sold.
Exactly the same in practice as a quantity discount - the more you buy the cheaper it gets per unit.
Try going on a skiiing holiday as a single person and see how much more you are paying/person than the couple next to you. Go as a group of 5 or more and you can really get some serious level of discount on the price/person.

It depends on how it is marketed.
Here it is a case of "Why not have both phone & broadband from us? If you don't then you'll pay more". British Gas offer "Why not take our Gas & Electricity - if you do then we'll give you a discount". Same net effect; but looks better if you advertise the Broadband price as £x and the phone line price as £y and then say take both and we'll give you £z back.
Now we are just moving into the territory of unclear/confusing pricing structures.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

RobPN — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 14:56:04 GMT

Quote from: geofftswin

Here it is a case of "Why not have both phone & broadband from us? If you don't then you'll pay more". British Gas offer "Why not take our Gas & Electricity - if you do then we'll give you a discount". Same net effect; but looks better if you advertise the Broadband price as £x and the phone line price as £y and then say take both and we'll give you £z back.

Agreed - sort of!
It would have looked better if PN had gone the British Gas way in your example above and reduced the price for people wanting to take both services. Perhaps they should have done that instead of throwing all their money at half-price for X months etc. deals. They probably need to recoup some of those "losses" somehow.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

RobPN — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 15:02:23 GMT

Another thing - AFAIK people not taking the PN phone service already have to pay an installation fee for the FTTC service, something which is not payable if you do have PN phone service. Fair enough, but don't hit us twice!

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

redsetter — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 15:33:09 GMT

Quote from: glloyd
Surely it would make far more sense to stop this non stop price cutting for six month war and offer cheaper all round charges. Increasing charges when everybody else is cutting there's does not make sense. The broadband + phone market is now getting as bad as the mobile phone market --- Confusing!!!

i agree,all it seems to do is distort comparison sites.sky did this with free broadband for six months,then the hikes started,on top bt wholesale cut prices and others including sky raised their line rental on top.what it does do is give rise to the likelihood cancellations later on and contract opt outs in some cases.
£2.50 is a bit of a hike,many will be on bt basic and low incomes.broadband in every home by 2012 is a long while back and this hasn't happened,there's no social obligation and only low cost options "may" be affordable to some such as £5.99
the government seems to expect everyone to use computers and afford a connection for jobseeking,clearly this isn't always possible for many.

Re: Broadband only price changes - June 2013

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 17:23:34 GMT

I hope this price hike hasn't been imposed in order to fund some unwanted "free" streaming sports TV service !