Thinking of leaving PlusNet, opinions please

[#1]

Hey all,
Before people think this is a rant like other similar topics, it is not.  It is simply me asking for opinions on what to do regarding my PN connection.
Been with PN for roughly 18 months now and been very happy.  In the early days when I thought my 'Up to 8 Meg' was being restricted by BT somehow, PN were quick to point out that my exchange was a long distance away and I would probably not receive anything more than 0.5 meg for sometime.  I stuck with my £20 a month broadband simply for my gaming habits.  Since various trips to hot and sandy places, getting married and generally only playing the xbox now and then with a bit of iTunes thrown in, I have began thinking about changing my broadband.  Added to this I purchased a MacBook last January and haven't had the best of luck with the PN provided BT Voyager 2110 Wireless connection.  It has gone from full strength in our bedroom (Furthest point away) to half and sometimes cutting out.  After various reinstallations of the modem, channel changing, name changing, security changing etc it seems to have calmed down.
So heading onto the uSwitch website I see that PN is still scoring very high in the satisfaction stakes, happy with the customer services, but the price and modem are the things bothering me.  After scoping the BT website and seeing their offers (Including an 'N' wireless modem, Mac users please post to tell me how you're doing!) and also looking at the Sky offers (Wife joining me on camp soon which will require Sky+ and cookery programs) I feel in my opinion (And in this household) the future for PN looks on the rocks.
So, my questions really are...
1).  Can I reduce my PN costs? Speed isn't an issue, neither is the download limit, but online gaming (Xbox 360) is.
- If I do reduce my costs, do I have to sign a 12/18/24 month contract?
- Will I get one of these fancy 'N' wireless modems? Is it Mac compatible? Does it have ethernet ports for the Xbox?
2).  If I decide to go to BT or Sky, how easy is the acquirement of a MAC code?
Thanks in advance
Tom

[#2]

Taking the questions in order
If you are on a market 3 exchange Value could well be worth looking at - big cost saving and gaming shouldn't generally be affected
Changing products doesn't affect your present 10 day notice period
Plusnet won't be offering a Wireless N router until sometime next year - why not just buy one
A MAC code is easy just ring up and press the right buttons for cancellation
BT or Sky will land you with a 12/18 month contract

[#3]

Considering an Airport Extreme form Apple as my next wireless purchase.  As for the drop in costs, do I need to return my current modem?
Thanks for the reply Oldjim.  Really appreciate it.

[#4]

No - the modem is yours and assuming you have had it for more than 12 months there is nothing to pay

[#5]

MAC is easy.
I cancelled my home account with PN via the ticketing system.
Today I called up and requested a MAC for one of our staffers who I provide ADSL for.
I use BT now at home - the Homehub is pretty good (and with N enabled, it really does offer massive range compared to my Netgear DG834Gv4
We had to sign a 12mth contract with landline anyway, so took the plunge to use them for ADSL too (plus hub phone with sensible second number etc is pretty cool)
I have to say, although I was on Pro with PN, I used to suffer from the same slowdowns we read about here - but with BT I aren't seeing any of that - it just works^TM
For the rest of my accounts (6 or 7 at last count, but probably increasing again soon) we are going to Andrews and Arnold - but their service is the opposite of what you want - its more premium service with lower limits for bandwidth and less competitive pricing.
But! They will email me one bill for all of the accounts They also offer ADSL asset bonding at IP layer, giving a little extra resilience, and a slight step up in performance (handy for those of us with multiple ADSL lines incoming to our premise).
Digression aside - MAC = simple.
@Oldjim has given you the gen on what you might do to lower costs.
I'm happy enough with the BT service and hardware (JB would tell you I'm not the easiest of customers to keep happy!)

[#6]

I had been on bt for 5 yrs up until sept, but gaming on my ps3 got worse and worst (option 3) , they say they don't throttle but they do i'd get 4.8mb dl at around 9am and it would steadily drop to less than 1mb by 5pm, plus their pings went from 42 in the morning to 75 at 5pm (when i'd start playing) it was pretty much useless, not even going to bother explaining sky they were 10x worse.  Plusnet though i have a steadyish dl speed (between 2 and 3 mb) but my ping is between 27 and 35 and that makes all the difference.

[#7]

Hi TomP,
I can't really add anything that hasn't been said - value should be fine for gaming if you're not too worried about the download limits, though I can confirm you're on a market 2 exchange so will be paying the higher price option - but you should still get the discount for 3 months if you do decide to make the change.

[#8]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think I will be making the change this weekend.  Seems like I can save money and get a better wireless connection out of it too.
Thanks again PlusNet.  Maybe when BT get their rear-ends in gear and stop upgrading major cities to 20meg they might get round to upgrading an RAF base to more than a 1/4 of a meg so they can speak to their loved ones whilst on detachment in Afghanistan!  Once that happens I may return to PN.
Tom

[#9]

Feel bad about leaving now, Coldplay then Kings Of Leon for hold music!  Oi, don't answer, put me back on hold! 

[#10]

If it is still not too late, a word of warning about jumping ship.  It is not always the distance from the exchange that is the problem, sometimes it is the wiring on the house and if so it will get WORSE if you jump.
A friend of mine was on Plusnet with a second line in the days of dial-up.  They decided to scrap the second line and get broadband on the first line with Talk Talk.
They ended up with a 500k service because Talk Talk said that there was a problem with the wiring and BT would charge them £1k to fix it.  The problem affects houses built in the 70's and has something to do with sharing the last 100m or something.
They were told that if they were with BT it would be fixed free of charge, so they had to wait the 18 months with Talk Talk and then switch to BT to get it fixed.

[#11]

Thanks for the post, however this is a RAF camp and everyone on here gets 1/2 a meg.  Also I'm heading onto to BT, so any issues they can sort. 
Cheers
Tom

[#12]

I wouldn't woory about it @Tom - he's on about DACs, but BT don't charge anything to remove them - it could just take a while if there is no available pair back to the exchange.

[#13]

Sorry to see you go Tom.