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Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Given that inflation is running at somewhere between 1.5% (CPI) and 2.4% (RPI), and is expected to remain below 2% for the rest of the year and possibly beyond,( see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27884113 ) would a member of plusnet staff be able or willing to offer a justification for these price rises, which as far as I can see range from a 6.7% increase (for line rental increase from £14.99 to £15.99 a month), to 13% for the increase in line rental saver from £137.88 to £155.88 a year, and 13.9% for call charges to landlines?
Strat
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

BT
Quote
Line Rental – You can pay for your line rental either by direct debit for £15.99 a month or £47.97 a quarter (Standard Line Rental) or by paying £159.84 by credit/debit card for 12 monthly payments in advance (Line Rental Saver) which is equivalent to £13.32 a month.
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ReedRichards
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Are we now paying more for telephony and broadband than we did 5 or 10 years ago?  I don't think so but the telephony charges have gone up and up whilst the broadband charges have gone down.  I doubt that this is any reflection of real costs, just companies loading their telephony charges in order to subsidise their broadband.  Unless Ofcom intervenes then we are all in the grip of the current fashion.
Edited to correct spelling error    
Mav
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Although, as pointed out above, the increase in line rental (for me) is in the region of 6.7% and the Anytime plan around11%, there doesn't seem much difference between the major players.
My personal view (especially after jumping ship over two years ago then returning to the fold less than a year later) I'd rather stay with PN where I feel the service is far superior and the Digital Care Team among the best support you can find.
Of course, if PN continue to push their prices up above the competition than I may have to rethink.

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DaveyH
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

I'll be out of contract by September. Looks like I'll have to make a call to COT.
alegeek
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Quote
We hope you’re happy with your Plusnet service, but if you decide to leave because of these changes, we won’t apply any Early Termination Charges. You have to tell us within 30 days of receiving your email and give us 14 days notice.

I assume we have the option to migrate away rather than actually cancelling the line?
Oldjim
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

yes you do
Anotherone
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Undoubtedly I'm not the only one who is absolutely sick and tired of all these way above inflation rises that we've been seeing in the last couple of years. BT Retail stuff up the price and the big Cartel follows suit. Competition not. Especially as Wholesale prices haven't risen like this.
Modern technology has had the effect of reducing the cost of all the Hi-tech we use these days (especially once in volume production) and costs associated with it's use.
So I see no justification whatsoever for the increase in UK call charges, especially that abomination of the connection/setup fee which so many people don't realise they get charged (along with the first minute) when they call an engaged line which has 1571 - it goes straight to answer service. It's even more ridiculous since there are now so many mobile deals that are cheaper than a lot of LL services. The best place to start and look at most of the possible options and good deals is the mse website.
The "problem" with line rental is of course the cost of "maintaining" the "copper" network!!
Now why all the "" you may be wondering. Let's deal with that in reverse order -
"copper" network? Many moons ago, generally the greater problem with a lot of phone lines with high attenuation and when they went noisy was the deterioration in crimped joints. Since the invention of silicon jelly filled crimps and the gradual replacement of most crimps with these, most issues now come down to the quality of the cable. There is a lot of aluminium cable out there which tends to deteriorate at a faster rate than even older copper. Is it being replaced at a fast enough rate - NO.
This is where the "maintaining" issue comes in. These days, most of us have broadband. When we have problems with it, a lot are reporting broadband faults when in fact it's often the phone line to blame. There's a surprising number of people who don't report phone line problems when they have a crackly line - even when sometimes it almost drowns out the conversation!
What do BTw & OR do when such BB faults are reported.- Most times, a "tech" (I refuse to call them engineers in most instances) sits there with a lappy on your line for upto 2 hours trying to reproduce the BB issue - and most times if the Target SNRM hasn't already automatically been raised (or the speed Banded (capped))- they do it manually - ah, there we are, the line is stable now
Most times, do they make any serious effort to check for poor joints and replace the crimps (even jelly filled crimps don't always give perfect joints especially if hurriedly done or are constantly disturbed in a Cab) or test to see of there are any sections of your cable pair that have significantly deteriorated - NO!
Often only when a fault is pursued to a 2nd, 3rd or more, engineer visit. might they look to see if there is a better "spare" pair in the cable. What happens if there is not a better spare, or no spare at all. Well you got service haven't you? You might think that they'd replace the cable, especially if it were aluminium. NO! Only if it's got to the point that several customers have virtually no service (or someone has none) do they maybe start thinking about replacing the cable.
And this is where the "problem" arises. The actual cost of all the to-ing and fro-ing between the Service provider, BTwholesale and OpenReach and all the BS given multiple times by OR & BTw, usually exceeds the cost of checking/repairing/replacing joints or the cable at the outset, especially when several end-users have been having problems (often over various providers).
In most cases the Service Provider has to pay BTw/OR for those subsequent "engineer" visits to attempt to resolve ongong problems, and they of course want to try and recover those costs through income. This will no doubt be the "justification" for the increase.
Well, I am now certainly going to look at all the options for my phone service.
As Reed has mentioned "Unless Ofcom intervenes then we are all in the grip of the current fashion."
And OFCOM will NOT intervene until many more people complain to them about these increases - by all providers - (and the way OpenReach and BTw operate).
@theoddbot
You should NEVER "cancel" your phone service (unless going to cable) otherwise you will lose your broadband service, get charged a cessation fee and probably have to pay to get the broadband reconnected! ALWAYS migrate any service.
chrcoluk
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Quote from: Oldjim
Yes we are all in the same very expensive boat and the new line rental is the same as TalkTalk

cartel investigation time?
wholesale cost falls for entire industry, entire industry then raises retail prices which by coincidence match or close to each other.
these prices are shocking. 10 years ago landline calls were much cheaper than on a mobile, now it has flip flopped.
on my mobile not only is the rental £3 a month cheaper, but also get 800mins to any number, unlimited 01/02/03 calls that dont use those minutes, and even if I use the minutes calls to other mobiles have no connection fee and are 6p a minute, and of course I can use my mobile phone anywhere in the country not just my property.  The landline market is now broken.
with all that said tho, if they didnt do this then either broadband prices would be going up instead or there would be more likely congestion as maintenance is cutback.  I think all the major isp's probably under estimated the costs of supplying FTTC (in terms of backhaul needed) and these rises are partially to claw that back.
alegeek
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Quote from: Oldjim
yes you do

Thank you! I'm now going to spend a few weeks researching my options and see what kind of deals I can get from the likes of Sky.
I'm sick to death of my line rental increasing, it's now time to start moving around when this happens.
Asya86
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Registered: ‎07-12-2013

Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Does this mean we can also migrate our broadband, or only the phone line? I wouldn't want to separate the two as it seems like too much of a hassle...
Anotherone
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

I'd guess if your broadband (contract) is tied to your phone rental, then yes you should be able to BUT I think that really needs Plusnet to answer that one as there maybe some small print somewhere (which might be unfair contract terms in that case)!
ITWorks
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

The cheapest deal edit (monthly payment) i have seen for landline with evening and weekend calls is PN via their Madasafish brand £ 11.99 (and you don't need broadband with Madasafish)
Yet direct from PN, it ranges from £15.95 to £17.95.
So up to £5.96 more expensive per month or £ 71.52 a year,  for the same service from the same provider, = complete greed.
Regards
Mike

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

AndyH
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Post Office is one of the cheapest, upfront - £120 a year (£10 a month). £5.75 a month for anytime calls and £1.25 a month for evening/weekend calls.
glloyd
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Re: Autumn Price increase FAQ's

Once upon a time Plusnet were competitive and gave good value for money. Slowly all the inclusive offers have been chipped away and prices risen to the stage were now there is no advantage staying with Plusnet. Year on year they raise prices when wholesale prices drop that is just out and out greed. I will be one of those looking around for a better deal.