Broadband only price changes - June 2013

[#1]

Pretty sure that PN does not do paper bills (unless you print your own  )

[#2]

Seen on Usenet (p.s.c-f):

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I've just been archiving my email for the past five years and found this one, purely by chance, from Plusnet in 2009: Your username: ******* Dear ***********, If any of your friends or family are with Tiscali for their broadband, they're in for a surprise early next year. Tiscali's new owners TalkTalk are increasing the price for Tiscali broadband by £5 a month for customers who don't take a TalkTalk phone line. Here at Plusnet we think that's pretty Scrooge-like......edit.... Sorry, just couldn't resist posting it in light of the recent price increases.

[#3]

Not quite as simple a comparison as you might think though. Not even fair TBH, but good for a laugh.  
Remember TT are full LLU so they do have the opportunity to reduce costs if they provide both services.  
So what's PN's excuse. 

[#4]

Quote from: jelv

If any of your friends or family are with Tiscali for their broadband, they're in for a surprise early next year. Tiscali's new owners TalkTalk are increasing the price for Tiscali broadband by £5 a month for customers who don't take a TalkTalk phone line. Here at Plusnet we think that's pretty Scrooge-like......edit....

It looks like Tiscali/TalkTalk at least gave their punters a warning of the increase.
Presumably the TT increase hit existing customers whereas at least PN only increased their prices for new customers - so far!

[#5]

Quote from: geofftswin

PN Line rental £14.50/month + £1.50 for free evening/weekend calls + £1 for CLI = £17/month.

Where does it say I could get free evening/weekend calls from PN for £1.50 a month?  In the current price list, I can only find "free WEEKEND calls included in rental" or "free ANYTIME calls for an extra £5 a month".
At present I take my phone service from BT, paying a year line rental in advance by credit card.  This includes free EVENING AND WEEKEND calls, plus free Caller ID.
I do not want to pay an additional £5 a month for Anytime calls because I rarely use the phone during the day.

[#6]

http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,114730.0.html

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Evenings and Weekends will be available as a call package after signup and is charged at £1.50pcm

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At present I take my phone service from BT, paying a year line rental in advance by credit card.  This includes free EVENING AND WEEKEND calls, plus free Caller ID.

Not for new customers it isn't http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/landline/packages
Cost from BT - new customer is
Line rental £15.45
Evening and weekends £2
CLI - free
Total £17.45

[#7]

Thanks for the info.  I don't know why PN can't let you sign up for Evening and Weekend phone calls at the outset.  Ho hum!
Anyway, I am an OLD BT customer, so I'll stay with them for my phone service until they start charging me extra for Evening and Weekend calls!

[#8]

It will be interesting to see whether Plusnet's contract periods and pricing are affected by this -
Ofcom  (3rd July 2013)  -  New measures to boost superfast broadband competition

[#9]

Honest broadband my eye. There was me expecting a price drop but instead plusnet joins the money grubbers.
It seems the loyal customers are only there to fund the special offers for new customers.
How long before plusnet joins the ranks of the you can't have our broadband without our line rental brigade?
With the new pricing we are already there except in name only.
Certainly with the whopping percentage price rise the "value" option is anything but.
If I was cynical I would say this is a ploy in advance of Ofcoms proposals on line rental. When it happens plusnet will trumpet we've knocked an honest Yorkshire pound off line rental. Meanwhile bumping up broadband by a couple of dishonest Yorkshire pounds.

[#10]

I think these price rises have left a nasty taste in a lot of customers mouths especially when wholesale prices have know to have dropped. It should be the more customers they have the cheaper the prices but we are being asked to pay more to accommodate new customers. That's really going to encourage customers to recommend people to join PlusNet.
 

[#11]

it isn't necessarily true about the rises,the essentials standalone is still £5.99 for existing customers,new pay £8.49.it the line rental that's the problem and forever on the rise.i am on bt basic package and there's no extra charge for non paying direct debit.they say £2 a month but with bt that adds up to £6 a quarter as they have always billed quarterly .
these charges are are unfair for people on standard packages.unfortunately uk plc has gone out of control,prices are extremely high and the insistence of direct debit with it or/and penalty fees.

[#12]

It's because they want your money in advance so that they can have it earning interest. <hollow laugh>
That will amount to about 2p a quarter.

[#13]

Quote from: redsetter

essentials standalone is still £5.99

The only problem with that is the "still". No longevity guarantee has been made.
We've pretty much all been knocking banks on this forum but my bank has just started a loyalty bonus savings account. The longer you have been with them the more interest you get.
Here at plusnet "loyalty" to customers currently seem to mean little more than don't cough on your broadband package or we'll put your prices up.
And the plusnet spin doctors must have redefined the meaning of "very" as in very competitively priced.

[#14]

Quote from: redsetter

these charges are are unfair for people on standard packages.unfortunately uk plc has gone out of control,prices are extremely high and the insistence of direct debit with it or/and penalty fees.

You need to see a bit more of the world if you think UK broadband prices are high and out of control
USA Comcast
50Mbps service -$69.99 per month plus taxes (first 6 month 'cheap' at $49.99)
http://www.comcast.com/internet-service.html