Fibre Broadband - BT Can Do It but Not Plusnet ?

[#1]

Hi,

I have been stuck with ADSL for years, I could move to Virgin Media Cable but up until now< I have been loathe to lose my home phone number (to them) which I have had for years.

Anyway, within the last few months Openreach have enabled FTTP in my area which is a BIG step forward  here.

However, looking at the prices for the super high speed stuff, it is still a bit too pricey for me.

Whilst doing this though I noticed that BT are now able to offer me a selection of better speeds and the 50Mb - 50Mb connection for £27.99 p.m. looks good, apparently Plusnet cannot do this, the best I can get from plusnet is my paltry 18mb ADSL connection.

Now, why is this?

I understand Openreach do all the cabling for all suppliers so why can't Plusnet give me a better service?

I am not far enough into my contract to give it up just yet but if Plusnet don't catch up rapidly here I will be jumping ship.

I will be very interested in any reply, if I get one, my previous posts in the router section have just been ignored, another reason perhaps for moving.

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): All caps title/text edited as per Forum rules.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@guykerr 

It's very simple really. Plusnet are BT's budget ISP and don't offer all the services available from the more expensive BT Retail division. As an example they don't offer FTTP or G.Fast services.

If you put your phone number in here you can confirm whether FTTC is available https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

[#3]

Thank you for your reply.

It explains a lot, as a budget supplier they are not really that much cheaper though.

I will have to consider my next move.

The Broadband Availability Checker is a good tool!

[#4]

Plusnet sees Talk-Talk as their main competition so you can bet once they have an FTTP option so will Plusnet.

[#5]

Apparently they do.

[#6]

.... but not in my area.

[#7]

More a reply to the idea that Plusnet will do it when TallTalk do.

[#8]

---

@Terranova667 wrote:

Plusnet sees Talk-Talk as their main competition

Really? Wouldn't be much good in my area, simply because TT don't cover it. They put flyers through the door and yet when you go on their website to apply. Up comes that magic ' error' message. We don't do your area. And yet I can get PN and a raft of other companies for fibre without too much hassle.

I'd imagine by the time TT do FTTP, PN will be back at home - fully integrated with BT.

[#9]

"Plusnet are BT's budget ISP and don't offer all the services available from the more expensive BT Retail division. "

Very strange. I am paying for BT Fibre 2 including line rental (and those extra services) for the same monthly cost as PN's new customer price for their equivalent. Non of the alleged BT customer service poor performance either!

One difference, it's an 18 months minimum term compared to PN's 12 months.

Better than "Mates rates" for my BT Mobile too, with the full EE service.

[#10]

All that I can do is compare the Plusnet new customer fibre extra deal at £26.99 per month, https://www.plus.net/?_ga=2.248229319.1169992293.1592921890-1449067378.1592921890 with the equivalent BT service which has recently according to BT been reduced by £6 per month to £31.99. https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals?s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ60_T1&vendorid=Z60&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=100...

[#11]

Not that great when BT does a 50mb plan for £27.99.

[#12]

@guykerr 

To offer FTTP an ISP needs to make a significant investment in their back office systems and then train staff up to handle FTTP. Until recently FTTP was a bit of a "niche" service so it was not worth while for many ISP's.

The reason for the investment is that an ISP (probably) runs it's back office systems based on the phone number of the customer which will be tied to the phone line with all systems working from this.

With FTTP there is no phone line - it is a completely different OpenReach system. So an ISP must create a new system for FTTP and then ensure it's compatible with their existing phone line system - it's rumoured this is what has been holding back Sky from offering FTTP.

An example of this is PlusNet ran an FTTP Trial for several years (now ended but existing users still have the service). Because it was / is a Trial it was not integrated with PlusNet back office systems. If you have a problem or a question the only real support is the FTTP Trial forum which is monitored by the few FTTP trained staff. I planned to get PlusNet TV once I got FTTP but it turned out I couldn't as the PlusNet system needed a phone line to check speeds were good enough to support the TV service.

Brian

[#13]

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation, I guess it's what's called progress?
BT can offer me this now, Plusnet can't...they may get left behind here, customers will be looking for this and they risk losing people if they don't keep up and invest.

[#14]

Hi you can move your telephone number to Virgin without loosing it no problems very easy

Virgin had a good offer 100 meg for £24 pm not bad 12 month

Since last year Sky Virgin use Voip for phone service

[#15]

Yes but if you then move away from Virgin there's a fair chance you will lose it.
I used to be with Telewest cable here, predecessor of Virgin and I speak from experience, it took me a LOT of effort to keep my number.
It completely put me off non Openreach cable for phone lines.