Is it really good honest broadband from Yorkshire any more?
I am thinking of leaving Plusnet for good. My 18-month contract with Plusnet comes to an end in the next two months. My previous 18-month contract came to an end without Plusnet notifying me about it so the price went up quite a bit which I got charged for. At least this time I did receive an email from them.
When I signed up to this new contract I am presently on they told me the speed would increase and I'd be able to get up to 76 Mbps download speed.
Immediately after changing my speed didn't increase but it dropped significantly from where it was previously at around 40 Mbps.
After a lot of hassle getting support from Plusnet I eventually got a new Wi-Fi router from them. I was able to get 60 Mbps over a wired connection from this new router but only 45 Mbps over WiFi despite having dual-band Wi-Fi enabled devices and dongles.
Unfortunately after that initial improvement in speed albeit to less than I had paid for the speed for both wired and wireless have been consistently considerably less than what I have been paying for at around 45 Mbps each. Wired is now only slightly better.
Furthermore, the BT Sport App I pay for doesn't appear to give me the option to buy the additional BT Sport box office events that they are broadcasting whereas customers of EE and other services like Three, O2, Sky, and Virgin can get this. Some of the other companies you can get BT Sport through including their box office events are not even BT subsidiaries like EE and Plusnet but actual commercial rivals. It doesn't seem like you can even get the BT box office events if you have a YouView box through Plusnet whereas you can with other companies.
When I look around elsewhere at what is currently available I see Virgin Media is incredibly expensive however they do get much faster internet speeds which are usually the ones advertised or actually better not 59% of what they were promised.
I am sure if I remained on the same FTTC "superfast" connection but I switched to BT I would actually get the better speeds of up to 76 Mbps. With BT they now offer better speeds even if you have to pay more and you will also get all of their services if you want them.
There are even other companies though like Hyperoptic that offer services in my area and much faster speeds than I can get with Plusnet and I am also certain that I will get the speeds they advertise not considerably less and I would be able to get these speeds for less than I would pay Plusnet after the end of my contract and only slightly more than I would pay if I signed up for a new contract.
For example, these are some of the speeds being offered by other companies and the prices:
Hyperoptic 150 Mbps 12-month contract £29 Monthly £32
Virgin Media 108 Mbps 18-month contract £34
Hyperoptic 500 Mbps 12-month contract £35 Monthly £42
Virgin Media 213 Mbps 18-month contract £40
Virgin Media 362 Mbps 18-month contract £46
Or I could continue with Plusnet on a 76 Mbps connection where I am only getting 45 Mbps for £40 a month or just over £30 if I sign up for a new 18-month contract.
Why would I remain with Plusnet when I can get much better from other companies as I have shown above and when they have not even delivered what they promised for the last 18 months? I could even switch to Zen on a rolling monthly contract for £35 and they will more than likely deliver on the speeds they promise.
I do not like it when companies make misleading claims and promise things they cannot deliver consistently and have no intention of or when they don't even keep up to date with the products and services people are actually paying for offered down from their parent company BT, for example, the BT Sport box office channel and events.
Is it really good honest broadband from Yorkshire any more? I think I will be switching to an ISP that does what they say they will do and delivers the speeds I pay for or better even if I have to pay slightly more but looking at the way things are moving I may be able to get much better for less.
I suspect Plusnet will really have to improve their game or they will cease to exist. Perhaps that is part of the plan? Maybe BT is going to put an end to Plusnet and switch Plusnet customers over to BT proper on an initial changeover deal? Would that be such a bad thing?
