Do I have to leave Plusnet after all these years?

[#1]

After waiting for what seems like forever we finally had fibre installed to our pole a couple of weeks ago and will hopefully finally be able to get fttp shortly.

However, I've come here to remind myself what I would need to do to sign up only to discover that the trial has ended 😞

It seems a shame to leave Plusnet after around 20 years so is there any indication that a proper product will be made available soon?

It's not even as though I'm after the mega speeds fttp offers - I just want more than my current 4-5 meg.

[#2]

@ciderboy

From the horse's mouth https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-To-The-Premises-trial/FTTP-Trial-Closure/m-p/1553750#M14953

While I appreciate you can't give definitive dates have you any idea of the timescale before a commercial product launches?

I'm sorry I don't have any further information. As soon as we have any further information I'll share it.

So no published plans or hints of one will be given.

[#3]

@ciderboy

Just because equipment has been installed doesn't automatically mean FTTP will be available soon. You just never know with OpenReach!!!

However, if it does become available then you have a choice to make. Do you hold on in the hope that PlusNet will introduce a commercial product in the near future or do you jump ship?

At the moment it appears only BT and Zen are seriously players in the residential FTTP market (although there are some minor players I believe).

If you jump then sod's law dictates that's when PlusNet will announce a FTTP product!!!

Brian

[#4]

I'm sorry to hear this but I'd like to thank you for your loyalty.

While it'd be sad to see you go I'd understand as FTTP speeds would be a big jump from what you have now.

Unfortunately I can't tell you when we'll start offering FTTP again, but there's always the option to return to us if/when we provide FTTP as a full service to both new and existing customers.

Fingers crossed its before FTTP is made available to order at your address.

[#5]

As I've said before, we completely understand your comments @Gandalf I personally can give 10 points as to why you can't say anything more.

I do hope that if PN do intend to offer 100Mbit plus speeds that they do pre announce it rather than just dropping the packages "overnight". Then we can make intelligent decisions on our future broadband contracts.

[#6]

@krusty

Well the longer Plusnet delay commercial release, the longer we all get really cheap FTTP (especially those of us without copper lines). I feel the commercial price will be higher by some margin but all good things must come to an end. 

Also my concern is that if/when a commercial product is released, Plusnet will immediately give the 30 days notice from the T&C's to wind down our legacy FTTP contracts. So we have to think quickly about the future.

(I was on a early BT symmetric FTTP trial many,many moons ago and going back to ADSL in those dark days was painful. At least now I get to keep the FTTP even if it isn't necessarily with Plusnet. And having a 4 port ONT means I can get the other port activated so hopefully zero downtime as the 2 services can overlap without issues))

[#7]

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@SpendLessTime wrote:

Well the longer Plusnet delay commercial release, the longer we all get really cheap FTTP (especially those of us without copper lines). I feel the commercial price will be higher by some margin but all good things must come to an end. 

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@SpendLessTime

I haven't checked recently, but it was the case that BT (retail) were selling the lower tiers of FTTP (i.e. 80/20 and  below) for the same price as their FTTC offerings, and I suspect that is probably still the case.

I would hope that PN would do the same when they start offering FTTP as an official product, so unless you wanted to utilise speeds higher than FTTC equivalents then there would hopefully be no price differences.

I realise that some of the PN FTTC offers include line rental and phone packages, but if FTTC is taken over another providers (BT based) line then the 'penalty' is only £2.50 pm.  As a precaution I've retained my copper line with BT just in case there is some penalty for not having a copper line at all, but may well port the number to VoIP and cease the line when I see how the land lies after the PN FTTP products are announced.

Presumably there will be deals offered as there are now with FTTC, possibly discounted, which you can only take advantage of if you have both FTTP and phone service with PN.  Who knows, there is always the slim chance that FVA will be offered to certain customers if their local equipment is FVA capable - I was told 3 years ago by the OR installer that neither my exchange or ONT were capable, which seems strange as the ONT is one of the 4-Data port 2-Phone port type.

[#8]

@RobPN

Yes BT still sell the lower 2 speed tiers at the same price as FTTC but you must pay the line rental/FVA uplift. (which the trial allows us not to). And of course, both prices are higher than the Plusnet equivalent.

Only the 40/10 FTTP price is OFCOM regulated and then only if your phone cabinet doesn't support FTTC. So the BT pricing strategy is partly regulated and partly market based. Although the £15 uplift from 80/20 to 150/20 isn't too bad (and 300/30 is only £20 more than 80/20) Plus the latter 2 come with the BT Plus stuff at that price.

And yes the FVA enabled ONT and telephone socket switch were installed at mine 5 years ago but I'm sure the exchange isn't FVA enabled yet either.

Time will tell as they say.

[#9]

PlusNet have a long history of leaving products alone as "legacy" when they introduce or revamp their existing offers.

We can but hope this is what they do to those on the Trial if and when they go commercial with FTTP.

Brian

[#10]

@SpendLessTime  Thanks for that info.

So, sticking with the lower speeds for the purposes of the point I'm about to make, i.e. the connection speeds presently offered by PN, I just checked to satisfy myself that it was still possible to order FTTC from PN over another providers phone line.  The Broadband only link from the dropdown at the top of the forum pages shows that it is indeed still possible to order as suggested, but that the prices for the two available speeds are advertised £17.49 and £22.49, which unless I'm mistaken, is incorrect.  Surely the prices should now be advertised as £18.49 and £23.49 to reflect the recent price increase of £1 ?

Or, I wonder, would those prices be due to a discount included for signing a 12 or 18 month contract?  And if so, perhaps we can expect similar prices for FTTP (FTTC equivalent speeds) provided we have another suppliers phone-line installed which could be considerably cheaper than a PN one.

[#11]

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@bmc wrote:

PlusNet have a long history of leaving products alone as "legacy" when they introduce or revamp their existing offers.

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Agreed, but there was the recent £1 increase ...

[#12]

@RobPN

It could be argued that the "legacy" is that the Trial FTTP service matches the FTTC service with or without a phone line hence any price increase in the latter would apply to the former.

It is also possible that any commercial FTTP product would match the current FTTC products so we would all get moved because there's no difference.

Brian

[#13]

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@bmc wrote:

It could be argued that the "legacy" is that the Trial FTTP service matches the FTTC service with or without a phone line hence any price increase in the latter would apply to the former.

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But then isn't the FTTC itself a legacy product in it's own right, which was increased in price by £1 pm? 

[#14]

@RobPN

Yes I would have expected £23.49 or £18.49 BUT I wonder if these are new prices based on their "Fixed price" contracts which were just released or as you said had an element of new user discounting,?

The new fixed (for line rental and broadband only bits) are priced at

Unlimited Fibre (36Mbps Average Download)
Price: £23.99 per month for 18 months (£34.98 thereafter) + Free Activation

Unlimited Fibre Extra (66Mbps Average Download)
Price: £28.99 per month for 18 months (£39.98 thereafter) + Free Activation

Quite competitive for the first 18 months for new customers.