Cost of cancellation

[#1]

I am currently 5 months into an 18 month contract. I've probably been with Plusnet in one form or another (I bounced between Plusnet and John Lewis for a few years) for almost 16 years and living in a rural area, my download speeds are dire - usually struggling to bump 20Mbps. When I last renewed on the phone, I was informed that a major upgrade was due in my area and speeds would meet the relatively phenomenal speeds that people in the nearby village get but despite BT Openreach digging up the entire road connecting our local households to civilisation for a week a few months ago, BT still advise that no service improvements are likely in the near future - though go on ANY price comparison site will tell me that full fibre is available at my postcode until one drills through the application and the same old theoretical 23Mbps comes up as the maximum speed.

I just read that I could get 250Mbps (over ten times my current speed) for less than twice my current subscription from Starlink including free hardware and installation so I want to weigh up the pros and cons of migrating. As much as I have searched on the Plusnet website, I cannot find any specific information about the cost of early contract cancellation so I would be grateful if anybody could offer me some advice.

[#2]

@flamesong 

The rough cost is the number of months left on your contract minus a small discount. However only PN can tell you the exact amount and only by phoning in.

What does OR say for your property?

www.openreach.co.uk

Brian

[#3]

Full Fibre from whom?

Some areas are covered by other infrastructure suppliers.  I’m in a fairly rural shire village and I’ve got FOUR full fibre network available!!

Then there’s the possibility of a mess in BT’s database.  It’s not uncommon for a few properties to be in a not connected spot whilst everyone around can connect.  That would need a database check.

As for exit options and costs, only COTS can provide that information.

Contact Customer Options Team (aka COTS)

COTs is the place to go to if you want to find out anything to do with your contract in respect of leaving, renewing or simply enquiring about early termination charges (ETCs). They have their own number and tend to answer quicker than the general customer service number.

Call this number 0800 432 0080 and press 2 and it takes you straight to a Sales/COT advisor. You get two simple options of 'are you an existing member' or 'are you new'.

Open

• 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday
• 9am - 7pm Saturday
• 9am - 6pm Sunday

[#4]

Openreach:

[#5]

Do you mean which provider comes up on the comparison sites? If so, BT, Sky, Vodafone, Now Broadband and OneStream - though they only offer 67Mbps but that would still be 3x our current speed. However, as I said, when I follow the switch links, those speeds evaporate.

[#6]

@flamesong 

Thanks for the information.

So, no full fibre from OR in the near future.

The system knows you've FTTC available to you so shows the maximum possible. This is probably what ISP's use when initially checking availability.

As you know only too well the reality is somewhat different which is what ISP's find when they drill down on your connection.

The only thing I have to suggest is to register an interest in FF on the OR website. Probably won't get you anywhere though.

Brian

[#7]

I just went out and about 200m from my house on a country lane by the track to a farm, there were four BT Openreach vans but not a lot of activity. This is not uncommon. If I hadn't been in a rush, I might have stopped and asked them what they knew.

All I can say in response is that Plusnet messed me about with half truths when I renewed my contract. They intimated that the upgrade was on the horizon and we spoke at length about having to switch ISP if we wanted to keep our landline because Plusnet are not going to provide VoIP. I remember feeling very uncertain about what was going on but being over a barrel because the alternative was to continue out of contract and paying twice as much.

It was literally the day after the cooling of period ended in July that I saw a Starlink Dishy box in the communal recycling skip at the end of the road and realised that one of my neighbours (anybody within a square mile from me) had got it and I made a mental note to consider it next time the contract was up but I get fed up with 1080p videos buffering all the time so decided to see if I had any options. If it was a simple task, I'd do it but I'm in a rented house (so may need permission) and I just learned that I need to do an obstruction test before I go any further.