Re-contracting

[#1]

if after June PlusNet announced another price rise that I found was above my budget, do I still have that option of, "you can leave your contract within 30 days notice" of any further price rises?

If that was to happen and the price rise is detrimental to the contract you're within then we'll allow you to leave your contract penalty-free if you notify us within 30 days of receiving the price rise e-mail.

[#2]

Okay, thanks for clarifying Gandalf. I`m only saving a measly 2p from my old original monthly price plan so it`s a narrow line between affordable now and not affordable should there be additional price rises within the next 12 months. It`s fair to say I could have haggled more to widen the gap a bit more but I`m not sure I would have won the argument! 

[#3]

No problems at all.

Let me know if you have any further queries.

[#4]

With the current gaining provider led migration procedure, at what point does one tell PN that one is migrating because of a price rise?  There are examples on this forum of customers who've told PN they were leaving resulting in the account being CANCELLED and a £30 charge applied.

[#5]

If you would like to leave Plusnet because of the price refresh communication, we'd recommend contacting us on 0800 013 2632 within 30 days of receiving the e-mail to let us know.

From there, we'll ensure that no early termination fees are applied when the gaining provider takes over the service.

[#6]

jonpe asked:

at what point does one tell PN that one is migrating because of a price rise? 

Good point jonpe. Would we contact PlusNet within the 30 days or receiving any notification of a price rise and also, I`ve been reading that the £30 cease fee would NOT apply if one was to migrate to another provider using the BT infrastructure, but I`m not too sure who these companies are with the exception of Talk Talk and Sky? And Virgin, who use their own cable. 

Someone (can`t find the thread now!) posted a link about this and it said that this £30 cease fee only applied if a customer is ceasing their line or stopping their broadband? Rather than migrating away....so some clarity is required really. 

[#7]

Would we contact PlusNet within the 30 days or receiving any notification of a price rise

Yes and if the price refresh is detrimental to your contract we'll allow you to leave with no early termination fees.

A cessation fee is only applicable if the broadband service provisioned on BT Wholesale equipment at the exchange is ceased. This can happen if the circuit is ceased without migrating to a new provider.

It can also happen if you move to a provider that uses their own equipment at the exchange (Commonly known as LLU). Sky and Talk Talk I believe use LLU in a lot of exchanges. Best way to find out might be to call the ISP.

More info can be found here: https://www.plus.net/help/my-account/charges-for-removing-broadband/

[#8]

Thanks Gandalf. So going by this:

you switch to a provider who uses their own network (like a cable provider)

So I need to identify which providers DON`T use the BT lines then? And if I did switch to one of those, then the £30 charge would apply because I would effectively be switching to a provider who require a change over to their lines/equipment, which means a BT open reach engineer would then be required to fiddle a few cables over?!! And that`s where this cost is applied?

[#9]

It’s not so much to do with the Openreach phone line itself, but rather the broadband equipment at the exchange.

If a new provider places a ‘transfer’ order to transfer the services from us keeping the broadband service on the BT Wholesale (BTW) equipment there’d be no cessation fee.

However, if they place what’s called a ‘working line takeover’ this would result in the broadband circuit being ceased. That’s generally caused by the new provider not using equipment supplied by BTW.

I’m not sure what the cost involves if I’m honest.

[#10]

Gandalf wrote:

If a new provider places a ‘transfer’ order to transfer the services from us keeping the broadband service on the BT Wholesale (BTW) equipment there’d be no cessation fee.

Above understood.

But this:  if they place what’s called a ‘working line takeover’ this would result in the broadband circuit being ceased. That’s generally caused by the new provider not using equipment supplied by BTW.

I’m not sure what the cost involves if I’m honest.

Now I am a bit confuzzled! I was thinking if a switch to a non BTW supplier, then PlusNet would apply the £30 cease fee because that customer would be `ceasing` the use of the BT line? It`s when you said, "I`m not sure what the cost involves to be honest" part I So do you mean there would be a £30 cease fee by PlusNet and there may be other charges too? Perhaps by the new supplier? I thought that would only come about if a customer required a new line to be installed altogether? 

[#11]

Now I am a bit confuzzled! I was thinking if a switch to a non BTW supplier, then PlusNet would apply the £30 cease fee because that customer would be `ceasing` the use of the BT line? It`s when you said, "I`m not sure what the cost involves to be honest" part I So do you mean there would be a £30 cease fee by PlusNet and there may be other charges too? Perhaps by the new supplier? I thought that would only come about if a customer required a new line to be installed altogether? 

Sorry for the confusion.

Whilst I can't speak of what may happen in the future, at the moment the cessation fee is no more than £30.

This is only applicable if the new provider moves the active broadband service off the BT Wholesale equipment.

[#12]

Okay, no worries Gandalf. Just wasn`t sure!

I am aware of the £30 cease fee being implemented for either a cease on the line altogether (removing the broadband and line altogether) or switching to a non BTW company. 

Is this cease fee something other companies apply too when someone was to switch to Plusnet say from Sky? I know John Lewis charge £25. It`s a shame these costs have to be applied when suppliers can`t all be one big happy family at the exchange but I`m no expert! 

[#13]

No problems at all.

Unfortunately I can't speak for other companies processes or policies I'm afraid.

In my opinion I'd have a read of their terms and conditions if you're curious as I'd imagine it'd be in there.

[#14]

I found this on the Samknows website:

Providers using BT Wholesale to provide broadband connections:

• BT Retail group (BT Yahoo!, BT Business Broadband, BT Total Broadband, PlusNet)
• TalkTalk - used in areas where TalkTalk do not have their own equipment
• Sky Broadband Connect - used in areas where Sky do not have their own equipment
• Tiscali - used in areas where Tiscali do not have their own equipment
• Orange - used in areas where Orange do not have their own equipment
• Virgin Media ADSL - used in areas where Virgin's cable network does not operate
• Entanet and their resellers, including ADSL24 and UKFSN
• Zen Internet
• Lots and lots of others...

I notice it mentions Talk Talk and Sky on that list. So if a PlusNet customer was to switch to Sky for example, the £30 fee would not be applied as it states here that "Used in areas where Sky do not have their own equipment"? Same for Talk Talk.

What I`m getting from this is, if people are with a BTW provider and then switch to a non-BTW provider, that provider may well still be using BT lines to connect customers to their network, so if that`s the case, the cease fee should not apply? On the other hand, if Sky connected someone in an area where they used their OWN equipment, the cease fee would apply? 

So the emphasis here is for the customer to phone other providers to ask if this would be the case to find out if they did switch, whether they would be looking at paying a cease fee or not? depending on whether the other company could tell them if they would be switching to a BTW exchange or their own? 

I need a cuppa! 

[#15]

So if a PlusNet customer was to switch to Sky for example, the £30 fee would not be applied as it states here that "Used in areas where Sky do not have their own equipment"? Same for Talk Talk.

I think it means that, for example, TalkTalk use BTW equipment in areas where they don't have their own equipment (i.e. LLU exchanges) so in that case the service could be simply transferred over, which wouldn't incur the cessation fee.

Worth noting that I'm not confident that Samknows is kept up to date all of the time.

What I`m getting from this is, if people are with a BTW provider and then switch to a non-BTW provider, that provider may well still be using BT lines to connect customers to their network, so if that`s the case, the cease fee should not apply? On the other hand, if Sky connected someone in an area where they used their OWN equipment, the cease fee would apply? 

 That's correct. It's not so much the provider itself, it's what equipment they'd connect your broadband onto.

So the emphasis here is for the customer to phone other providers to ask if this would be the case to find out if they did switch, whether they would be looking at paying a cease fee or not? depending on whether the other company could tell them if they would be switching to a BTW exchange or their own? 

Pretty much. I recall hearing about someone on another thread doing that a while ago. In that different but similar situation, they had Broadband Only with us and wanted move their phone service from their phone provider to another phone provider.

But they had to make sure that the new phone provider didn't move the line off BTW equipment, because if the new provider did do that it'd result in the broadband service ceasing (Which they wanted to keep).

I need a cuppa!

Black. No sugar please.