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Plusnet launch broadband price promise
Friday 08 October 2010 12:39:05 by John Hunt

Plusnet have pledged a price promise on broadband to guarantee that no matter where you live in the country, they will offer the lowest price standalone broadband. The promise only applies to the Plusnet Value Broadband product and covers the total cost of ownership for the connection over the competitors contract length (up to 24 months). This will therefore include any monthly fees and setup costs.

Plusnet already offer the cheapest broadband product in the 'low cost' market 3 exchange areas (£6.49 per month), and are bringing in a new price for the Market 2 areas for the Value product of £10.79 per month (down from £12.99). The 'Extra' and 'Pro' products will also receive a small discount in Market 2 in line with the price drop for Value. If you live in Market 1, some competitors may offer cheaper services, and if you find these, Plusnet will match them on price.

"We are committed to offering the nation good, honest broadband from Yorkshire, at a price that can't be beaten. We believe our price-beating promise is an Industry first and means that our customers not only get great customer service and fast speeds, but can have it at the lowest price on the market."

Jamie Ford, (CEO) Plusnet

Plusnet have also launched a new advertising campaign, with their first venture into TV ads. Both can be seen on the Plusnet YouTube channel.

[ Topic: Broadband | 28 comments | link to this item ]

Comments

Posted by TaRkADaHl about 1 year ago
My employer offers me free BB.... wonder if they can beat this offer

Posted by AndrueC about 1 year ago
It's cheap..but is it any good?

Posted by damien001 about 1 year ago
not from what i heard

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
@AndrueC

Owned by BT, I don't think any more needs to be said...

Posted by jelv about 1 year ago
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/t/3910764-dont-move-to-plusnet-at-the-moment.html

http://users.plus.net/QL:1A23B69C

Posted by mike41 about 1 year ago
Great offer ... and you get your details forwarded to those nice people at ACS:Law as part of the deal

Posted by c_j_ about 1 year ago
Owned by BT, more does need to be said.

BT Retail: default broadband supplier to the uninformed. Overpriced, generally uncompetitive service.

Plusnet: BT's stalking horse in the bargain basement market. An attempt to preserve BT's market influence and freeze out competition whilst not alerting BT Broadband customers to the fact that they are being *massively* overcharged.

That said, not long ago I had a billing hiccup with Metronet (RIP) and it was handled very smoothly by phone.

Posted by Michael_Chare about 1 year ago
Why should Market 1 customers pay twice the price of Market 3 customers?

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
@Michael_Chare

Forcing BT to under price their products means that BT has to compete with all other ISPs while also maintaining/upgrading the infrastructure, which is pure robbery as far as I am concerned.

Posted by MarkHampshire about 1 year ago
BT can always give up the infrastructure and defacto monpoly in market 1 areas, meaning there's no conflict of interest, and a level playing field can be established, and then the minefield of regulation would not be necessary.

Posted by GMAN99 about 1 year ago
Give up infrastructure yeah right... just giving money away has always been popular in business.

Posted by AndrueC about 1 year ago
Market 1 exchanges are difficult to serve or too small to be viable. That's why they are market 1. BT only has a monopoly because no-one else is willing to. Kicking the only telco that can help out is stupid.

If you live in the back end of beyond it isn't reasonable to expect the same level of service as those who live in the bright lights.

Sorry.

Welcome to the real world.

Posted by mbailey about 1 year ago
I changed to Plusnet a few months ago. Worst mistake I made.

For example, raise a support ticket, it takes 3 days for it to be opened and investigated! I can only imagine this getting far worse with this new advertising campaign.

Also, be very aware of the traffic shapping on the plusnet value service.

It's not all about the price.

Posted by Whizree about 1 year ago
I didn't know sour grapes were alive and kicking. I joined Plusnet two years ago and cannot fault their service technically. If you have a problem, they've a good email system and in my experience they do give a good service the big boys can only aspire to - and no overseas call centres.
I consider I get good value for money in the present market - I live in rural Dorset so I'll never get the same prices as the townies amongst us, but if I sign up a friend I do receive a further price reduction.
We need more companies like Plusnet.

Posted by BillboHug about 1 year ago
I'm with Plusnet and have to agree with the last comment. So far it's been an excellent service. I live in rural Leicestershire and have a reasonable speed and very reliable connection. I can also use my own router with no problem, unlike my previous ISP (Post Office).

Posted by netherfield about 1 year ago
Having a good email system is not much good when the service is down.
I'm still with Plusnet because when it works it's good.
Earlier in the year though I had 11 days without service,stock excuse is 'we have to wait for BT to make checks and this can take three days,of course when that doesn't cure the problem it takes another three days to try something else.
And of course I forget to mention 'It's something at your end that causing the problem'.

Posted by opticalgirl about 1 year ago
Plusnet is buying services from BT Wholesale, so surely the cost to supply a customer is the same regardless of location? So charging customers based on where they live seems deeply unfair - although I would say that because I'm connected to a small rural exchange. Basically the rural folk are subsidizing the city dwellers.

This cut-throat price competition in the city exchanges is stoopid anyway - the ISPs aren't making enough money to fund future network upgrades. Having the lowest broadband prices in the world might not be best for the UK consumer in the longer term.

Posted by AndrueC about 1 year ago
"Basically the rural folk are subsidizing the city dwellers." Er..no. Wrong way round.

It's more expensive to serve rural populations. Since the price is the same for all there's only two possibilities:

* You aren't paying enough.
or
* Urbanites are paying more.

Posted by AndrueC about 1 year ago
It's pretty simple really. I live in a town. Suppose a taxi costs the same to get me from my house to my exchange (1.5km) as it does you (6km, perhaps).

Either you are being undercharged or I am being overcharged.

There is no way that any part of your taxi ride can be helping to pay for mine.

Posted by davidinnotts about 1 year ago
I've been with PlusNet for over 15 years, and stay because of the good service and low prices. Their service is totally transparent: you can see exactly how they're performing, and when they have problems they keep users up to date on progress. If you can't get them online, the phone service is fairly quick and very cheap.

But... when the service is down or buggy, they have the same problem all ISPs get - they're overloaded with calls and tickets and can no way cope till it's working again; you have to rely on the automatics for information.

Posted by davidinnotts about 1 year ago
netherfield, what you describe is reasonable if BT did cause system problems and PlusNet keep trying to help in all the ways they can. This is true whether it's the UK pipes or your local lines. And it really COULD be your own domestic line from the box. Last time I had problems and phoned (6 weeks ago), the technician did a set of tests and identified my own line as the problem. He gave me a test to do which found the trouble in my own wifi router (a linksys) then explained how to clear it. None of this was PlusNet's fault or business, but they spent time to help. Top-level service!

Posted by davidinnotts about 1 year ago
opticalgirl: as with nearly all services, the nearer to the (usually city) supplier and the larger and less spread-out the local customer base, the cheaper. So nearly all services SHOULD cost less in the city. A flat rate market (as with Royal Mail's UK postal rates) is subsidizing rural areas; the more remote, the greater the subsidy. I agree with you about the future, but market-led competitive supply dare not look too far ahead. That's the job of government oversight and the regulator.

Posted by davidinnotts about 1 year ago
PlusNet isn't a BT pawn or front. I've noticed that a number of the posts above are pretty cynical, like otester in post 3. BT does own PlusNet, but I haven't seen any sign of interference, and PlusNet make it clear that they operate independently. They still have the same ethos of giving great, personal service at a good price that they always did. It's why I've stuck with them, in spite of checking the market annually.

Posted by MarkHampshire about 1 year ago
Since customer churn (as opposed to retention) is the name of the game now, ask yourself why, uniquely, Plusnet doesn't have the words "a BT Group Company" after its name and in its marketing. No mention of BT at all that I can see.

Posted by davidinnotts about 1 year ago
If I were BT, I'd be very happy to have bought and got a deep view into one of my market-leading competitors' structure and workings. Well worth hands-off management for the insights it would bring, and PlusNet is not big enough to disturb any policies. This is good business practice, maybe, rather than the Machiavellian tactics that conspiracy-loving cynics like to profess.

Posted by c_j_ about 1 year ago
"PlusNet is not big enough to disturb any (BT) policies"

No but Plusnet is big enough to compete in the same market as other 2nd division (in size terms) BTw-dependent ISPs. Is being squeezed from both sides by a poorly regulated monopolist a good thing for the market in general?

Then again one could ask why these other BTw-dependent ISPs don't pass on the geographical discounts. Because they'd go out of business would be the obvious answer...

Posted by roddyb about 1 year ago
I have 2 accounts with PlusNet for over two years and have had the best service from them.
Re: the comment poster who waited three days for a ticket to be opened - The longest wait by phoning I've had is 9 minutes at peak time. Their tech staff on the other end are always polite, friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful.The call centre is in Sheffield. PlusNet offer a great value product with service to match and I hope they go from strength to strength (no I don't work for them, or any communications company...).

Posted by cmwilcock about 1 year ago
Aside from a few reliability issues since signing up to Plusnet 6 months ago, I can't complain - the service is transparent and I routinely get 4.4 Mbps where I used to get 2 for twice the price (rural Bucks). As for BT, I know it's trendy to bash them but 3 sets of neighbours use their service without complaint...