Changing Fibre broadband providers

Ok folks

I'm thinking of changing my fibre broadband provider and i'm here to ask the good folks of GRcade for advice

Im currently with BT and despite their reputation i've never had any problems with them but i'm thinking of changing to Plusnet as they'll give me a better price (new customer and all that...) and they seem to have a good customer satisfaction score. There is no cable in my area so Virgin is out.

I've always swapped gas and electric to cheaper suppliers to get lower prices - it's the same energy after all! Is it the same with changing one fibre broadband provider to another?
Anyone ever call BT and manage to negotiate a better price and stayed with them?
Is the process straightforward with minimum hassle?
Im currently on the upto 76mb package (get about 50mb in reality) and realise that Plusnet only got upto 38mb - but thats plenty fast enough

thanks in advance

PostRe: Changing Fibre broadband providers by KK » Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:25 am

You will need to ring up BT and ask for a Mac code. This should immediately set alarm bells ringing at BT, who I'm sure will then proceed to ask you why you want to leave, in turn giving you a discounted price. Tell them you're thinking of going to their arch nemesis Sky.

In theory changing broadband supplier should mean you only lose connection for a few hours, if that.

If you are after a hassle free switch, wait a few weeks. New regulations are coming in which means that your new provider can take over your connection without the need of a MAC from your current provider.

I can't find an exact date but it is certainly changing this summer sometime - http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/internet/ ... -provider/

If you are just looking to haggle, then pretty much follow what KKlein has said.

Switching broadband is a little different to switching energy supplier as how the supplier provides the connection has much more of an impact on the quality of service. The speeds you get should be pretty much the same in general between providers as they all use the same copper infrastructure (bar Virgin). However, depending on how you use it, you may want to look into your possible provider's policies on traffic-shaping, throttling, router access (ie Sky do not let you use your own router), Site blocking (most main providers now block the likes of piratebay), usage limits and so on.

I've never dealt with Plusnet, but be aware that they are actually owned by BT. However, in general they seem to get much better feedback. They also have both 80mbps and 40mbps services as far as I know as these are the packages offered by BT Wholesale, so as long as you have FTTC enabled on your line, you should be able to chose between the 2 speeds. You are right though, if you only get a certain speed now, that is all you will get when you switch bar slight fluctuations.

Just been on the phone with BT who were willing to drop the price for infinity down from £29.97 to £22ish but i'm not biting at that price
Contract ends 27th July so i'll keep an eye out for deals leading up to this. Plusnet prices look good - £5 for 1st 6 months, then £14.99 for next 12 (18 month contract) and customer satisfaction is reassuring.

Minty14 - I was aware plusnet are BT owned, thanks and useful info re-upcoming changes to swapping providers.

I dont download peer to peer or any illegal stuff so should I be unconcerned by traffic-shaping?

Not paticularly, although you may still see slower speeds during busy periods when downloading games etc.

I hate BT and so would always advise people to switch. Having said that, if you are interested in football at all it might be worth staying with them to take advantage of the free BT Sport channels. If you don't like football then get the hell away from them!

I'm on Plusnet. Get the full download and upload speeds (76/20) when connected by ethernet.

Unlimited data allowance and never had any issues with sailing the high seas.

Their wifi router, at least when I got it years back was a bit gooseberry fool, it's a separate box to the modem instead of being built in and even with wifi devices right next to it, the download never surpasses 50%.

Grumpy David wrote:I'm on Plusnet. Get the full download and upload speeds (76/20) when connected by ethernet.

Unlimited data allowance and never had any issues with sailing the high seas.

Their wifi router, at least when I got it years back was a bit gooseberry fool, it's a separate box to the modem instead of being built in and even with wifi devices right next to it, the download never surpasses 50%.

Sounds similar to my current set up - a separate modem which connects to BT home hub 3.

@moggy - did you know BT are about to start charging £5 a month for their premium sports package? Due to them getting all the champions league I guess. Not fussed about watching football except the world cup/euro/african cup so i'm not paying for something I don't watch. Pissed off tbh that the copa america is exclusive to premier sports. Thats what annoys me about 'competition' which is supposed to give us more choice and drive costs down instead you end up paying subs to multiple companies instead of just Sky.

PostRe: Changing Fibre broadband providers by KK » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:33 pm

Not being able to fit a new router with Sky is a real pain in the arse as the WiFi on the thing is strawberry floating all over the place, even with their additional booster. Apparently there is a new one on the way but I wish they'd bloody hurry up about it. Still, can't really complain too much at £10 a month.

Chickenwings147 wrote:@moggy - did you know BT are about to start charging £5 a month for their premium sports package? Due to them getting all the champions league I guess. Not fussed about watching football except the world cup/euro/african cup so i'm not paying for something I don't watch. Pissed off tbh that the copa america is exclusive to premier sports. Thats what annoys me about 'competition' which is supposed to give us more choice and drive costs down instead you end up paying subs to multiple companies instead of just Sky.

So the sport isn't free for all broadband customers anymore? No chance of me ever returning to BT ever again then, getting free football was the only reason I would ever consider it. :lol:

The competition rules have screwed everyone over. Sky having a monopoly was bad but it doesn't help anybody by having a system where you have to pay 2 or 3 companies to get the sport you want to watch.

PostRe: Changing Fibre broadband providers by KK » Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:23 am

BT Sport will remain free for Broadband customers, BT Sport Europe will be free with BT TV (otherwise £5 a month).

Update

So, i've had Plusnet now for about 2 weeks and its... all good

Positives -
I'll be paying half the monthly cost ( £14.95) as I was with BT
Its currently £5 a month for the 1st 6 months which is an even bigger saving (they are currently doing the 1st 6 months for FREE :evil:

)
Their line rental saver works out at £12.99 p/m - again, cheaper than the price of BT

So far it's a stable 37ish meg connection, not noticed any issues with traffic shaping at peak times which a BT sales guy told me was 'ooohh, a very bad thing'

Negatives -
The router looks like a childs toy :lol:

seriously, it looks utter wank :slol:

thank god i've hidden it away. More seriously it only has 3 ethernet ports where my old Home Hub 3 had 4 ports so my PS3 has gone wireless
The service also wasn't ready when they said it would be, but a quick 'live chat' got it sorted straight away (they'd not updated their system at 'their end')

Wireless signal seems as good if not better than my old Home Hub 3 and overall i'm very pleased - -wish i'd changed sooner. When the contract is up i'll definately be playing the switching game again

EDIT - forgot to mention £75 cashback too from quidco

I would always recommend that someone buys a proper good router, even if it's just used for the wireless functionality.

The routers that come with ISP packages are so dirt cheap and unreliable. I appreciate people don't want to spend £150 on a new router, but once you do you won't go back. You get such better connection speeds and reliability.

PostRe: Changing Fibre broadband providers by KK » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:13 pm

Unless you're with Sky Fibre, in which case tough titties.

Buying a new router is pointless. If you want to improve wireless buy a wireless AP they cost like £20 and give the performance increase with none of the hassle.

Do plus net still use these Technicolors:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technicolour-TG582n-Port-Wireless-Router/dp/B005ELFTH4 ?

They were cracking little routers, if not particularly 'heavy duty'.

I've just switched the other way - from Plusnet to BT. Apparently BT have worse customer service but I couldn't turn down £157.50 cashback and a £125 Sainsbury's voucher.

The Home Hub 5 is meant to be very good, as well. But as far as the Fibre is concerned, it's all BT via OpenReach, anyway.

One thing that I'm impressed with BT, though, is the whole BT Wifi thing. I've just moved and my service goes live Monday but I can use my neighbours' BT-Wifi-with-FON hotspots for free until then.

KKLEIN wrote:Unless you're with Sky Fibre, in which case tough titties.

If you can extract your Sky modem username and password there are dozens of modems and routers you can use instead of what Sky provide.

Errkal wrote:Buying a new router is pointless. If you want to improve wireless buy a wireless AP they cost like £20 and give the performance increase with none of the hassle.

I disagree, That will work until the ISP provided Router throws a fit.

which it will, because it cost £5

Albear wrote:
Errkal wrote:Buying a new router is pointless. If you want to improve wireless buy a wireless AP they cost like £20 and give the performance increase with none of the hassle.

I disagree, That will work until the ISP provided Router throws a fit.

which it will, because it cost £5

Don't think that's actually true, at least not all the time. I think the TalkTalk router is decent enough, obviously doesn't have all the functionality of a more expensive router.

Changing Fibre broadband providers

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