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[happy37]

Hello everyone.

My current o2 broadband contract runs out next week (12th July), and I am now in a dilemma as to whether I should phone up and renew it for another year?

I am on the old legacy "O2 Home Broadband Standard" upto 16mb package. This was the old package that was available before o2 moved/changed all their broadband packages to what they currently are. (The Basics, The All-Rounder and The Works).

No problems at all with o2 either over the years.......if only they'd do something about offering FTTC/FTTH?

The line rental on my line is paid to BT - happy with that, and no problems to report.

The full monthly charge for the o2 broadband is £14.50. I also have an o2 mobile which immediately knocks off £5 from the monthly price. This is then brought down further to the current £6.95 which is what I pay every month, thanks to the great deal that the o2 Retentions team gave me last year and the year before that.

According to Kitz's line checker, being the distance away from the exchange that I currently am (Direct: 2.95 km), (By Road: 6.92 km), I currently get 3.5 Megs on my line from o2.

Here is my question/dilemma:-

1. Shall I renew again for another 12 months, the caveat is not knowing whether I will get the same deal, or even get to stay on the same old legacy package (no traffic shaping and unlimited downloads)

2. Look at switching to FTTC - I have been reading a lot about PlusNet over the last few days. Are they any good? The package that I have been looking at costs £16.49 a month. This is called "PlusNet Value" Fibre Broadband. I know that they don't have any limits on this broadband package between midnight and 8am, and there's a 4OGB monthly allowance. My household currently uses upto 15-20GB every month, and never exceeds that.

This is just for the usual downloading, streaming of radio/music and some occasional YouTube videos.

Please feel free to ask anything else that I might not have mentioned here yet.

Would be really grateful for your thoughts/comments and advice on this.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards

happy37

[UncleUB]

Hi Happy

I was in the same dilemma last year.I am on the old Legacy package,was told to stay on it was £9.50 totally unlimited,or go onto the traffic managed basic package for £8.50..
They offered me £6.95 if I stayed on the old Legacy package,if I had gone onto the new one I could have got 6 months free.

My contract is up on the 18th and I'm off to Digital Region fibre.Can only get 2,5mb with O2.

There is rumours going round that Telefonica are in financial trouble.......

Ask them if you can stay on the Legacy package and what they will offer you.They told me even things like Youtube are traffic managed on the new package.

[happy37]

Hi Unky,

Good to hear from you - hope all is well.

Oh well, I thought that it was just me with that dilemma? Now you've also said that o2 offered you to stay on the old package.

What speeds will you get on/with Digital Region fibre after the 18th?

There is rumours going round that Telefonica are in financial trouble.......

That doesn't sound good at all - hope they don't go bust or anything like that!   

I will phone up and ask what deal they are prepared to give me - is it better to phone on the 11th as my contract finishes on the 12th, or should I wait until it expires completely and then call up?

I'm a bit surprised that I've not heard from any PlusNet users from this forum - hope this doesn't mean that PlusNet's fibre isn't good!?   

Are there any rumours abound about BE or o2 doing FTTC or FTTP in the near future?

Thanks again for the advice Unky - much appreciated.

Regards

happy37

[UncleUB]

I have been estimated to get around 25mb down and 6mb up with Origin broadband for £17.50 a month.

Regarding Be,O2 fttc,2013 at the earliest has been mentioned.

[happy37]

I can get 40mb down and 2mb up...........from PlusNet.

£16.49 a month - what do you think, seeing that o2's Standard legacy, old package is £14.50?

Your thoughts will be most welcome.

Regards

happy37

[silversurfer44]

The thing that sticks in my mind is the 40gig limit with those cheaper packages. As things are I could leave mine downloading 24hrs and not reach 40gig. But I imagine soon eating up 40gig with the speed of a 20meg line.

When I first joined the broadband thing I was paying £26+ for a 1/2meg connection. So I would go for the unlimited download package hoping that in time the price would come down.

[UncleUB]

The thing that sticks in my mind is the 40gig limit with those cheaper packages. As things are I could leave mine downloading 24hrs and not reach 40gig. But I imagine soon eating up 40gig with the speed of a 20meg line.

Are you getting 40GB usage confused with 40mb download speeds.........All Origins packages are unlimited,no caps,shaping or download limits..the difference in price is because of the difference in Maximum download speeds.... Origin start with 24 mb down/10mb up for £17.50,then 40 mb down/10mb up for £25 and finally(if your line can support it) up to 100mb for £35 a month

http://www.origin-broadband.co.uk/

[happy37]

Hi ss44 and UncleUB,

Good morning.

Thanks for your replies.

Looks like things are getting confused here, methinks.

40gb limit and 40 Megs line speed are getting people all mixed up.

Anyway, let's see what happens next week when I call o2 to see what deal they can give me to stay with them for another year?

Will keep you posted.

Regards

happy37

[UncleUB]

Hi Happy

Good luck with your renewal,I'm sure they will offer you a good deal as many,many customers are leaving due to the fact that they can't offer FTTC.

I have been with them 3 years and have been very happy with them as a company.Their support is UK based(as you know) and is excellent,but the bottom line is I can't get more than 2.5mb and this day and age holds you back from doing a lot of thinks,ie iplayer,downloading films etc,and as we now have an internet enabled smart tv I want to be able to use all its features.

[silversurfer44]

@UncleUB I've just checked BT Infinity & Plusnet and both the cheap packages have a 40gig per month usage limit.
BT have an umlimited usage package for about £26 per month.

[UncleUB]

@UncleUB I've just checked BT Infinity & Plusnet and both the cheap packages have a 40gig per month usage limit.
BT have an umlimited usage package for about £26 per month.

Thats quite poor then Colin,and as you say with a fast connection you will soon eat that up especially downloading a few films..The £26 package looks roughly the same as Digital region...£25 for up to 40mb download speed and unlimited usage.

Do you have fibre yet Colin at your exchange. ?

[bbnovice]

I swapped from Virgin Media ADSL to BT Infinity (unlimited) about 2 months ago.

This costs me £25 per month with no download cap - I think the price has just gone up to £26. In fact I pay more than that as I have various phone add ons such as Unlimted Anytime calls. On my phone usage this made a lot of financial sense overall, so that is another factor you may wish to consider.

I signed up for the 40/10 service and have a profile of 38/10. Normally achieve an actual speed of around 37/8. Can upgrade to to 80/20 for free if I wish - I think the new £26 monthly price is for 80/20.

On my old Virgin service my monthly download figure were quite small - limited by the broadband download speed if nothing else. When I upgraded I specifically went for an unlimited download service as I suspected that actual usage in my house might shoot up if a faster line speed were available. (There are 3 users and separate PC's on the network in my house). My suspicion has since been borne out. My monthly download figure is now 52 Gb on average!!! When I quizzed the other users I then found out that, knowing the download cap had been removed, they had signed up for some TV services for their PC's (eg Eurosport for £2.99 per month). So beware!
             

[silversurfer44]

Thanks for the info bbnovice, there's nothing like getting it from some-one in the know.

@Phil, I thought the usage caps were very poor for such a download speed. I was looking to go for an unlimited package. I know it costs more and whilst I am the only subscriber I could easily exceed the limit.

Fiber (fibre) is at the exchange, the boxes are wired up, but according to the BT availability sites fiber will not be available until 30th September 2012. But after reading an article on the PC Advisor site which said the best way to find out about availability is to ring BT as the sites are quite out dated. If the article is to be believed BT themselves admit to this fact. So come Monday I shall be 0800.

[UncleUB]

Well I asked for a MAC off O2 yesterday lunch time,as yet I'm still waiting for it to arrive via email.

Edit....They have just told me it takes 24 hours to arrive?

When I left BT they gave me a MAC code straight away over the phone. 

Tbh they didn't put up much of a fight to keep me as a customer,they ask why you are leaving,as soon as you mention fibre they chuck the towel in.

[silversurfer44]

When I left BT they gave me a MAC code straight away over the phone

Maybe they couldn't wait to get rid of you. 

I watch this space with baited breath.