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[Chrysalis]

just posted it on ttb, its here.

http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,120303.16.html

kitz I guess ideally should respond but it looks like she was generous blaming her own equipment as when she said her speedtests started speeding up later in the night without explanation that shouts out to me isp congestion.

There was also a guy posting says he routinely sees unecrypted ftp slow down but encrypted is fast aka plusnets prioritisation system slowing it down.  His comment doesnt bother me as much since I can order pro to put everything in gold, but if http is slowing down (which is in gold) then thats a big problem.

[Chrysalis]

Ronski it seems the ringback monthly fee isnt needed, plusnet have more info very hidden away a bit sly.

http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/tariffs/

However they not working out much cheaper than BT.  A ton of added costs if I dont move phone,

4 months discount of £8 lost on bb only = £32 (granted this isnt an extra cost just lost discount)
free installation £50
£2.50 per month 18 month contract £45 (although with this is still cheaper than BT but not cheaper if also take pro)

either the margins on line rental are very generous (believable given the wholesale price drops coinciding with above inflation price increases) or plusnet really believe most people make lots of landline calls given these price differences.  Within 5 years line rental will cost more than fiber broadband.

the weekend calls thing may not be a huge issue but theire agressiveness to get line rental is annoying.

complicated a bit that a few days ago I signed up to BT's free caller display as they had a 7 dec deadline.

list of changes to new customers.

doubled connection cost to call 6p to 13p
essentials package previously free weekends
essentials now nothing inclusive
weekend package used to be evenings and weekends
now its weekends only

I find it hard to swallow I will be subsidising older customers if signing up to phone.

Skipping the phone I pay the install fee and extra £2.50 month and waive my discount (the discount would cover half my penalty to BT for leaving 2 months early).

The call connection fees and cost of calls is very similiar to BT (for new customers) But BT gives free weekend and evenings on line rental saver.

Line rental saver with BT if i renew I am fairly sure is more expensive than plusnet but no caller display to pay.  So I think with that added its roughly even so BT actually wins unless you/I can get me on the old prices.

It does seem if I move I have to either have less value on calls or broadband, one or the other.  I gain static ip and uk tech support, lose probable better performing network.

[Ronski]

Wow, a call set up price of almost 14p 

As I said earlier I realised the monthly fee for ring back was excessive a long time ago, you'd have to use it more than twenty five times in a month if paying for the feature, or more than twenty times if you have the caller display & ringback package for £3 to make it cost effective.

I've not noticed any of these new prices and/or restrictions as we very rarely use the land line now.

Do you and other members of the household have mobiles? You really should be factoring that into your monthly costings, presuming you get good reception.

My wife is with Orange, she pays £7.50 a month for 250 minutes, 250Mb data and I forget how many texts. I'm sure I could now find her a better value deal.

I'm with Three, which have some fantastic Sim only packages, yesterday I upgraded to the One Plane, which costs me £15 a month for 2000 minutes, 5000 3 to 3 minutes, 5000 texts and all you can eat data which includes tethering. Tethering is the reason I upgraded, I was previously on the SIM600 plan for £12 a month.

My two daughters both have the 321 PAYG, 3p per minute, 2p per text and 1p Mb, on their old ASDA PAYG sims £10 would last many months (luckily!) and Three is much cheaper.

So you can see we have absolutely no reason to use the land line, it took a while to get the wife to stop using the land line though. The only time we use it is if we have an odd ball number to call, but I'm not sure which is the cheapest. Sometimes we still use it in the free periods, but rarely.

In the last 12 months we've spent £6.47 with PN on telephone calls. In the same period in 2012 £17.70, and 2011 was £56.65.

I can see many people doing the above, and this has got to hurt call revenue for ISPs like PN.

I source all our mobiles from Ebay, so I get them cheap, the wife and daughters all have ZTE Blades which they are happy with although they keep running out of memory. I have an S4 I got cheap from a friend when he got a free upgrade that he didn't want. So we only need SIMs and don't pay over the odds for contract phones. Before my S4 I got an S2 for about £120, it was a brilliant phone and a nice size, I sold that on to my brother. The S4 is a bit big but was a bargain I couldn't refuse.

[Chrysalis]

You right landlines are 'almost' obselete, especially with these pricing tactics.  But obviously one still seeks for good value.

My landline does occasionally get used, usually its for 0845,0800 numbers or if I need to use ringback.  As I mentioned before I occasionally use ringback, but ringback is cheaper on plusnet than BT, the order form gives the impression the £2.50 fee is required to use ringback, not even smallprint next to it.  But it isnt, its just a fee for unlimited use.

To give you an idea how vulgar I find these prices (including all landline providers) here is what I pay for my mobile.

£13 month.
800 mins (excluding 01/02/03/08 numbers)
unlimited calls to 01/02/03 numbers
inclusive caller display, inclusive voice mail.
can use the phone anywhere not just in my house, and has better quality call quality.

so yeah with that deal, I hardly use my landline but my mobile is pricy for 0845 and isnt free for 0800.  Plus I think ringback doesnt work on mobiles.

I see now also BT are doing a free offer where for a year 60mins per month free to mobiles, no fee.  So comparing the 2 line rental savers, BT's is about £1 more comes with free caller display (if signed up before 7 dec), weekend calls, 60mins to mobiles.  BT's weekend calls dont include 0845 tho unlike plusnet.

But after analysing the prices it seems BT have covertly got plusnet to a pricing level (along with the 18month contracts) closer to BT retail then people realised, but of course it is more suited to technical users with its static ips and uk support staff which is why I am interested in moving.

I dont like zen's approach to line faults so I am avoiding zen, aaisp is still on my radar but the usage limit although I think is enough for me is a psychological thing where on back of mind know have to keep an eye on it.  BT business for a static ip is a huge price premium and traffic is still shaped on it.