Options for Domestic Wired Networking / Broadband

[Deleted member 473]

If you post your number here we can see what we can do about that.

 

[Black Hole]

 

[trog]

If you post your number here we can see what we can do about that.

Your post has been forwarded to Scotland Yards serious crimes department and you will be contacted in due course, do not attempt to leave the country until you are given clearance to.

 

[Deleted member 473]

With 7 hour queues at Heathrow, I am not preparing to leave the country soon.

Where are all these people going to, and why?

 

[Black Hole]

I'm with BT

Coo, rich then.

It was a decent package with mobile included, but I am looking around. Not many offer all three without TV.

Right, so tell me whether I'm on the wrong track here:

Phone line, evening and weekend calls, broadband (copper) with 10GB cap (suspended), mobile with 1,000 minutes and 4GB data included, and email address, comes in at £43.49 (going up a bit end of the month). Looking around, that doesn't seem excessive. I could ditch the inclusive landline calls (a bit of a trade-off, bearing in mind my mobile signal is lousy here, but might save a little as my circumstances have changed [J]), and reduce my mobile minutes [J].

 

[Deleted member 473]

I now pay £7 a month for unlimited fibre 40Mbps. I then pay the line rental separately, but I believe the bundled price is £23. Less for non-fibre, £19. There are several call plans, evening and weekend about £3, anytime £6. (Plusnet)

You can keep your bt email address if you move. I haven't been with them for ages and just let mine lapse, but could have kept it.

There are also bundled mobile offers, but mine would use the EE network, and I found that patchy here, so opted for a Tesco SIM. I pay £10 for 5000 minutes, 5000 texts and 12Gb data. It is actually £9 because Mrs Scrat has the same deal. Tesco uses the O2 network. 6Gb a month costs £6. They don't do 4Gb. Bundling with my ISP would give 5Gb for £6. Unlimited minutes and texts. You can keep your mobile number.

I make that around £28 a month for you.

Have you looked at uswitch?

 

[MartinLiddle]

Phone line, evening and weekend calls, broadband (copper) with 10GB cap (suspended), mobile with 1,000 minutes and 4GB data included, and email address, comes in at £43.49 (going up a bit end of the month). Looking around, that doesn't seem excessive.

Given the limits, it doesn't sound cheap to me. I am paying £25.87 a month for 80/20Mb/s FTTP broadband with no limits; I ditched the landline (so no line rental) and use VOIP on a PAYG basis which comes out at about £3 a month and £6 a month for mobile with 4GB data and unlimited calls and texts. This is all with Plusnet and on the rare occasions I have had to use their technical support I have found them friendly, knowledgeable and on occasions prepared to go the extra mile to help.

 

[Deleted member 473]

And the strange thing, is Plusnet is a BT subsidiary.

FTTP may not be an option for most of us. Coverage may reach 50% of homes by the end of 2025.

 

[peterworks]

and use VOIP on a PAYG basis

Is this with PlusNet? If not, may I ask with whom?

 

[Deleted member 473]

Is this with PlusNet? If not, may I ask with whom?

Plusnet don't do VoIP do they? You use a separate provider.

 

[prpr]

I use discountvoip.co.uk (0.5p/min landline; 0.3p/min most mobiles; +VAT) with a Gigaset SIP-capable phone, or an iDevice with their app.
PlusNet's standard calls charges are just pure extortion. I only use them for weekend calls (free legacy thing), PlusNet-PlusNet calls, or 0800 type stuff.

 

[Black Hole]

You can keep your bt email address if you move

Yes, but they charge for it if you're not a customer. That adds to the overall "bundle" cost (assuming I wanted to keep it - and I do, certainly for the time being).

TalkTalk charges £5 a month and BT charges £7.50 a month if customers switch providers but want to keep using their email addresses as before.

BT says people can keep their email addresses for free using a basic service that's only accessible via a browser, but that customers who want to maintain their normal email service, they have to pay £7.50 per month.

EE

I absolutely refuse to go with EE. I don't care that Kevin Bacon advertises them.

Have you looked at uswitch?

Ugh!

I want to know what the long-term price is, not just the headline introductory offer.

OK, so Plusnet want £25 for broadband+line+evening&weekend, then if I had mobile from them as well (what network though?) that would be £6 for 5GB... plus £7.50 to keep my email address would make £38.50. From what I can make out, my BT monthly bill after the price increase will be about £45.46, so switching to Plusnet saves about £84PA (not huge, but something).

Migrate my email would save another £90PA (after switching, zero if still with BT). I have thought about that before, but came to no conclusion where to switch my email to. A personal address I could then "park" with any service at will would be good, but I'm not sure that exists. Running my own server would be prohibitive. I would willingly pay a small "rent" for a superior service, but have no idea where to go, and the problem of all such services is longevity (at least we can expect BT to be around for a long time).

Given the limits, it doesn't sound cheap to me. I am paying £25.87 a month for 80/20Mb/s FTTP broadband with no limits; I ditched the landline (so no line rental) and use VOIP on a PAYG basis which comes out at about £3 a month and £6 a month for mobile with 4GB data and unlimited calls and texts. This is all with Plusnet and on the rare occasions I have had to use their technical support I have found them friendly, knowledgeable and on occasions prepared to go the extra mile to help.

That wouldn't work for me, no fibre option therefore can't ditch the landline.

BTW: my data rate has fallen back to 5.2Mbps now.

 

[Deleted member 473]

Yes, but they charge for it if you're not a customer. That adds to the overall "bundle" cost (assuming I wanted to keep it - and I do, certainly for the time being).

I have a gmail address now, free, as I knew locking into an ISP would be a bad idea. For a while, I kept a domain and redirected via that, but the domain cost increased extortionately do I let it lapse.

I absolutely refuse to go with EE. I don't care that Kevin Bacon advertises them.

Plusnet mobile uses the EE network.

I want to know what the long-term price is, not just the headline introductory offer.

This is what you will pay long term, in my experience. They are always having offers, so things get cheaper.

OK, so Plusnet want £25 for broadband+line+evening&weekend,

£22

thenenenen if I had mobile from them as well (what network though?)

EE

that would be £6 for 5GB... plus £7.50 to keep my email address would make £38.50.

That is extortionate, £7.50? Bet they secretly use a free gmail account. Ditch that!

From what I can make out, my BT monthly bill after the price increase will be about £45.46, so switching to Plusnet saves about £84PA (not huge, but something).

Go with Tesco for mobile, they are good. Provided you have a decent O2 coverage.

Migrate my email would save another £90PA (after switching, zero if still with BT). I have thought about that before, but came to no conclusion where to switch my email to. A personal address I could then "park" with any service at will would be good, but I'm not sure that exists.

Gmail allows redirection if that is what you mean. But emails are web based these days, not tied to an ISP. Most email programs will configure automatically.

Running my own server would be prohibitive.

Why would you even need to?

I would willingly pay a small "rent" for a superior service, but have no idea where to go, and the problem of all such services is longevity (at least we can expect BT to be around for a long time).

That wouldn't work for me, no fibre option therefore can't ditch the landline.

I agree.

BTW: my data rate has fallen back to 5.2Mbps now.

 

[Deleted member 473]

Haggle with BT

Haggle with BT and you could save £100s. Read our 12 tips on how to negotiate a better deal as an existing customer

www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

[Deleted member 473]

BT Email products | Types of BT Emails | BT Help

Find out about the three types of BT email products: Basic, Standard and Premium email have different features. Access your email through My BT.

www.bt.com

Go basic? This seems to say that is free.

 

[MartinLiddle]

Is this with PlusNet? If not, may I ask with whom?

Sorry, I should have said I am using Sipgate for VOIP NB I didn't do an extensive study of the market and their may be better options. They have an interesting offer where you can switch back an forth on a month by month basis from PAYG to a single £10 monthly payment which covers unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles. This fits my needs very well as there is one month a year when a lot of phone calls to mobiles are made. Service has been good with no interruptions I have noticed and the only problem I had was when I could no longer contact one specific number after the owner of the number switched broadband/phone provider; an email to their technical support got a reasonably quick response saying it was a routing problem and they had put a fix in place.

 

[MartinLiddle]

I would willingly pay a small "rent" for a superior service, but have no idea where to go, and the problem of all such services is longevity (at least we can expect BT to be around for a long time).

Various suppliers do it; a quick google finds for instance https://www.uk2.net/email-hosting/ 0.50p per month (or £1 for the professional service) plus the annual cost of whatever domain you choose.

 

[Black Hole]

Haggle with BT

Haggle with BT and you could save £100s. Read our 12 tips on how to negotiate a better deal as an existing customer

www.moneysavingexpert.com

I have phone number to ring for a "personal offer", so I will see what they're offering.

Go basic? This seems to say that is free.

That's worth considering to make it a fall-back account while switching all email transactions across to a new address... but still with the problem of deciding where to go.

Why would you even need to?

For total control over my email instead of ceding it to the likes of Google.

Bet they secretly use a free gmail account.

No, of course not.

Plusnet mobile uses the EE network.

That wouldn't bother me, it's dealing with EE I don't want to do.

 

[Black Hole]

£22

I don't know where you're getting that from:

 

[Deleted member 473]

I don't know where you're getting that from:

View attachment 5398

Our Cheapest Broadband, Phone & Internet Deals | Plusnet

Discover our cheapest and reliable broadband, phone & internet deals. Line rental and Wi-Fi router included with award-winning customer service 7 days a week.

www.plus.net

The call plans, I may have got those wrong. There are several different packages, costing £3, £5 and £9, but mobiles and evening/weekend appears to be £5, true. I am on the £3 mobiles only one.