**Update to save starting a new thread**

Just had a message confirming that my current broadband contract will end on May 28th...can finally get rid of Vodafone!!  

Firstly, does that mean I should start the new contract on the 28th or the 29th?  Always seem to get confused with contract end dates.

Secondly...any more up to date recommendations since the ones above?  Looking for ~50Mb & line rental.  No TV or calls needed.  MUST be reliable above all else.  (But I do also like a good price.  )

Plusnet 'Unlimited Fibre Extra' seems to the best option for me at the moment.  66Mb.  £24.99 a month.  No setup fee.  Upgraded '2' router...which appears to be the same as the BT one?

Also considering the various rewards offered from different places.  Plusnet direct offers a £75 Plusnet card (can't work out what you can actually buy with that...just covers a few months DD?)  TopCashback offer around £40 cashback.  USwitch offer a £60 gift card, but tied to Amazon or M&S etc.

We have a new provider in my area "Yes-Fibre" only £17 per month for fibre to the house.

Can definitely recommend Plusnet 👍

If you want, you can use this referral https://www.plus.net/refer.php?strReferralsUid=c7c0d11f20714c28c3afd5c1bb125d3878f5b373e2f3c3dbaccd4f09b9f29f62 I'm not sure if you can use it in conjunction with other offers or not but for the purpose of clarity if you did use it I would receive a discount on my monthly bill of *drumroll* 75p!!! 😀

5 hours ago, unofix said:

We have a new provider in my area "Yes-Fibre" only £17 per month for fibre to the house.

Doesn't seem to be available down south.  Sounds very cheap though, especially if it includes line rental!  Cheapest here is 'Now' at £21 a month. 

Possibly a daft question, but are the cables 'loose' between the house and cabinet or do they have to be dug up for replacement for a fibre to the house upgrade?  

I'm not far from the cabinet, and this estate is only about 20 years old, so I can't see it making much difference for me in all honesty.

3 hours ago, Turvey said:

Can definitely recommend Plusnet 👍

If you want, you can use this referral https://www.plus.net/refer.php?strReferralsUid=c7c0d11f20714c28c3afd5c1bb125d3878f5b373e2f3c3dbaccd4f09b9f29f62 I'm not sure if you can use it in conjunction with other offers or not but for the purpose of clarity if you did use it I would receive a discount on my monthly bill of *drumroll* 75p!!! 😀

Thanks Kev.  Will use your referral if I do go for Plusnet.

Looks like the £75 'reward card' still applies if using a referral. Just cashback sites wouldn't work.  Do you know if the card is useable anywhere, or if it's restricted to Plusnet only?  Can't really understand the T&C's on it!

Looks like you can use it nearly anywhere that displays the MasterCard symbol 👍

 

 

I'll second Plusnet. Been with them for ages and never had any issues - well, not unless you count the wire coming off the telephone pole outside the house, but I can't really blame them for that.

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Doesn't seem to be available down south.  Sounds very cheap though, especially if it includes line rental!  Cheapest here is 'Now' at £21 a month. 

So sorry Tom, I gave you the wrong company name Doh !!

It's called "YouFibre" price is £17 for 50Mbps  or with a phone line (free evening and weekend calls) it's £20.

https://www.youfibre.com/

36 minutes ago, erictcleric said:

I'll second Plusnet. Been with them for ages and never had any issues

I'm just leaving Plusnet after having been with them for over 6 years. They shot themselves in the foot.

I was very happy with them and paying £21.50 per month. Then my 18 month contract ended and I hadn't noticed. So Plusnet thought they'd just increase the price to £36.95 per month. I still never noticed the change in the plusnet bill and so I guess they thought they'd see just how much they could rip me off so stuck the monthly bill up to £42.67 !!!!!!!

Now I did notice that change on my bank statement and when I asked they said it was because my 18 month contract had expired, which was true. I asked why they hadn't asked me to renew or sent me some options they couldn't (or wouldn't) give me an answer.

So long story short I looked around to see what was available and found I could get fibre to the house at 50Mbps (more if I want) for only £17

Moral of the story is two fold. I should check my bank statements more closely, and Plusnet shouldn't try and rip off customers. Now they will get 100% of nothing !

On 2/24/2022 at 9:42 AM, TomsFocus said:

**UPDATE 24/02/2022**

This is weird...it had been fine for the last 3 months.  Then yesterday morning, no internet...tried switching the router off & on again - no change.  Had to do a full router reset as in November to get it back.  Then again this morning, no internet, had to do a full router reset to get it back.  Any idea why that might be?  I'm hoping this isn't going to be a daily occurrence.

Will be glad to see the back of Vodafone when the contract ends, only a few more months to go now.

give VODA 30 days to sort you out, if not resolved you can legally terminate your contract without penalty, notify them of your intention. Look at 6G flogging the nuts off it round here, no idea how it performs.

11 hours ago, unofix said:

So sorry Tom, I gave you the wrong company name Doh !!

It's called "YouFibre" price is £17 for 50Mbps  or with a phone line (free evening and weekend calls) it's £20.

https://www.youfibre.com/

Thanks Dave.  They're also not available in my area though!

 

10 hours ago, unofix said:

I'm just leaving Plusnet after having been with them for over 6 years. They shot themselves in the foot.

I was very happy with them and paying £21.50 per month. Then my 18 month contract ended and I hadn't noticed. So Plusnet thought they'd just increase the price to £36.95 per month. I still never noticed the change in the plusnet bill and so I guess they thought they'd see just how much they could rip me off so stuck the monthly bill up to £42.67 !!!!!!!

Now I did notice that change on my bank statement and when I asked they said it was because my 18 month contract had expired, which was true. I asked why they hadn't asked me to renew or sent me some options they couldn't (or wouldn't) give me an answer.

So long story short I looked around to see what was available and found I could get fibre to the house at 50Mbps (more if I want) for only £17

Moral of the story is two fold. I should check my bank statements more closely, and Plusnet shouldn't try and rip off customers. Now they will get 100% of nothing !

I think this is fairly standard practice nowadays unfortunately.  Just have to accept that we have to keep moving provider at the end of each contract if we want the best price.  As with insurance or breakdown cover etc.  

Plus, the price will increase every March with any provider now (so the quoted monthly figure doesn't cover the whole 18/24 month plan either).

It's bad that they didn't inform you of the price increases though.  Vodafone have at least managed that with me, as have Sky & TalkTalk previously.  I can understand why that experience would make you leave!

Found an clear & simple comparison site called USave - Compare Broadband Deals in May 2022 | usave.co.uk

Plusnet costs - 

Month 1-18	£24.99 p/m
Thereafter	£41.59 p/m

TalkTalk costs - 

Month 1-18	£23.50 p/m
Thereafter	£24.00 p/m

That's a considerable increase after contract with Plusnet!!  Their call charges also seem to be high.

Local	13.5p	13.5p	13.5p
Rest of UK	13.5p	13.5p	13.5p
0845 numbers	9.58p	9.58p	9.58p
0870 numbers	9.58p	9.58p	9.58p

TalkTalk charges appear to be 0...possibly an error?  

Local	0p	0p	0p
Rest of UK	0p	0p	0p
0845 numbers	12.5p	12.5p	12.5p
0870 numbers	12.5p	12.5p	12.5p

 

So still undecided currently.  I don't actually use the phone at all.  I have a couple of elderly relatives that refuse to call a mobile number and my LL mandates a working landline phone at all times so I do have to keep the phone on.  (Although further to that, haven't been able to speak properly for the last 6 months, so haven't even had any incoming calls on it!)  So call costs aren't an issue for me.  And I will be switching again when the contract ends, so price rises also not an issue for me.  Only reason I don't really want to go with TalkTalk again is the router (was with them from 2018-2020)...the stand on it is poor and it was easily knocked over.  Happy to try Plusnet with the BT style router, near identical costs/rewards and BB speeds for 18 months...just hope I don't end up regretting that.

I keep my landline for emergencies, if i get into trouble at home and i contact the emergency services via my mobile but dont complete the call for whatever reason they dont know where i am, as opposed to the landline which does sometimes you can hear it in the background relaying your details to the operator.