UPDATE ISP Origin Broadband Cuts Internet and Phone Bundle Prices

South Yorkshire ISP Origin Broadband claims to have lowered the prices across their “entire range” of residential broadband and phone packages, including their superfast “fibre broadband” (FTTC) deals. Now if they could only be clearer about the public pricing of it all.

Customers who adopt any of their bundles are also required to take the ISPs own Phone Line Rental, which has a standard price of £16.40 per month. But Origin also does some extremely cheap pre-paid line rental deals too, with their 12 month Super Saver 1 Year option reducing the equivalent monthly cost to just £9.17 per month (£109.99 total) and their 24 month Super Saver 2 Year cutting it again to just £8.33 per month (£199.99 total). Otherwise the bundles are as follows.

It’s important to note that Super Saver line rental is just a bog standard service, which does not provide inclusive calls as standard (these can be purchased separately at extra cost).

Origin Broadband & Phone
* Download Speed up to 17Mbps
* Totally Unlimited Data Usage
* Free Wireless Router
* Yorkshire Support 24/7
* 12 Month Contract

PRICE: Free for the first 12 Months (£9.99 per month thereafter) + Line Rental

Origin Broadband Fibre & Phone
* Download Speed up to 38Mbps
* Totally Unlimited Data Usage
* Free Wireless Router
* Yorkshire Support 24/7
* 18 Month Contract

PRICE: Free for the first 6 months (£14.99 per month thereafter) + Line Rental

Origin Broadband Max & Phone
* Download Speed up to 76Mbps
* Totally Unlimited Data Usage
* Free Wireless Router
* Yorkshire Support 24/7
* 18 Month Contract

PRICE: Free for the first 3 months (£18.49 per month thereafter) + Line Rental

According to Origin Broadband’s MD, Oliver Bryssau, “It’s great to be in a position to lower our prices so significantly and let our customers feel the benefits of getting their service direct from a network operator. These latest price changes will save our customers a significant amount of money, while showing there really is a viable alternative to the ‘Big Six’ ISPs.”

But one confusion that did strike our eyes was how Origin could make any money on the first package when combined with their Super Saver 1 Year or 2 Year line rental deals. The legal terms on the Super Saver package state that both of the promoted line rental discounts are “available to new and existing Origin Broadband residential customers“, so we decided to check.

At this point we ran through the order process several times, acting as a customer in need of a NEW line. But the only broadband package we could order was called ‘Origin Broadband’ and it didn’t correspond to any of the offers we saw on their website, costing £6.49 per month with the first 3 months of service being free. On top of that the cheap pre-paid line rental offers suddenly became Dual Super Saver 1 Year at £155.88 per year and Dual Super Saver 2 Year at £273.77 for two years (somewhat more expensive than claimed).

We also ran through with a Doncaster phone number and eventually did get the first free broadband package offer, yet the “Dual” line rental saver prices were still the only ones available. On top of that the free broadband deal did NOT include a free wireless router as seemingly claimed, in fact the “Standard Wireless Router” was priced at £9.99 on their order page (Note to Origin: You need to state these things on the package details).

It’s likely that the limited package choice reflected the postcodes and phone numbers we tried for testing, although we did test with two in South Yorkshire and the above is what we got. We have asked Origin to clarify and won’t be updating our listed prices until we have the full details. Clearly Origin need to work on their public information and messaging as at present it’s all very confusing for consumers.

UPDATE 4th March 2015

Origin have responded to clarify a few points about their “Super Saver” line rental offers. Essentially the regular Super Saver discount is sold on the condition that it cannot be taken out in conjunction with any other special offer, such as the X months free broadband promotion.

In other words the ISPs ADSL broadband package is available for free “indefinitely”, but only providing that it is purchased alongside either standard line rental or the higher priced Dual Super Saver.

Origin agrees that the above could be a bit confusing, not least because you only find out how much the “Dual” options cost when going through their order process, and thus they plan to update the website accordingly tonight.