ISP PlusNet Tweaks UK Fibre Broadband Prices and Cuts Upload Speed

New customers who sign-up to PlusNet’s superfast broadband (FTTC) capable packages should note that the operator has reduced some of their standard prices for the first 6 months of service and, much more strangely, dropped the upload speed of their “Unlimited Fibre” option from 19.5Mbps to just 2Mbps.

In terms of price PlusNet’s unlimited “fibre broadband” packages have introduced a new discount for the first 6 months of service, although the baseline cost after this period hasn’t changed. As usual you will also need to take their Phone Line Rental to get the best deal, which costs from the equivalent of £12.99 per month when pre-paid in advance for a year or £15.95 if you prefer a standard monthly charge.

Unlimited Fibre
* Download speeds of up to 38Mbps
* Upload speeds of up to 2Mbps
* Truly unlimited usage
* Free wireless router
* Free activation
* McAfee powered internet security
* FREE UK Evening and Weekend Calls (inc. 0870/0845 calls)
* 18 month contract

PRICE: £5 per month for the first 6 months (£14.99 thereafter) + line rental

NOTE: If you live in a more remote part of the UK where BT is the only primary ISP then the price becomes £12.50 for the first 6 months (£22.49 thereafter).

Unlimited Fibre Extra
* Download speeds of up to 76Mbps
* Upload speeds of up to 19.5Mbps
* Truly unlimited usage
* Free wireless router
* Free activation
* McAfee powered internet security
* FREE UK Evening and Weekend Calls (inc. 0870/0845 calls)
* 18 month contract

PRICE: £10 per month for the first 6 months (£19.99 thereafter) + line rental

NOTE: If you live in a more remote part of the UK where BT is the only primary ISP then the price becomes £17.50 for the first 6 months (£27.49 thereafter).

Elsewhere PlusNet’s standard up to 17Mbps unlimited broadband (ADSL) bundle is currently being sold at £2.50 per month for the first 12 months of service (£9.99 per month thereafter), which is by now a fairly normal price level for the ISP.

But clearly the most unusual change this week has been PlusNet’s decision to nerf the upload speeds of their “Unlimited Fibre” package from 19.5Mbps to just 2Mbps (so far this is only for new customers). As a quick history lesson it’s worth remembering that this package originally started at 2Mbps, before being increased to 10Mbps and then surprising onlookers by adopting the 20Mbps profile.

Most broadband ISPs tend to only offer the 2Mbps or 10Mbps upload options on ‘up to’ 38Mbps FTTC packages because they’re cheaper at the wholesale level (there’s an annual cost difference of just £6 +vat between those two levels).

By comparison few providers have adopted the 20Mbps upload profile on a 40Mbps (38Mbps) downstream product since this is normally intended for FTTC services with a top download speed of 80Mbps (76Mbps) and thus costs £30.6 +vat more per year at wholesale when compared with the 10Mbps upload profile.

Admittedly PlusNet’s decision to pick an upload profile of 20Mbps has always been at odds with their low cost focus, yet nobody is entirely sure why they didn’t reduce the profile to 10Mbps instead of suddenly dropping all the way down to 2Mbps. Credits to Phil for informing us of this development.