ISP Plusnet Scraps Pre-Paid UK Line Rental Saver Discount
Existing customers of UK ISP Plusnet’s home broadband and phone service will be displeased, if perhaps not all that surprised, to learn that the provider has finally scrapped their long-running Line Rental Saver (LRS) discount (i.e. pay for 12 months in advance to save c.£30).
Giving customers a discount for pre-paid Line Rental was once quite a popular thing to do, although the rising focus on “full fibre” (FTTP) services (i.e. separate line rental charges are irrelevant), as well as the advent of standalone copper broadband products (e.g. SOGEA) and the Advertising Standards Authority‘s decision in 2016 (here) that forced ISPs into combining the cost of line rental with broadband, has made it less relevant.
As such it came as no great surprise when Plusnet stopped offering LRS to new customers last April 2020 (here), but at the time they opted to retain the discount for existing customers. Nevertheless, the writing was clearly on the wall. Suffice to say that, as spotted by MSE, the ISP has now stopped offering LRS to existing customers whose minimum contract term ends after 22nd February 2021 (i.e. no more extensions once an existing LRS discount ends).
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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It was just money for nothing for them. When I renegotiated my sky deal in December they offered to reduce my FTTC internet to £18 a month on the 70Mb speed (I get around 65mb) because we were struggling with the lockdown and I was going to move supplier when the current contract was up – that’s less than telephone line rental and includes the house phone
Nice price, I presume you have a nice sky tv package to help subsidise the cost of that?
I don’t think that the rise of FTTP had anything to do with the change – Plusnet don’t offer FTTP, so all their customers need a phone line. I think it was more to do with the fact that Plusnet’s new billing system couldn’t cope with LRS – leading to all sorts of billing problems.
Cutting discount for loyal customers that’ll do
Hopefully this doesn’t happen to BT too. I’m on their LRS, it makes it at least tolerable unlike their monthly prices.
Increase prices, that’ll do.
“That’ll do” 😛
I do have LRS with PN but there still billing issues with LRS. That’s probably the reason PN get rid of it.
About time Plusnet itself was scrapped – They’re atrocious, they even make TalkTalk look good!
Greedy money grabbing capitalists.
Goodbuy to Plusnet then.
Hello to the competition.
Plusnet seem to get slated left, right and centre but I have been really happy with them for about 14 years now. Only ever had a couple of issues over that time and both were line issues that Openreach fixed, so nothing to do with Plusnet. I do work in IT and use my own equipment so maybe that helps.
I used to do the LRS but last time my contract was up I managed to get a deal that effectively gave me broadband, line rental and evening and weekend phone calls for £10.03 a month (after £50 reward card). I just wish they would start offering FTTP as an option.