UK ISP Plusnet Start Offering 900Mbps FTTP Broadband at £49.99
Budget UK broadband ISP Plusnet, which until now has only tended to promote Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based packages with speeds of up to 500Mbps on Openreach’s network, appears as if it will finally start offering their top 900Mbps tier to new customers today – starting at £49.99 per month on a 24-month term.
Just to be clear. Plusnet has technically had a 900Mbps tier since they formally launched their FTTP packages last year, although this wasn’t listed via their availability checker for new customers and mostly seemed to be adopted by a few of their existing subscribers. But that just changed after the provider’s latest product update included mention of their 900Mbps tier for the first time.
All of these come with the usual array of unlimited usage, an included wireless router (Hub Two), free setup and a 24-month minimum contract term. Some of these could previously only be taken on an 18-month term.
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The latest promotional prices will be available to take until 12th April 2023.
PlusNet’s Latest Package Discounts
Unlimited Broadband and Phone (ADSL)
PRICE: £25.99 per month for 24-months (£41.10 thereafter)Unlimited Fibre and Phone (FTTC 38Mbps)
PRICE: £24.99 per month for 24-months (£47.76 thereafter)Unlimited Fibre Extra and Phone (FTTC 60-70Mbps)
PRICE: £26.99 per month for 24-months (£54.39 thereafter)Full Fibre 500Mbps
PRICE: £38.99 per month for 24-months (£53.77 thereafter)Full Fibre 900Mbps
PRICE: £49.99 per month for 24-months (£62.92 thereafter)
The above list only reflects the latest round of promotions and not Plusnet’s full list of packages, which also includes a 145Mbps tier. Take note that there are also full fibre variants of the ‘Unlimited Fibre‘ (FTTC) tiers too, which have lower post-contract prices. As we say, this is the first time we’ve seen them list 900Mbps in such an update.
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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And people willing sign up for 24 month contracts that’ll expose them to two rounds of CPI+3.9% price rises? Rip off Britain is alive and well, because the people want to be ripped off it would seem.
Nothing much we the little people can do just look at the energy companies making a killing on the backs of us!
We put politicians in power to look after us, but they can be “bought” by powerful company CEOs etc. And the shafting begins, nobody can avoid.
I, for one, won’t sign up for a 24-month contract. It was bad enough with 24 months contract for FTTP and now they are doing it for FTTC.
I will have to have a look at what they are offering me now, maybe the 24 month is only for new customers.
Perhaps investigate the smaller ISP on this site’s top 10 list? I’m with Aquiss, twelve month fixed term, fixed price offer. If you want something that feels more like a big company offer (why?) then Zen offer 18 month fixed price deals.
@Andrew G, thanks for that, but Aquiss is a bit expensive at £43, Even Plusnet 12 month is cheaper than that and if I am going to pay that then I may as well go with Zzoomm FTTP.
Thanks anyway
Had to move house recently – Cityfibre enabled area.
Recontracted with Zen – 24 months fixed price £40 a month for 900 MBPS tier.
NO RPI Rubbish – Cant complain!
Doest seem much of a deal when alot of altnets do that speed from £30 pm.
The only options that matter are those available to each specific home.
Still no phone on FTTP products? What are they playing at??
If you want a phone, you go elsewhere, a lot of people don’t bother with home phones now.
@FFF: Transfer your landline number to a VOIP provider. Plenty of choice of provider. If you want easy to setup and inclusive call allowances, then Vonage may fit the bill, if you simply want to keep a little used landline for occasional calls, and are happy to set up a VOIP adaptor yourself then Andrews & Arnold fits the bills, costing less than two quid a month for line rental. I took the A&A option, and including the few calls we make on it usually less than a fiver a month.
Just had a look, they have put a 24-month contract up on the offers for around £25.99 and put the 18 and 12 months both to £28.99
It makes me wonder if they want to keep customers or they are doing it to push people to FTTP. but even the prices on that is not great. 36Mb/s FTTP is £26.99 and so is their 74Mb/s FTTP. 146Mb/s is £36.99 and LOL, 300Mb/s is £32.99, so that is cheaper than the lower speed ones.
I know these are offers aimed at getting me to sign up again and no doubt trying to get me to go for FTTP, but what it does is make me than likely to go to a different provider.
Now broadband is £24 for a 12 month FTTC connection, and if I wanted FTTP then I would go for Zzoomm, £19 for the first 3 months and then £29.95 a month for 150Mb/s both ways
Every day you come out with the same crap – Just go with Zooom and shut up already!
The Openreach discounts incentivise providers to switch customers to FTTP where available.
FTTP (at least Openreach’s…) is also much more reliable so you are less likely to call Plusnet support. And of course being able to more easily upsell later on.
Only downsides are installation (not an ISP cost but understandably many customers don’t like it) and landline issues. The first one could be improved if Openreach removed the copper.
@Hugo. why don’t you go away and that is being nice.
I don’t want FTTP.
@Alex A, I know that they will try to push people to FTTP, no doubt being egged on by Openreach, I just wonder if I would get the same offers for FTTC if I did not live in a FTTP area?
who says that Openreach FTTP is more reliable than Altnets? Looking at plusnet forums and other forums, I see just as many people having problems with Openreach FTTp as with my local Alt net.
Reliability wise for me FTTC have been fine apart from that time when it did have problems, but these things happen now and again.
Installation is one of the problems I have, I don’t want to spend time at home when I am not working and then find out they cancelled the installation. Also it is just hassle having someone running around the house
@Ad47uk Should have clarified, I was saying that Openreach FTTP is more reliable than FTTC. Zzoomm is one of the good altnets and I don’t doubt its reliability, there are other altnets (Grain come to mind, they were feeding cabinets with a 1gbps leased line…) where their network is definitely built to a price.
My experience with FTTC (I’m now with Virgin with no issues, previously TalkTalk) was alright though it had issues. I’m fortunate in that the line is 1990s copper and I’m reasonably close to the FTTC cabinet. While it was fine most of the time I’d still occasionally have problems.
As for installation I’ve (and my friends/family) had no issues with Virgin and Openreach installers. Importantly be realistic, officially Openreach will do up to 10m internal on a basic install and it will be to the nearest power socket but most installers will be happy enough to put it in a reasonable spot. However they won’t run it across your house unless there is ducting. Installations from what I’ve seen in person are to a good quality with the bad ones being rare.
Of course they want to encourage people onto FTTP. Copper is becoming obsolete, FTTP is faster and more reliable, and gives ISPs more options for upselling to faster packages later down the line. They’ve spent a lot of money on the infrastructure so they’re going to want customers to use it.
@Alex A says:
I hear about this FTTP is more reliable and in theory it should be, but looking around the net I do see people who have problems with it, but then maybve that is because people post more when they are having problems than if they are not. But still seems to be a fair few.
I only had one real issue with FTTC and while it could not be sorted at the time, we worked around it by using a Huawei modem, in fact the same modem I am using now. don; seem to be getting some congestion lately for some reason, but Fibre would not stop that.
I hear a lot of bad things about Virgin, I presume you are on their own network? It is funny years ago when I was on ADSL I would have loved Virgin or what ever it was at the time to come here, I would have gone to it very quickly.
when Zzoomm first started to build here, I was interested in it, I even chatted to one of the blokes to see how long it would be before they came up here he said 6 months, but it took longer than that, which is why I took another 18 months contract from Plusnet. So yes, It was in my mind to change. But over the 18 months I have had time to think and looking at what I use the net for, that thinking is that I really have no real need to go for Fibre.
Installation would be a problem in that I only have a limited amount of time that I am here, with work and stuff.
@Chris W
I did wonder about this upselling and if people are going to get harassed by providers trying to sell them something faster once Fibre is in place.
Some providers will stick to the preferences set for marketing, like Plusnet have not bothered me since I changed them to leaven me alone and even before that it was only now and again, mainly for their mobile service or their sports app.
@Ad47uk
From the many I know on FTTP there have been 2 with issues. One was contention which Openreach fixed by moving them to a different PON, the other was a database issue which was preventing order. The first one they still had internet around 100mbps and the second was the fault of the new build developer. There are occasional issues with Openreach FTTP but they are rare.
FTTC is P2P to the cabinet so the congestion will either be your ISP’s backhaul/it’s connection to Openreach (unlikely as its BTWholesale) which FTTP will not fix or the dual 10gbps connection to the cabinet is getting full (it would only take 52mbps on a 384 cabinet) which FTTP will fix.
I am on the Virgin network, others have issues though I haven’t had any apart from the recent network wide outage. Virgin really depends on who originally built the cable network in your area and how contented your area is. It’s also held back by Liberty Global’s peering policy though overall its pretty good.
‘I hear about this FTTP is more reliable and in theory it should be, but looking around the net I do see people who have problems with it, but then maybve that is because people post more when they are having problems than if they are not. But still seems to be a fair few.’
It’s new to many so the bell curve of failures is at the install end, you’re looking for issues to justify your opposition to it, it gets blamed for issues nothing to do with the fibre, take your pick. It’s much more reliable than any copper service whether FTTC or ADSL, fact. Some networks are intrinsically less reliable than others but that’s not the fault of FTTP, it’s how they were built.
I’m not sure how many more times it needs to be said that your experience and your local area aren’t the definitive guide to the entire world. Telcos with millions of connections report that the FTTP is more reliable than the copper, reducing maintenance and truck rolls, service calls, substantially.
Neither the experience of AD47uk or what they come across online really matters when the people who have run big copper and then fibre networks have solid numbers for reliability across millions of installed customers.
If you don’t want it don’t buy it. If you don’t like the contract terms of an ISP go with someone else.
‘or the dual 10gbps connection to the cabinet is getting full’
FTTC cabinets don’t have dual or any 10 Gbps connections: they start with a single gigabit connection with more added as required and not many more are ever required.
The subtended FTTP OLTs definitely do have 10 Gbps backhaul but those are I believe the only Openreach broadband kit that does.
‘it would only take 52mbps on a 384 cabinet’
Isn’t happening. The number is more like 3 or 4 Mbps per customer at peak times with customer numbers per cabinet dropping as FTTP build continues, burst bandwidth demand increases beyond FTTC capabilities and people move.
@Alex A
I kind of know how FTTC work., well as much as I need to know anyway.
Talk Talk still seem to have a database issue with FTTP, they still come up with just the two FTTC packages. someone I know had a look a couple of days ago.
One of my brothers is on BT FTTP and it seems ok to them apart from the muck up when installing and the attitude of the installer. I do chat to some people that don’t live here that are on FTTP, one of them is with EE and they have had a load of problems, mainly with the ONT, last time I spoke to them they said they are going back to FTTC when the contract is up.
But most of what I hear is online in different forums and news sites.
The congestion seems to be early evening, it seems to be like what we used to have years ago when the net slowed down and people said it was the U.S waking up 🙂 streaming still works fine, it is sometimes some websites take a while to pop up. I thought maybe it was my VPN, but disabling it made no difference.
I don’t know what a peering policy is, but it doesn’t sound good.
@Reality Bytes
You say it is new to many, but why should that make a difference? To the consumer it is not much different than having FTTC, they have a router, OK so they have a second box on the wall, but since many consumers don’t even touch the router, they will have less need to touch the ONT.
The tech is not new, and many parts of the world and the U.K for that matter have had fibre for years.
I have never said that my experience and my local area aren’t the definitive guide to the entire world.Just going by what I hear and see.
You say if I don’t want it or don’t like the contract terms go with another provider, the problem is the choice is pretty limited when you want a 12-month contract and a lowish price. I think there are about 3 out there that offers 12 months for under £25 a month.
@Ad47uk I assumed you had a good knowledge already of FTTC sorry if I over explained it 🙂
TalkTalk might be having a database issue, check your neighbours address. I’ve found database issues more with their Cityfibre offering than Openreach.
Installer issues can happen, always remember that the bad stories have two sides. If your area is a two stage install (you can check on the BTWholesale checker) then consider Sky as often they have Openreach do the outside cable run (stage 1) and their own installers do stage 2 who can do more than the basic Openreach install. I haven’t heard of any issues with ONTs, might just be bad luck. Check with your neighbours if they are having any problems as they will be on the same PON as you.
I suspect the congestion is from the cabinet to the exchange, if its only a gigabit uplink then it won’t take a lot to get congested at peak times.
Peering is how different ISPs connect to each other. If the data being sent and received is pretty equal then both ISPs cover their own costs, if it very unbalanced then one ISP pays the other some of the cost. Some ISPs will freely peer with each other (typically smaller ones) while others can be very restrictive unless they are paid. Better peering means a better connection to the wider internet.
@Reality Bytes thanks for the correction, looking online most are 1 or 2 gigabit connections though some of the later bigger ones are singular 10 gig.
@Alex A
No problem about over explaining FTTC,
I checked a few addresses for Talk Talk and according to them, we don’t have Openreach fibre in this city 🙂 I did not check for me, I checked for someone who is thinking of changing to FTTP and is already on Talk Talk. I thought they would have got it sorted by now since where I checked they have had Openreach fibre since at least late last year
The installation is a one stage set up, it is only bringing the fibre from the pole to here, I could chuck a stone at the pole and hit it from my computer room window if I wanted too, that is how close it is, just two doors up.
I still have memories when openreach installed ADSL here, took flipping ages to get it working for some reason. That was a strange day.l I had my Nephew here at the time and this bloke was mucking around trying to get ADSL working for over an hour, then I said to my nephew oh well I will have to stick with 56K and the bloke said, yes, that is it, ok it is working now. so I don’t know if it was me saying 56K that triggered something in his brain, or it was coincidence.
Thankfully FTTC was not too bad, apart from having no broadband for a few hours due to Plus net being slow to activate it.
I did notice yesterday that the top of the connection box in the hallway have been knocked off, the screw is broken and wires are poking out, I will have to put some glue or tape on it. I think it may have got damaged when I had my settee delivered, but never noticed it before.
The only neighbour I really talk to with FTTP is a couple doors down and they have Zzoomm. I did chat to them a few weeks ago and asked them how their broad is going, they say it is great and is a godsend when their daughter is using it as she doesn’t take up all the bandwidth, they went for the 500Mb/s. My next door neighbour who is between us, has BT Fibre, I know it is BT fibre, because She had BT before and I can pick up the Wi-fi from her router on my phone
Anyway, I don’t really speak to her that much, the other person down the road I don’t know. I tend to keep myself to myself, only chatting to a couple of people up here, less hassle.
The congestion is strange, as I said it doesn’t affect streaming, just some sites seems to take ages to respond, which is very strange.
Cheers for the explanation about Peering.
To be honest I really don’t know what to do, I know the advantages of FTTP and it is something I have been waiting to happen around here for years and now it is here I just don’t have the initiative to be bothered to have it installed.
Cheaper than BT but a quick check shows EE are offering me their 900M tier for £48.50 as I have an EE mobile or £54 otherwise.
The EE one also seems to come with extras that may or may not be of benefit to people on top too.
So for a lot of people the “budget” BT brand is more expensive than their premium brand.
The “BT” brand is aimed at people who’ve always had a telephone from BT, still believe they are the only people who legitimately supply telecoms, and are getting a better service by paying more.
My fibre contract expires next month a quick check for fibre 900 shows
BT £74
EE (powered by BT) £48.50
Plusnet £49.99
Zen £55 (worst ISP I’ve ever had)
Vodafone £46
Sky £58
VM £30 then £50 after 6 months (RFoG)
So yep why would I go with BT?!
BT is cheaper for the Full Fibre 500 product – I was looking at Plusnet (as ideally I wanted a static IP address) but their price of £38.99 is signifcantly more than BT who only charge £30.99.
Anon, I just signed up with VM who are giving me 360mbps download and doubling my mobile SIM data for 23.65 p/m I used Martin Lewis’s website and then found out you can add volt to it after the fact!
@Anon, I’ve just cancelled my Virgin Media contract as they want £52 for 500/36 because I’m not a new customer (going into my 4th year).
I’ve ended up signing up with a smaller OpenReach ISP for 900/115 product at a fixed price of £55 pm.
They’ve been good so far, and I think I can now forget about annual haggling for broadband pricing for a good long time. Peace of mind.
Far too expensive but then a very niche product.
Hopefully in a few years when the need for this grows the price will be one more realistic.
I remember paying £39.99 a month for my first ADSL line in 2001 giving me 512Mb/s which was amazing over my 56k dial-up.
In today’s money that is just under £70 and I don’t even pay that for my 1Gbs and so I would say it is nailed on that relatively, prices will fall for this sort of speed as it becomes more ubiquitous.
Price wise compared to what Internet used to be FTTP is not bad, I paid £40 in 2000 for a 512Kb/s ADSL service. People can go for a slower speed cheaper FTTP which is more or less the same price as FTTc, but then they may think what is the point.
What will put a lot of people off is the silly long contracts that we are of a sudden getting again, I thought we have passed the 24 month thing
Are PN the most expensive provider now? Goodness me! 2 years contract – no one willing sign up for this!
They aren’t, no. See if anyone who does sign up for the 24 month contract sees it out with Plusnet or ends up with EE.
They won’t be with PN by the winter of 2023 I can tell you that
Here is screenshot. PN are disgrace (18 months contract are very expensive for FTTC 38/74)
https://i.ibb.co/q7zRHPL/PN.png
RIP Plusnet. BT have officially killed off the last remaining reason to choose Plusnet no one in their right mind would sign up to 2 years. It’s a stupid move to kill off Plusnet.
I just renewed with plusnet today for £23.99 / 18 months fttc 38/9 which in reality is 20/0.5Mbps. Can’t wait for the day fttp arrives at some point in the future.
“PRICE: £49.99 per month for 24-months (£62.92 thereafter)”
Last time I sold someone FTTP it was £55 a month after the 24 month discount. And that was Yesterday. Of course many will haggle so thee really mean nothing.
Apart from them wanting PN to be cheaper than BT so they can both be gobbled up by EE – in July I believe.
Your info is incorrect Hugo
PN are finished soon. No one will not bothered to join them anymore. Not with these bloody 24 months contract!
Lucky for me to have 5G hub in the loft with download speed of 450 to 550Meg and only paying £12 a month on smarty social tariff for unlimited 5G data. (no contract as well)
I get 1gb from Virgin for £24 a month and despite the vocal minority who have issues with them I’ve had two issues in the last 14 months
Do you have hybrid cable, or the newer FTTP ?
VM is very unreliable and not true full fibre. They using copper!
Unreliable for some apparently but I’ve had no major issues, two in past 14 months is certainly not unreliable, don’t really care what technology they’re using, I get 1120Mbls down and 55Mbps upload for £24 a month, I know people paying that for 150Mbps
@VirginDoesntSuckForMe – why dont you link to a broadband quality monitor for your line and leave us to make our own minds up if its as good as you say.
Can we please make this a @Ad47uk free zone.
Why doesn’t he just make a decision and go for Now Broadband and be done with it, the crap he comes out with every day about 24 month contracts and all the other stuff is driving most of us crazy.
Perhaps Virgin customers have lower expectations but I would say 2 outages in 14 months isn’t great at all personally.
Openreach contracts for FTTP 1 year or less, yet all the Service Providers make their contracts 2 years, they dont need to, they are just ripping the consumer. As someone who is moving to Openreach FTTP home on a 6 month rental contract, it makes me mad. Its really not right, where are OFCOM – no where – thats where!!!
There are shorter contract options than 24 months. If you don’t want a 24 month contract don’t use an ISP that demands one.
There are monthly rolling options as well as 12 and 18 month contracts though the rolling contracts tend to come with install fees and the shorter contracts cost more as fewer payments to spread fixed costs over.