{"id":30755,"date":"2022-05-25T13:41:59","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T12:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=30755"},"modified":"2022-05-25T16:21:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T15:21:40","slug":"isp-plusnet-in-low-key-uk-launch-of-fttp-broadband-packages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/05\/isp-plusnet-in-low-key-uk-launch-of-fttp-broadband-packages.html","title":{"rendered":"ISP PlusNet in Low Key UK Launch of FTTP Broadband Packages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internet provider Plusnet<\/a> – often referred to as BT<\/a>’s low-cost sub-brand – has, after years of waiting, today finally started to stealthily launch a new range of “full fibre<\/em>” packages based off Openreach<\/a>’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP<\/a>) powered broadband network, which is currently available to 7.2 million UK homes and businesses.<\/p>\n

Just in case anybody has forgotten. Plusnet<\/a> became one of the very first UK ISPs to trial Openreach<\/a>’s full fibre service in 2010\/11, which ran for several years. But those trials came to an end in 2018 and, since then, customers have often complained of being left behind. Indeed, almost every other provider of any note on the same network has since launched FTTP<\/a> plans.<\/p>\n

However, following our prediction at the start of this year (here<\/a>), the ISP has now finally started to launch their first commercial FTTP products, but only if you phone up and ask nicely to renew. Several of Plusnet’s customers, who contacted the ISP’s support team last week, have been relaying to us that they were told this would happen today (25th), but we opted not to post about it after their PR team denied it.<\/p>\n

The provider’s PR team informed us, on Monday, that the service would NOT go live on Wednesday and instead said that a “launch date has not been confirmed at this point<\/em>.” Except it did launch, just not in the way you’d normally expect. A number of Plusnet’s web pages and videos<\/a> were today updated to mention their Full Fibre packages but, according to this forum post<\/a>, you can only order it over the phone (i.e. existing customers calling to renew or upgrade).<\/p>\n

Plusnet’s FTTP Packages<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The low-key semi-launch means that, at present, you won’t see the packages mentioned alongside their existing products, and we don’t yet know how much the ISP will charge for the first contract term once they do go live (i.e. the initial discounted rate). But the small print on the provider’s website does reveal how much they’ll cost post-contract.<\/p>\n

Extract from Plusnet’s Legal Text<\/strong><\/p>\n

For new Plusnet customers that sign up for 12, 18 or 24 months (as appropriate). Price from month 13,19 or 25 (as appropriate) currently:<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 36 – \u00a327<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 74 – \u00a330<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 145 – \u00a335<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 300 – \u00a340<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 500 – \u00a347<\/p>\n

Full Fibre 900 – \u00a355.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just for comparison, the post-contract price on BT<\/a>’s own 900Mbps tier is \u00a358.99, which suggests that Plusnet will be a few pounds cheaper and that’s to be expected (low-cost brand). We would have liked to include the post contract price for EE<\/a>’s comparable package too, but they seem to have controversially stopped mentioning those on their product pages.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, customers of the service can expect to receive the usual features of unlimited usage and a new Hub Two<\/strong> router – based on BT’s Smart Hub 2 – that was previously launched in October 2021 (here<\/a>). Plusnet are currently working to introduce the Full Fibre packages to their website for online orders, but there’s currently no firm ETA.<\/p>\n