The UK has quietly undergone somewhat of a revolution in the last 2 years. Not only has the availability of fibre optic broadband become much more widespread, but the packages also that are now on offer that claim to be unlimited, are. Even better, the price on unlimited internet connections is now competitive, especially if you are willing to subscribe to phone services.
I am quite lucky, as I have 2 fibre optic internet connections in the house for work/redundancy reasons. When fibre internet became available on my telephone cabinet, I was on it like a shot! Our house was the second and third lines to be connected to the cabinet.
Originally, I was going to get both lines with BT but an issue with their booking systems left me looking round for an alternative, and I decided to go with Plusnet. Here is my review of PlusNet’s unlimited fibre broadband service.
I had some initial concerns before ordering, because of the number of deals Plusnet were doing, such as unlimited ADSL for under a fiver a month etc, I was worried that the service would be over provisioned. Researching online seemed to show that most people were happy.
Ordering my fibre optic broadband was simple. I spoke to Sky, who I was currently with to get my MAC code, and once they sent it to me, I simply ordered my new internet package online. A few days before my service was due to begin, I received the router provided by Plusnet, which I have to say looked cheap and plastic. In testing it performed OK but did not have many advanced options. In the end I stopped using it to use my own load balancing equipment.
With the fibre internet provision there are 2 boxes, the modem which is provided by BT and the router provided by Plusnet. The engineer install went exceptionally smooth and took around half an hour. On ADSL I used to get around 8mbits speed and on fibre I get 50-55mbit speed. The biggest difference, which is fantastic for me is the upload speed, which at 19mbit is much much faster than my old ADSL connection.
I have had the service for 18 months now and can say that the service is reliable, with no slowdowns in the evenings, even after heavy usage. In 18 months, I have had 1 line fault and one serious loss of service which lasted a night. The outage also affected my BT line though. Trying to phone Plusnet when I had a problem revealed the biggest criticism that I have and that is the length of time you need to wait to speak to someone. I had to wait for over half an hour in a queue before I could talk to someone, although when I got through, they were very polite.
Support via their ticket system seems to be reliable, and when I had a line fault, they were incredibly supportive and quite willing to send an engineer to look at my line once I demonstrated that I had tested everything my end.
Advantages over BT Infinity 2
My Plusnet service has 3 advantages over BT Infinity products:
- Cost – At 19.99 the service is £10 cheaper than my BT line per month.
- Latency – Pings using my Plusnet line are on average 5-10ms faster, although the difference is probably unperceivable.
- Ability to purchase a static IP address. A static IP address is not something that BT offers for domestic lines. Plusnet provided me one for a one-off payment of £5 which is fantastic value.
Disadvantage against BT Infinity 2
With BT Infinity 2 you get free access to the BT Sport and ESPN channels.
Summary
Overall, I have been extremely happy with my fibre optic unlimited broadband from Plusnet. I have no plans to move from them currently and feel that £19.99 is great value. The package now costs £22.49 for unlimited up to 75mbit.
I would highly recommend Plusnet. The only thing that lets them down for me is the low-quality router provided and the length of time needed to speak to someone on the telephone.
Now there is a great deal available from Plusnet if you take their telephone service and pay line rental in advance. You can see the details on the Money Saving Experts website here.
Visit the Plusnet website.