Changing Full Fibre Packages

[#1]

Hi,

My area has just been upgraded to Full Fibre and I’m planning on upgrading from FTTC in the next week or so. What I’m wondering is if I order say the 900mb package could I downgrade to one of the lower speed packages during my contract.

thanks.

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to My Account / Billing

[#3]

@Nick1 

Unless you absolutely need 900 I would go low (say 300) and upgrade if required. There is a WiFi limitation of under 500 unless you have WiFi6 capable devices (and a router that supports it).

You can upgrade at any time at the cost of a new contract but downgrading can cost money.

Brian

[#4]

@Nick1 

Apart from bragging rights, think carefully about why you need 900Mbps. You can't use this speed on WiFi unless you spend an arm and a leg on both a WiFi 6 or better router and the connected equipment. The Plusnet Hub 2 is only WiFi 5. Also, look at the cost of the additional time it will take to download any really big packages and how often this occurs. Calculate in £s per hour the cost of avoiding waiting those extra minutes.

As advised, start at a more practicable speed and only update if you feel the need. You will find it easy to upgrade to a faster product but you are likely to find that downgrading without a financial penalty much more problematic.

[#5]

I'm also in this position so thanks for the advice - very helpful.

It does seem as though the really speedy options are being mis-sold if the kit that is provided by PN won't support the guaranteed speed rates. I suspect there are a chunk of people who see their BB connection as so essential they want to have the best speed possible and they will be a bit cheesed off when they cant achieve them because of the limitation you have outlined.

[#6]

@the_groundsman 

"It does seem as though the really speedy options are being mis-sold"

I think that's a little harsh, a computer connected by a cable will achieve even the fastest speeds.

The problem is limited understanding by customers and a "bigger is better" mentality which is reinforced by the marketing of broadband products.

The art of the "upsell" is marketing 101 and allows the more "careful" customer to consider the actual requirements.

I've kept an eye on my peak download and upload speeds in "normal use" (I have a router that can tell me that) and the Plusnet "Full Fibre 145" meets my actual requirements.

[#7]

Apologies for being very late to this particular party, but I disagree with what is being said.

While it's nice to have an Access Point built into the portmanteau devices we call "routers" there is no expectation in my book for the WiFi throughput to match the Broadband.

In my case, all the heavy lifting (my desktop PC Smart TVs, telephony server etc) is connected with Ethernet cabling, the WiFi is reserved for phones, tablets and a few IoT devices.

The inherent throttling of the WiFi  can be useful giving a crude QoS boost to the stuff that really matters.

Just my tuppence worth, YMMV.

[#8]

@Baldrick1 

"You will find it easy to upgrade to a faster product but you are likely to find that downgrading without a financial penalty much more problematic."

I have been advised in the past, by various ISPs, (inc Plusnet), that upgrading to a higher speed mid-contract is fine - just pay the higher rate for the remainder of the contract.

However, downgrading to a slower speed mid-contract, whilst possible, will trigger the start of a brand new contract.

.

[#9]

People need to remember that the link speed / bandwidth is a share resource ... not one expected to be utilised by single device.  One might reasonably expect that 500mbps might be attainable over WiFi ... whilst the LAN connected devices stream apparently unrestricted.

Total available bandwidth and the ability of a single device to max out that capacity are not the same thing - the inability to do the latter does not invalidate any representation about the total bandwidth (link speed) of the provisioned service.