contract termination questions

[#1]

Hello,
I'd be grateful if anybody could confirm (or not!) my speculation regarding contract termination and fees:
1.
My contract (unlimited fibre inc. line rental, though line at £0) ends 18th February. Does it mean that, to avoid early termination charges, I need to call Plusnet on that 0800 number - by 18th January, or that Plusnet need to _receive_ written confirmation from me - by 18th Jan? I do realise it's not wise to leave it to the last day and / or hour, so I'll probably sort it out earlier, just want to make sure about the 'hard' deadline
2.
If I decide to terminate via post, Plusnet will collect the outstanding / last payment as usual, via direct debit on the billing date, but if I terminate by phone, they collect it as something called 'one-off final payment', by card? Which is, essentially, the last month's of service plus whatever fees (early termination, etc, etc.) would be due?
3.
My billing dates are set for 21st of each month. Is it advisable to move it forward to 17th, or it doesn't matter, i.e. I will be billed on 21st Feb for the last month of service ending on 18th?
4.
What to do if I get billed for another full month (incorrectly) - on 21st March? At that time I won't be able to call and verify myself as Plusnet customer any more. Unfortunately, it happened to me with my previous providers, and it was major pain to get the money back, hence my question.
5.
Are / aren't there any broadband/phone line termination/exit fees (I don't remember the exact name), when I do NOT transfer to another landline-based provider upon my termination with Plusnet? There used to be such fees but, if I remember vaguely, they were abandoned around 5 years ago, or am I wrong and they're still in force?
6.
What about hardware (router)? As far as I see from this page, it's not mandatory to return it?
https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/returns/

Regards,
n.

[#2]

@rrfcpczkae Are you transferring to another ISP, or totally abandoning a phone/broadband service?

[#3]

The monthly broadband & line rental charge is paid monthly in advance - so your January payment should cover the charge until the end of your contract period. Any additional charges for calls made in the month are charged in arrears.

Unless you cancel the contract (either a direct cancellation or a move to another ISP) you will automatically move to a 30 day "out-of-contract" contract - your broadband will continue but will cost significantly more.

If you are moving to another ISP that uses the Openreach network, don't cancel the Plusnet service - just sign up with the new ISP and they will take the line over from Plusnet.

There should be no termination fees for cancelling your broadband if you are not moving to another ISP.

[#4]

Hello,

In short, abandoning, hence my question about termination fees, which I got stung with, when I was leaving my last but one ISP (phone-line based), around 2015. For a few years I enjoyed Virgin Media, until they started fleecing me mercilessly, so I moved to Plusnet, but there are much better options now, so I'm jumping the ship again (I might sound like a carefree student, I'm anything but).

Regards,

n.

[#5]

In that case, I would contact them in the very near future, and advise them that you wish to cancel the contract on the date it finishes - 18/02/24. As advised above, the payment you make this month - on whatever date it falls - will cover you for the contract to that date, but any phone calls made outside a call-plan will still need to be paid, which means the DD would need to be left open to cover them - if applicable.

[#6]

Thanks, as I've mentioned in reply to another post, I'm not moving on to another phone-based provider, in which case it would have been a simple (well, in theory) handover between old ips and new one.

p.s. off-topic, and please don't take it for me being petty, I'm genuinely interested as a non-native speaker, when you mention 'cancelling the contract', you mean 'terminating', am I correct? I'm asking, because Plusnet use 'cancel' specifically for cool-off period or when you cancel 'some time before the previously agreed term of contract', hence the cancellation fees, etc.

Regards,

n.

[#7]

Terminating/cancelling mean one and the same thing.

Even further off-topic, what provision have you/are you going to make for phone/internet access when your contract ends?

[#8]

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@rrfcpczkae wrote:

... there are much better options now, so I'm jumping the ship again

@rrfcpczkae  Just out of interest, where are you "jumping ship" to this time ? - where the grass is greener

[#9]

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@jab1 wrote:

Terminating/cancelling mean one and the same thing.

Just to be pedantic, in contract law they do in fact have subtly different meanings - although in this case the end result is the same.

[#10]

Thanks for clarification on terminating / cacelling (I guess there might be nuances, and in some (legal) context, even contrasting differences between terminating and cancelling, but I hope I'll never have to go there

as to the my provisions on parting with plusnet, I'll have it overlap by a safe margin (if all goes well) with a new service from a new provider ('community' broadband), and the phones, well, we broke free from BT long time ago and we're all with 1p yearly 'unlimited plan' (I feel awkward providing free advertising, but we're really quite happy with 1p service, though kids grumble, as they can't live without 'terabytes' of mobile data and instead get, well, 250Mb (inc free) a month. So it goes. And 1p piggyback on ee which is far superior in terms of signal than our previous network provider (abysmal three). Not that I'm happy with a subscription model, but pay as you go is, more or less, dead, so for a cheapskate like me, there's nothing better available (plus free EU roaming helps). There, a shameless plug, now they just need to pay me for this

p.s. incidentally, as if by magic my plusnet quality/speed, since last week, has dropped from normal (30+Mbps) to something absurd, a couple of Mbps sometimes, or even 200 kbps, (goode olde 1990s) Obviously a coincidence, but slightly annoying. That said, I can't be asked to raise a ticket, chase it, get it solved - or not, etc.

Regards,

n.

[#11]

well, we're fortunate to have a choice between 2 fibre companies plus phone-line based ADSL providers, and we're going to the (so-called) 'community' broadband (hilarious name, btw). It's beyond simple maths, really, 30% lower monthly bill for about 5 x speed - up and down. Naturally, IF all goes well with installation, because if you read bad reviews, you might run away screaming, or faint. That said, it applies to bad reviews on all providers, the same failures.

p.s. I would have considered 5G modem from three, because the price (as usual, to pull you in) is quite attractive. I would, if not for past 'experience' with three - signal, coverage and, naturally, customer service. On numerous occassions

Regards,

n.