New Home Phone products

[#1]

As many existing customers will be aware our Home Phone products haven't been changed in quite a while. However, we will soon be launching an updated set of Home Phone products. In a change from how we've designed Home Phone products before you will now see line rental and call plan separated, both on your invoices and in the Member Centre. If you're not currently a Plusnet Home Phone customer then read on to find out about all the upcoming changes and see what extra features we'll be adding to our Home Phone products. We'll be contacting everyone who signs up between now and May 11th by email just after the changes have been made to advise you when your change to the new product will take place. The new products will be as follows: - Line rental: £10.95 - Talk Evenings & Weekends: Free --- Evening and weekend calls to 01/02/03 numbers --- 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles --- Free calls to other Plusnet customers 24/7 --- Free calls to Plusnet support --- Free Voicemail - Talk Anytime: £5.00 --- Anytime calls to 01/02/03 numbers --- 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles --- Free calls to other Plusnet customers 24/7 --- Free calls to Plusnet support --- Free Voicemail --- 25% off standard rates to UK mobiles The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed there is a slight increase in the line rental element of the products, this is prompted largely by an increase at a supplier level, and is the first price increase we have had in over 2 years. We've added quite a few new features though, and have made some changes which you have been asking for for some time. We feel this will ensure our products remain the most competitive and best value. Should you have any further queries regarding the new products please see the FAQ here or take a wander over to our Community site forums, where you'll find other customers and staff happy to discuss them. If you'd like to see the new tariff details in full then please have a look at our Broadband and Phone packages. Regards Mand

[#2]

[...] of you will have questions regarding our recently announced changes to our residential ‘phone [...]

[#3]

So, in one fell swoop Plusnet have lost all their advantages against BT for those, like me, who only make a handful of calls a month. The cost of line rental plus caller display is now 69p more than BT, and the national call costs/set-up fee are exactly the same as BT.

[#4]

YAY! Features that I won't use AND a price increase. Can I keep the old price if I don't use the features? Why force changes on customers even if they don't want them plus make us pay for it? Give us a choice please!

[#5]

When do these changes take place? I'm given 2009-06-04. Is this June 4th or April 6th?

[#6]

Hi glloyd, apologies for the confusion. There was an issue with the underlying formating of the dates in the data set which caused the problem. The dates in the email sent out today to Evening and Weekend customers are in the format year-month-day, so in your example that date is 4th June. This will be your first billing date after the changes roll out on May 11th and will be the time you are moved over. We are going to be sending emails to all our other Home Phone customers tomorrow and I'll make sure this issue doesn't occur again. Hope this helps.

[#7]

Hi Glloyd, The changes will take place on your next billing date *after* the 30 days notice period has elapsed. Your change will happen on June 4th.

[#8]

I don't ever use Voicemail, make International calls, call Plusnet Support or want caller display so basically I'll be paying £1.30 per MONTH extra for services that I do NOT want. The changes will take place on your billing date.

[#9]

Only moved to PlusNet phone because it was cheaper, if the price is going up will look into moving elsewhere, same boat as above, voicemail, international of no use to me. skyman & virgin keep knocking on the door.

[#10]

Hiya, If you have a look around the other suppliers this month, you’ll see that a number of the big suppliers have increased their prices. BT and TalkTalk now charge £11.25 line rental, the Post Office charge £11.75 and Tiscali charge £10.99, Virgin Media, £11. We strongly believe that this Product Refresh allows us to remain competitive within the industry, whilst also taking into account the increases in pricing from OpenReach. We have also removed the charge of £38.85 to reactivate a discontinued telephone line. We’ll now be doing these for free. As we’ve mentioned, we've reduced the cost of Caller Display and Voicemail is now free – which a large number of our customers use. We’ve also listened to our customers who have asked us to remove the setup fee on included calls, offered free calls to our call centre if you have a phone service with us and we’ve reduced the cost of mobile calls by 25% for our Anytime call plan. I understand that no-one likes a price increase, but we’ve added in a few extras which we feel will keep our WLR services competitive and attractive for both new and existing customers. James

[#11]

But BT don't charge for caller display via BT Security. Neither do either Sky or TT at least - can't remember which. Come on guys - this is 2009 & charging for Caller ID is just extra line rental with another name. I think it's been around for 20 years at least. When BT stop charging for something you really do know it's not costing them anything. So why would I move my phone over to PN?

[#12]

hang on. THe price of Caller Display and Voicemail is free? Theres a compulsory increase in line rental, so its not really "free". Another bonus is that you've removed the reactivation charge? how is that of any benefit to existing customers?

[#13]

Disappointed, as at the same time as Plusnet put up their charges, BT start offering free calls to 0845 numbers (which these days, with free evenings and weekends, 0845 numbers are where my costs are). It's now looking like BT is a cheaper option based on my usage. It's all very well having nice features added, but you need to have wanted them.. None of the added stuff interests me.

[#14]

Very elaborate detailing on pricing and increases, but nowhere could I see exactly when 'evening' begins and ends, ditto 'weekends'.

[#15]

If I cared to invest in the necessary hardware, my BBYW3 product includes "240 anytime minutes to 01, 02 & 03 numbers". I am glad I stayed with BT, which gives me separate support channel.

[#16]

Why is it we can call — 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles but not even call uk mobiles without charge? seems insane we can call internation mobiles for 300 without charge but yet we cant even call our own countries without paying through the nose

[#17]

i was paying 98p for voicemail so I am no worse off or maybe better off,free calls to PN and 25% off mobiles.

[#18]

It makes no sense for not including 0845 numbers in the inclusive calls when they are half the price of 01/02/03 calls. It's the massive jump from 4.5p to 8P set up charges that angers me. Yet another rip off!

[#19]

They forgot to mention that the Call feature Bundles have gone by as much as £2.61 a month / £31.32 per year. Was 5 or more for £4.89 Now 5 Features £7.50 source: http://www.plus.net/pdf/tariffs/homephone-tariff.pdf

[#20]

How will these new prices be affected by the impending VAT rate increase? Will the line rental increase from £10.95 to £11.18?

[#21]

Looks like i will be looking for another internet provider,voice mail who uses it and as for international calls think i made 1 adout 10 years ago,nothing like a good recession to put the boot in

[#22]

Must say I agree with most of the above comments: PN claim that the changes are a result of customer demand, but up to now all comments are hostile to the changes. Include me in that - I do not need these extra 'free' features.

[#23]

I'm with all the rest. I'll be paying extra for stuff I'll never use, plus you're charging extra for voicemail and caller display, AND you're still charging for 0845 and 0870. Caller ID and simple voicemail really should be free, the technology is so old it must be 100% profit by now. I'm off back to BT if this doesn't improve sharpish. I can't be the only person who has an analogue line purely because I can't get ADSL without it. Can I put in yet another plea for a simple, cheap line rental with absolutely no extras/included minutes/cuddly toys? Alan.

[#24]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. I understand that we are never going to please everyone where price increases are involved but we've tried to make sure that our new products are as competitive as possible by adding a number of features that have long been requested by our customers to try and offset the price rises. Our customers have long been requesting free calls to support, free voicemail and international calls on E&W and we've added all these features in - as well as discounted mobiles on Anytime. We've seen a number of increases announced by competitors over the past couple of weeks and our line rental is still below that of Talk Talk, The Post Office, Virgin, Tiscali and BT and it's the first time we've increased our line rental since we launched our Home Phone products over 2 years ago. @Andy - we can include US & Canada mobile rates in the inclusive minutes because of the lower termination rates when compared with UK mobile calls. We've included 25% cheaper mobile call rates as part of the Talk Anytime package. You can now get an extremely competitive broadband and home phone package from Plusnet - from just £16.94 you'll get Plusnet Value broadband and Talk Evening & Weekends. As some of you guys have pointed out, the new features won't suit everybody - some people will never make international calls, or use voicemail for example but we've tried to include the features that have been asked for in the past.

[#25]

"Why is it we can call — 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles but not even call uk mobiles without charge?" In the US (and, I assume, Canada), the mobile phone user pays for incoming calls, fairly directly (eg on their bill!). Hence no European telco with a clue charges different prices for US landlines than for US mobiles. To use "same price for US mobiles" as a "feature" is really quite cheeky. In the UK/Europe, there is a "termination charge" which mobile operators charge for incoming calls, but it's not as directly visible to the mobile user as the US equivalent; hence there is usually a substantial difference between European prices for calls to landlines and prices for calls to mobiles. The only time there's no difference is if you go for a high value contract which specifically includes mobile *and* landline minutes, or some other method of hiding the cost difference. BT line rental, evening + weekend landlines free, chargeable landline/mobile calls via 1899 or similar (UK landline: 5p setup + 0p/min) will be a suitable option for a lot of people if they don't mind dialing a prefix and dealing with multiple suppliers. You can see horrifyingly detailed tariff comparisons (including Plusnet, 1899 and many many others) at www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/ As you'll see, confusion pricing is the norm.

[#26]

As mentioned above, and not answered at all by Chris, I would really like to know when evenings and weekends start and finish. OK, as I have a son about to move to Australia, the free international calls will be an advantage, but I can see that people would like a choice as to whether they have that facility or not. Having to pay for caller ID after having had it free from BT was bad news - ok, you've reduced the price, but it's still not free.

[#27]

I don't ever use Voicemail, make International calls, call Plusnet Support or want caller display so basically I'll be paying extra for services that I do NOT want. I did initially change over from BT because I was promissed a cheaper deal. But I forgot BT actually own Plusnet! - so its B.T that are increasing the prices anyway!

[#28]

I've looked all over this website to discover what 'Evenings & Weekends' means. With broadband the 'free' period is available, but when does the evening start for phone calls? Different companies have different stare and end times.

[#29]

Login had timed out ! I've looked all over this website to discover what 'Evenings & Weekends' means. With broadband the 'free' period is available, but when does the evening start for phone calls? Different companies have different stare and end times.

[#30]

Hi suejay, Sorry I missed the earlier question. Daytime rates will be charged between 6am and 6pm. The weekend period is defined as Midnight Friday to Midnight Sunday. So, on the Evening & Weekends package inclusive calls start at 6pm. Alan R Morris - I hope this answers your question too. Eddie, as I said in my post above - the features we have added have long been requested by the community at large. I'm sorry if they are not beneficial for you personally but we've tried to add features that our customers have requested.

[#31]

When are prices ever going to come down.You bang on about advatages but there no good to poeple who don't use them.I have never made an international call.You ask us costomers to recomend a friend, i don't think it's a good idea my friends would think i was mad to be taken in by your back door charges.

[#32]

You want more comments, isn't it bad enough. I will looking for another suplier, increases by the back door.

[#33]

I'm confused, having switched to Home Phone from BT only six weeks ago. The e-mail I've received reads: 'From the 06/06/2009 your line rental will be increasing to £10.95 a month, with your Anytime calls plan at the new price of £5***.' What is the cost of the Anytime calls plan now? Is this not a completely new charge?

[#34]

Hi Ajax, At the moment your Home Phone Anytime package costs £14.65. This is made up of line rental of £9.75 and Anytime calls plan at £4.90 (The prices may seem a little odd which is the result of the December VAT reduction, prior to that the package total was £14.99). We've never previously split out the line rental and call plans but as part of these changes we will be splitting out line rental explicitly on the website and on your invoice so it will look something like: Line rental - £10.95 Anytime call plan - £5.00 Call features - £Xx Call costs - £xx Hope this helps. Chris

[#35]

@Chris Cotterill. Why not Give your Custommers a choice of FREE Voice Mail OR FREE Caller Display and 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles. Or FREE Caller Display and FREE Voice Mail With NO 300 mins international calls (to top 20 destinations), including US and Canada mobiles. GIVE YOUR CUSOMMERS MORE CHOICE OR YOU RISK LOSING THEM!

[#36]

I've been with Plusnet for 7 years and, if like me, you're not happy with the price increases, move. Currently I have Home Phone ANYTIME+ with Caller Display & Broadband Option 2. This is costing me £30.77 per month. I am migrating to SKY. A similar broadband package but with a 40Gb allowance is £17, but if you take the Sky Talk Unlimited @ £15 including line rental, Caller display & Broadband are FREE, saving £15.77 per month. As a previous comment says, to still be charging for Caller Display is just a way of increasing the phone charges. As for the international calls, I never use them, even though my brother lives in Australia. Its better using SKYPE, its free and you have video available.

[#37]

I agree with grudkin. I for one may look for another phone supplier as I came to PlusNet because they were open and fair on pricing. I use an answering machine at home and will never use international numbers. All these changes to phone and broadband packages seem to be putting a lot of loyal customers off them.All I want in a product I can choose the add on in and get it at a fair price. Anyway, who can afford to go abroad at the moment to receive a FREE call?

[#38]

@ grudkin, Voicemail is our most popular feature at present, which was the main reason we are going to be including it for free. I appreciate all the comments re: Caller display and I think that the option to choose which one you want free between voicemail and caller display is certainly something that we can look into doing a bit further down the line. I'm not in the office today so haven't had chance to discuss this further with any other members of staff but I would have thought that we'd certainly be able to look into this option further. Obviously, I'm not able to give any indications of when this may happen as I've not been able to discuss it yet, but we'll certainly take a look at it.

[#39]

The poll does not support your claim that Voicemail is the most popular quite the opposite in fact.

[#40]

Also if you choose caller ID with any other feature it cost you £2.50 so it's no cheaper. You pay £1.25 for each feature if you choose two so you are in fact paying £1.25 for caller ID.

[#41]

Sory that's £3.00 so £1.50 for voicemail if choosing two features.

[#42]

@glloyd "The poll does not support your claim that Voicemail is the most popular quite the opposite in fact." Voicemail is the most popular calling feature across our Home Phone customer base. More of our Home Phone customers use voicemail than any other calling feature. I believe that we have around 22% more people using voicemail than caller display currently and this is one of the main reasons that we will be making it free. Caller display is the next most popular feature and, as I've already said, we will look into the possibilities of offering a choice of free features in the future.

[#43]

re chris cotterills post of April 10 2009 on the subject of daytime rates, he says that this these apply Mon-Fri from 6am - 6pm. I was under the impression that it was from 8am - 6pm. Ceratinly that's what it says on plusnet's website advertising products to new customers under "stuff you need to know" section". Do i assume the change comes in on 11 May?

[#44]

Chris, You did not comment on the fact that if you choose caller display with one of the other features it will cost £3.00 which then make the cost of caller display £1.50, the same price as other features.

[#45]

@glloyd, If you select any bundle then you will save money compared to selecting the features individually. If caller display is one of two features chosen then you will still save 49p (£3 compared to £3.49). Granted, the savings will be greater if you select 2 features costing £2.50 each as part of a bundle, but the fact is that all bundle options offer you savings. The more features that are selected then the more money you will save.

[#46]

@glloyd, standard voicemail is free and cannot be included as part of a calling feature bundle. The features that can be bundled are as follows (I think this is all of them): * Call Waiting * Call Divert * Unlimited Ringback * Caller Display * Unlimited Reminder Call If you take two features at part of a bundle and include caller display as one of these then you're still saving when compared to individual pricing. I can see Chris has answered the majority of questions raised so far but here's some responses to a few I think might have been overlooked - Q. Another bonus is that you've removed the reactivation charge? how is that of any benefit to existing customers? A. The majortity of existing customers that move home will be able to benefit from this. Q. How will these new prices be affected by the impending VAT rate increase? Will the line rental increase from £10.95 to £11.18? A. I'm not convinced a decision hasn been made on this yet, although I can certainly ask the question internally. Q. You can see horrifyingly detailed tariff comparisons (including Plusnet, 1899 and many many others) at http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/ As you'll see, confusion pricing is the norm. A. I'm not convinced the details on that site are accurate for Plusnet although it's mighty confusing at a glance. Our new tariff is here - http://www.plus.net/pdf/tariffs/homephone-tariff.pdf It sounds to me like offering caller ID for free would allay a lot of the concerns here and whilst I can't say it's something we'll definitely commit to in the future, we will certainly take the feedback on board.

[#47]

It's all very well talking about having additional features within the cost, but I think there is a section of us out there that don't even use our home phone and only use the phone line to have broadband!! (unless I am being totally stupid and can have broadband without paying line rental). Wouldn't it be clear to 'band' your products? Yes for those who use some/all the features, call abroad, mobiles etc then this is a good deal. But for those who do not use any of the features, or potential don't even make any calls, then this is bad deal. Personally with MSN/Skype/mobile phone providers I think using a home phone is the expensive option, and really is only good for calling 0800 numbers!! How about Plusnet offer a line rental for Broadband only???

[#48]

I'd like to see that too. We barely use our landline here to make calls - it is, effectively, just to support our broadband connection. I realise that, probably, all of the extras Plusnet are bundling in don't actually cost them that much - a bit like all the 'value-added services' PN used to offer with their broadband products. Still, I'm sure some savings could be made by cutting everything out to offer a complete bare-bones line-rental-only option with no inclusive minutes or anything. It's ironic really - PN's recent broadband product refresh resulted in most of the products being stripped of their added extras such as broadband phone minutes and web hosting. Yet now Plusnet have made the opposite move with their home phone offerings... one wonders, actually, if perhaps this is deliberate - the landline prices are being artificially pumped up (by unwanted extras) in order to subsidise the barely-profit-making new ADSL products?

[#49]

@Ritchie, if you don't need any of the calling features then the 'bare bones' line rental is still pretty favourable when compared to the competition. £10.95 with us versus £11 for Virgin, £10.99 for Tiscali, £11.75 for the Post Office and £11.25 for BT and TalkTalk. As you can probably guess from those figures, this is extremely close to the actual wholesale costs we pay for each circuit. Whilst we like to remain competitive, we do still need to make money ;) If the costs were lowered then I'd jump at the chance of reduced line rental - I *never* use my landline for voice calls!

[#50]

Isn't it time that we should be able to have a BB only line at a much reduced cost bearing in mind ISP's pay a connection fee to BT. We are effectively paying twice for line rental.

[#51]

Does this mean that the Greenbee phone prices will now change? I know that they have always been different to the Plusnet ones but I'm worried that they will follow suit!