1. What is the difference between the new Home Broadband products?
Home users are now given even more options than ever when choosing Broadband ADSL. For those simply looking for a high-speed way to surf the net and send and receive email, ADSL Home Surf provides the best budget option. For those wanting to share files over the Internet or use binary newsgroups, our most popular Broadband account, ADSL Home provides the perfect answer.
And now we're pleased to be able to offer ADSL at lower contention, (meaning you share your available bandwidth with fewer people), and higher bandwidth options, to Home users. ADSL Home 500, Home 1000 and Home 2000 are ideal for the Home network or those working from home.
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2. What is the difference between the Business Broadband products?
PlusNet have always been known for offering the most value-added services of any UK ISP at the very lowest prices. We're now pleased to offer our extensive range of Business Broadband products at even lower cost. Whether you're looking for a single-user account or connecting a network to the high-speed Internet with a 1000kbps or 2000kbps bandwidth option, then we're sure you'll find what you're looking for here.
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3. How soon can I signup and start receiving the service?
There are numerous checks that have to be made before your line can be ADSL-enabled. This process is referred to as 'provisioning' and we ask that you allow between 7-10 working days before activation. You'll be able to follow your order through to completion here at the Portal via the ADSL Tracker. We'll also keep you informed by email every step of the way.
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4. How do I upgrade my existing account?
Existing customers can choose to upgrade to take advantage of the greater choice and even better value offered by our new Broadband product range. Upgrading is easy.

5. What will it cost me to upgrade my current ADSL account to one of a higher bandwidth? Is there any additional cost I should be aware of?
There is a cost of £55 ex. VAT (£64.63 inc. VAT) to cease and reprovide you with a different ADSL product (for example when upgrading to a different bandwidth or contention level). You will be required to confirm your acceptance of this charge before your reprovide can occur. If the upgrade request is unsuccessful, this administration charge is used to return (reprovide) you back to your previous ADSL service. You will be required therefore, to confirm your acceptance of this administration charge as being non-returnable, before we can process your upgrade request when moving from one ADSL product to another. (Please see also Question 12 - How can I tell if my telephone line will support the higher speeds?).
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6. Are there any bandwidth restrictions on 1mb and 2mb home products?
We expect all customers to use their accounts in a responsible manner and at this time we do not have any download limitation in place on our products. We reserve the right to introduce measures to protect our network should they become necessary, however we not not envisage that this will be the case in the forseeable future thanks to our efficient network design.
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7. Are these new low prices subject to annual contracts or are there monthly contract options available?
Home users may choose between a monthly contract or annual contract options. The no activation fee options, that spread the cost of getting started with ADSL over 12-months, are subject to a 12-month contract and cancellation charges would be incurred should you choose to leave the service within contract period. Those choosing Business services are subject to 12-month contracts. These terms are described in our legal pages here and the cancellation charges are explained in detail in our ADSL Home Surf/Home FAQ here.
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8. Can I migrate to the new products?
Yes you can. If you're currently with another Internet Service Provider and wish to take advantage of PlusNet 's lowest cost and added-value ADSL services, simply follow our easy migration process. We'll ask you for some details about your current provider and we'll do the rest. More info about ISP Service Migration
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9. Can I use this new low-contention service as a backup for my business?
PlusNet Home products specifically exclude their use for running a business. Use of a Home product for working from home would be acceptable, however, if commercial use was your primary purpose, then a business account would be appropriate. Acceptable Use for Residential accounts is described in our legal section here.
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10. Will the hardware you supply support both 1mb and 2mb products?
Yes, our ADSL hardware will support connections at these higher bandwidths. We do recommend our router particularly if you require the higher 1000kbps and 2000kbps bandwidth options, since you will find it easier to add more PC's to your Home or Office network in the future.
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11. Can I have multiple IPs on the Home 1000 and 2000 products?
No, if you require more than one IP address (we describe this as a No-NAT option) then you must choose a Business Office product. In most cases, those wishing to network more than one PC will be able to run web servers, mail servers and the like using NAT (Network Address Translation) on their router. A single (public) Static IP address is issued to Home ADSL accounts as standard.
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12. How can I tell if my telephone line will support the higher speeds?
We will inform you directly via Contact Us about the status of your order. Whilst we cannot guarantee that we can provide you with Broadband ADSL (there is no 100% accurate way to find out if your line can support these products before you place your order), we are working closely with BT to successfully process your orders. If you do fail the line check we'll contact you to let you know about other options open to you. Existing customers upgrading to higher bandwidth products will have their line checked before the upgrade order is placed with BT. If PlusNet believe that the provisioning is likely to fail, you would be advised and asked to confirm whether or not you wish to proceed.
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13. Can I upgrade even if I haven't fulfilled my 12-month contract on my existing account?
If you are currently on a Self-Install option with a 12-month contract with us we will allow you to upgrade subject to the reprovide charge. Those on a BT-installed product are subject to a 12-month contract and must fulfil that obligation before an upgrade request can be processed.
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14.Will the savings be passed on to existing customers?
All ADSL customers will benefit from the May 1st price reductions from their next invoice date following the Spring Savings launch date (May 1st 2003). If you pay for your subscriptions monthly, the new pricing for ADSL products will be applicable to you from your next invoice date onwards.

Example. John subscribes to ADSL Home Self-Install and pays monthly. He joined PlusNet on February 20th and will be charged at his pre-May price (£22.99) on 20th April. However, from 20th May, his monthly subscription will be at the new price of £21.99.

If you are paying either quarterly or annually and your advance payment means that your next invoice date falls after May, your advance payments will be reviewed and your account brought into line with the new lower prices on June 1st. This review will move your next invoice date in accordance to the credit due. For the purposes of clarity you might imagine that you are paying monthly - your next payment after the May 1st price drop would be taken at the new price, as would all subsequent payments. Because you have paid in advance, the credit generated by the price difference will be converted to subscription payment (in days), and this time added onto the end of your pre-paid period.

Example. Sally subscribes to ADSL Office 500 Self-Install and pays quarterly. Her invoice date falls on 20th April when she will be charged £165. On June 1st we will calculate that from 20th May onwards she should be paying only £40.00 per month. This means that two months payment has been effectively taken at the older rate of £55 per month and a price difference of £30 has been generated. Based on the new lower subscription price, this converts to 22 days credit. Sally's next invoice date will therefore be moved from 20th July to 11th August.
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15. Will there be any downtime if I upgrade from a ADSL Home 50:1 account to a 20:1 contended account?
Yes, there would be some downtime (of up to 14 working days) whilst your current service is subject to a 'cease and re-provide' by BT- the reprovide charge would be payable. You would need to use a standard analogue modem to access your service (email for example) whilst the reprovide was being carried out.
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16. How can you offer these products at this price? Do you have enough capacity?
Thanks to our efficient operating model and drive for automation of many tasks, we have much lower overheads than many of our competitiors. We are committed to passing these savings onto our customers. As of April 2003 we had five 155MB 'Fat Pipes', with a further 6 on order. This will ensure our network remains fast even with the predicted growth in bandwidth usage thanks to these new products. You can see our ADSL bandwidth usage in real time here.
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17. Do you have any plans to introduce a 1MB 50:1 product at a lower cost?
There are no immediate plans to do this, however we are watching developments in the market closely and will introduce a 50:1 1MB product should it become viable for us to do so.
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