Plusnet Broadband Review

Plusnet offers broadband packages with a variety of download speeds at discounted prices. Its deals range from standard broadband all the way up to superfast fibre connections. You have probably seen one of its adverts emphasising the simplicity and reliability of its service, but what do current customers think of Plusnet? And does it offer enough to compete with both big-name rivals and low-budget challengers? In this independent review we will break down the key components of a Plusnet broadband deal to help you decide if it is the right provider for your household.

We recommend that you read the review in full however you can jump to specific sections of the review using the following links:

• Plusnet broadband key features
• Plusnet broadband packages
• How much does Plusnet broadband cost?
• Plusnet broadband extras
• Does Plusnet offer a social broadband tariff?
• Does Plusnet have a good router?
• Do I need a phone line with Plusnet broadband?
• Plusnet broadband customer reviews
• Plusnet broadband pros and cons
• How does Plusnet broadband compare with other providers?
• How to compare Plusnet broadband
• Is Plusnet broadband any good?

Plusnet Broadband Review: Key features

Plusnet offers standard, fibre-to-the-cabinet and full fibre broadband packages. This means that wherever you live in the UK, there will likely be a deal available for your household. If you want to read more about the different types of home broadband connection, check out our article ‘Which broadband is best?’.

You can find packages with download speeds ranging from the most basic in the UK, up to some of the fastest. However, Plusnet does not offer a deal for the very top speed available in the UK, unlike rivals Sky, BT, Virgin Media TalkTalk and EE.

You will need to pay a set up cost to switch to Plusnet, unless you are able to take advantage of a limited-time offer. How much you pay will depend on the package you choose and length of contract you opt for.

Product name	Average download Speed	Minimum contract length	TV package available	Phone line required	Setup cost	Monthly cost
Plusnet Unlimited Broadband	10Mbps	24 months	No	Yes	£0	£26.99*
Plusnet Fibre Broadband	66Mbps	24 months	No	Yes	£0	£25.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 74	74Mbps	24 months	No	No	£0	£27.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 145	145Mbps	24 months	No	No	£0	£27.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 300	300Mbps	24 months	No	No	£0	£35.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 500	500Mbps	24 months	No	No	£0	£33.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 900	910Mbps	24 months	No	No	£0	£44.99*

*Plusnet will increase the price of all of its deals every March by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, plus an additional 3.9%.

Plusnet Broadband packages

Plusnet offers a good range of download speeds in its broadband packages, including a product for an ultrafast connection, which puts it at an advantage to some competitors. However, only a limited number of the homes in the UK will be able to access the speed of Plusnet's top package.

If you are unsure which download speed package you should be buying, read our article ‘What broadband speed do I need?’.

Plusnet Unlimited Broadband

Download speed: 10Mbps

This type of basic package will be a good fit for small households that only use the internet occasionally. For larger homes, with multiple people looking to use the internet at once, you will need a faster connection.

Plusnet Fibre Broadband

Download speed: 36Mbps

This is Plusnet’s most basic fibre package, but it still offers a download speed that will suit a lot of medium-sized households. At the time of writing, a special offer means there is no difference in price between Unlimited Fibre and Unlimited Broadband, despite the significant difference in download speed.

If your home can support a fibre connection, it makes sense to choose this deal over the more limited standard broadband package.

Plusnet Full Fibre 74

Download speed: 74Mbps

For Plusnet customers with a full fibre connection, the additional speed from the package will support streaming HD content to watch on TV, or music through a smart speaker without significantly slowing down browsing speed on other devices. You may find your speeds beginning to slow down if your household is big and you have lots of users trying to connect at once.

Plusnet Full Fibre 145

Download speed: 145Mbps

This is a big jump in download speed from the Full Fibre deal. Over 100Mbps is fast enough to support households streaming from multiple devices at once, downloading large files or making video calls. If your household does not use the internet this much, you may want to consider a slower (and cheaper) option.

Plusnet Full Fibre 300

Download speed: 300Mbps

This package is not usually much more expensive than the Full Fibre 145, so it could be good value to opt for the extra speed. 300Mbps will be fast enough for a busy internet-using household with multiple users working from home or streaming content at once.

Plusnet Full Fibre 500

Download speed: 500Mbps

If you want all of your home to be connected to the internet through a host of different smart devices, this is the best Plusnet package for you. It should be fast enough to handle continuous usage from multiple devices without slowing down any additional streaming or downloads.

Plusnet Full Fibre 900

Download speed: 900Mbps

This is one of the fastest broadband packages available in the UK, but will likely come with a significant price jump compared to the Fibre 500 option. It will be a good option for gamers or shared households with several people working from home at once. For many, the extra speed may not be worth the extra cost.

How much does Plusnet Broadband cost?

Plusnet is marketed as a low-cost alternative to major broadband providers like BT, its parent company. However, whether a Plusnet deal is the cheapest option for you will depend on what limited-time deals are currently on the market.

At the time of writing, Plusnet Full Fibre 74 is the cheapest deal in the 70Mbps-99Mbps speed range. Faster packages, such as Full Fibre 500, are beaten on price by competitors like Sky and Virgin Media. By comparing broadband deals at the speed you need you can take advantage of limited-time deals and incentive rewards to get the best package for your household.

The price you pay will also depend on what length of contract you opt for. Unlike many other internet providers, Plusnet offers multiple contract lengths for some products. Generally, the longer the contract, the lower the price.

Product name	Average download Speed	Minimum contract length	Setup cost	Monthly cost
Plusnet Unlimited Broadband	10Mbps	24 months	£0	£26.99*
Plusnet Fibre Broadband	66Mbps	24 months	£0	£25.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 74	74Mbps	24 months	£0	£27.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 145	145Mbps	24 months	£0	£27.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 300	300Mbps	24 months	£0	£35.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 500	500Mbps	24 months	£0	£33.99*
Plusnet Full Fibre 900	910Mbps	24 months	£0	£44.99*

*Plusnet will increase the price of all of its deals every March by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, plus an additional 3.9%.

Will Plusnet Broadband prices increase in 2024?

Yes, Plusnet prices will go up in April 2024 by 7.9%. The contract that you sign before you get Plusnet broadband states that your bill will go up every March or April by the CPI (consumer price index) rate of inflation for the previous December, plus 3.9%. The CPI rate for December 2023 was 4.0%, which – added to 3.9% – means Plusnet bills will be 7.9% higher in April 2024. This translates to a £30 a month Plusnet bill rising to £32.37.

The 2024 increase follows another huge hike of 14.4% in April 2023. The effect of these back-to-back price increases is that someone taking out a 24-month contract at £30 a month in March 2023 would see their bill rise first to £34.32, then up to £37.03. This is all while they are still under their original contract.

Unfortunately, any Plusnet customer not wanting to pay the extra would be charged an early exit fee to switch to a cheaper provider. This is because by including the price hike in its contracts, Plusnet stops customers from cancelling for free as they have effectively already agreed to the hike. Read our article 'How to cancel Plusnet broadband' for more information on leaving Plusnet.

Plusnet Broadband extras

Like most broadband providers, Plusnet occasionally offers incentive rewards like a voucher or bill credit. You should take these extras into account when comparing deals, as a £100 bonus can make a big difference to how much you pay over the course of your contract.

Plusnet offers a recommend-a-friend scheme that can save you up to £1.25 a month per friend if you can convince them to sign up to a broadband package.

Plusnet does not offer customers the chance to bundle in a TV package, though you will be able to access a discounted subscription to BT Sport. This will be a significant negative to anyone wanting a complete entertainment package similar to offerings from Sky, Virgin or BT. However, if a full roster of sport TV is an essential for your household, you could make a big saving. A monthly subscription to the BT Sport app is usually £25 a month, but that is discounted to £17.15 for Plusnet broadband customers. That difference of £7.85 might be enough to make Plusnet the cheapest provider for your home broadband. You can then complete the set by buying a NOW Sports Pass.

Plusnet broadband and landline packages come with pay as you go calls as standard. There is an option to add extra calls packages for an additional monthly fee.

Broadband customers are able to access Plusnet Mobile SIM plans that include an extra 2GB of data for broadband customers. Plusnet mobile uses the EE mobile network.

Does Plusnet offer social broadband?

At the time of writing, Plusnet does not currently offer a social broadband tariff.

Does Plusnet have a good router?

Fibre deals from Plusnet include a Hub Two router. This is essentially a rebrand of parent company BT’s Smart Hub 2.

The Smart Hub 2 scored 87% in a recent Which? review thanks to its excellent coverage and ability to handle connecting to multiple devices at once. This rating puts it up there as one of the best routers on the market, which can make a significant difference to your broadband connection and reliability, especially if you live in a busy home.

Do I need a phone line with Plusnet Broadband?

Plusnet broadband customers with an Unlimited Broadband, Unlimited Fibre or Unlimited Fibre Extra package will need a phone line. Full Fibre 74, Full Fibre 145 and Full Fibre 500 customers do not need a phone line as their connection will be fully through fibre optic cables.

If you want to find out more about how phone lines fit into the UK’s broadband network, read our article ‘Do you need a landline for broadband?’.

Plusnet Broadband customer reviews

Plusnet scores just 2.0 out of 5.0 on Trustpilot, though this is actually ahead of rivals BT (1.6) and Sky (1.5). Customers were happy with sign-up bonuses, download speeds and customer service. Other customers were unhappy with engineer no-shows, how long it took to reach customer services and slow speeds.

Ofcom’s recent internet provider customer survey was bad news for Plusnet. It ranked below BT, EE and Sky for “satisfaction with overall service”, though above TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone.

If you want to know who we rate highly for customer service – along with other key attributes of a top broadband provider – read our article ‘Who is the best broadband provider?’.

Plusnet Broadband pros and cons

Plusnet Broadband pros

• Discounts can make it cheaper than many rivals
• Broad range of speeds available
• Bonus data for mobile customers
• Top router
• Discounted BT Sport
• Choice of 12 or 18 month deals for some plans

Plusnet Broadband cons

• No TV package
• No 900Mbps option

Plusnet Broadband Review: How does Plusnet Broadband compare with other providers?

Plusnet Broadband product name	Plusnet price	Competitor package offering same speed	Competitor price
Plusnet Unlimited Broadband	£26.99*	TalkTalk Fast Broadband	£29.95
Plusnet Fibre Broadband	£25.99*	TalkTalk Fibre 35	£26.00
Plusnet Full Fibre 74	£27.99*	BT Broadband Fibre 2	£36.99
Plusnet Full Fibre 145	£27.99*	Sky Broadband Full Fibre 150	£28.00
Plusnet Full Fibre 300	£35.99*	Virgin Media M350	£34.50
Plusnet Full Fibre 500	£33.99*	TalkTalk Fibre 500	£35.00
Plusnet Full Fibre 900	£44.99*	TalkTalk Fibre 900	£45.00

*Plusnet will increase the price of all of its deals every March by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, plus an additional 3.9%.

Plusnet almost always runs a deal or discount of some kind to massively reduce the initial monthly cost. Make sure you shop around to see what special deals and offers are available across the broadband market. On top of discounts, you may be able to get free vouchers, bill credits or gifts.

It is also worth keeping in mind that all Plusnet prices, including discounted monthly costs, will rise every March by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, plus an additional 3.9%. This rise might be enough to make Plusnet more expensive than a rival deal, though many other providers are also planning significant annual rises.

The standard price is only likely to be relevant once your contract expires. Your supplier will have to tell you when the expiration date is approaching, so make sure you agree to a new deal or switch providers to avoid an eye-watering price hike. You can find out more about switching providers by reading our article ‘How to switch broadband provider’. You can compare a range of providers by using a comparison service such as Uswitch* to find out exactly what is available in your area.

Plusnet Broadband Review: Is it any good?

Plusnet offers an excellent router, good bonuses for mobile customers and some significant discounts, but it is still often beaten on price by competitors. Vodafone, BT, Sky and others offer equally significant price drops and valuable sign-up rewards from a lower starting point.

Plusnet may not offer the cheapest deal for your desired speed, however, customers may find value-for-money when considering a BT Sport subscription or a 12-month deal. Most competitors do not offer 12-month deals, while the Plusnet discount on the BT Sport app can be enough to make the whole package cheaper than an equivalent deal with Sky or BT.