Broadband the way forward

After reading my own highly informative post on the costs of the new Sky Broadband offering.� I have thinking about my own broadband situation, I'm currently with plus.net who so far have been excellent for these reasons:

1. I ordered Broadband from them and they supplied (nice of them)


2. They are fairly quick to respond to email queries

But now thinking of defecting to Sky I asked plus.net the following:

"What is plusnet doing to discourage its users from Leaving and going over to the much cheaper service SKY is about to roll out?
I appreciate the services provided differ slightly ( i.e. no static ip etc etc ) however to get a 8mb unlimited connection for �17/mnth is vastly different to the plus.net offering.
Obviously I would like to stay with plus.net , but will find it difficult to justify the extra cost."

The response I got,� really got on my nerves, as its clearly a totally standard reply.�

Dear Mr Lloyd,
Here are some comparisons between ourselfs and Sky.

- Coverage: Our prices aren�t based on the exchange you are connected to, or where you live. Sky will charge you �17 if you�re not on one of the exchanges where their equipment is fitted. Currently, Sky equipment is only in 28% of the UK�s exchanges.

- UK based support: Our Support Team is based entirely in Sheffield, whereas Sky is using outsourced technical support in India. We feel ours offers more personal and localised support.

- Flexible contract periods: We offer a variety of contracts, from monthly and annual, to our "you stay, we pay" offer (where your cancellation fee is reduced the longer you stay as a customer). Sky only offers a 12 month contract - this also extends your contract for Sky TV by an additional 12 months.

- "Hard" usage allowances: We only limit usage allowances during peak times (4pm to midnight). There is no limit on how much traffic you use during off-peak times. Sky�s 2 lower products have fixed data usage allowances, with no difference between peak and off-peak times.

- Referral based: We have always based our signups on referrals and don't spend large amounts of money on advertising. If we get new customers, it's usually because of our current customers telling friends and family about the good service they receive. Sky are throwing large amounts of money at advertising to try and tempt customers, without any thought of word of mouth.

- New customers only?: Many companies, Sky included, often offer great deals to new customers only. All of our special offers are available to both existing and new customers.

- Home Phone: Our new Home Phone service lets you to pay us, instead of BT for your phone calls and line rental. This also gives you the convenience of only getting one monthly bill for both your Home Phone and broadband. For more information visit http://www.plus.net/residential/phonecalls/home/index.shtml?wlr=homephonelink_phonecallspage

- Simple requirements: All you need to get PlusNet broadband is a BT telephone line. However, with Sky you must subscribe to one of their, often expensive, television packages.

We hope this information is useful, and that it helps you to decide whether you still want to move your broadband service.

Regards,
Gary Beardshaw

Their points are clear and consice, and could be easy summed up by, " We have no really benefit into you staying here and paying over double for the equivalent offer ".� I'll be canceling my Plus.net account as soon as Sky say my broadband account is active. plus.net clearly have no interest in keeping loyal customers ( 5 years now ).

I have another rant re mobile phones I need to get off my chest, but Ill leave that one for another night.