Plusnet Scraps Line Rental Saver, Adding £30 to Customers’ Annual Costs

Tens of thousands of Plusnet customers will see their annual costs rise by £30 as the ISP scraps a discount they could earn by paying for a year’s line rental in advance.

Plusnet launched the Line Rental Saver in 2011. Recently, broadband customers could pay £213.12 upfront to cover their line rental for the year, the equivalent of £17.76 a month and savings of £30.36.

In April 2020, Plusnet closed the Line Rental Saver to new customers, while keeping it for existing customers. Plusnet has now withdrawn the Line Rental Saver for all customers whose minimum contract term ends after 22 February 2021.

Instead, subscribers will have to pay for line rental monthly, at £20.29, a total annual cost of £243.48.

Customers who have already paid for the Line Rental Saver won’t see any change until their year is up. But when the term lapses or they renew, they’ll have to pay monthly going forward.

Plusnet, which is owned by BT, said it was replacing the line rental with “more flexible and competitive offers.” It didn’t say how many customers would be affected by the change but indicated that tens of thousands currently take advantage of the Line Rental Saver.

Line rental technically covers maintenance of the copper telephone lines over which ADSL and FTTC broadband are delivered. It’s become less of a hidden cost since the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled in 2016 that ISPs must combine the cost of line rental with broadband when advertising.

You can avoid paying line rental by signing up for a cable broadband tariff from Virgin Media or a full-fibre connection. But don't expect to save any money. Broadband plans without line rental aren't any cheaper than those without and full-fibre is more expensive than ADSL and FTTC.

Plusnet is expected to increase prices for all customers later this year, hikes based on April’s consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, which will be announced in May. From 2022, price rises on Plusnet broadband tariffs will be aligned with those from BT’s other ISPs, BT and EE Broadband, increasing at the end of March by December’s CPI plus 3.9%.