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BT offer to increase speeds

keithp — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:36:44 GMT

Hello

Have received an email from BT offering an upgrade to 300MB for £1. Anyone know how this happens? Do they come and add another cable or new box, or is it done remotely?

Keith

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

licquorice — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:49:23 GMT

If you already have full fibre it will be done remotely. If you don't have full fibre, you will need to have a new fibre cable and ONT (fibre modem) installed.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

iniltous — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:51:18 GMT

Depends on what you currently have, if already on FTTP , it’s a profile change, so nothing changes at your end (apart from getting a ‘faster’ service) if you are currently on FTTC then a new FTTP service needs to be installed to replace FTTC .

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

gillyallan — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:06:30 GMT

Same here. I'm on 500 and they are offering 900 for £1. I don't see the point really as I believe as all my devices are WiFi only then I won't see any of that on BTs router. The only benefit is the slight upload speed.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

WSH — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:23:49 GMT

Yes, I remember being offered a "free" Halo upgrade many years ago, and look where that led. (Or am I just being cynical?)

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

chrisjp — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 22:12:00 GMT

Yes, I was conned into taking a "free" Halo upgrade a few years ago. They bundled it with converting me from ADSL to VDSL and implied that HALO was part of this upgrade - lies of course, but clearly a marketing initiative to get as many people as possible onto virtually irreversible, and ultimately expensive, HALO contracts.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

Kimberlin — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:09:24 GMT

It’s little more than a marketing ploy designed to lure the customer into making larger payments later once the initial contract period has ended.

If one looks at the cost of 900 mbps against 500 mbps after 2 years, the future monthly payments can be significantly higher once the so called inflation linked rip off £4 a month increase is added on. And the annual £4 a month inflation linked price rise is a rip off because the base point price for new customers is always far below what existing customers pay because that’s the only way ISP’s can lure new customers in. The people who pay the most are always those that for some reason known only unto themselves, do nothing and just keep paying exorbitant amounts of money every month essentially supporting new customer deals. ISP’s love those customers.

So by offering that £1 a month increase for a speed most people probably wouldn’t benefit from anyway, customers might be convinced that they’re getting a great deal. I’m currently in the same position, 500 mbps but with the £1 a month extra for 900mbps, tempting, but only on the condition that I renew on a two year contract. Then, at the end of the contract, will I as the customer be bothered to renegotiate? or, change ISP for a better new customer deal. Personally, I choose to sit my current two years out and switch ISP because the savings over the next two years will be significant. Effectively as things stand, I’m still paying the same monthly amount as I was 5 years ago 18 months into my current contract.

It’s nothing more than smoke and mirrors marketing designed entirely to increase ISP profits. Some customers fall for it, some of us cynically see it for exactly what it is.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

pddco — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:31:01 GMT

@keithp If you’re already on 150Mbps fibre or even 80. Why give them another one of your £££s for no practical benefit?
Unless of course you like seeing that pointer cranking round on fast.com. Or really appreciate the time saved in updating the SatNav or downloading a few GBs of video once in a while. Each to their own of course.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

keithp — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:16:15 GMT

Thanks. The main reason for the upgrade would be to enhance FS2020, but it appears the increased speed would be of little benefit, so my 150 seems quite sufficent.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

pddco — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:03:26 GMT

@keithp I suppose the biggest improvement for gamers must be the change to fibre to the home with the lower latency compared to hybrid copper and fibre. Appreciate, having had a look at recommended speeds for flight simulator at 50Mbps, it could be a deciding factor if there were multiple users in the household. But even so, in practice it’s unlikely that each player’s PC would demand from the server the same terrain data set or whatever simultaneously.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

Dippu — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:01:48 GMT

I received an email last Friday offering an upgrade for FREE for being loyal customer from 150mbs to 500mbs at the same price as 150mbs and no change to my contract terms. I took the offer and today it has been activated.

Quite happy really, didn't need the extra speed but if BT is giving away freebies for being a loyal customer then why not!

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

WSH — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:15:55 GMT

The real test will be when you come to renew the contract.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

Dippu — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:26:57 GMT

Email says it will go up by standard annual price changes ( which is usually a %) and that would have happened anyway if I kept the old speed.

The email I received said explicitly the offer was by invitation only.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

WSH — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:31:15 GMT

Well, I wish you luck but I've been once bitten, twice as shy.

Does it clarify which "standard" price they are talking about. For your old speed or the new speed?

Sorry, had enough experience of BT to be very cynical these days. I wish you all the best. Good luck.

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

pddco — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:38:19 GMT

Personally I’d much prefer, and benefit far more, from a loyalty discount on my existing 150Mbps service. But that’s not going to happen is it? Or perhaps it will, come renewal time.. Hang on, do I see some pigs gathering waiting for take off….?

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

Dippu — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:40:55 GMT

We will see🤞

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

iniltous — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:18:03 GMT

The price is set for the contract length, albeit with the £4 annual increase in March , if at the end of the minimum term the offer price is increased to whatever the prevailing price for the 500Mb speed is and you don’t consider that worth it for the increased speed you don’t really need you can downgrade to the 150Mb speed you had previously, or even change suppliers …..I can’t really see why the cynicism, it’s as close to a ‘you can’t lose’ bet as it’s possible to make ,

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

WSH — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:23:43 GMT

You mean like it was possible to divest yourself of Halo if you didn't want it?

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

pddco — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:27:10 GMT

Agree that at this point it’s a win. But I’d imagine there’ll be quite a few people come contract renewal thinking going back to 150Mbps may be a step too far ( even though it’s likely they’d not seen any benefit of the higher speed) and so hand over the possible increase £££s

Re: BT offer to increase speeds

Dippu — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:41:04 GMT

In my email there is no reference to paying 500mbs at a later date or on recontract.

The email says “As a thanks for being with us, you'll get a speed boost from 150Mb to 500Mb – for free” and “Plus, there’s no change to your contract either. Just a little speed boost to make sure you’re getting a brilliant experience.”

I read the email a number of times before taking the offer up because I didn’t believe it!!!