This topic

Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 14:19:08 GMT

Hi,
As the title stats, we are paying too much per month/year for phone and broadband. On average we are paying out over £80 per month. I felt this was too much so I asked some work collages and on average they are paying £30+ for a similar service!
Our download speed is 60/ upload 16, speed 9ms
in my BT our contract is expired, our service was Halo fibre 1

I need good internet for work, digital marketing niche, i'm not bothered about gaming or streaming but i would like good internet for my server software.

Not my area of expertise, find all the deals/packages confusing to be honest.
My BT offers upgrade but the prices are still £60+ region, which is still more than people say it should be.
I don't think i should be paying anymore than £40 at the most for net and phone.

can anyone advise me please.

Re: Paying too much!

imjolly — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 14:23:17 GMT

if you are no longer in a fixed term contract and now on rolling monthly contract then it is likely that any discounts you had when you started your contract have now ceased and you are paying full price for your service

Try phoning the options team on 0800800030 and see what you can negotiate make sure you have information about current offers from BT but also other ISP to help your negotiations

Re: Paying too much!

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 14:26:58 GMT

I need good internet for work, digital marketing niche, i'm not bothered about gaming or streaming but i would like good internet for my server software.

Then you really need to choose a BT Business package, as that offers a much better connection, and much lower contention ratios.

https://business.bt.com/products/broadband-and-internet/deals/

You also get a better SLA (Service Level Agreement) and compensation for lost business.

£19.95 a month offer at the moment.

33% off fibre business broadband

Get Fibre 38 (broadband only) for £19.95/month (was £29.95), saving you £240. That’ll get you feeling warm inside.

Prices ex VAT. Hurry, offer ends 5 February 2023. T&Cs apply.

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 14:56:14 GMT

hi thanks for that, obviously i need to contact bt asap, but can this deal be used for home, and business and would i get a business phone number? if you don't know that is fine.

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 14:57:43 GMT

i only see upgrades for the same price range so i think we need to call bt asap to get a better deal/contract. most people i spoken to are only paying 30 a month, 50 tops!

Re: Paying too much!

iniltous — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 15:03:35 GMT

You can always call BT retentions , armed with a price a competitor could supply the same service for and ask what BT will do to keep your business, otherwise you will have to leave .

FWIW , a target price of around £30 for Fibre 2 , if your line supports that , isn’t unreasonable, a couple of £ cheaper for Fibre 1 , adding telephony could add a couple of £’s

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 15:28:17 GMT

sounds like the best option tbh

Re: Paying too much!

gspearson — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:46:08 GMT

My Fibre 2 Package is £36 a month with a £6 reduction. I'm not sure when my "deal" expires - it doesn't say on the bill. Meanwhile CityFibre has just arrived in the street, with 6(!) alternative providers, including Vodafone and Talk Talk, plus the old Virgin cable - all cheaper but with no telephone. The BT connection is from a pole in the lane behind the house and OpenReach has abandoned its work to bring us FTTP overhead. I don't plan to move on the basis of price but on service and speed and so far the first 50 years of BT have been fine. I still use my landline - I like a proper telephone. My mobile is used only for apps.

Re: Paying too much!

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:59:43 GMT

but can this deal be used for home, and business and would i get a business phone number? if you don't know that is fine.

The only thing to bear in mind, is that you are not permitted to use a residential account for business use.

If you are running servers, then only BT Business offer a static IP address, which you would normally need.

You could ask for a business phone number, and that would be delivered using Cloud Voice, which uses an IP phone and is carried over your broadband connection.

BT Business also use Office365 (Outlook) for its email, which is a business grade service.

It depends on whether you are intending to promote your services in the future.

Re: Paying too much!

gspearson — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 17:15:11 GMT

I've just checked: my contract runs to January 2024. But if I recontract now I can get Fibre 2 Halo3 for £1 a month more than I pay now. So tempting....? I would get a Smart Hub 2 - I got one last year, and it is still in its box. I don't need a router - I have a Deco network and a modem.

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 17:42:47 GMT

not bad price!

Re: Paying too much!

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 17:55:50 GMT

would get a Smart Hub 2 - I got one last year, and it is still in its box. I don't need a router - I have a Deco network and a modem.

When you recontract, your phone service will be moved onto BT Digital Voice, which only works with the BT Smart Hub 2, so you would have to use that, and change the Deco network to access mode and not router mode, unless you can tolerate a separate subnet.

But I am not sure if you use your phone service anyway?

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 19:53:33 GMT

are you saying i need a business service for business use, or can i get away with a comsumer package?

can anyone please advise the right package,

i get 60 down and 16 up now, seems ok, minus the price tag of over £80pm
i must have a land line, a business number would be a bonus.
based on what i'm seeing i shouldn't be paying out for more than £30-35pm

thanks to all who are helping me.

Re: Paying too much!

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 20:16:24 GMT

are you saying i need a business service for business use, or can i get away with a comsumer package?

See http://www.bt.com/terms

"6. How you can use the service

a. Each service is just for you and your household for personal use (meaning that it should not be used for any trade, business or profession). You're responsible for how each service and the loaned equipment are used.

11. When we may restrict, suspend or end a service

xii. You use a service for any trade, business or profession.

15. What we're not responsible for and limits on our liability

iii. Any loss you suffer caused by you using a service in a way that breaks the agreement.
iv. Any commercial or businesses loss."

There was a recent post from a forum member who moved to a business package, and there was only a small increase in monthly cost.

If you are advertising your business, then you really need to have a business grade service, but the choice is yours.

Re: Paying too much!

lawn900x — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 20:13:11 GMT

ah, thank you for taking the time to reply. best update and use the business internet plan then. ok, not really made much, actually trying to re-build the business model so that i can do it full time as aposed to a side hustle.

Re: Paying too much!

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 20:28:43 GMT

@lawn900x

I would read this first https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/Home-Broadband-to-Business/m-p/2240250#M145925

It may not apply to you.

I am sure many of our regular forum members would agree, if you want to run your business long term, and advertise and perhaps host a website, then a business account would be best.

If you decide to get a business phone number, then that can be taken with you if you have to move, as their phone service is hosted on the Cloud.

I would have a chat with the BT Business sales people first, and tell them what you need, and see if they can offer it at a price you are prepared to pay.

Re: Paying too much!

gspearson — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 04:28:08 GMT

All the calls I make (not many) are on the landline. I am preparing for muddle when DV arrives - given that it seems unlikely that OR is going to provide FTTP. So then I might move to CityFibre and go VOIP with someone.

Re: Paying too much!

Springy47 — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 15:22:58 GMT

Firstly I have to acknowledge I should have done some competitive research. However I signed up for a BT Broadband contract and chose a Fibre 250 with Halo 3+ and link with EE and was charged over £80 per month for this. Due to my stupidity and lack of technical knowledge (I am in my 70's and clearly not a techie!!) I thought this was the going rate. When all my counterparts told me they were with Sky and other suppliers on their super fast packages and paying half this, I phoned BT. They told me the only way they would let me have a reduced package that was more appropriate to my actual needs was if I paid them £810 cancellation fee.

I feel between a rock and a hard place and am not a happy BT customer who through his admittedly own stupdity is being taken to the cleaners by BT.

Re: Paying too much!

Weerab1983 — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 07:18:50 GMT

If your out of contract, check uswitch for the going rate and you will get all available deals and providers at your address. You can then phone and select the leaving BT option and you will be put straight through to the value/retention team and barter with competitive alternatives if you wish.

If you have just taken a deal out and find a cheaper price within 14 days, you can cancel your new contact free of charge.

If your nearly out of your contact or coming out of it soon go into your My BT account and check your latest offers out.

I am 6 months into my new contract, checked my offers out on Saturday just to be nosy and re contracted to full fibre 500 from 150 (from £31 to £35pm) with 6 months Xbox pass (which I paid for before hand with Microsoft) and a £75 voucher!

Re: Paying too much!

iniltous — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 08:39:13 GMT

TBH , its not really equitable to compare a ‘standard’ broadband connection from another provider , which is probably what your ‘counterparts’ have , with what you have with Halo 3+ , if you had taken the equivalent ‘standard’ BT broadband the price would be much closer to what they pay .

It could also be the case that you don’t need the bells and whistles that come with the Halo package, and that’s why you feel you are overpaying , perhaps because you haven’t had to use them you don’t see these as benefits worth paying for , especially as some are only accessible if you also have a BT Mobile mobile phone .

If you had doubts about the Halo package you signed up to , then during the 14 day cooling off period would have be the obvious time to reconsider and change it to something more appropriate , presumably you signed up to this some considerable time ago , and are way past the point of cancellation without penalty, if the early termination charges are what you state you may well still have possibly a year left on a two year minimum deal.

It really is a case if ‘Caveat Emptor’ , the list of benefits on Halo are quite extensive, but many are based on maintaining connectivity should the ‘landline’ broadband service fall over, if it hasn’t fallen over , then it may seem like an unnecessary expense, but most ‘insurance’ is never claimed against , some of the other benefits , like the home visit to optimise your setup and whole home WiFi are also subjective, some may consider it worthwhile, others may not, if you were never bothered ( and certainly didn’t want to pay extra to mitigate ) about the prospect of potentially being off line a short while during a landline fault , didn’t need a BT tech to visit your home , and the standard wifi coverage would have been adequate, then Halo was probably never the appropriate choice