This topic

Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Darkelf720 — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:07:33 GMT

Hi everyone.

I currently have the 900MB Full Fibre broadband and my contract is due for renewal on 31st May. I currently pay around £70 ish.

I notice that, as a new customer, I could get this for £38.99.

Upon reading the renewal pack, I am offered my 900MB Full Fibre Broadband for £67.99 for a 24 month contract. Part of the details states - 'You will NEVER pay more than a New Customer - no excuses.'

Am I actually reading this incorrectly?

Please see https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals

I would love to renew my BT Broadband but, I am certainly not going to be fleeced by having to pay double that of a new customer.

Please could you let me know your views?

Is there anything I can do, I do I just swtich provider to EE or Sky and be that New Customer with a shiny deal?

Many thanks.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Kodikid — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:28:17 GMT

Not got BT halo by any chance?

Either way £70 is ludicrous for 900mbps. Easy attained just about everywhere for less then £40.

Loyalty equals suckers in the broadband world.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Kimberlin — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:30:31 GMT

Well you've taken the first positive step by actually discovering you can get 900mbps for half the price you are currently paying and you know you'd be mugging yourself off by paying that stupid ridiculous monthly cost if you were to stay 'loyal' without at least trying to haggle with BT. I've become a non haggler, I refuse now to play the stupid haggle game so I just swap ISP and get the brand new customer deal, but that's my personal consumer choice. Once you're out of contract, you can actually switch ISP in as little as 5 working days, I know, I just did so 5 weeks ago, no disrupton in service, I just had to change my user name and password in my TP-Link router, reboot and there's been no change in service whatsoever, except I no longer have Ipv6, which is no great shakes.

So if you decide to give up precious minutes of your life with BT retentions, accept nothing less than a brand new customer deal or move on to another ISP.

My question is, do you actually need 900mbps broadband? My Wife works from home, we have around 25 devices connected to our WiFi and we watch Netflix and we manage it all just fine on 500mbps which for some is still utter overkill.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

WSH — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:35:02 GMT

Welcome to the club, mate!

Yes, I'd be interested to know how they're getting away with that statement as well! Unfortunately, a quick look at other forums shows that the problem is currently endemic across the industry. Of couse, their arguement is that your package is different to what a new customer would get. "Weasel words" doesn't even begin to describe it. Personally, I'd quite happily give up the current package and start over again as a new customer but will they let me? Of course not. Basically, it boils down to they've already got us on the hook and they know most people are relucant to move, so they think they can just milk us. Unfortunately, it seems the only solution is to move to a different ISP every two years. Despicable and short-sighted!

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

imjolly — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:53:12 GMT

You need to make sure you are comparing the same package . The online package will be BT broadband 900mb with no phone or phone call package and also excludes the add on halo 3 or3+. Switching provider has been made far easier now as others posted as long as you don't want to keep your home phone. Have you been moved to digital voice?

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Kimberlin — Fri, 16 May 2025 18:54:22 GMT

In many cases now, you don't even have to speak to your current ISP to move, you just do it all online. I don't have a landline and none of that Halo stuff and I use my own router etc, so switching ISP was absolutely no hassle whatsoever. The problem is, many customers think it is an absolute hassle and won't move and so they get stuffed with the annual increase and they keep paying it. I didn't speak to BT when I initiated the switch, I just switched, no loyalty to them from me, absolutely no loyalty from BT in wanting to retain me by offering me a deal equal to that of a new customer in my last month of contract. Upshot, they can't be bothered, I can't be bothered. I win because new ISP is cheaper by 10 quid a month. Stupid thing is, I'll undoubtedly be back with BT in two years time on a brand new customer deal, probably paying what I'm paying now. It's all a game.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

WSH — Fri, 16 May 2025 19:18:26 GMT

Yes, a game...that wastes everybody's time, including the ISP's. I would have moved before now. The only thing making me hesitate is that I need to do the upgrade to FTTP, so this time it will be a lot of hassle. Oh, well. Such is life...time to get on with it.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Darkelf720 — Fri, 16 May 2025 20:14:52 GMT

Wow thank you all so much for the replies. Really appreciated. I got 900MB becuase I thought I would need a 'Max Package' with 2 ravenous daughters using spotify all the time and me being a gamer. I actually don't.

I have no phone, I use a mobile like almost everyone else. BT wanted to install 'Digital Voice' but the engineer didn't even have a VOIP phone when they installed the Fibre Box.

As for Halo 3 - what actually does that do? Absolutely never used anything other than the normal internet. I bought my own BT disc thing to extend the Wi-Fi for my daughters and use a wire personally.

So, (if allowed) anyone have any recommendations for a new ISP? EE maybe? Sky? Or, should I speak with BT and get them (if they will) to do it for £38.99?

Again, i really appreciate your time and effort everyone.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Kimberlin — Fri, 16 May 2025 20:36:54 GMT

If you don't need a landline and you haven't got one anyway, then clearly you don't actually need one. I moved into my new build home four years ago, all wired up for FTTP. Hadn't used a landline for years and decided I didn't need one anyway. Plus, more and more people are either giving up the landline completely or not bothering with one anyway. The age old argument of 'what if the mobile masts go down' just doesn't cut it anymore. I get it some folks still need a landline, but clearly many no longer do.

Probably a little unfair to ask for recommendations for a new ISP. After all, this is a BT Community. If you drop your speed to 500mbps, you'll clearly get a brand new customer deal with another ISP for around 30 quid a month, you might even get a cash card thrown in to the bargain.

As I said earlier, if you're prepared to give up several long minutes of precious life haggling with BT retentions, fill your boots, they might actually give you a great deal, but don't hold your breath. Sometimes it's just easier to cut the cord. After all, you can always come back.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

WSH — Fri, 16 May 2025 21:17:18 GMT

"After all, you can always come back." Not for two years you can't. And that's another bone I have. Anyway, moving on...

I believe it is against forum rules to promote another ISP, so I'll keep it general. There is another major provider rumoured to be launching packages with CityFibre as well Openreach later this year. The extra flexibility there might be worth a look, especially as CF infrastructure is rumoured to be even cheaper.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

chrisjp — Fri, 16 May 2025 22:18:59 GMT

"So, (if allowed) anyone have any recommendations for a new ISP? EE maybe? Sky?"

Moving to EE from BT won't get you a new customer deal because, although BT insists that EE is a completely separate company, when you contact EE they'll identify you as an existing BT customer and won't offer a new customer deal. In fact they'll likely offer you a "deal" that is more expensive than your BT one. Heads BT wins, tails you lose!
I think the same applies to Plusnet which is also a BT group company that is claimed to be completely separate from BT.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

Kimberlin — Sat, 17 May 2025 06:17:44 GMT

I can confirm from my own very recent experience having moved from BT to Plusnet, I did get a new customer deal on a two year contract. I've been flip-flopping between BT and Plusnet since 2015 and I've always had a new customer deal.

As I stated in a different thread, the only reason I was with BT for the previous four years prior to my most recent switch was because despite what other contributors have previously stated, Plusnet wasn't even available to me when I moved into my brand new property 4 years ago. I know this because I checked at the time. I'd been with Plusnet at my previous address and it was confirmed at the time that Plusnet couldn't provide me with a service at my new property. BT was my only option hence why I was offered a new homeowner deal by BT because there simply was no other choice (or so I was informed at the time!) Thankfully, that has since changed.

Whether a move from BT to EE will facilitate a new customer deal, is a totally different matter.

Re: Loyal Customers Vs New Customers

WSH — Sat, 17 May 2025 07:12:21 GMT

You’re right. I think it may depend on how you go about the move. If you go through MyBT etc. then it knows you are an existing customer. If you sign up from scratch you may be in with a better chance of getting a new customer deal.

In my view EE is a non-starter for a couple of reasons, though. 1) their “deals” are just as bad as my current prices, if not worse. 2) I get the impression a move is chaos. OK, you can say people only post when they want to moan, (and there is truth in that), but the volume of complains relative to other posts is always interesting, on any site. At the moment, there are far too many bitter complaints on EE for me to seriously consider them.