This topic

Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:47:17 GMT

I know this won’t reach the people who really need to hear it, but here goes anyway.

My contract ends today and I’ve just initiated a switch to Sky broadband purely because of the extortionate price BT have been charging me. £73.50 for fttc Halo 3+.

During the countdown to contract end the best they came up with was £66.50.

Within seconds of Sky confirming my order, BT messaged me with an offer of Fibre 2 for £32.

Why on earth they didn’t offer this a couple of weeks ago is totally beyond me. It’s highly likely I would have taken it if they had. As it is I’ve made my decision, Sky is still significantly cheaper and am not inclined to change my mind.

It’s so, so stupid BT. Just give us a choice of packages from the outset, not just Halo or nothing. A lost customer because of it.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

chrisjp — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:56:27 GMT

Yes, BT's "retentions" policy is too clever by half!

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kimberlin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:07:40 GMT

@Andrew600

Good luck with the new ISP, I hope all goes well with the switch.

Undoubtedly, had BT Retentions managed to convince you to stay with the offer which came in too late, you'd probably have ended up being transferred to the EE side of the business anyway as some customers who have renegotiated their contracts have mentioned on this forum.

Don't forget to return all of the BT gear and whatever you do, make sure you get a proof of posting from the Post Office and take a photograph of it and store it away somewhere safe where you can find it so that when you get an email or letter telling you to return the kit you've already returned and telling you you'll be getting a large bill for it, you can shove your proof of posting in the right direction.

It's certainly a bizarre way for retentions to conduct business, but there you go, lose a customer but gain another from somewhere else. It's just a merry go round.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kodikid — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:24:23 GMT

That's exactly what I did but in my case I joined plusnet for a week then cancelled.

I then joined BT as a new customer with a cracking deal with the addition of £150 gift card.

The original renewal offer was actually quite comical/ offensive being almost double what a new customer would pay

Hope it goes well with Sky.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:56:41 GMT

Thanks @Kimberlin and @Kodikid

I hope it goes well too obviously.

I just had a call from retentions and the offer is now £22 plus £3 for a payg landline. He was desperate to sell me a TV package too and wouldn’t take no for an answer. That would have guaranteed a switch to EE. I refused all of it.

Nothing says third party agents on commission more than that call to me. It was one of those calls where he was talking nonsense a lot of the time and I got annoyed almost instantly. Hopefully they got the message and won’t call again.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kimberlin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:53:48 GMT

@Andrew600

What speed was the customer service rep offering you for £22 a month?

I wouldn't take a TV package either, just a whole bunch of expense if you ask me!

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:01:53 GMT

@Kimberlin

I didn’t ask, but it’s a good question. It could well have been a 40/10 package. £22 is way below any new customer pricing afaik, so there might be a catch in there somewhere.

To be honest, that call has annoyed me so much that the switch is going ahead no matter what. It was that bad!

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

WSH — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:13:42 GMT

Yes, mirrors my own recent experience.

I initiated a move to Sky because I couldn’t get a decent price out of BT. In my case, I really wanted to make the move to Openreach FTTP infrastructure. Despite requesting this, Sky sent CityFibre to do the install. Unfortunately, that is a non-starter here, as it would have involved digging up a communal drive. Fortunately, BT had got the message in the meantime and offered me FTTP at a sensible price, so I cancelled the move to Sky.

Pity they have to effectively lose customers before they get the message. Next time they won’t be so lucky, as the infrastructure is now in place and I won’t mess a third-party about by cancelling just because they’ve got round to making a sensible offer after the event.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:37:30 GMT

Now there’s another offer by text of £27 for fibre 2 with an 80/20 connection.

This is going to get tiresome if they don’t admit defeat soon.

Starting the switch was so quick and simple.

Dealing with BT attempting to stop it, not so much, but it does tell me that if you want to stay, the best way to get a decent deal is to start a switch to another ISP.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kimberlin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:46:11 GMT

@Andrew600

When I switched away from BT using OTS (I initiated it at 6 in the morning), by 9am, I was being bombarded with phone calls from the BT call centre in Stevenage. I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to talk to them, indeed I was left with zero option but to block their number in the end because they kept calling without leaving a message. BT had plenty of opportunity to offer me a stunning retention deal a full 30 days before I switched, but they didn't and their so called 'Offers' in the MyBT App, were quite honestly, a poor joke when compared to what a new customer was being offered. It's a massive shame because I had no issues with BT or the service, absolutely top rate, but I am not wasting my breath talking to a call centre sales person fighting to get some commission and hoping I get what they promise on the phone.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:51:40 GMT

@Kimberlin

Yeah I might need to block them too. If they call during the Arsenal game tonight I definitely will.

I 100% agree with you when you said “It's a massive shame because I had no issues with BT or the service, absolutely top rate, but I am not wasting my breath talking to a call centre sales person fighting to get some commission and hoping I get what they promise on the phone.”

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

WSH — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:06:42 GMT

@Andrew600 Interestingly, again that's the same experience.

I was offered Fibre 2 on FTTP at 74Mb/s, but I also saw on MyBT that it was flagged as having a free upgrade to Full Fibre 150 once FTTP was available. (And, of course, at that point it was available).

They then tried to charge me £6 a month extra for the upgrade but backed down when I sent them a screenshot of the offer and queried why the "free" upgrade was costing £6 more!

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:21:01 GMT

I was curious , so just checked the number retentions called from yesterday. It was the Stevenage call centre, so third party agents acting on behalf of BT as I suspected.

It was a very noisy call centre, the background voices were off putting from the start.

I’ve not heard from BT at all today yet thankfully.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kimberlin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:34:01 GMT

@Andrew600

It will be a very busy call centre because not only will they be dealing with BT customers they’ll also most certainly be dealing with EE customers.

I’d very much guess that the call centre operators are effectively double hatting, able to access both BT and EE accounts simultaneously, hence why folks who are phoning to possibly renegotiate a new contract with BT, inescapably find themselves getting migrated to EE there and then. Unless of course you kick up a fuss and make it clear you want to remain on BT’s books.

Thankfully now, with the full implementation of silence unknown callers on my iPhone, I never get bothered with call centres anymore because they have to announce who they are to a bot or they end the call.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:39:29 GMT

@Kimberlin

Yep, you’re almost certainly right.

I really miss the days when we could talk to BT employees who knew what they were talking about.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

chrisjp — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:57:20 GMT

"That's exactly what I did but in my case I joined plusnet for a week then cancelled. I then joined BT as a new customer with a cracking deal with the addition of £150 gift card"

Since Plusnet is part of the BT group you were lucky that they did not class you as an existing customer when you re-joined BT. They certainly do this with customers attempting to swap to EE then back to BT.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

chrisjp — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:03:11 GMT

"I wouldn't take a TV package either, just a whole bunch of expense if you ask me!"

I agree. With an aerial you can get the whole Freeview range of channels for free. If you live in a relay transmitter area and the Freeview number of channels is restricted, then a satellite dish gives you the Freesat range of channels which is at least as extensive as the full Freeview one.
Each option of course requires a suitable receiver but this is a one-off purchase and not a recurring monthly bill, and most receivers also allow you to record programmes and watch them later, using fast forward to skip the ads.
What's not to like?

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Kodikid — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:19:11 GMT

Really wouldn't go down the satellite route

Think Sky's license expires in 2029

To say freesats future is unclear is an understatement.

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

WSH — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:56:14 GMT

Of course, a lot of people already have a satellite dish that could be repurposed.

Sky have been moving to IP TV* for some time now. I think they still offer satellite but the push is very much to get new customers on IP TV.

(*And boy, does that use some bandwidth. Mine pushed my monthly usage up 450GB)

Re: Escape from Halo 3+

Andrew600 — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 15:09:16 GMT

@WSH

Yes, Sky do still offer satellite. It’s not an option on their website anymore, but still available if you look hard enough or call them.

I still have Sky Q and they’re not pressuring me to change yet, but that will change in the next 2 or 3 years I imagine.

By the way, I have no idea what you watch on TV, but I’m using a consistent 50GB a day assuming the hub manager count is correct. Thank god there’s no fair usage limits!