Phone Only Discount

[iniltous]

Strictly speaking you are not entitled to the ‘no broadband’ discount as you have FTTP broadband with Zen, obviously BT don’t know you have broadband , just that you don’t have broadband with BT, or a line share broadband ( SMPF ) the fact that FTTP is available doesn’t mean BT can assume you are currently connected to it , as far as they know ( assuming you had separate broadband and phone providers on the copper line and now don’t ) they simply see the copper line is now just a phone line and presumably are obliged to ask you if the household has no broadband ,TBH I’m surprised that the discount is automatically applied beforehand

[melindwr]

BT appear to be applying it automatically, however very late, as I switched in January.

I made two calls yesterday. In the first I was assured that I qualified as I have no BT broadband. This despite my protests that the latest BT tariff leaflet clearly states that I am not entitled "no fixed broadband with any provider".  I then rang and explained again and after some time was transferred to Nottingham(?) who put me on hold and never came back!

It is clear, I am not entitled to the discount, and as much as I like lower prices, I do not want to find I am in dispute with BT/Openreach should my fibre break. I am getting a bit long in tooth and like things to be "in order".  Silly me!!?

I am astounded that for a company who sell "communication" it is the one thing they themselves do so badly. There is no way to to communicate your problem, for them to investigate, and get back to you later and, short of making a complaint, no way to write them!

[iniltous]

Why are you maintaining PSTN phone line at all ?, ( not paying for it is cheaper obvious, than standard line rental or discounted line rental for those with genuinely no broadband ) you obviously could have  telephony delivered over broadband , presumably via Zen ( if they offer a phone service ) or via a third party VoIP provider ..if the concern is power outages and need a line that will work through that , in the relatively short term you could be in a situation where your telephony is effectively delivered over DV ( BT proprietary version of VoIP ) which would in effect be a 0.5Mb ‘broadband’ connection and the phone plugged into that , once the PSTN switch off is complete , it’s not a copper network switch off , some copper lines will remain for some time , just not delivering services from the exchange PSTN equipment.

As far as mixed messages, it seems most providers have some staff that are not sufficiently well  trained , or misinformed about their company’s products , and the ‘no broadband’ line rental discount was regulator imposed thing, and IMHO unclear in its scope , and was only mandated on BT ( so that’s around 75% of the market wouldn’t be entitled to discount if they took telephony only from anybody else ) so your situation is probably pretty uncommon, not that’s an excuse .

[melindwr]

When I took my contract, Zen were not offering VOIP. They do now, so I will have that choice when I renew. DV does not solve the problem of connectivity in a power outage and the mobile signal is too poor where I live (by the way this a village on a main trunk road not on the side of mountain!).  In rural areas people are more dependent on phones and alternatives are just not there atm. I am one of the lucky ones, I have good broadband and PSTN phone, some of my neighbours would be pleased if their broadband was reliably over 0.5Mb!

[PaddyB]

Hi @melindwr,

Thank you for posting. I'm sorry you had to call BT a number of times and still haven't been able to get this corrected. The information posted on this thread is correct because you have Broadband with another provider means you wouldn't be entitled to the Phone Only Discount. 

If you send me your details, I'll be able to get this corrected. 

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team.  You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy