More Hybrid Connect Questions

[GuyBB]

Thanks to all who contributed to my original post on this topic. I thought I'd start a new post as I am leaning towards the Hybrid Connect Option but would like to be fully aware of any contractual obligations.

I've been patiently waiting to be switched to Digital Voice but despite multiple mailings with four week deadlines it hasn't happened and now I'm told my line is not on the list at present. I've had quite a bit of internal phone extension wiring changed (by a retired BT Engineer) to allow me to easily decouple my internal phone extension wiring from the incoming copper line and switch it to the green analogue socket on the Smart Hub 2 (so no feedback into the copper line can occur). I've got two BT Paragon 500 and two BT Relate 2100 analogue phones; all mains powered so probably each somewhat less than their nominal REN=1 when powered and I want to continue to use these as previously via the SH2 analogue phone port once switched to DV. Other posts on this forum suggest it should just work. I'm not interested in using DECT phones or BT's analogue extenders.

I wanted to wait until I had been switched to DV and had all this working satisfactorily before committing to another long term contract with BT. But now it seems it could be as late as 2027 before my DV switchover occurs and even that could slip.

I'm well out of contract with BT but am reluctant to start a new 24 month contract until I know the DV phone service is working for me. So I'm now wondering if I could take BT Hybrid Connect now as a monthly add-on to my existing Fibre 1 + Unlimited Calls package without changing the package in any other way and remaining out of contract.

Scouring the web it seems that BT Hybrid Connect can be added on a monthly basis and also can be terminated at any time on giving 30 days notice and returning the equipment.

Can anyone confirm this assertion or refute it please?

Many thanks in advance

[Leanne_T · Accepted solution]

Morning @GuyBB 

Thanks for coming to the community. 

To check what is available for your account, the best people to speak to would be our broadband technical support guides. They can run through all available options and relevant terms and conditions with you. 

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

[GuyBB]

Thanks for that link.

I think will get all my questions prepared in advance and do an online Message session which should allow me to save a record of what was agreed.

I once had a terrible experience with just speaking to someone. Having fully paid for a BT offer by credit card (card was the only way permitted) I then received an email saying my account would be direct debited with the full amount. So I had to make an urgent and stressful phone call to get that cancelled. 

I'd also been assured that my Paper Billing would carry on. But then an email arrived thanking me for saving the planet and confirming paper billing had been cancelled.

So another frantic phone call. Only to find out that my Quarterly Billing had been silently switched to Monthly so I would now have 12 paper bill fees per year rather than four.

At which point my stress levels went through the roof. I did get it sorted but as a result I vowed never again to change any aspect of my set-up with BT. So this explains my extreme caution at the present time.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @GuyBB 

I am sorry you had this experience in the past. 

When you get in touch, the team will be happy to help and get you all the information you need. 

Let me know how you get on 🙂

Leanne.

[chrisjp]

Time and again we see people on this Forum complaining that contract items they have agreed on the phone with a BT agent are not honoured and another less favourable contract item is substituted. I suspect this is either because agents are swayed by what provides them with the most commission, or that they are just incompetant.
Neither of these possibilities is acceptable - when is BT going to put its house in order and behave like a respectable company?

[GuyBB]

This morning I had a live message session with a helpful BT person. Here are some extracts from the transcript with personal information removed:-

....... (preamble)

BT: so you only want to take Hybrid Connect with us, is this correct?

Me: I see that in the BT_PhoneTariff_Residential.pdf effective from August 1 2025
it says on p 23 "Hybrid Connect Minimum Term (Days) 30 , Monthly Price £7.55"
Does this mean that it can be added to a Broadband Fibre 1 + Unlimited Calls
(out of contract) package without needing to enter into a new contract with BT?

BT: Got it. We are checking the details for you from our end, could you please
allow me 2-3 minutes?

Me: Certainly, and here is a subsidiary question if the answer to the above is Yes.
Can Hybrid Connect be cancelled with no penalty on giving 30 days notice and
returning the equipment? Because if the 4G signal is not strong enough in one's
location the product is useless!

BT: Thank you so much for your patience.

BT: we have checked the details for you and since you can surely get the
Hybrid Connect with us even being out of contract. There is a dedicated
team-the Values Team who is specialized in looking into this and will get this
all arranged for you at the earliest. Also, rest assured that Hybrid Connect is
a backup device and will provide you with unlimited internet whenever there is
an issue with the broadband connection. In the rarest scenario, if you still
face any issue with this, you can cancell this anytime. Shall I share the
details of the team with you, and they will get the Hybrid Connect all arranged
for you as per your preference?

Me: If I went for this, would my existing Broadband and Phone package remain
completely unchanged? In particular NOT being moved from BT to EE for Landline
Broadband and Phone (I appreciate the Hybrid Connect uses EE 4G wireless)

BT: Absolutely, Hybrid Connect is an addon, so rest assured that it will not impact
your existing broadband and phone package

......

BT: I am sharing with you the details of the Values Team who will get the
Hybrid Connect arranged for you. Please call our Value Team on
03301234150/0800800150 from 8am to 9pm Mon-Fri 8am to 8pm Saturday 9am to 6pm
Sunday.

I felt that this "chat" had been most satisfactory so a little later I called the 0800 800 150 number.

I was then told "Computer Says No" and the only way I could have Hybrid Connect would be to recontract for 24 months and preferably take BT Halo 3+ which includes Hybrid Connect. The Agent did spend the best part of half an hour talking with various other teams but apparently they all said what I was asking for couldn't be done.

I explained that I did intend to recontract at some future point but that I wanted to be sure that Digital Voice was implemented correctly for me before doing so. (In this context I'd just mention the experience of a friend who moved to BT FTTP and DV a few months ago. She can call my landline from her landline and her Calling ID appears correctly and we can talk normally. But if I return the call (including the area code) I get "The number you have dialled has not been recognised". This has been going on for some months and she has not yet been able to get it resolved. Hence my reluctance to commit to another 24 months with BT without being sure I can make and receive landline calls.)

I was then told that I would never be able to have DV without entering into a new contract with BT so I might as well sign up to BT Halo3+ there and then.

I suspected this was not true and if I am correct then either the Agent was incompetent or lying. She also insisted that an Engineer visit to my home would be necessary to implement DV but none of the many  "snail mail" documents promising imminent DV switchover "within the next four weeks" (starting from last April) mention the need for an Engineer to visit. I already have a SmartHub2 of course.

I said that I would just leave things as they were and had no intention of entering into another contract just to be switched to DV. It's BT that is forcing the switch on its customers. I somehow doubt they will want to lose a chunk of their customer base by forcing new contracts on them but if they do well that might be the catalyst to jump ship.

I also asked the Agent to raise a complaint. Not about her handling of my call but about the fact that I had been told something in the online chat which proved to be completely inaccurate when I attempted to place the order (and incidentally spend more money with BT!)

I was promised an email giving the details of the raising of my complaint but have received nothing yet and suspect I never will.

Based on the above my feeling is that chrisjp's view of the situation is the more accurate and Leanne_T's view is somewhat rose tinted!

[iniltous]

I was then told that I would never be able to have DV without entering into a new contract with BT so I might as well sign up to BT Halo3+ there and then.

This is wrong , at some point you will be moved to DV irrespective of your contractual status and the change to DV  in itself has no bearing on your contractual position either …to be generous to the representative, what was probably meant was DV is a proprietary BT IP telephony system, and ‘only’ available from BT , so if you move provider you clearly won’t be able to have BTDV , however this is somewhat complicated by , in my opinion, the bad decision of many other providers  calling their own IP telephony services ‘ Digital Voice’ rather than chosing a different name , Sky at least call their service something like Internet Calls rather than DV ,  it’s much like all Hoovers are vacuum cleaners but not all vacuum cleaners are Hoovers , the risk is IP telephony gets referred to as DV , even though that’s BT’s ‘name’ and not a generic title for IP telephony.

[WSH]

Sky's DV equivalent is called "Sky Talk".

And, just to confirm iniltous' statement, I myself was moved to DV two years ago, while still being on copper based FTTC, and while having been out of contract for several years.  No new contract was required and I am still out of contract.

(And before anybody jumps in and says but "you moved to Sky".  Nope, I'm still here.  Long, comical, story for later involving Sky trying to tell me 'Openreach sometimes send out CityFibre when they are busy'!)

[GuyBB]

Thank you - that merely stiffens my resolve to sit tight and wait for BT to eventually switch me to DV. After which, if all has gone well and I can still make and receive landline calls, I will revisit going back into contract and adding Hybrid Connect at that point. Although I may examine other backup options in the meantime as my Draytek router can support USB 4G modems I believe.

[GuyBB]

Thank you WSH - that is exactly my situation. FTTC and out of contract. One part of BT is repeatedly writing to me to say that I am being moved over to DV "within the next four weeks" yet nothing ever actually happens. I wonder what is so difficult for them. But if, like my friend, I would land up post DV switchover being unable to receive landline calls (while still able to make them) perhaps the longer they take over it the better!

Perhaps the saddest thing is that my impression is that the other telcos are no better than BT.