Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

[Colin_London]

Cannot do that easily as don’t have the tool to hand at work.

So today data works for a certain amount of time then stops. Turning on airplane mode and then off again gets it working again. Then an indeterminate time later it stops again requiring a further toggle.

Have checked all my other settings and they seem OK. 

Now on carrier settings 61 after iOS 18.2 update.

[Michael_D]

Is it something you'd be able to try later? @Colin_London 

I know you said the EE SIM is working, but it is still worth checking the network checker to rule out any known problems in the areas you are in.

If it does carry on, it would be best to speak to our tech guides, so they can look into it further for you.

Michael

[Colin_London]

I can try this evening from home but generally it has been working whilst at home in the evening outside M25. Which is why I was wondering whether it is a prioritisation issue with BT users being bumped off in favour of EE users due to network pressures.

The problems do seem to be worse during rush hour commuting and at lunchtime.

[Michael_D]

There wouldn't be any kind of priority given to particular customer types. If it does just seem to be certain areas it would be best to speak to the tech guides so they can run a diagnostic and take a deeper dive into the network in the areas.

Michael

[Colin_London]

So tried first line technical support. But their network refresh didn't work.

During the journey home tonight the data stopped working altogether. I think what I was seeing previously with the 'intermittent' data on reset was the BT management system letting the phone work for a few kB before the block was kicking in. So it was misleading, and it didn't matter how many resets I tried on my device because the root cause was in the BT systems..

When I got home tried swapping the SIM to my work mobile. The data problem followed to my work phone thereby proving it wasn't my personal phone at fault, and putting my work SIM in my personal phone caused that to work perfectly with data.

Phoned up 150 again this evening, went through first line to second line who then confirmed it was the Halo double data issue which has not been fixed. Have now escalated to executive complaints and expecting a call back tomorrow afternoon.

[SueF1]

@Colin_London , well done for following this up.  We are based in Hertfordshire and my daughter’s phone has been working with the add on, so this is a workaround for people affected.  

Given how much money I am paying BT each month, it is not acceptable to say we have to wait until they fix the problem or the data renews and in my view they should be offering the data add on proactively for people affected.

The reason I’ve stuck with BT for 20+ years is reliability, but right now we have this phone issue and I’m not getting the broadband I’m paying for either and have an engineer coming to sort that out today. Husband’s not happy as he’s missed two big football matches due to the poor speeds, making the games unwatchable!!

[Colin_London]

Hi Sue,

I chose to escalate this one because there are underlying issues that need to be reviewed, not least the low priority that has been given to fixing an issue where customers are not getting what they paid for and are having a vital service removed for unacceptable periods (mobile data is now the main function of a phone, not voice calls or texts).

That any change was implemented to BTs systems that could have resulted in this is, I feel, indicative of the ‘unmanaged decline’ of BT residential in favour of EE. If this was an EE Mobile mess up then there would be people all over this and it would be a P1 (it isn’t).

BT know they have to unpick the links with Halo if they want mobile customers to move to EE. Letting this sort of thing just happen though is not the way to do it.

Interestingly I was told that they couldn’t just add a data boost or turn the data cap unlimited until the issue was fixed and that I just had to put up with no data until my bill date. So different to how they dealt with you. And yes, in this situation why wouldn’t they be proactive about providing workarounds? Answering that question may be part of the answer as to how we have got here.

[Colin_London]

So on the dot at midnight (my billing date) my mobile data started working again. Whatever you may be told this problem has not been fixed and there seems to be no hurry to do so. I was assured that this is not a way of persuading people to leave to go to EE but, as I pointed out, in any other situation where people were losing a service they had paid for this wouldn’t be treated as such a low priority.

Even the £10 a month per 20GB SIM EE deal is worse for me than my current family SIM deal (and that is before the loss of roaming and TNT sport). On top of that I would still be stuck paying for a broadband Halo premium I had no use for, for over another 12 months.

So BT needs to provide the service that was offered when I chose a Halo deal. Financial restitution isn’t a long term solution to being deprived of a vital service for a proportion of each month.

[Peter_W]

Thanks for the update here @Colin_London.

I can totally understand your frustration if this is taking longer than anticipated to resolve, but I'm confident we will be working towards getting something sorted out. 

If you've been speaking with our complaints team directly with this, I'd definitely recommend mentioning any concerns you have with them, and they'll be able to make sure we've done everything we can at our end for now. 
Peter

[Colin_London]

Hi @Peter_W  - I imparted my thoughts on the handling of this matter to the guide at length. Fair play to him in hearing me out.

Unfortunately the exec team didn’t want to talk to me directly about this and just offered a refund for this month through the guide or else it would have to go to the ombudsman.

So I accepted this time but I don’t want to have to complain again next month. This needs to be given some impetus to be fixed but I haven’t seen evidence. It just appears indicative of how the BT residential business is treated that the link between Mobile and Halo is missed when a system change is planned.