Broadband renewal

[Kodikid]

Sorry like the vast majority I completely forgot about land line 

[Kimberlin]

@Kodikid 

And so it seems have many people. Apparently, as of 2024, only around 47 percent of domestic customers have a landline and that is decreasing year on year as of course mobile phone use is more common and convenient for probably most. It'll be a few years yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if the domestic landline eventually hits the skids and disappears forever.

I'd wager that the majority of households that retain a landline, are an older demographic (I could be wrong!) often citing the need to stay in touch with relatives or ease of use of a landline phone or the need to be on the end of a landline for medical reasons. Of course there is still an element of folks who don't trust the cellphone network insofar as reliability or downtime.

[seoras]

I kept it for emergencies but during a recent 30 hour power cut, it failed. Not reliable any longer. We're just using 3 mobile phones now on different networks but during power cuts all are likely to be down. It used to be that the landline still worked but not under the digital system as it needs the router powered, presumably. No backup now.

[Kodikid]

We abandoned our landline when BT overnight scraped the free anytime call package. 

To be honest though towards the end our only calls were nuisance ones as family  friends and work all used mobiles 📱 

[seoras]

Further on this, I recently called BT, explaining that i wanted a basic service at the same speed, i.e. without Halo3 as none of it was of any benefit to me. I just kind of slipped into that when full fibre became available. The phone signal backup device never worked and I was never going to get a visit from an expert where I live.

On explaining I wanted to reduce costs to a basic service, they came back after about 10 minutes with an offer that was even more expensive (£72/month) and included TV, something that I explicitly stated I could not afford.

The service I wanted was the core full fibre at around £35/month but seemingly this was not available to me.

I tried EE who offer similar but as soon as the system recogised me as a BT customer, their £35 service jumped up to the same £72.

It just seems wholly wrong, senseless and amounted to customer contempt - I'd been with BT for decades.

[Kodikid]

Struggling to understand why you're bothering...you can get 900mbps for less then £40 literally anywhere. 

As Sarah Brightman sang..it's time to say goodbye. 

[gg30340]

There is no such thing as customer loyalty for being with BT for decades. You are just another customer.

Look around at other ISPs and see what they are offering and you will no doubt find a deal that you like and just move to them or if you want to call BT again and this time explain to them what the deal is that you want explaining that you have your "found" deal with a different ISP and if they can not match it just move to the new ISP.

[iniltous]

Although I certainly agree dropping Halo is far more difficult than it should be , and certain presumably ex BT customers on here positively encourage customers to simply leave BT rather than have the aggregation, it is possible to get rid of Halo  , unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any magic phrase or threat to leave that can get ‘guides’ to immediately do what you want , presumably they get a screen with options on it and can’t deviate from that .

I suspect the standard customer service staff cannot offer what retentions type staff can , anecdotally it seems when a notification is received by BT that you have started a migration to another ISP , the offers to stay don’t require you to have Halo .

It does seem illogical that the BT senior management that decide this type of thing presumably are aware that leaving is often the simplest way of getting rid of £20-£30 worth of unnecessary expense, and many , probably the majority will take that option, but they don’t introduce an easy way to drop Halo and remain a BT customer.

Perhaps the Mods are feeding this ‘upstairs’ to those  that dictate policy.

[Kimberlin]

@seoras 

With the utmost of respect to you, if you’re intent on keeping your landline and you really do want to stay with BT, phone the call centre back and get tough with them. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you are demanding to be taken off the Halo3 package and to revert you to a more appropriate cheaper package. If they refuse to listen, tell them that they are causing you unnecessary stress and anxiety and you feel vulnerable. If they ignore that, then there really is an underlying customer service problem.

Please as you’ve already been politely advised, don’t be under the illusion that your decades long loyalty means anything because it doesn’t. You’re just another customer.

[seoras]

Thanks. My spouse wants to retain her bt email address so that will be extra cost and hassle. It seemed sensible just to strip off the unnecessary stuff and provide a competitive core service but bt weren't having it. Still better than £70+ Halo 3 which provided nothing for that extra cost. I've joined Plusnet now and abandoned the landline although that prevented signing up with Vodafone.