Broadband upgrade turned into disaster

[WillC9999]

I’ve pointed out to BT several times the cause of the whole farce is their option to remove something that destroys the very service they are offering. No one seems to understand - or care. It’s just a broken system. As is mine, still. And it’s causing significant impact to my business, and my stress levels.

[Keith_Beddoe]

And it’s causing significant impact to my business, and my stress levels.

@WillC9999 

Are you a business user then?

[WillC9999]

A ‘regularly working from home’ user who is self-employed.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@WillC9999 

You are aware of the residential T&C which do not permit you to use your service for business use?

6. How you can use the service

a. Each service is just for you and your household for personal use (meaning that it should not be used for any trade, business or profession). You're responsible for how each service and the loaned equipment are used.

The BT Business service has a much better SLA, a faster repair time, and you can claim compensation for lost business.

If your broadband connection is critical to what you do, then a BT Business account would be advisable.

[WillC9999]

In a word: no. Which might be my bad for not reading the small print, but I’ve never seen this made clean in any communication I’ve had from BT - perhaps you can clarify for me. I share a house with my partner. We both frequently work from home. She works for an organisation; I used to, but am now self employed. We also use broadband for personal stuff, in fact probably a majority is personal.
Do we need to change to a business contract? Even if use is shared? How would a business service be different? There must be millions of people in this situation.

[WillC9999]

And Google this just now gives nothing to suggest this.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Working from home, for an employer, is normally fine, as I think BT realise that lots of people do that.

But someone running a business from home would be considered a business user, especially if they advertised their services online, on their business cards or even their vans.

In your case its probably fine, it depends on what SLA (Service Level Agreement) you expect. Business customers are given priority for any repairs.

Its worth looking at the BT Business T&Cs to see if there is any advantage, as you can change from BT Residential to BT Business and get any cancellation charges refunded, once your BT Business service is working.

See https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/Moving-from-BT-residential-broadband-to-BT-Business/m-p/2...

[WillC9999]

Sounds vague then. My partner is exactly as you describe - working from home for an employer. I am the same, but the employer is also me. I’ll dig into the T&Cs. I’m not wanting to do anything illegal,  but neither want to get pushed into a different and unnecessarily complex situation if I don’t have to, e.g. if my business takes over the phone line then presumably my partner and I would then have to rent it from my business etc.

[Keith_Beddoe]

If you are the employer, then that would change the situation, as I would imagine BT would consider that as business usage and would suggest a BT Business service would be more appropriate.

Its not really a case of it being illegal, as its  just part of the BT Residential T&Cs, and in theory, you could be disconnected. However its more likely you would be advised that a business service would be more appropriate, as it would not be in their interest to disconnect you.

Why not ask the moderator who is currently dealing with your disconnection, and see what they advise, after reading what you have posted here?

As I have mentioned, you can move to BT Business without any penalty, and I think you will find its only slightly more expensive.

I worked for BT for many years (now retired), and dealt mainly with business users, I could not imagine any of them wanting anything less than what they have, as the financial loss to their business would run into thousands of pounds a week.

[rbz5416]

There is nothing "illegal" about your use, it's simply questionable around BT's T&Cs. In exactly the same way that thousands of builders, plumbers, electricians, etc. used their residential line for "business" prior to the proliferation of mobile phones.

Rather than move your current line to Business there may b advantages in taking a second line as Business. This would give you resilience in the case of failure as you'd have a second line & would be a deductible expense for the business. But it's all a bit of a red herring & has nothing whatsoever to do with your current issue. Especially the talk of you using your landline for business purposes considering the whole issue arose because you removed it!