Cooling off period and re-contracting query

[besmirched]

I’m having second thoughts on my new 900Mb package. I think there may be a cooling off period if I wanted to change my mind. Is this correct? If I wanted to cancel this 900Mb package and go back to 500Mb, can I re-contract this to avoid the price rise? 

I mainly went for the 900Mb upgrade due to the imminent price rise, if paying extra I figured I may as well upgrade from 500 to 900Mb. However, since then I have seen a few customers post around here that they just got BT to re-contact them on their existing deal and lock their existing price in with a new contract. I’m now thinking maybe that may have been a better option for me.

I’d appreciate it if someone, a mod or otherwise, could explain my options here having only just gone live with 900Mb from 2nd March.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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** The above is my main query, but if anyone wants to shed any further light on my concerns with 900Mb, please continue below.***

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Anyway, before I go exploring the cooling off period and reverting back to 500Mb, I wanted to share my limited experience on the 900Mb package after a day. Perhaps someone might have suggestions for how to get the most out of this speed.

My main key areas of concern is that Xbox speeds are not upto snuff compared to PS5, both these consoles are wired. I am also concerned that I am not getting great speeds with Wifi devices like laptops and iPhones, using 5Ghz.

If I am not mistaken I believe mobile devices on the 5Ghz network should go upto 1000Mb? Not particularly tech savvy regarding this, but I don’t feel like there’s a big step-up from my previous 500Mb to new 900Mb package right now. I am seeing 450-550Mb on mobile speed tests in the same room as the BT SH2.

Using my wired Xbox Series X console Edge web browser I checked fast .com which reported 1Gb download speed, and Speedtest .net which showed 821Mb.

The main underwhelming aspect for me is on Xbox Series X which is where I have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription to download many games. Not likely a fault of BT here, but speeds on Xbox vary dramatically for downloading games, regardless of what the speed testing websites indicate.

Using a stopwatch on my phone and checking against download-time .com, I was able to download COD Warzone 2 at 750Mb. The same game downloading on PS5 averaged 836Mb.

Then later the same day I downloaded Batman Arkham Knight on Xbox Series X, then afterwards also downloaded it on PS5. Both consoles are wired. 

My finding is that Xbox is way too variable with downloads. The previous COD  Warzone 2 test wasn’t a wide download margin between the two platforms. This Batman Arkham Knight test however is a different story! PS5 45.144GB at avg 826Mb completed in 7min 49s, whereas Xbox 47.12GB at avg 402Mb completed in 16min 46s. I often noticed with Xbox downloads that the speed displayed is highly variable and sometimes stops entirely going to 0Mb, before kicking back up again.

I suspect my concerns with the wired Xbox ultimately lay with Microsoft’s servers, rather than a BT issue. Even so, this combined with borderline zero gains over 5Ghz wifi on mobile devices… this 900Mb package looks like a pretty limited upgrade over 500Mb.

[besmirched]

 

Now I’m confused, maybe it is a BT problem after all and not Xbox. I just ran the speedtest on the MyBT app and am now getting these results well below the Stay Fast Guarantee.

The above are early morning 4 March, below is the first day 900Mb was activated 2 March.

 

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Having the issue again this morning where the reported speed is below BT’s speed guarantee.

In the app after the Speedtest it just says to turn on smart setup, it mentions this has made changes. Even so, when I run the test again it’s still below the speed guarantee.

When I try and report a fault on the website it just does the same as the app and mentions Turing on smart setup again.

I’ve only encountered these problems since recently moving from 500Mb to 900Mb package.

Getting quite frustrated with this now. Can someone please advise regarding cooling off period as I think I’d just rather the stability of 500Mb, where I never had these issues.

[marco806]

There is a 14 day cooling off period...Phone BT and cancel and ask to re-contract to 500 (at same price) on a new contract to avoid the near 15 per cent increase.

Really dont see why any normal household needs 900.....Totally OTT imo... No tangible benefit that i can see over 500.

[besmirched]

Ok, thanks for confirming the cooling off period. It’s been about 5 days now on the 900Mb package.

Tbh, when it works it’s been pretty good, the concern is consistency and stability seems to have nosedived compared to 500Mb.

Gaming household with top PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, so downloading large games fast is a benefit. Recently we downloaded a near 100GB game in 17 mins, at 836Mb on PS5 - typically this would take about 28 mins on the 500Mb package. Yet at other times, on two occasions since the upgrade now, the MyBT app is reporting that the connection is well below the speed guarantee. This wouldn’t be so bad if this actually gave you an option to report it in app so someone could take a look.

It’s probably less hassle to just revert back to 500Mb at this point though.