I just want to stop my landline ...

[hengistpod]

Finally noticing that my BT bill was way over the top recently, I thought it was a good time to stop my landline service and just use the line for broadband.

Great, I can do that online ... so I get my initial quote by putting my postcode in ... £33.99 a month, plus £20 for the Sport TV package (which I currently have through my Sky Q box). Let's go with that.

Work through the pushy add-on pages ... no I don't want this, no I don't want that, I just want to stop paying for the landline number, thanks ... and eventually I get a page that says because I'm an existing customer I don't get that price. I have to pay a minimum of £44.99 a month, plus £20 for Sport. Plus it wants to send me a set-top box that I don't want (delivery £11.99) for the Sport package, plus a £20 activation fee.

I just want to lose the landline phone number. As an existing customer, with all the infrastructure and account already in place, I have to pay £64.99 a month instead of £53.99? And have to pay extra to get a set top box I don't want? Really?

Can someone explain, please?

[imjolly]

you currently have a broadband and phone contract and if you want to go broadband only then you need to start a new contract bearing in mind dropping phone will only save £3/5 pm + any call package you have.

if your existing contract is about to end then try phoning retention team 08007831401 and see what you can negotiate ensuring you have BT offers and other ISP offers to help your bargaining power

[hengistpod]

Thnaks. The broadband Halo 3+ part of my current deal is costing £72.83/month, and the Sport package £28.18/month. That's £101/month all-in.

The prices I'm seeing (as per my original post above) for those options are £53.99 for a new customer, or £64.99 for me as an existing customer, but with extra boxes that I just don't want.

That's a fair old saving. I forseee a lengthy wait on a call to Customer Services.

[imjolly]

calling the retention team should not be as long a queue as CS

[iniltous]

If you got an online quote of £33-£34 for broadband only , ( that’s around the current new customer price ) that price doesn’t include any Halo benefits, if you have Halo , but don’t  want to continue with Halo ( so getting rid of it as well as removing telephony ) I suspect that when you are progressing your order , without the phone service, Halo is being retained, hence the jump in price , obviously if you want to retain your Halo , it’s a false comparison to compare the Halo price to the just broadband price .

It may not be possible to remove Halo using on line servicing , in fact it seems getting rid of Halo at all is difficult , even when speaking to BT , I suspect you won’t be able to do this online 

[hengistpod]

To be honest, I'm struggling to see the benefits of Halo to a regular customer in a regular house, and am not entirely sure how I got bounced into Halo 3+ ..!

Along with Sky, BT must surely be one of the worst organisations for being able to track down what your contract with them actually involves, how your monthly price is calculated, and how to change any of it without including options they really, really want you to have but you don't want!

[imjolly]

if you have FTTP then you will more than likely have a stable connection so having connection back up is probably not worth it

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/learn-about-broadband/bt-halo/what-is-bt-halo-and-how-can-i-get-it...