'Important information about your home phone service'

[Andy3691]

I have received a letter from BT informing me that as part of upgrading the network from copper to fibre they will upgrade the line for free, i.e. supply fibre to the premises although they have not contacted me for a suitable appointment date. 

No mention is made of the fibre package that they will be supplying although I assume it to be the basic package. My son is pestering me for the 900Mbps package, is it possible for the 900Mbps package to be supplied at the time the work is conducted.

I am aware fully aware of the additional monthly cost in having this package. 

[NigelB72]

Was the letter from Openreach or BT because Openreach are responsible for upgrading the network and BT are just your service provider? 

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Andy3691 

Its only the method of delivery that is changing, your speed will remain the same.  Any phone service will be moved to BT Digital Voice.

I would be wary of upgrading to 900Mbs unless you have lots of devices which are directly wired to the home hub, using Ethernet cables, as you are unlikely to benefit if you only have wireless connected devices.

Any regrade to a faster speed, is going to involve a new 24 month contract, and you are likely to be moved to EE, who are a different company within the BT Group.

[licquorice]

Once you have full fibre, any change to speed is simply a remote configuration change at the 'exchange'.  There is no physical change required.

[Andy3691]

The letter is from BT which was subsequently followed by an email. A couple of neighbours have had similar

[TimCurtis]

@Andy3691 

As @Keith_Beddoe says about the 900mbps package there is little to be gained by having this for your son. The only time that this might be an advantage is when downloading a new game but then the speed is determined by the server and if it's a new game or update that's very popular then the speed attained is likely to be less than the 900mbps.

Over wifi you'll never attain that sort of speed , 500mbps is more likely the best you'll get.

Get the basic upgrade to Fibre 100 - actually 150mbps - and see how that goes sticking with your existing contract length. Taking a new 24m contract will likely see you switched to EE whether you want it or not and may well be done without your prior agreement as happened to me and a few others around.

[wolfie882]

Hi,

I had the same comms (all BT) advising that they want to migrate me to Digital Voice and they will also upgrade me FOC to Full Fibre (currently I am on the Fibre 2 FTTC package). The letter makes no mention of EE and said that:

"Don't worry, you won't be entering into a new contract"

"Your monthly price will remain the same"

"You can keep your existing router"

I rang BT to simply ask how they will be contatcting me when my turn comes. I got sucked into a discussion with a sales agent and, to cut a long story short, was subsequently sent a revised contract. And guess what....

It's an EE 24 mth contract.

It specifies a new router is to be supplied (no charge).

It's the EE 74 Essentials tariff which gives me a mere 25MB increase in download speed from my existing BT Fibre 2, and the monthly price is £1 more than my current BT.

So, the offer was nothing like the offer outlined in the initial BT letter. In fairness, the agent did refer to an "EE ID", but I didn't fully appreciate the implications. I realise I should have asked more questions. I wasn't happy with this, so rang BT the next day to cancel the order. I explained the circumstances to the BT agent, and she sympathised and said that they had received many similar calls.

I appreciate that EE is now BTs broadband arm, and that I will probably end up with EE eventually -  my BT contract ends in Jan, so will see what they offer me then. I think most people will appreciate what BT are trying to do with the migration strategy, but it's the way they are going about it that causes the issues.