My mother is almost 80 and highly anxious. I've been helping her with her phone and broadband contract.
She had a contract with BT which she was very happy with. Then it got to the point where the contract was running out so we renewed by choosing what appeared to be the same (or similar) package. Assuming we could just carry on with her existing set-up.
But what transpired is that she would be sent a new home hub and had to book for an engineer to come round. At no point was it explained why this was the case.
My mother lives on the first floor of a maisonette. Living below her is a very elderly and frail lady.
When the engineer arrived, he said that because of the height of her property, he would need to drill 5 holes in the outside wall of her downstairs neighbour's property (I believe to secure the ladder). This worried my mother immensely and she said he shouldn't do that.
She says that the lady downstairs wouldn't really understand what's going on and understandably doesn't want to worry her. So I think the drilling is out of the question for the moment.
I phoned BT and it seems that the new contract was cancelled soon after she sent the engineer away. (Apparently BT are phasing our copper phone lines and need to install a fibre line to the building, again this wasn't explained.)
So she's in a situation where she's out of contract, spending £75 per month on phone and internet. She barely even uses the phone.
So I'm wondering what her options are in this situation.
I was thinking she should go to a cable provider like Virgin for her broadband (assuming they can install without drilling into her neighbour's property) and just use BT for the phone on the current copper line – that would be significantly cheaper. I'm aware that copper lines are being phased out in 2027.
I'm not sure whether there's something else BT can do? I don't live near her so I am helping remotely.
Any advice much appreciated!
Thank you
Pete
