@sceincefreak Just so you know, I'm no longer a BT customer, not because I considered BT poor on their broadband provision, from that perspective, it was excellent. My issue was and is solely to do with their pricing. I'd point out also, I'm on FTTP because I bought a new build property and I don't have a landline nor will I ever have one again.
So, have you been informed formally by anyone within Openreach that your drive would have to be dug up? As others have stated, there will undoubtedly be other ways of provisioning a new cable for FTTP without having to send in a team to dig up your property, it just requires a site visit and dialogue.
I'll never actually understand this whole loyalty garbage. I'm not loyal to any utility organisation, nor banks etc. I want decent pricing for a decent service. In the last 4 years I was with BT, the actual service provision was never a problem, just one issue with a faulty ONT plug in power supply which between BT and Openreach was sorted in 24 hours. Still, after 4 years, the pricing was no longer competitive, I have no desire to speak to some faceless drone within BT Retentions and beg for a loyalty discount, so I defected. Same excellent service with my new provider, just cheaper.
So if you're out of contract, it seems by your own admission, a stumbling block as well as the other issues you mention, is BT mail. If you can get beyond that and do exactly what I did myself some years ago when I extracted myself from Gmail and move to a far more privacy focussed email provider with zero spam, then you may well get something you don't mind paying for with great service. I genuinely hope you can sort your situation out.
