Be unlimited - increased prices from 31st March

cgk1

BE Value - £17/month with a 12 month contract

BE Unlimited - £22/month with a 12 month contract
Be Unlimited - £25/month with a 3 month contract, plus £25 set up fee

BE Pro - £27 /month with a 12 month contract
BE Pro - £30/month with a 3 month contract, plus £25 set up fee

However, we agreed that we shouldn't change prices for members already using these products. We appreciate the loyalty to BE so many of you have shown over the years, the constructive feedback you give us every day and the recommendations you make about us. Together we've got something special going on and long may it continue.

http://blog.bethere.co.uk/2011/02/new-pricing-for-new-customers-coming.html

macman

A shame that their parent company are not adopting the same approach to price increases. O2 are actively penalising existing long term customers, not rewarding them.

Short_Seller

So I you migrate before 31st if March, your locked in a the old prices?

cgk1

I would guess so.

rob_wiltshire

As a long time lurker I just wanted to say thanks to cgk1 for bringing this price rise to my attention via this forum as it spurred me on to make the change to BE.

I had long considered them to be the best LLU provider on my local exchange and I was going to migrate last year but when I phoned BT Broadband to cancel my Option 1 contract and get a MAC code they kept offering me better and better deals until I eventually 'crumbled' and agreed to stay for another 12 months.

However, the forthcoming price rises with BE prompted me to make the change to the BE Unlimited package. At £18.26 per month they are certainly not the cheapest but, sometimes in life, you get what you pay for – and as we were sometimes exceeding the 10GB limit on BT Option 1 and getting hammered with extra data charges, we will no doubt save money overall.

The migration process was really straightforward and the performance is just so much better. My service went live on Monday and, according to speedchecker sites, my download speed has almost doubled (up from 6.9 Meg to 13.5 Meg) whilst the upload speed has tripled and the ping time halved.

Obviously not everyone switching to BE would see such a marked difference in their performance (and it’s too early to have a view with regard to reliability) but I am certainly delighted with BE so far.:j

If anyone else is considering changing before the price rises, don’t forget that the countdown clock is ticking!

Gary1963

Been with them for a year now. They are an excellent company.

c_man

rob_wiltshire wrote: »

If anyone else is considering changing before the price rises, don’t forget that the countdown clock is ticking!

I'm also going to be signing up to BE within the next week to avoid the price hike. My MAC code from AOL is on the way...

However BT are completely insistent that I will not see better speeds from BE, compared to what I've seen on AOL and BT in the past.

I pay for a 8Mb service from AOL yet only ever see a max of 2.5Mb/sec. BT tell me my line cannot support more than 6Mb [unless I switch to fibre optic/BT Infinity] and so I will not see more with BE... because they use the same hardware/copper line as AOL do.

.....yet BE assure me they can supply approx 12Mb/sec!! Because they have 'different' exchange tecnology [BT telling me this is false information].

I'll probably still go with BE. One thing to be concerned of, which they've just informed me of in the last hour, is that they do not have a cooling off/cancellation period. Not even 14 days. If speeds are no good with BE and I wish to leave, I'd have to pay all 12months off!

Didn't sound right at all...

rob_wiltshire

c_man wrote: »

However BT are completely insistent that I will not see better speeds from BE, compared to what I've seen on AOL and BT in the past.

They told me that last year too and, like a mug, I swallowed it :mad:

c_man wrote: »

I pay for a 8Mb service from AOL yet only ever see a max of 2.5Mb/sec. BT tell me my line cannot support more than 6Mb [unless I switch to fibre optic/BT Infinity] and so I will not see more with BE... because they use the same hardware/copper line as AOL do.

.....yet BE assure me they can supply approx 12Mb/sec!! Because they have 'different' exchange tecnology [BT telling me this is false information].

The BT Broadband 'speed forecaster' said I should be able to get 8Mb on my line (in practice my actual throughput was about 6.9) and the BE forecaster (which apparently uses data provided by BT) indicated 16Mb - i.e. double. Since moving to BE my router syncs at almost 17 Meg and the real-life download speed has indeed virtually doubled so, if the same rule of thumb holds true for you, perhaps an expectation of a 50-100% improvement would not be unreasonable?? (but please don't blame me if this turns out not to be your experience - all I can base this on is my own situation!)

c_man wrote: »

One thing to be concerned of, which they've just informed me of in the last hour, is that they do not have a cooling off/cancellation period. Not even 14 days. If speeds are no good with BE and I wish to leave, I'd have to pay all 12months off!

I'd be very happy to be corrected if I'm wrong but I think this is the case with all providers when you change - so far as I know you don't get the chance of a 'trial period' and it's little more than a gamble, albeit an educated gamble.

Good luck - if you do decide to change I'd be interested to know how you get on.

Rob

c_man

Thanks Rob, this also makes for positive reading:

BE = Red
BT = Green

SPEED


RELIABILITY


CUSTOMER SERVICE


In case the images of graphs above are session based and disappear, click here to see the graphs:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html?commit=Compare&isp_4=1&isp_7=1

rob_wiltshire

As I said in my first post, it's too early to comment on reliability but I am certainly happy with the connection speed and my (limited) experience of their customer service - I raised a support ticket with regard to a query I had over the modem delivery and it was answered promptly and comprehensively. They also kept the ticket open and encouraged me to keep them updated regarding progress (e.g. let us know if you want to change the delivery address, let us know when you receive the email from the courier, let us know that you have received the modem etc) whereas many companies would have probably just said "you'll get it in the next few days" and then closed the call. I was kept well informed by email and text as the activation process progressed too.

I have to say that BE have also won me over by their quirky humour too - their literature, letters and emails are written in a light-hearted manner and their youtube 'Matt's House' video guides are just plain weird :rotfl:

c_man

Are you using their modem/router kit?

I am currently running a Netgear DG834, which is quite old. Though I've found ISP-supplied hardware tends to be very, very poor [Thompson grade!].