BT Minimum Contract & New Provider

coolguycp1

I had signed to an BT's unlimited weekend calling plan 12 months ago on an 18 month contract. The plan also included 40GB of broadband usage every month. Included with the line rental, the package cost comes around £31 per month plus any calling charges outside of the allowance.

As I wanted to go to a cheaper alternative, I recently checked with BT to confirm the disconnection charges payable if cancelling within the contractual period. To my surprise, the BT customer rep told me over the phone that as my minimum term of 12 months is complete, I am free to change my service provider.

Does anyone know if this is true as I thought that one needs to complete 18 months before he can switch to another provider. Also, is there a notice period needed by BT for switching?

Mark_In_Hampshire

The rep that said "12 months" might not have actually been speaking from fact, more a turn-of-phrase and simply meant "when your contract ends"

Or, they might have provisioned it as a 12 month contract.

You could always call back, ask when the contract ends, as you can't really lose here (you think it's 18 months) and if they say it's 12 months, take their name and write down the date and time of the call for later on.

You usually need to give a month's notice, so you could give that at the end of month 11 if you want to move immediately on the anniversary of contract but I wouldn't try having the date so close in case something does migrate a day or so before the end of the 12 (or 18) months.

macman

If using a MAC you need to give 14 days notice. Without, it's 30 days.

Buzby

Don't the differing services have different minimum terms? Telephony can be 12 months, but BB 18... so the telephony lock in is off, a BB service termination alone will incur a charge.

coolguycp1

I have got in touch with BT again (noted down the date and time), and they say that I am definitely out of contract (which seems strange to me as I signed to an 18 month contract in October last year). Anyways, the BT lady did say that they could bring my Broadband Option 2 down to £10/month and I can also take the line rental saver for £120/year, effectively paying BT £20/month for line rental and broadband plus any call charges that I make.

However, it still seems an expensive package compared to Talk Talk who I can get for £7.75/month on a 12 month contract (line rental and broadband inclusive and taking into account the Tesco £60 vouchers as per the moneysavingexpert website).

The BT lady did say that if I cancel, I will have to give a 30 days notice, however, if I transfer to Talk Talk online, do I still have to give BT a notice of 30 days? Do I also need to get a MAC code from BT prior to switching to Talk Talk?

Buzby

BT would not say you are 'out of contract' because you are not (and never will, until you cancel). They may say you are outwith your minimum term, but that's a different issue.

Heinz

coolguycp1 wrote: »

Anyways, the BT lady did say that they could bring my Broadband Option 2 down to £10/month and I can also take the line rental saver for £120/year, effectively paying BT £20/month for line rental and broadband plus any call charges that I make.

However, it still seems an expensive package compared to Talk Talk who I can get for £7.75/month on a 12 month contract (line rental and broadband inclusive and taking into account the Tesco £60 vouchers as per the moneysavingexpert website).

Do you use 18185 for all the 01/02/03 calls you make which are outside of your inclusive weekends package? Doing so would reduce the cost of those calls to 5p each, regardless of duration (you could only use the 18185 prefix with BT line rental).

Remember too that, if you make evening and weekday calls, BT's Unlimited Anytime Plan is one of the cheapest available.