BT Upgrade - please help

Natzdance

As I'm sure a few of you have heard, BT are upgrading their lines and upgrading some ppl's connections. I have just had my confirmation letter through to say my connection has been upgraded from 512 to 1M, however they have also now applied a cap to the line of 15G!!!

I rang them to complain as we have never had a cap on our line - and would well go over the 15G.They admitted our origonl contract did not have a cap but said there is nothing they can do.

Aftr 1.25hrs on the phone they said to call back and speak to someone else as there is nothing they can do.

Does anyone know what i can do?

Rex_Mundi

If you're over your minimum contract period. Start looking for a new ISP. There are many that offer faster speeds with no cap.

You can compare providers here.
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

Natzdance

I wish we were however the contract is for 1 year and this is only month 9

allthatmularky

Can't you get out of the contract - have they not broken the T&C's by imposing a cap ? Best place to find out would be ADSLGuide - there'll be others in the same boat.

Rex_Mundi

Can't you get out of the contract - have they not broken the T&C's by imposing a cap ?

I think you'll find buried somewhere in the smallprint that they can change the terms anytime they like. This is quite standard for companies now.

CopperPlate_2

| bit unrelated - but I'm out of my contract and was looking to move from BT. I looked at Martin's recent information about the offers on Broadband and thought about Tiscali and Madasafish.

I phoned BT and asked them to cancel my service - I'd save about a tenner a month if I'd gone with Tiscali's 1mb service compared to BT's 1/2 mb rate. Not surprisingly I was transferred to their 'customer retention' department who have upgraded me to the new 2mb service, and knocked 25% off my monthly fee for the next 4 months - giving me twice the speed as Tiscali at about £2 a month cheaper.

In 4 months, I'll just phone back and try my luck again - if they don't play ball, then I'm off.

The moral? If they want to keep you as a customer, they can make allowances and I'd try and negotiate with them. If they refuse, then make it clear that you'll cancel your contract as soon as the 12 months are up - my understanding is that you can still cancel the contract even though you're still within the service period, but you just have to pay the remainder - not a nice thought though!


CP

Natzdance

We tried that one but apparently they can't do any magic deals like 25% off unless you have been a customer for at least 10months.
We did say that as soon as the contract was up we would cancel and the women on the phone basically said fine do that!

sco0ter

The T&C that BT use was changed about 12 months ago stating the fair usage and download cap it was just never enforced. The 15GB cap comes into force on 1st June 2005 so you should be able to get out of your contract then as your 12 months should be up.

Dont be fooled by the BT money back offer just now.. Everyone is getting a 3 or 4 month reduction of around £2 and upgraded to 2MB so this is not a special deal for anyone.

If you are on BTyahoo and ask to be upgraded to 2MB instead of waiting your turn they also drop the cap from 30GB to 15GB. Move to another ISP if you are going to run over the cap as BT charge £1.98 for every additional GB or restrict you to Dial-up speeds.

Finally DO NOT go with Tiscali. My brother in law has had nothing but trouble and has now been waiting for 3 Months for them to remove BB from thier line so he can get another provider. They keep forgetting to send a cease order to BT to have it removed.

djohn2002uk

I hardly think a reduction from £25 to £18.50 is "around £2" and what is wrong with taking 2Megs at £18.50 for 4 months and then making your mind up. The 15Gig cap is plenty for most people anyway. Too many people have a hangup over caps when they'd probably never reach 15Gig/month. The average usage in the UK is around 7Gig.

CopperPlate_2

Hmmm. I'm wondering whether the two prior posts are getting at my maths...

I wasn't very clear when I said that they would take 25% off my next four month rental and then went on to say that it worked out to be about £2 a month. I meant over a year - If I was going to be £25 a month with BT (£300 p/a) without the discounted rates and £275 a year with the discounted four months (each at £18.75 then eight months at £25) then the second calculation works out, as an average over the year, at £22.90 or so, which by my calculation is an average of £2 a month cheaper over a year...complicated? I think so.

It's just the way you look at it I suppose.

And I am on standard BT Broadband - and have no qualms whatsoever about phoning them up and demanding a better deal - or I'll just go somewhere else.

It's called consumer choice.

CP

nearlyrich

Finally DO NOT go with Tiscali

I remember only too well the mess they made of dial up internet access when they launched a "free access" product some years ago way before ADSL came on the scene. They were uncontactable and uninterested and if they were doing Broadband for £1 a year I would avoid them like the plague.