Finally given BT the boot

poppasmurf_bewdley

Well, I've finally done it. After being a BT customer since 1965, I have today given them 30 days notice of quitting my telephone and broadband service with them, and getting rid of BT Sport.

Several straws broke the camels back. The first was their price increase at the turn of the year, which included charging £1.50 a month for Caller Display, although they tried to be sneaky and hoped I wouldn't notice the way they introduced the charge. And there was the increase in line rental and broadband charges on top.

Even though I'd been getting a 50% discount on my 40gb broadband package, I was still paying just over £27 a month for the two. And that's still about £10 a month more than an unlimited broadband package from TalkTalk, Sky and Plusnet.

They again offered me a discount to stay on their now standard unlimited broadband, but that would still be more than £30 a month!

They also tried to convince me to stay for free BT Sport, but when I told them I only watched one match a week, and had never even watched BT Sport 2 or ESPN, they gave up on that.

Champions League? It doesn't start for another 15 months, I told them.

So now I have my MAC Code, and I'm going to search out the best deal for me. Any advice or tips?

PS. My latest 12 month half price deal with Sky is also now up, and I've cancelled that as well as they only offered me a 25% discount on movies and sport for three months to stay. They never even mentioned taking my phone service to them.

I'll see what, if any, offers I get from them in the next few months.

kwikbreaks

If you were sticking with Sky TV I'd have suggested taking their broadband and phone too but I think if you don't take the TV service their phone + BB become uncompetetive but you need to check the pricing to confirm that. I'm assuming you will be using Freesat from Sky or Freeview so only want phone + BB.

Your pricing for BT based broadband will depend on LLU availability at your exchange - http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search - will tell you about that but with mergers it only really boils down to Sky TalkTalk and BT based services for most people.

So if Sky is ruled out then assuming TalkTalk LLU is available your best bet will likely be them or Plusnet. There aremany horror stories about Talktalk - enough to put me off but many have no problems at all with them. Plusnet have been attracting a lot of flack on their customer service recently although with a new call centre either active now or imminent that may improve.

Whoever you go with other than Virgin Media cable you will be at the mercies of Openreach for any changeover of service and their track record is poor in the extreme.

The chances are you'll be fine whoever you go though and moving away from BT will certainly save money. Good luck.

dgtazzman

Even with their TV services, the standard Sky broadband deals aren't really that amazing, though at least you wouldn't have to rely on BT Openreach for anything.

People seem to be getting more positive about Talktalk lately, while it's the other way around with Plusnet (as I can confirm out of my own experiences I've had with them over the last 2 months).

Plusnet's new call centre has been active a while now, and it doesn't seem to have improved things yet (not everything is even routed to the new call centre it seems). Customers, including me, are generally still experiencing at least 30 minute hold times when calling for support and when getting through not getting the answers required. Note Plusnet is has now basically been taken over by BT as a budget brand for them to sell, so I somehow don't expect things will improve much over time.

kwikbreaks

dgtazzman wrote: »

Even with their TV services, the standard Sky broadband deals aren't really that amazing, though at least you wouldn't have to rely on BT Openreach for anything.

Apart from Hull regardless of ISP any broadband delivered over a phone line is 100% dependent on Openreach - they own the phone line infrastructure and do all the work on it.

VisionMan

Who are you thinking of going with PSB?

littleboo

dgtazzman wrote: »

Note Plusnet is has now basically been taken over by BT as a budget brand for them to sell, so I somehow don't expect things will improve much over time.

BT acquired Plusnet in 2007

poppasmurf_bewdley

VisionMan wrote: »

Who are you thinking of going with PSB?

At the moment, TalkTalk, but I'm keeping all my options open for a week or so yet until I finally make up my mind. They're slightly more expensive than Plusnet but I have heard several stories of Plusnet Customer Services not being as good as it was. TalkTalk on the other hand seem to have gone up a notch or three.

VisionMan

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

At the moment, TalkTalk, but I'm keeping all my options open for a week or so yet until I finally make up my mind. They're slightly more expensive than Plusnet but I have heard several stories of Plusnet Customer Services not being as good as it was. TalkTalk on the other hand seem to have gone up a notch or three.

Try ten. I read a customer satisfaction survey of the overall market a few mths ago and TT have managed to decrease customer complaints by 46%. In customer service terms thats a massive number.

You will save the most money if you take their phone, BB and YouView TV combination. Their prices are impressive. But go for the PVR.*

*Note - one cannot pause or record live internet channels atm, but that should be up and running within a couple of mths.

poppasmurf_bewdley

What is Ten? I can only find an Australian network of that name.

flashg67

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

What is Ten? I can only find an Australian network of that name.

Think this is referring to notches....

poppasmurf_bewdley

flashg67 wrote: »

Think this is referring to notches....

Ahh. Got it. Thanks. Brain now in gear. :T