Haggle with BT - our new guide

neilsedaka

Free phone calls.

If you have an Amazon Dot or similar Amazon smart speaker, you can make totally free calls to landlines and mobiles in the UK, US, Canada and Mexico. No hands required. For example say "Alexa, call Joe Blogs", assuming that Joe is already in your list of contacts in your Alexa app.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GDPR73MCWELTY9JU

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GEC6XC297YU93LDA

So in most circumstances there is no reason to use your landline to make outgoing phone calls (except for emergency services and premium rate numbers). Therefore no need to pay for phone calls in your BT broadband package.

If you have a Google Home smart speaker a similar facility was launched in March 2018.

gdrules

Last attempt at renewing today.
Currently paying £29.99 for Superfast Fibre Unlimited.
Offered and accepted £32.99pm for Halo 2 with Fibre 100.

DoaM

I re-contracted last August. £33.99 for Infinity 1 (my line won't support faster), landline, BT TV Max (includes HD channels) and BT Sport (includes HD channels and Eurosport). I'm not bothered about Halo or whatever their current name is for it.

TDS09K

Hi,

I have a really embarrassing question to ask and I hope that people in this blog can help.... 

 I have BT Halo 2 with Superfast Fibre + Complete Wi-Fi broadband. I’ve got the BT Smart hub and three wifi disks. I was given a good deal at the time which I thought was too good to refuse (£57.99 per month).

 At the moment, I have two BT mobile sim cards. Each sim card has 2GB of data (this data is doubled to 4 GB on each sim, because I have BT Broadband). I pay £7 for each sim.

 I now need to increase my data dramatically, as myself and my wife are always on the move. I travel long distances on the train and I need data for my laptop when travelling, we have conferences to attend and we both always have to make video calls. So we need something with strong 4G and something that offers wi-fi calling.  BT offered me the following package, and I honestly have no idea if this is a really good deal or would I be paying a awfully lot of money and could go cheaper elsewhere??

 BT offered me: 2 x BT 100GB sim cards. Both sims have unlimited calls, unlimited texts and unlimited BT WiFi. The cost of both sim cards is £35 per month. BT stated that as I have Halo broadband with them, they will double my data with 100Gb on each sim (so basically BT were offering me getting 200GB on each sim) and that for the first sim card I benefit from a £5 discount, and that they will also include "fastest 4G Speed" on all sims. To be honest, I have no idea what the latter means and whether this is true or just a "marketing gimmik" from BT?

 I asked for a breakdown of cost and how BT came up with the £35 figure……BT said, that this is a “BT family sim deal” for existing BT customers. The first sim card cost £20 per month (full price being £30) and that the second additional sim card cost £15. BT also commented that if I wanted further sim cards for the family, then this will be £15 for each sim, and that I will also get BT Sport on the mobile for free (unsure if they were really trying to sell me the deal?)

 To be honest, I don't think that I'll ever use 200GB of data, but it is nice to not to worry the usage of  data when I’m on the move, or the train.....and additional sim cards on this plan at £15 seems nice (especially when both of my kids will be going to Uni next year).

 Is BT really giving me a good deal?.... Or can I go cheaper elsewhere? I said to BT that I will think about it and get back to them. However, I really appreciate your honest feedback and if this really is a good deal?

JJ_Egan

Your mobile question would be better asked on the Mobile board .

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/mobiles

SoniaCopley

I have been having issues with BT. Currently paying £55 a month for broadband (parents). Wifi only works in the room where the box is in the house. we have been trying for a year to get this sorted. Contract ends in October and they said to end the contract they would charge us over £300. I'm currently working from home and unless I sit next to the box I cannot do my job. When I spoke to an adviser they offered complete wifi and wanted to charge another £4.50 per month for another 2 years. Any advice as to what I can do? As I know Virgin is a lot cheaper and worked in our house previously only moved to BT because my Dad wanted BT Sports. I don't want to loose my job and I have told them this. They didn't seem to care. 

JJ_Egan

Wifi   are you set up correctly    channels   1 6 11  and or 2,4 ghz  or 5ghz .

Alternative don't use Wifi use Ethernet cable .

Get this sorted what actual steps have been taken by BT and yourself .

Mikeeuropa

SoniaCopley said:

I have been having issues with BT. Currently paying £55 a month for broadband (parents). Wifi only works in the room where the box is in the house. we have been trying for a year to get this sorted. Contract ends in October and they said to end the contract they would charge us over £300. I'm currently working from home and unless I sit next to the box I cannot do my job. When I spoke to an adviser they offered complete wifi and wanted to charge another £4.50 per month for another 2 years. Any advice as to what I can do? As I know Virgin is a lot cheaper and worked in our house previously only moved to BT because my Dad wanted BT Sports. I don't want to loose my job and I have told them this. They didn't seem to care. 

Unfortunately WiFi is the wireless network within your own home and is not BT's responsibility, there can be all sorts of factors that determine the strength of the signal around the house. If its an old house with thick walls that will limit how far the signals will travel. If there are lots of other WiFi networks from neighbours (for example in a block of flats) they can interfere with each other. It could be that there is an electrical appliance that is giving off lots of interference - there was a case in the news recently where a whole village was having problems with internet connection at a specific time of the day, BT eventually tracked it down to an old television that the owner was switching on at the same time each day to catch the news! All of these things are outside of BT's control, and I think BT only got involved in the last case because there were so many people effected.

There are ways to improve the WiFi coverage within your home, you can buy WiFi extenders of various sorts, or run ethernet cables to other locations in the house so you could plug your laptop in directly rather than use WiFi (if it has an ethernet port, if not you can buy USB ethernet adaptors).

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to give good recommendations without actually being there to assess the situation and if you're not overly IT savvy then the only recommendation is to find someone that is (professional or friend) who could come over (not easy with current Covid restrictions).

What BT are offering - Complete WiFi - is a WiFi extending kit, you can buy it outright if you prefer not to be tied into a contract and there are other makes available. The advantage of the BT offering is that they do provide a "guarantee", I think it means they send out more units (for free - but check that out) if you still can't get signal in all rooms.

neilsedaka

Sonia, you should investigate this yourself to determine where the problem lies. Connect your device to your router via an ethernet cable, not via wifi. Determine what ping download and upload you get on speedtest.net. Compare those numbers with what your BT service guarantees you.

Mikeeuropa

neilsedaka said:

Sonia, you should investigate this yourself to determine where the problem lies. Connect your device to your router via an ethernet cable, not via wifi. Determine what ping download and upload you get on speedtest.net. Compare those numbers with what your BT service guarantees you.

I think what Sonia is saying in her original post is that she can't connect to the WiFi except in that one room, not that the internet connection is slow. Many people confuse the two but they are completely separate issues.