10 day delay switching from BT to post office

pmc82

Our home phone and broadband contract with BT are coming to an end next month so I was looking around. We live in rural Northern Ireland so options are limited but the combined saving on the package and cashback with Quidco is at least £100 by moving to the Post Office. When I went online to place the order it said at the end that the broadband would start 10 days after the phone line switch meaning we would be 10 days with out broadband.

My wife has poor health and somedays is unable to leave the house so broadband is very important to have and if switching meant we would be without for 10 days we would reluctantly just stay with BT.

On one of the broadband switching websites it says that the downtime should be at most a few hours even if an engineer visit is required.

Has anyone else made the same switch or experienced this, is the 10 days realistic or just the providers covering themselves by giving a worst case?

Futuristic

Your broadband from existing provider only stops working when the line is taken over on the switch over date.

There is a minimum 10 day wait before switch over which allows providers to write confirmation letters to the address to prevent fraud or if you change your mind after ordering.

jem16

pmc82 wrote: »

We live in rural Northern Ireland so options are limited but the combined saving on the package and cashback with Quidco is at least £100 by moving to the Post Office.

The Post Office phone and BB is now run by TalkTalk, a company I would avoid like the plague to be honest.

When I went online to place the order it said at the end that the broadband would start 10 days after the phone line switch meaning we would be 10 days with out broadband.

So are you saying that your phone line would switch over and then 10 days after that your BB would start?

If the Post Offfice in Northern Ireland is run by TalkTalk on their LLU service then once the phone is switched over then your BT BB would no longer work. However I can't see why it would take 10 days to then get you up and running for BB.

However if the Post Office there still uses the BT equipment then your BT BB would continue to work until that is switched over too.

You would really need to clarify that with the Post Offfice yourself.

My wife has poor health and somedays is unable to leave the house so broadband is very important to have and if switching meant we would be without for 10 days we would reluctantly just stay with BT.

You could try haggling for anew deal with BT armed with prices for moving elsewhere.

macman

As long as you don't cancel BT prior then your downtime should be a few hours at most.
Have you looked at Plusnet as the obvious non-LLU alternative?

iniltous

It's upto the new provider, some will migrate the line and broadband in one go, some will migrate the line then convert to broadband later, and some will say it will be done at the same time knowing it will be done in two parts...if they have told you that will happen, it's upto you (obviously) to accept or not...if you cannot be without broadband for the period they state, perhaps you should look elsewhere

Herefordjack

Read my post on this forum regarding the Post office service before doing anything!

pmc82

I rang the Post Office again and was told the same thing so as this isn't an option, starting looking again. We can't be the only people that this puts off switching.

PlusNet is the next option, more expensive but still worthwhile swapping and who have said downtime would only be a few hours.

Another problem now, with BT calls to the Republic of Ireland, (where my wife is from and mostly calls) are included in the anytime calls and the person I talked to on webchat on PlusNet said this wouldn't be included and Plusnets International calls add on is only 300mins which wouldn't be enough.

This isn't the first time where unless it is a straightforward query it is nearly impossible to get through to someone who can answer.