MSE News: Clampdown on 'misleading' broadband ads as new rules come into force

teddysmum

Brand wrote: »

Won't the new aggregate broadband pricing mean an excuse to raise prices, so now you pay £20 plusnet or £25 BT per month, say, instead of, taking the example of plusnet, around £16 or £18

Also Before the consolidation of the two elements, it was easy to calculate the line rental, e.g. LRS/12 or LRS/18 then add the cheap monthly £ amount.
Now it it just means you have to do a much more difficult calculation to disentangle the line and the broadband.

I've just looked at PlusNet's and Sky's sites. The increase is quite noticeable (like Talktalk's earlier one), way above the previous line rental with free ADSL and no direct cashback from PlusNet, now. The latter are also offering a huge 50p/month off foe taking an 18 month contract.

Ectophile

It's about time the adverts became more truthful. For years, we've had huge bold headline print offering us really cheap broadband, with the line rental in small print at the bottom of the page. These days, the line rental usually costs more than the broadband.

I notice that BT have already updated their web site to show the total price.

teddysmum

Ectophile wrote: »

It's about time the adverts became more truthful. For years, we've had huge bold headline print offering us really cheap broadband, with the line rental in small print at the bottom of the page. These days, the line rental usually costs more than the broadband.

I notice that BT have already updated their web site to show the total price.

They all have as it's law, but how have we gained? Paying more,now, for the same product is an improvement ?


Very few people are naive enough to think that 'free broad band' doesn't come with a line requirement

Brand

molerat wrote: »

Another knee jerk by one of the OFs clamping down on something that was only a problem to those who were looking for something to complain about. Why don't they clamp down on the misalignment of broadband and line rental contract lengths.

That looks to be what has happened, that a company will now offer only termly contracts, with terms of 12 month and, 18 month and so in effect everyone is on LRS with a harmonised broadband contract, and there could be two rates according to whether you pay upfront or pay monthly.. This means a comparison between companies for a given length of contract and a given method of payment might be quite easy.
Who knows, 6-month introductory rates to a 12/18 month term contract might disappear, and month-to month rates might also disappear, but a month-to-month rate or daily rate might be retained somewhere in the small print to handle transitions between contracts, or to strapline as e.g. "20% cheaper than the normal month-to-month rate" (even though a month-to-month rate might not actually be available(!).

AndyPK

Humm. Does that explain why there were so many good deals around in October

unforeseen

There are some of the smaller ISPs that only deal with the broadband and don't handle line rentals. How are they supposed to comply with these changes?

Line rental costs are in the hands of the user so they are unable to quote an all inclusive price

jem16

teddysmum wrote: »

I aren't very happy with my speed with Plusnet, having left Sky, so had a look on the website.

Try using Plusnet's community forums. They used to be good although not hearing such good reports recently b

Sky's offer has also shot up to an inclusive £22.40, though newbies get a £50 M&S voucher (worth less than £50 as M&S are expensive) . Before line rental with free broadband was just £17.40 (though would probably have become £18.40 after the annual £1 hike).

I had been looking at prices last week too as contract ending. Was looking at Fibre which has not jumped up by an extra £10. BT is the same. Just glad I made my decision on Thursday when deals were still there!

We have already mention TalkTalk's large rises, so it looks as though this stupid legislation is costing us dear, as it's been used as an excuse to increase prices more than usual.

Certainly looks like that so far.

The_Jakal

teddysmum wrote: »

I aren't very happy with my speed with Plusnet, having left Sky, so had a look on the website.


For ADSL and line they are now charging £20.49 (12month minimum) or £20 (18 month minimum), so are they going back to the 12/18 month mess-up or is line rental for 18 months? ( no details on site). I don't recall what the non-saver rate for line was , but assuming £17.99, the new 'all in' price has shot up by at least £2.50 as the broadband was free for the first year and there is also no direct cashback offer.


Sky's offer has also shot up to an inclusive £22.40, though newbies get a £50 M&S voucher (worth less than £50 as M&S are expensive) . Before line rental with free broadband was just £17.40 (though would probably have become £18.40 after the annual £1 hike).


We have already mention TalkTalk's large rises, so it looks as though this stupid legislation is costing us dear, as it's been used as an excuse to increase prices more than usual.


At least the 'Why should I pay for a line I don't need?' idiots and those incapable of adding line rental and broadband costs together have their way and should be jumping for joy.

I noticed this too.

It's worth noting that Plusnet has gone up by the equivalent of £5 a month since the change.

Sky has also gone up £5 a month (as you noted). Also, they were offering the £50 M&S voucher before the new pricing too!

So ridiculous that this change ends up costing the end user more but a minority are happy as they're no longer being "conned" because they can't look past an advert campaign and read the details of an offer.

minislim

teddysmum wrote: »

The lines are owned by Openreach a[URL="file://\\nd"]nd[/URL] parts of the system are let out to various providers. If you say that Openreach can't rent out its system how are the providers going to get the service to customers ?They could not possibly afford to set up their own system nationally, so you'd have local networks with a monopoly on prices.

what i mean is BT openreach being separated from BT. and thus not being able to siphon off moneys to fund their extravagant spending.

its funny. on the run up to brexit i noticed that BT had jumped on the remain band wagon. putting stickers on all their exchange boxes along the highstreets. Those stickers read that "high speed fibre broadband was in the area" and "that it had been funded by the EU".

if thats so, why are line rental changes still going up and up if the infrastructure is being funded by the EU. which ultimately means we're paying for it twice.

it just highlighted to how much the EU had gotten out of control. and how BT had been taking the Mick out of us all!

phillw

The_Jakal wrote: »

So ridiculous that this change ends up costing the end user more but a minority are happy as they're no longer being "conned" because they can't look past an advert campaign and read the details of an offer.

Pretty much every change brought in to make things clearer end ups costing MSE users more money. Jumping on the next trick is all part of the game.

The price increases are also likely to be partly due to the ongoing fallout from brexit. Again it's only a minority that are happy.