BT nightmare, I need to switch

AuronGrande

Please read to the end, I get to the point eventually. You may even give tips on something else I mentioned.

I've been looking to switch from BT for Phone and Fibre Broadband.

The thing is, I recieved notice last year from them to say that they've changed packages and moved me onto the "Unlimited Infinity 2" package.

That didn't seem much of a problem at first.

Then I needed an Engineer on call out as there was quite a bit of static on the phoneline. The Engineer came, ran tests. I kept asking questions and watching him like a hawk. He kept changing his answers. First he found the problem, then there wasn't a problem. Insisting there was nothing wrong, he left me with the £160 charge and left. Immediately after he left, I checked the phoneline. The static was there. However, after an hour, I checked again, the static was gone.

He most likely went to the exchange box in the neighbouring street and fixed the problem. As the fault was outside my property, I should not have been charged. With all that happened, I was conned out of £160. No doubt BT will side with the engineer.

I read on the internet in forums, blogs etc that Engineers for different ISPs have been known to do these things.

The second problem I found was while checking my bank statements I spotted that BT had been taking £60 from my account monthly. While comparing ISPs, I found the exact same package on the BT website listed as £53.99. That's £4 cheaper than BT is taking from my account.

Well, upon search for providers to switch to, the results are somewhat of a jumble as no 2 comparison site is the same. Some even showing ISPs that I've never heard of. eg. POP Telecom, Direct Save Telecom, tentel, Origin Broadband, and so on.

I compare with Fibre as standard Broadband in my area, with BT tops at 3mbps. With Fibre, I currently get between 50 and 60mbps. Half that is fine for me, but unlimited downloads is crucial as I'm very active on the internet.

So instead of giving you the prices of each package from different comparison sites, I'll just list the companies listed at the cheapest. Perhaps you and advise me on which company is best.

PlusNet
Vodafone
TalkTalk - Very unreliable in my area. Frequent disconnections and slow speeds.
EE

Those 4 are most often at the top of the listings. Plus the usual sponsored offer for BT packages.
I know PlusNet is owned by BT, and John Lewis Broadband is provided by PlusNet.

Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions?

JJ_Egan

Your posts is rather difficult to understand it rambles .
They will all be BT Open Reach services .

You may well be signed up to a more expensive service or a service at a higher price than someone else . You could even be paying less than others .

Out of the ISPs you list i would only go with BT or PlusNet and price could be the main factor .
Note BT Fibre 1 is faster than the other ISPs at 52 meg compared to 38 meg ..

AuronGrande

Sorry. I have a habit of rambling. It's a problem I have. Sort of like OCD. I do apologise.

From what you said, I'm thinking PlusNet would be the better option. However, they've changed their website and I can no longer see how much stuff will cost before ordering.

However, I'll figure something out.

System

I changed this week to Plusnet. No idea why you can't see the prices before ordering because its there on the website when you click on the big pink view packages button or click on the Unlimited Broadband or Unlimited Fibre tabs directly under their great big banner which you can also click on from the front page.

2see

I`m making the switch ( fibre ) from BT to PLUSNET , had a look see at website, decided to phone them,
going for, on offer at the moment ,
12 month fibre extra includes line rental ,with anytime phone , caller display, now the good bit,
you can pay line rental upfront ,
for 12 months and save an extra £2.50 a month :j :T

Ian011

Be aware that most providers offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers, but some do not. Outside of inclusive allowances these calls can cost 10p to 20p per minute. This may or may not be an important consideration.

Many landline providers no longer include calls to 0845 or 0870 numbers. Since these numbers are banned for customer services, financial services and public services, this shouldn't be much of an issue.

2see

another pain / problem with switching to another isp company, say plusnet from BT, if you use your BT email address , shopping sites , paypal ebay etc ,accounts they wont work,
before the the switch,
get a g mail , hot mail account set up, or use the plusnet email
they give you

AuronGrande

Tarambor wrote: »

I changed this week to Plusnet. No idea why you can't see the prices before ordering because its there on the website when you click on the big pink view packages button or click on the Unlimited Broadband or Unlimited Fibre tabs directly under their great big banner which you can also click on from the front page.

Only so much of the pricing is shown up front. You use to be able to customise packages before clicking the order button.

AuronGrande

2see wrote: »

I`m making the switch ( fibre ) from BT to PLUSNET , had a look see at website, decided to phone them,
going for, on offer at the moment ,
12 month fibre extra includes line rental ,with anytime phone , caller display, now the good bit,
you can pay line rental upfront ,
for 12 months and save an extra £2.50 a month :j :T

Yeah, I noticed the offer as well. I need to find out when my BT account is up for renewal and how much it would cost me to leave. Will be calling them today.

AuronGrande

Ian011 wrote: »

Be aware that most providers offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers, but some do not. Outside of inclusive allowances these calls can cost 10p to 20p per minute. This may or may not be an important consideration.

Many landline providers no longer include calls to 0845 or 0870 numbers. Since these numbers are banned for customer services, financial services and public services, this shouldn't be much of an issue.

That's fine for me anyway. I never call a mobile from landline. In fact, I don't make much calls anyway, whether from landline or mobile. I mainly call an 0800 number from landline which is to my housing repairs department. From mobile, 90% of the time it's texting, and I have unlimited of those.

AuronGrande

2see wrote: »

another pain / problem with switching to another isp company, say plusnet from BT, if you use your BT email address , shopping sites , paypal ebay etc ,accounts they wont work,
before the the switch,
get a g mail , hot mail account set up, or use the plusnet email
they give you

I already been doing that for some time now. However, I had BT email accounts under my mum's BT account. She's now on TalkTalk and I can still use the BT email.