Updated Find the cheapest broadband discussion thread

geoff2

There's a bit of negativity on MSE about TalkTalk so I just want to say I switched to their Broadband (38mb fibre) from BT Infinity about 3 months ago and it's been perfect. No need for customer service, just swapped over the router and everything carried on working. Good quality packaging and instructions, couldn't be simpler.

[Deleted User]

geoff2 wrote: »

There's a bit of negativity on MSE about TalkTalk so I just want to say I switched to their Broadband (38mb fibre) from BT Infinity about 3 months ago and it's been perfect. No need for customer service, just swapped over the router and everything carried on working. Good quality packaging and instructions, couldn't be simpler.

My (many) issues were always with customer service not doing what they said they'd do, giving billing issues and problems at termination. The broadband itself was OK although slower than other providers I'd used.

Pramilla

I don't know why MSE keeps touting these companies
1. They ALLsuck - only some a bit less than others so they go to the top of the class
2. They ALL have "special offers" for brand new customers only
3. They ALL treat their customers like crap if this discussion and others on other sites are anything to go by.

I have for years stuck with BT line rental - quite simply because every time I want to move to a package which includes line rental with another company it involves changing my phone number and that is a whole lot of hassle. I once went to a company recommended by one of the comparison websites - take a bow EE you idiots - and spent nearly an hour on the phone with a woman explaining my needs and why it was essential to keep my phone number (elderly and ill parents in another country, mainly, who have my number keyed into their carers' phones). She swore high and low that this would happen. Next minute I get a "confirming" email from them saying almost the exact opposite in every respect to what we'd agreed on, including a new number. BT then lets me know that they've been told I no longer want the number. It was a mad scramble to undo the hassle and months later I was still being sent letters and texts by EE telling me when they were getting a new line installed, when my number would change, when they'd start broadband............... I was totally stressed out by the constant harassment. And apparently their computers had no record of me. I had tried to annul the contract when I got the first email, only to be told that nobody had ever heard of the woman I'd done the deal with, they had no record of the contract, it would take 48 hours to cancel - yet everything was already set in motion to grab my custom (except service).

I have also for years had Plusnet broadband. It gets slower and slower every day. I open up my email account and then go and make a coffee while it loads. Sometimes I can fit in breakfast waiting for a single email to open up. And then they have this cute little trick that I somehow manage to run out of my 10gb allowance a day or two before they bung on extra and make me pay extra. This month when I got the warning that I was apparently going to exceed my allowance (of course there are no points for all the months I am way under) I pulled the plug on my internet.

On one of the several occasions when my internet didn't get up and go at all, one of those kids who sounds like he's ten, so superior to old people like me who are so stupid, told me - sighing all the way and no doubt rolling his eyes - to leap through all sorts of hoops to get it going and then finally told me that my router is old. And why is that? Because I've been a longstanding customer and got my router long ago.
He said this as though it was my fault. Perhaps it is. I should change provider every year - at great cost in terms of my time, effort and stress level - and become a brand new customer every time.

Wow! That feels good, shall I go on?

Doc_N

Pramilla wrote: »

......... I should change provider every year - at great cost in terms of my time, effort and stress level - and become a brand new customer every time......

Sadly, that is exactly what you need to do to keep costs down. That's they way it is now with telecoms, insurance and most other products that get renewed every year. Ridiculous, but there it is.

Alternatively, just give notice of cancellation, talk to retentions, make it clear that you're off, and see what's the best they can offer. If it isn't competitive, leave.

jenniewb

Pramilla wrote: »

I don't know why MSE keeps touting these companies

Sadly expensive broadband and a phone line is a necessary evil these days

Pramilla wrote: »

I should change provider every year - at great cost in terms of my time, effort and stress level - and become a brand new customer every time.

Yup, and don't just stop there; go via a cashback site like Quidco or TCB and you get paid for swapping as often as you want. And look for mid-contract price rises; they sometimes mean you can move mid-contract. Once you get into the habit it's less complicated than it sounds.

chris112

before i sign, does anyomne know of a btter deal than this, for broadband (over 10gb) & anytime calls:

SSE - Fibre optic + anytime calls, 18 month contract = £21 p/month
+ £101 TCB = £15.39 p/month

is there anything better than this, which includes bb & anytime calls?
ive already looked at bt, talktalk & plusnet

philng

Nowhere near for ultra fast fibre if you are able to get cashback but only BT customers will get the cashback as for others such as SKY the online app won't work you have to call up thus missing out on the cashback.

chris112

sorry im not following you,
ive seen TCB offering £101 if you buy this phone & fibre deal. does it not track for people?

also this £21 deal isnt for ultra fibre, just standard 38mb fibre

philng

No it is £21 for the ultra fibre.
Unless you have a by line when you key in your phone number as part of the quote it rejects it saying you have to call Sse to proceed so you wouldn't get tcb or quidco cash back.
So a sky tel number you have to call up Sse but a bt number apparently works on the online app.

chris112

but as im not transferring a number, simply getting a new account and number, would this rule apply?