FTTP - BT Deliberately blocking online orders

brunners12

I've recently moved to a new flat which was built 2ish years ago. I've been trying to sort out broadband and have found that only FTTP is available and thus BT is pretty much the only option. I used MSE broadband comparison tool and found the best deal: £30 a month for 50mbs avg speed with £90 cashback (BT reward card) + £50 voucher (broadband genie). Was happy to purchase this, however after entering details BT website then fails giving message "we couldn't check your details at this time, please call 0800 800 150". This then forces you to purchase your broadband via their phone sales team who can only offer their standard packages: £36 a month for 50mbs avg speed and looses the £50 broadband genie voucher.

After their customer services team informed me of various different reasons as to why the online order was failing (system error, form error) caused by my flat is FTTP. I was also told that this issue would not be able to be fixed by BT and that my only option is to order over the phone. I genuinely believe that BT are deliberately blocking my online order so that I am forced to pay the more expensive contracts available over the phone. Infuriating as this will cost me £158 over the 18 months!

Anyone else had this issue? Are BT even allowed to do this? seems very suspect behavior to me as they know I have no alternative option...

iniltous

You do have a choice, ther are several other company's that offer FTTP over Openreach, it's just the others that are available tend to be smaller niche providers and BT is probably the cheapest of those that are available.....the likes of TT and Post Office could offer FTTP if they wanted to ( in a similar way they offer FTTC ) but they chose not to, so if the lack of the cheaper ISP's is annoying, it's those company's who you would like to use but cannot, that you should approach and ask why they don't.
As far as BT taking advantage , it's capatilism, they certainly don't charge more that the advertised prices, but don't have to offer inducements if the lack of competition means that they don't have to...you can get 55Mb or 80Mb over FTTP at the same published price as FTTC , but any 'deal' may only be for FTTC as that's where the competition for customers is intense.

[Deleted User]

If you wish to go with BT, don't phone the normal sales line but use the FTTP Helpdesk on 0800 587 4787
https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/What-is-the-FTTP-sales-phone-number/td-p/1509974

If you wish to go elsewhere, a partial list of suppliers can be found here https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-broadband/ultrafast-fibre-buy-it-now
And there are 2 other ISPs not listed there.
These are
IDNet https://www.idnet.com/data_products/super-fast-broadband.php
Freeola https://freeola.com/ultrafast-broadband/