Upgrading to Fibre mid contract

agroman

Hi all
I currently have a phone and ADSL broadband package with Zen, this is due to finish January 2020. In the last month FTTP has become available to our property. I called Zen to enquire about upgrading to a fibre package, but was told I would have to 'buy out' of my existing package before I could upgade, cost of this would be just over £200! Given that my spend with Zen would go up from £40.50pm to £62.50 I am surprised that I am being asked to pay a buy out cost. Is this normal practice? If so, I think I will wait till the end of my contract.

Croft12

agroman wrote: »

Hi all
I currently have a phone and ADSL broadband package with Zen, this is due to finish January 2020. In the last month FTTP has become available to our property. I called Zen to enquire about upgrading to a fibre package, but was told I would have to 'buy out' of my existing package before I could upgade, cost of this would be just over £200! Given that my spend with Zen would go up from £40.50pm to £62.50 I am surprised that I am being asked to pay a buy out cost. Is this normal practice? If so, I think I will wait till the end of my contract.

I'd say no. I've upgraded with other providers and not paid anything. But Zen are smaller so perhaps there is some backhaul charges that hit them. How long have you to go?

[Deleted User]

I would have thought they'd be happy to get you on a dearer package for a new minimum term contract. Try calling them again.

agroman

Have called Zen again, appears I was given some duff info 1st time. As I am upgrading from ADSL to FTTP there is no contract break cost. However if I was changing from FTTC to FTTP there would be a cost. I guess in this case the ISP would have an ongoing cost to pay for the rental of the connection to the fibre cabinet. However with an ADSL connection there is no fixed time connection cost that they have to cover.

Croft12

agroman wrote: »

Have called Zen again, appears I was given some duff info 1st time. As I am upgrading from ADSL to FTTP there is no contract break cost. However if I was changing from FTTC to FTTP there would be a cost. I guess in this case the ISP would have an ongoing cost to pay for the rental of the connection to the fibre cabinet. However with an ADSL connection there is no fixed time connection cost that they have to cover.

Lol first time some1 has been pleased to be on adsl :-)

Cisco001

The price tag seems expensive.
Are Zen have a lot better service than others?

By the way, £200 is too expensive. shop around in Jan.

Croft12

Cisco001 wrote: »

The price tag seems expensive.
Are Zen have a lot better service than others?

By the way, £200 is too expensive. shop around in Jan.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/packages/fttp-broadband