Alternatives to TalkTalk for Fibre, Line Rental, Phone Calls & SIM?!

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi everyone.

I've been with TT for as long as I can remember - certainly from the early days of Tiscali. I do check alternatives when contracts expire, but have stayed with them as usually their rates are reasonable (often after a haggle), the service decent enough (but with occasional hiccups) and with a bit of 'better the devil you know' thrown in.

Renewal is up again, tho', and they certainly ain't the cheapest this time, tho', and I'm a bit fed up having to negotiate a better rate with them each time. 'NOW', for example, are only £23 pm for fibre and calls, so that's a fair bit less than the renewal from TT. TT do, however, hold one ace card - they also give a free SIM which is great for low-use users like moi, having only 500MB pm download (not a problem - I only use WiFi for 'data' stuff) but adequate free calls and texts for the little use I make of my phone when out (typical 'emergency-only' type device).

So, are there any alternatives to TT given that what I need is Fibre (~30+ Mbps), Line Rental, day and even national calls, and - ideally - a free-to-use SIM?

Cheers.

Zellah

You probably won’t get a free sim from a different CP. Best thing to do is call TT’s bluff by signing up elsewhere (migration) and then you’ll receive the compulsory “sorry to hear you’re leaving us... blah blah “ letter from TT. If you’re lucky TT will offer you the same deal you’re already on (or better) in the same letter. Otherwise call them after receiving the letter and at that point they will almost certainly offer you a better deal than what they’re offering you now. If you do end up staying with TT don’t forget to cancel the migration (you have a 14 day cancellation window aka cooling off period). Good luck!

Jeepers_Creepers

Thanks Zellah.

That's the conclusion I came to too. Just a bit fed up going through the 'negotiating' hassle - especially when it's a tedious process by phone - so would have been happy to finally 'jump'.

But, hey... :-)   

Zellah

I forgot to ask, are they not letting you stay on your current deal in exchange for a new 12+ month new contract? 

Jeepers_Creepers

No - it'll revert to standard tariff, but they offered a 'deal' should I extend - but it isn't nearly as good as 'NOW'. (Apart from the SIM...)

Jeepers_Creepers

Well, that was painless! Had a 'chat' with TT, and told them of NOW's £23pm offer for BB, Rental & Calls. They came back with ditto for £22pm, and it's even down as their 65Mbps BB - double what I currently have! (Except that was a bit naughty as I cannot get 65 around here, so it's effectively still 35Mbps...)

Anyhoo, I'm more than pleased with that rate, and I made it clear in the chat I was looking for the same as I currently have - a full 'renewal' - so I'm expecting the SIM to continue as well. Fingers crossed :-)  

Zellah

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Well, that was painless! Had a 'chat' with TT, and told them of NOW's £23pm offer for BB, Rental & Calls. They came back with ditto for £22pm, and it's even down as their 65Mbps BB - double what I currently have! (Except that was a bit naughty as I cannot get 65 around here, so it's effectively still 35Mbps...)

Anyhoo, I'm more than pleased with that rate, and I made it clear in the chat I was looking for the same as I currently have - a full 'renewal' - so I'm expecting the SIM to continue as well. Fingers crossed :-)  

Nice! I would get the TT deal in writing (email or snail mail) for peace of mind. Re: speeds, you *may* see an increase in upload speed as the TT Fibre 65 service has an upload of 20 Mbps (up to) whilst your current service is capped at 10Mbps. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Thanks for that. I do fairly regular checks on speed, so I'll keep an eye on that. But when it's firing at 30+Mbps, it does all we need - and that includes for 2 teenaged kids...

I have the transcript of the chat, and they've emailed the new contract. There's no mention of the SIM, but then there never was - it was an available freebie at the time, and I think you just had to ask for it; it shows up on my account, with the odd £2 charge when daughter exceeds the whopping 500Mb limit...

I'll have a good moan - and threat - should it suddenly disappear... :-)  

Jeepers_Creepers

Just checked my updated contract in my account - Fibre 65, calls + mobile. So all good.

Phew - well done, TalkTalk :-)   

Hammer_Time

It’s good you have a free sim with them, I also had a free sim many years ago but for the past few years they changed it and now charge me £3 a month. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Toerags... :-(