(Not)NowBB

GimmieStrength

Recently going through the motions of switching utilities, mobile and internet for my parents (previously on a hefty Utility Warehouse, all-in-one deal).

Gas and electric - switched no problem, saving about £50-100 over the year.

Mobile - switched no problem, saving about £50 over the year and much, much better deal.

Internet... ahem.

Initially tried NowBB - by far the best deal available (would have saved about £180 per year). Booked it in and paid the deposit; an engineer was going to have to test the line in a couple of weeks. No worries.

Checked online the day before the engineer was due to discover a 'delay' and, 'please phone' message. No email had been sent.

Turns out that NowBB had reached their quota on our local cabinet and so would no longer be able to supply internet.

Given that these preliminary checks are supposedley done at the time of ordering; and given that NowBB is just SKY by another name and that my parents did not want a more expensive TV-inclusive package, one must wonder if they were in fact bumped in lieu of a 'better' customer...

NowBB? No, not now.

JJ_Egan

 (Turns out that NowBB had reached their quota on our local cabinet and so would no longer be able to supply internet.)

Not unusual for any ISP  connection in local cabinet no longer available .

[Deleted User]

GimmieStrength said:

Internet... ahem.

Initially tried NowBB - by far the best deal available (would have saved about £180 per year). Booked it in and paid the deposit; an engineer was going to have to test the line in a couple of weeks. No worries.

Checked online the day before the engineer was due to discover a 'delay' and, 'please phone' message. No email had been sent.

Turns out that NowBB had reached their quota on our local cabinet and so would no longer be able to supply internet.

Given that these preliminary checks are supposedley done at the time of ordering; and given that NowBB is just SKY by another name and that my parents did not want a more expensive TV-inclusive package, one must wonder if they were in fact bumped in lieu of a 'better' customer...

NowBB? No, not now.

Without more information it isn't totally clear what has gone on but I'm assuming you are changing from ADSL to VDSL or (vice versa) because otherwise there shouldn't be an issue if you already have a connection from the cabinet?

Generally speaking, ISP's don't have individual quotas per cabinet, there is just a total number of connections per cabinet. If one ISP wants to use them all that is fine. The only exception might be upstream bandwidth limitations from the exchange to the ISP but this isn't a quota as such, just a technical limit based on the ISP link to the exchange.

It is entirely possible that when Now checked the cabinet, Open Reach reported a spare port, but placing the order with Open Reach isn't instant and another ISP could have been in the process of placing an order which went ahead of your Now TV order. It is likely the same would have happened regardless of your choice of ISP.

As to whether Now TV and Sky colluded to give the only port left to a better customer that came along after you, impossible to prove that and very unlikely, I can't imagine the front line staff that took the order from the Sky customer seeing a full cabinet and then checking the value of your order and cancelling and then telling the Sky customer there is now a free slot.

southsidergs

Yes, they would never prioritise a Sky customer over a Now one as it's simply not possible, things are usually done on a first come, first served basis

GimmieStrength

Regardless, eventually went with BT on the assumption that, if it's their (Openreach's) cabinet, presumably they won't be dangling (paid for) carrots before swiping them away at the last minute.

Mind you, so far, they've missed their first attempt - now hoping for a smooth transition on Wednesday, two weeks later than originally planned. Finger's crossed!

iniltous

There is no such thing as an allocation in a cabinet , the cabinet either has a spare port or ports or doesn’t, if Now couldn’t  connect your relative when there were spare ports in the cab ( assuming it’s FTTC ) then the issue must be something else, all FTTC ports are available to all ISP’s that consume Openreach products, but on a first come first served basis, but obviously it’s a dynamic count, there may be no spare port today, but one or more spare tomorrow as customers leave and join the service.

dreamypuma

GimmieStrength said:

Regardless, eventually went with BT on the assumption that, if it's their (Openreach's) cabinet, presumably they won't be dangling (paid for) carrots before swiping them away at the last minute.

Mind you, so far, they've missed their first attempt - now hoping for a smooth transition on Wednesday, two weeks later than originally planned. Finger's crossed!

BT (the consumer ISP) would have had no more influence or priority over any spare capacity in BT Openreach's local cabinet than any other ISP. The two operate autonomously.

See iniltous's post above. 

GimmieStrength

Simple summary:

1.

Attempted to change telephone/broadband supplier - did comparrison searchs at Uswitch and MSE.

2.

NowBB was top of the list for our requirements.

3.

Ordered package online from NowBB - paid for connection/router.

4.

Given date for engineer call/switch over - in 2 weeks time.

5.

Checked online day before engineer due, to confirm visit - discovered 'problem with order' message and asked to phone customer services.

6.

Told by customer services that there weren't enough connections in our nearest cabinet, so they'd cancelled the order.

To be clear: no emails or calls from NowBB to tell us about any problems; they just waited for us to realise they had changed their minds.

If you think this is reasonable, and judging the comments, some people do, then I disagree with you.

To anyone else - and really, the point of this post - buyer beware:

Just becsuse you think you've ordered and paid for your new broadband service does NOT mean your new provider isn't going to change their mind later - so watch your order progress like hawks.

I was doing this on behalf of an elderly couple, with good credit history, who'd been ripped off by another supplier for far too long: a non-fibre connection from Utility Warehouse, with 5 Mbps download speeds for over £40 a month. Ridiculous!

BT have now installed their FTTC supply, and while it's more expensive and a longer contract than NowBB would have been, it's still cheaper AND has three times faster download speeds than before.

Even more simple conclusion:

1.

Utility Warehouse - rip-off merchants who took advantage of elderly customers who didn't know better. (They'd even offered a FTTC connection for an EXTRA £30 per month!)

2.

NowBB - great ecpectations, great dissapointment; fickle; pathetic.

3.

BT - not the cheapest or best deal by far... but at least they had the integrity to live up to their word.

We can only speak as we find in this world.

Neil_Jones

GimmieStrength said:

I was doing this on behalf of an elderly couple, with good credit history, who'd been ripped off by another supplier for far too long: a non-fibre connection from Utility Warehouse, with 5 Mbps download speeds for over £40 a month. Ridiculous!

It is not the responsibility of the supplier to ensure their customers are on the best deal for said customers; it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure they are on the best deal for them.  Whether they are 18 or 118.  So they may not be being "ripped off" if they were happy to pay it if they were not aware of alternative options, either by accident or deliberately.

GimmieStrength

Neil_Jones said:

GimmieStrength said:

I was doing this on behalf of an elderly couple, with good credit history, who'd been ripped off by another supplier for far too long: a non-fibre connection from Utility Warehouse, with 5 Mbps download speeds for over £40 a month. Ridiculous!

It is not the responsibility of the supplier to ensure their customers are on the best deal for said customers; it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure they are on the best deal for them.  Whether they are 18 or 118.  So they may not be being "ripped off" if they were happy to pay it if they were not aware of alternative options, either by accident or deliberately.

"If you think this is reasonable, and judging the comments, some people do, then I disagree with you."