BT Internet... can I push for a better deal?

bobs99

Hi All,

Renewed my BT Internet today and went from a more expensive package down to their Fibre 1 deal which is 29.99 a month.

I asked if the agent could provide any additional deal and he essentially simply said no.

I know others have had luck in getting a cheaper deal and I wonder if anyone has any advice. Unfortunately I am renewing and BT has me somewhat in a position where they know I likely wont leave I think.

Have 14 days to change my mind so figured I would ask if anyone has had any luck at all in terms of negotiating their price down.

HaroldWren5

bobs99 said:

Hi All,

Renewed my BT Internet today and went from a more expensive package down to their Fibre 1 deal which is 29.99 a month.

I asked if the agent could provide any additional deal and he essentially simply said no.

I know others have had luck in getting a cheaper deal and I wonder if anyone has any advice. Unfortunately I am renewing and BT has me somewhat in a position where they know I likely wont leave I think.

Have 14 days to change my mind so figured I would ask if anyone has had any luck at all in terms of negotiating their price down.

First have you checked what speeds and services your property can get? If you go to either the BT website, or a competitor and use the Address Availability checker, does it show that you can get FTTP broadband? (Sometimes referred to as Ultrafast or Full Fibre)

Full Fibre products will tend to be better value for money like for like for the same speed and be more reliable.

Secondly, do you wish to stay with BT, or willing to switch provider? Sometimes you can get them to come down, but more often than not these companies offer good "deals" for new customers.

If your address can get "Full Fibre", it's worth checking out those BT packages, or providers like Cuckoo (which have fixed prices without any price increase in March/April), TalkTalk, or Sky. Some of them offer shorter contracts as well like 12 months to 18 months versus BT which is 24 months.

If your address isn't FTTP ready yet, and it's FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) broadband you're after, then you can probably switch provider (or tell BT to match it or you'll leave). As an example, for what BT call "Fibre 1", you could go with NOW Broadband for £20 a month on a 12 months contract, or Vodafone's Superfast 2 product for £19 a month on a 24 months contract.

If you were going by the BT renewal offer, then if it's a 24 month contract, the Vodafone offer seems better since it's the same line yet around £10 a month cheaper. If anything, you might want to go with NOW broadband so you can leave in 12 months in case FTTP does become available. 

luvchocolate

I'm with Plusnet and got £20.25 for 24 months 

RogerBareford

bobs99 said:

Hi All,

Renewed my BT Internet today and went from a more expensive package down to their Fibre 1 deal which is 29.99 a month.

I asked if the agent could provide any additional deal and he essentially simply said no.

I know others have had luck in getting a cheaper deal and I wonder if anyone has any advice. Unfortunately I am renewing and BT has me somewhat in a position where they know I likely wont leave I think.

Have 14 days to change my mind so figured I would ask if anyone has had any luck at all in terms of negotiating their price down.

I got offered their "Fibre 2" package which i was already on in December for £19.99 a month on their online renewal portal which i signed up for. Surprisingly when i called up they said this deal was cheaper than they could offer over the phone.

If they had only offered me £29.99 i would have switched to another provider because as others have mentioned there are far cheaper options.

400ixl

Why won't you leave BT for a better price?

Fibre 1 is their up to 50Mb offer, what speed do you actually get?

Just for comparison, you could get the same speeds from NowTV, Vodafone etc for around £10 a month less.

flaneurs_lobster

400ixl said:

Why won't you leave BT for a better price?

When you have had a rock-solid broadband service from BT for years and you decide "I can get the same speeds from Vodafone for lots less a month, lets swap". The "turning off BT" bit works fine, the "turning on Vodafone" bit not at all. 

Won't bore you with the weeks of Customer Service joy but ended up with cancelled Vodafone order, no broadband for a month and a reinstated BT service which has been rock-solid for the last two years.

I'm coming up to the end of my BT contract, what would you do?

matelodave

I've been with BT for four years and I've had rock solid FTTP internet for all that time, however they've been cranking the prices up and the best they could offer at my last renewal was £55 for 75mbit/s plus 700mins month phone calls with the prospect of a 10% rise in April.(or £60 with unlimited phone calls)

I moved to Vodafone in January, 100mbit/s with unlimited phone calls for £31.50 with the prospect of a 10% rise. So far it's been rock solid and IMO the router is better than then BT SmartHub especially as I can have separate 2.4 and 5ghz bands which gives me a lot more flexibility.

If after two years it hasn't lived up to expectations then I can go somewhere else, even back to BT, but as a new customer and therefore getting new customer deals rather than getting stuffed

RogerBareford

matelodave said:

I've been with BT for four years and I've had rock solid FTTP internet for all that time, however they've been cranking the prices up and the best they could offer at my last renewal was £55 for 75mbit/s plus 700mins month phone calls with the prospect of a 10% rise in April.(or £60 with unlimited phone calls)

I moved to Vodafone in January, 100mbit/s with unlimited phone calls for £31.50 with the prospect of a 10% rise. So far it's been rock solid and IMO the router is better than then BT SmartHub especially as I can have separate 2.4 and 5ghz bands which gives me a lot more flexibility.

If after two years it hasn't lived up to expectations then I can go somewhere else, even back to BT, but as a new customer and therefore getting new customer deals rather than getting stuffed

The BT Smart Hub does support seperate Wifi bands aswell.

matelodave

No it doesn't unless it's been upgraded very recently, You cannot allocate a different SSID to the 2.4 and 5ghz bands.

I've had two and there's a long running whinge on the BT Users Forum on this very subject. 

brewerdave

Plusnet Hub One (rebadged BT Home Hub 5?) has been around for ~ 4 years & allows separate SSIDs - surely BT haven't gone backwards ??

southsidergs

RogerBareford said:

matelodave said:

I've been with BT for four years and I've had rock solid FTTP internet for all that time, however they've been cranking the prices up and the best they could offer at my last renewal was £55 for 75mbit/s plus 700mins month phone calls with the prospect of a 10% rise in April.(or £60 with unlimited phone calls)

I moved to Vodafone in January, 100mbit/s with unlimited phone calls for £31.50 with the prospect of a 10% rise. So far it's been rock solid and IMO the router is better than then BT SmartHub especially as I can have separate 2.4 and 5ghz bands which gives me a lot more flexibility.

If after two years it hasn't lived up to expectations then I can go somewhere else, even back to BT, but as a new customer and therefore getting new customer deals rather than getting stuffed

The BT Smart Hub does support seperate Wifi bands aswell.

The smart hub 2 (latest one) doesn't but the older ones do.