Is it sensible/worth renewing BB contract with BT early? 8 July 2022 at 9:41AM in Broadband & internet access 16 replies 445 views

jem16

Currently paying £22.99pm for Fibre 1 BB which gives me 80/20 speeds ( just as if I was on Fibre 2). Contract due to end on 1st December.

I have just had an email offering an "early renewal deal" but I'm not interested in any of the dearer packages as I don't need anything better than I have. I did notice that I can renew for 24 months at the same £22.99 price I'm currently paying.

Seems daft to renew when I still have almost 5 months left to run but happy with that price. Will that price stay or likely to change as I get closer to renewal?

johnbhoy70

I'm in a similar postion with contract up on 30th November. I've got Fibre with Halo 1 for my broadband and calls and was put on Digital Voice a few months back. For broadband and calls i pay £25.43 a month. 

Personally i'm sititng tight and will wait and see if there's anything kicking about for Black Friday. Also, Openreach were laying cable for FTTP here a while back and will see if there's anything comes out of that. I'm not overly impressed with BT personally but over the years they've given me pretty decent discounts and freebies to keep my business.

I would add that because i'm on Halo, which they put me on at no cost (i made sure of that), they cannot charge me more when my contract finishes with exception of RPI plus 3.9% i think it is. 

ps- i get generally poor speeds with BT for fibre but i understand because of geography it's not getting better with anyone else!!

LeesArt

What I would watch out for is any fake "inflation" rises, I call them fake because the cost of delivering Broadband is not going to go up by that amount.

Forecast for autumn CPI is around 12% but may be as high as 15%, companies are offering 24 month contracts with CPI+3.9% added at end of march each year.

At same time I hear noises about competition for ADSL because of cost of living crisis.

I would wait and see, BT are not exactly at the cheap end of the market.

MalMonroe

Why not phone BT and ask them what they can offer you? It's a free call and you don't have to do anything you don't want to do but you can ask for nothing and then tell them you would like to think it over.

I'm with BT and that's what I do. They will go through all your options and then you can decide. The ball's in your court. (Sorry, obviously been watching too much Wimbledon!)

jem16

MalMonroe said:

Why not phone BT and ask them what they can offer you? It's a free call and you don't have to do anything you don't want to do but you can ask for nothing and then tell them you would like to think it over.

I'm with BT and that's what I do. They will go through all your options and then you can decide. The ball's in your court. (Sorry, obviously been watching too much Wimbledon!)

That's what i usually do when in the final month of my contract as then I would be able to leave and they know it. With 5 months left on my current contract I really don't have much leverage.

jem16

LeesArt said:

What I would watch out for is any fake "inflation" rises, I call them fake because the cost of delivering Broadband is not going to go up by that amount.

Forecast for autumn CPI is around 12% but may be as high as 15%, companies are offering 24 month contracts with CPI+3.9% added at end of march each year.

At same time I hear noises about competition for ADSL because of cost of living crisis.

I would wait and see, BT are not exactly at the cheap end of the market.

£22.99pm for BB is one of the cheapest around at the moment. Even Plusnet is at £25.99pm for a similar speed.

Yes I can't say I'm happy with the automatic CPI+3.9% but they all seem to be doing that now.

iniltous

TBH , that seems to be a pretty decent price , and if you are happy with the service , personally I would go for that, you may be able to negotiate a better price with BT closer to December  , but probably not,  there may be an alternative company cheaper than £22.99 when you look to renew in December, but it could turn out to be a false economy, if their service turns out to be worse, especially if it’s only penny’s difference anyway.

Stompa

I had a similar early renewal offer (Fibre 1 with free Anytime calls for £20.24) from BT around 18 months ago, when I still had 3 months to run on my existing contract. I took up the offer, and was able to specify the 'activation date' for the new contract, which I set to the existing contract expiry date. It was a very straightforward process.

jem16

Stompa said:

I had a similar early renewal offer (Fibre 1 with free Anytime calls for £20.24) from BT around 18 months ago, when I still had 3 months to run on my existing contract. I took up the offer, and was able to specify the 'activation date' for the new contract, which I set to the existing contract expiry date. It was a very straightforward process.

That was an excellent offer if it included free Anytime calls.

Thanks for the heads up on being able to specify the activation date. Was that done by just accepting the offer online?

Stompa

jem16 said:

Stompa said:

I had a similar early renewal offer (Fibre 1 with free Anytime calls for £20.24) from BT around 18 months ago, when I still had 3 months to run on my existing contract. I took up the offer, and was able to specify the 'activation date' for the new contract, which I set to the existing contract expiry date. It was a very straightforward process.

That was an excellent offer if it included free Anytime calls.

Thanks for the heads up on being able to specify the activation date. Was that done by just accepting the offer online?

Yes. When I accepted online I was expecting the new contract to start from the acceptance date. But during the process it asked for an activation date, so I entered my current contract expiry date, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked.

Bear in mind that this was around 18 months ago, but hopefully it still works the same way.

Do post back if it works (or not) for you. It would be useful to know as I must be due another such offer in the next few months.

jem16

Stompa said:

jem16 said:

Stompa said:

I had a similar early renewal offer (Fibre 1 with free Anytime calls for £20.24) from BT around 18 months ago, when I still had 3 months to run on my existing contract. I took up the offer, and was able to specify the 'activation date' for the new contract, which I set to the existing contract expiry date. It was a very straightforward process.

That was an excellent offer if it included free Anytime calls.

Thanks for the heads up on being able to specify the activation date. Was that done by just accepting the offer online?

Yes. When I accepted online I was expecting the new contract to start from the acceptance date. But during the process it asked for an activation date, so I entered my current contract expiry date, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked.

Bear in mind that this was around 18 months ago, but hopefully it still works the same way.

Do post back if it works (or not) for you. It would be useful to know as I must be due another such offer in the next few months.

Thanks. I've just gone through it now. It still allows you to choose an activation date up to 3 months in advance. Couldn't quite get to 1st December but I've chosen 7th October.