how to safely swap internet provider at end of contract??

gutovicky

Morning helpful people,

I am a low user of both the phone and the Internet (Google searches/YouTube/BBC iPlayer...).
I am considering switching my Broadband/Landline provider, from BT to Plusnet, in order to save on price/month.... 

My current contract with BT (Fibre 1) expires on 26/1/23, in 3 days time.
The terms & conditions on this contract appear to say that I can leave at anytime, if I am switching to a new provider, by giving 14 days notice (with possible compensation to pay if I'm still within the minimum term..).

Plusnet have advised they can manage the swap, and can have me 'set up' as early as 6/2/23 - in approx 14 days.

Things I would like to AVOID during the switch if at all possible:
1. having to pay any extra charges or fees (to BT) for 'cancellation' or whatever..
2. having to pay two BB/Landline providers simultaneously (BT & Plusnet) for any period....
3. losing my BB/internet for days on end... 

Can anyone please suggest the sequence of steps I should now take...  (who to contact?/when?)

Thank you for your time, Vicky

MikeJXE

I'm moving home and was moving supplier

I found a better deal and signed up. My old provider contacted me and gave me a better deal than the one I signed up for so I will stick

My contract ends March 29 and normally a supplier need 28 days notice even when you're out of contract which you will be.

I doubt BT will get anywhere near the deal I got equivalent to £14 95 a month 18 month contract 

I have no idea what you get by doing a switch 

serpico100

Firstly, you need to check the 14 day cancellation period. BT normally require 30 days notice to cancel. The 14 days is normally at the start of a contract ( the cooling off period ) You will not pay cancellation fees as you are out of contract. If you are switching due to price, BT will no doubt offer you a better deal to get you to stay when you cancel. If you decide to move, wait until they confirm the termination date. You can then sign up with Plusnet and let them know your termination date from BT. They will liaise with BT with regard to the switch, including transferring the phone number ( if you’re keeping it ) and all the other admin.

If as you suggest, Plusnet can get you set up on 6th Feb and BT want 30 days notice of cancellation, then you will be paying two lots of broadband.

Good luck

southsidergs

If your contract ends on 26th then simply just follow the switching process which will take 14 days, as the contract is ending you won't have to pay any cancellation charges to BT & the service would switch from one to the other so you'd never be without service or paying for 2

iniltous

When you come to the end of your minimum term , you simply move to the ‘out of contract price’ , if you want to change provider , pick one and advise them ( not your old provider ) they organise everything including telling your old provider, ( so you don’t need to call your old ISP ), unless you want to try negotiation for a better deal.
if you only have 3 days on your current minimum term , as it’s 10 to 14 days for the switch, you will pay some out of contract price to your old provider, but it will be minimal, so ( for example ) if you pay £30 currently, and the out of contract price is £45 , that’s about 50p more per day , so if you pay for 7 days  , it’s an extra £3.50 ,
 Its already too late for you to arrange the change on the 26th but even if you had more than the 10 -14 days until your minimum term expires, in my opinion it’s not worth the aggravation trying to save £1 or £2 trying to get the exact date, and that can change anyway, depending on when Openreach actually do the changes, arranging a migration ‘close’ to the minimum term expiration is normally good enough.
TBH , even if you had started process a week or two ago , and switched a few days early the ETC with only a few days left of the minimum term are not going to be more than a couple of ££ anyway.
With OR based providers , if the new provider issues the correct order type , you cannot have two services simultaneously, so cannot be double charged, and the day the first goes off should be the day the second one starts , no more than a short gap between them.

tripled

These days, much like switching mobile phone or gas/electricity, you don't need to cancel with the old supplier, you can sign up with the new one and they notify the old one for you. Plusnet is actually owned by BT although it's run as a separate division, so behind the scenes it should be fairly straight-forward as it's all BT infrastructure.

I've just had a switch go through from Onestream to Now. I signed up to Now a couple of weeks ago and was given a date of 23rd (today). I didn't need to speak to Onestream. Late last week I got a new router through the post. This morning I got up and the internet wasn't working so I unplugged the old router and plugged the new one in. Back online and job done.

MalMonroe

I'm with BT and would phone them - as tripled says, above, Plusnet's owned by BT anyway but is a cheaper version so I'd not expect much from them.

Also, you may be able to haggle with BT for a better deal before you leave. It's always worth a try and it costs you nothing.

BT often does deals for low users. Especially for those on benefits.

But if you phone them they give you all their up to date prices - I've just tried looking at their deals online and it's just confused me even more. 

When you phone they can tell you everything you need to know and if it won't be beneficial to you, then leave - but I really would have a try to get them to at least try to equal your new price first. 

As to when? You can phone BT now, they're open until 9pm. (Well, they were last week when I phoned them at 8.30pm).

Neil49

Just a reminder that should you decide to switch to Plusnet that you can get cashback if you go through Quidco and Topcashback. 

400ixl

Other thing to consider is at what date can you switch to Plusnet and not be caught by the April price increase.

It may be worth paying the out of contract rate for a month to avoid the 11-13% (generalisation) increase for the year from April.

Swipe

400ixl said:

Other thing to consider is at what date can you switch to Plusnet and not be caught by the April price increase.

It may be worth paying the out of contract rate for a month to avoid the 11-13% (generalisation) increase for the year from April.

They'll be caught by it regardless as it's part of the contract T+Cs