BT Social Tariff - Have I been duped?

snowball2

When my BT contract was up for renewal, I asked about the social tariff as I had seen it promoted by Martin. I am a long-time BT customer and have Fibre 2 with the discs as I have an old house with poor WIFI coverage.

I am on UC as I am a single parent and student with 3 dependants (separated 3 years). Anyway, the advisor told me that I could get the social tariff, but I wouldn't be able to have the same BB, and I would have to send back all of the equipment I currently had, and have just a router. He insisted that my WIFI would be rubbish if I chose the social tariff.

I feel like this was not true, and he wanted to keep me paying full price, but I cannot find anything online to prove otherwise. Does anyone else have any experience?

I also told BT at the point we separated that my income was massively reduced and I was now on UC, and they did not offer me any help or tell me about any scheme that could help me financially.

la531983

Social tariffs are designed to be basic, to enable the poor of society to get online to apply for jobs, let the kids do homework etc. If you want the whistles and bells of faster internet and boosters its only right you pay the going rate for it

snowball2

la531983 said:

Social tariffs are designed to be basic, to enable the poor of society to get online to apply for jobs, let the kids do homework etc. If you want the whistles and bells of faster internet and boosters its only right you pay the going rate for it

Totally get this, but the internet only works in one room without the discs, so it's not really fit for purpose without, it's still not great around the house even with discs, but the kids can get online for homework and tv in their rooms. As I say I am paying full price for it, but I'm on a low income and everything helps at the moment! Both my kids and myself need to do homework.

Neil_Jones

snowball2 said:

la531983 said:

Social tariffs are designed to be basic, to enable the poor of society to get online to apply for jobs, let the kids do homework etc. If you want the whistles and bells of faster internet and boosters its only right you pay the going rate for it

Totally get this, but the internet only works in one room without the discs, so it's not really fit for purpose without, it's still not great around the house even with discs, but the kids can get online for homework and tv in their rooms. As I say I am paying full price for it, but I'm on a low income and everything helps at the moment! Both my kids and myself need to do homework.

Other solutions exist for wi-fi coverage if you need them.  But as above, you'd have to pay for them.

Perhaps you should consider the kids doing homework on the table where the router is.

TV in the bedroom can probably be resolved to an extent (depending on current arrangements) by a wired solution - Homeplug or similar, or the alternative solutions for wi-fi.

No provider will guarantee wi-fi coverage from the router on its own, but to take the example of BT, it is a business at the end of the day, and unless the broadband providers are  forced to by law/regulators/government, nobody's going to offer a tariff where they make little if any profit out of it, and thus  there wouldn't even be a social tariff at all.  

BT Basic was a thing before it was replaced with Home Essentials but again they are the only provider legally required to offer social tariffs - everybody else was required to by the regulator.  So they'll do it as as cheaply as possible.  Which means no wireless discs.

Clive_Woody

snowball2 said:

la531983 said:

Social tariffs are designed to be basic, to enable the poor of society to get online to apply for jobs, let the kids do homework etc. If you want the whistles and bells of faster internet and boosters its only right you pay the going rate for it

Totally get this, but the internet only works in one room without the discs, so it's not really fit for purpose without, it's still not great around the house even with discs, but the kids can get online for homework and tv in their rooms. As I say I am paying full price for it, but I'm on a low income and everything helps at the moment! Both my kids and myself need to do homework.

The social tariff is going to be basic and not the full fibre with all the extras, but with the basic broadband and router you can buy your own MESH routers (same as the BT discs) to boost your wifi signal, something like the one linked below (which is often on discount during Black Friday). You can add extra MESH devices as required and as funds permit. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/eero-6-extender/dp/B086PB5TPF/ref=sr_1_7_ffob_sspa?keywords=mesh+wifi&qid=1693489501&sprefix=mes%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-7-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

wild666

By all accounts the social tariff is the same as the up to 38Mb  for £15 per month you get the same router as you would have on any other BT package you can even upgrade to the up to 76Mb speeds for and extra £5 per month.https://www.socialtariff.co.uk/broadband/bt/