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BT Social Tariff - Have I been duped?

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.

Comments

  • la531983
    la531983 Posts: 2,538 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 31 August 2023 at 1:08PM
    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
    snowball2 Posts: 204 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Uniform Washer
    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
    Neil_Jones Posts: 9,414 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    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
    Clive_Woody Posts: 5,891 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    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
    "We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein
  • wild666
    wild666 Posts: 2,181 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    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/
    Someone please tell me what money is
  • lyndamb
    lyndamb Posts: 35 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I signed up for BT Social Tarif when I read MSE information.  i am a pensioner with chronic health health issues getting worse all caused by NHS in 2005.  I have had so many issues since day one.  When I contacted BT most of the staff had no idea what my contract was supposed to include and I was regularly left with faulty equipment and landline continually disconnected.  I was moving home approx 2 months ago.  I had been charged the extra £3 per month when ll prices were raised  and most staff refused to read my contract but eventually one did and said I was right my contract included free paper billing.
    I asked BT to have my Broadband and Phone connected on my moving day 14th September.  They charged me for the August bill £20 but my phone line / broadband was disconnected in my previous house  I moved house and the new connection was not started.  They were happy to send me mail welcoming me to the new service when they hadn't arranged to have it correctly checked and set up.   I complained again as their alleged executive staff were insisting that my contract had changed. 
    Staff tend to always be off on leave then some other comedian joins in and the customer has to spend weeks arguing.  I requested that i be given a refund for the September bill I had paid as I had no service but that was ignored.  I had been assured the paper bills were free and another young woman looked into previous bills and offered me compensation.  The emails I was sent from the billing department made no sense so when the next bill arrived it had completely contradicting mothly payments. 
    I wrote again to the young woman who had tried to be helpful but now Im getting all the excuses that everything was an error and not explained to me.  I looked it up on line I am not very good at this because of some of my health issues  PTSD, CHRONIC MIGRAINE to name but a few.  Initially she told me I was onl this Social Tarif but when I said my contract included free paper bills and 67mbs ?  plus calls up to an hour monthly and other free calls  for £ 20 monthly when now I am being told it is 35 Mbs for £20 and no free calls. 

    Todays email this young woman has written that she had looked into my bills and checked the speed which was 35 mbs  so her indepth check showed that whoever changed my original contract hadn't told me of these changes.  She will be off till 9th December so Im supposed to accept  her offer to move suppliers.

    How many thousands who changed because of MSE and are now being left in the same position as I am.  I have been trying to save money and make it easy for me to deal with my own bills without having to beg family members to help me.  This social tariff has not been properly taught to all the "executives" who can neither read or check what customers were asked to sign up to. 

         Are you able to give accurate figures of what you are happy to claim are helpful Social Tariffs who qualify and tell me how they were able to changed the costs and what I was supposed to be charged for fast broadband because now I think we were all being overcharged and not given the correct speed.

    As it stands I am trying to apply for help with my health and they all want a list of my income and expenditure.  The previous Government and this are always happy to fob people on every charity telling them they can help people like me to obtain accurate qualified help and it is just not true.  They are too busy and most are volunteers  I have no idea what my mothlu bills are because they change almost Daily.

    Both the last governments insisted that Pensioners disabled chronically ill people had no option but to have computers including the bills for online No thought for how they can afford the extra costs everything has to be online even if you have disabilities that cause you problems to deal with these things NO ONE cares.  and if you complain it takes them months to look into said complaints    

    I wrote to Martin Lewis shortly after moving when he advertised his blog on Smart meters.  I had been writing to Octopus and asked for help to deal with 2 weekly estimated bills in now 3 of my homes.  I asked in my latest home what help I could qualify for for grants for insulation to heat my home as it is freezing.  They say they don't do anything.  Maybe you should have Martin tell them what help they can give people who qualify because it seems he only helps to advertise these large companies.  I still haven't had a reply from Martin.  Does that mean that no one helps those who really need it  All we get is empty talk  

    I    
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