Can I approach this provider for a reduction in my bill?

bamme89

hi guys, I have talktalk broadband here. it is terrible. no other providers can install where I live, which is pretty rurally, but I get very patchy unreliable service and very slow speeds.

I have had to get Starlink wifi ontop of it in order to actually stay on zoom calls etc.  Only reason I still have the talk talk broadband is because my security system will not recognise the Starlink one. No other standard broadband providers will install here.

My question is am I being cheeky by approaching talk talk to try to reduce my bill? I am in a corner really as I need the wifi, but based on my usage (which is zero most days of the week) and the quality of the service I dont think it is worth what I am paying.

Has anyone else been in this situation and if so what did you guys do in order to get a reduction in cost?

Thank you so much

J_B

Our alarm is connected to our BT landline only - we don't have broadband down the phone line, but use a WISP service.

Our alarm company is trying to sell us a mobile sim based 'digi dialler' "because they're stopping doing copper phone service". I didn't accept their offer as there are only 4 houses in our 'city' 2 miles from the exchange ... suspect we will be last on their list to provide fibre!

QrizB

bamme89 said:

I have had to get Starlink wifi ontop of it in order to actually stay on zoom calls etc.  Only reason I still have the talk talk broadband is because my security system will not recognise the Starlink one. No other standard broadband providers will install here.

If that is literally the only reason you have a wired broadband service, and you have reasonable mobile phone coverage, then you could try a mobile connection for your alarm instead.

Does it need wifi or a wired phone service?

bamme89

Thanks guys - my alarm provider says no to any 4G device or Starlink, must be a standard broadband connection, it needs ‘proper’ wifi to work. So getting rid of the talktalk is not an option for now  

iniltous

If TT are available on the Openreach network then other ISP are to, however it’s the same line , same equipment the only real difference would be the ISP supplied router , so changing ISP probably wouldn’t improve things much ( if at all ) .
Talk Talk won’t care if you only have this connection for your alarm , it’s your choice to use the service intensively or sparingly, it’s not a PAYG service, so the chances of getting a reduction because it’s hardly used are slim ( nonexistent ) 
I would imagine your alarm is using the telephone side of the TT service rather than the broadband side of it ,  so it’s got nothing to do with what you are incorrectly calling WiFi ,but  if it is genuinely using the   TT broadband ,( connecting wirelessly using WiFi or hard wired into the broadband router )  , then connecting it to a different company’s wired or satellite broadband or 4G/ 5G should be possible, the type of broadband should really matter to the alarm provider, it’s just a web address .

If your alarm ( as I suspect it is ) is simply a dial up alarm service ( when triggered, it basically it makes a phone call to the monitoring centre or a nominated number , in the same way you would make a landline call yourself ) you don’t really need a broadband and phone service , you just need a phone service , but TT don’t supply a phone service without broadband.
 You could look to use a phone only provider if you can find one , but you would still be paying line rental even if the alarm never activated and made a call .

J_B

This is what our alarm company wanted to 'sell' us

https://www.csl-group.com/uk/installer-zone/digiair-pro-3.html

bamme89

iniltous said:

If TT are available on the Openreach network then other ISP are to, however it’s the same line , same equipment the only real difference would be the ISP supplied router , so changing ISP probably wouldn’t improve things much ( if at all ) .
Talk Talk won’t care if you only have this connection for your alarm , it’s your choice to use the service intensively or sparingly, it’s not a PAYG service, so the chances of getting a reduction because it’s hardly used are slim ( nonexistent ) 
I would imagine your alarm is using the telephone side of the TT service rather than the broadband side of it ,  so it’s got nothing to do with what you are incorrectly calling WiFi ,but  if it is genuinely using the   TT broadband ,( connecting wirelessly using WiFi or hard wired into the broadband router )  , then connecting it to a different company’s wired or satellite broadband or 4G/ 5G should be possible, the type of broadband should really matter to the alarm provider, it’s just a web address .

If your alarm ( as I suspect it is ) is simply a dial up alarm service ( when triggered, it basically it makes a phone call to the monitoring centre or a nominated number , in the same way you would make a landline call yourself ) you don’t really need a broadband and phone service , you just need a phone service , but TT don’t supply a phone service without broadband.
 You could look to use a phone only provider if you can find one , but you would still be paying line rental even if the alarm never activated and made a call .

Thank you for this - they specifically say wifi, I have called them about it twice - I don’t think it has anything to do with the phone line. The alarm system isn’t hardwired into anything, it just uses wifi.

I think at this point, for me anyway, changing how my alarm system works as in moving it off talktalk broadband onto something else is a non starter - I don’t understand the mechanics behind this but I can only go by what my alarm system provider has told me which is a flat out no more than once 😂

thanks also for the insight into whether I could ask for a reduction based on usage - what about the poor service as in you only really are connected half the time and if you are connected, speeds are slower than they said they’d be?

QrizB

bamme89 said:

I think at this point, for me anyway, changing how my alarm system works as in moving it off talktalk broadband onto something else is a non starter - I don’t understand the mechanics behind this but I can only go by what my alarm system provider has told me which is a flat out no more than once 😂

Are you able to set the wifi SSID and password in your alarm system, or has your provider locked it down so far that only they can do it?
You could (if you were feeling experimental) switch off your TalkTalk hub, then set up a hotspot on your phone with the same SSID and password as the TalkTalk one. See if the alarm will connect to it happily, or not?

littleboo

If the alarm provider is using terms like "proper wifi" then they don't have much of a clue, it would be nice to hear a technical justification. They may of course just decided to only support the use of fixed line broadband access because it's what they know and it makes their life easier.  In your case though, it means your alarm is reliant on an unreliable internet connection, is the alarm remotely monitored?
Going back your your question, there is nothing to stop you asking for a reduction, I would suspect that unreliability would stand more chance than low usage.

bamme89

QrizB said:

bamme89 said:

I think at this point, for me anyway, changing how my alarm system works as in moving it off talktalk broadband onto something else is a non starter - I don’t understand the mechanics behind this but I can only go by what my alarm system provider has told me which is a flat out no more than once 😂

Are you able to set the wifi SSID and password in your alarm system, or has your provider locked it down so far that only they can do it?
You could (if you were feeling experimental) switch off your TalkTalk hub, then set up a hotspot on your phone with the same SSID and password as the TalkTalk one. See if the alarm will connect to it happily, or not?

Good question, they never walked me thru that in setup but I could call them and simply ask how to change the wifi details myself, or give them the details without mentioning it’s any different to ‘proper’ broadband. I’m sure it’s possible. Thank you!

bamme89

littleboo said:

If the alarm provider is using terms like "proper wifi" then they don't have much of a clue, it would be nice to hear a technical justification. They may of course just decided to only support the use of fixed line broadband access because it's what they know and it makes their life easier.  In your case though, it means your alarm is reliant on an unreliable internet connection, is the alarm remotely monitored?
Going back your your question, there is nothing to stop you asking for a reduction, I would suspect that unreliability would stand more chance than low usage.

Thank you for this, and good point re unstable connection. if attempting to change the wifi with my provider doesn’t work, I will approach talktalk re the patchy service and slow speeds.