BT offering upgrade to EE mid contract

pcxajb

I had an email from BT advising they have joined with EE to provide broadband and to see what upgrade deal I can get.  My contract is a 24 month one expiring in 9 months.  I’m paying ~£75 monthly for a 900 Mb package which I’m happy with.

Following the links the recommended upgrade was to EE’s full gigabit option at £81.99 monthly for a 1 Gb speed.

As this was the only option available I checked the EE website to see they had a 1.6 Gb package for £69.99 monthly.

I phoned EE to see if I could get this deal and after confirming I could as this was an upgrade in speed they advised I’d have to actually request the package via BT as my contract was with them (although they are the same company now).  

BT only gave me the £81.99 option and when I said EE had told me I could get the 1.6 Gb for £69.99 the tone changed and I got a grilling on if EE had actually offered me the deal.

I pressed the matter and have a call back booked in next week from a BT manager after they listen back to my call recording with EE.

The question is do BT have to honour this much better deal even though I’m mid-contract (but they sent the original email saying I could upgrade)?  It feels like they only want to give me the more expensive deal (and lock me in for another 24 months) and not the best one available.  I’d like to know where I stand before the call next week in case I get incorrect information.

Many thanks in advance!

Mark_d

I imagine you could get the 1.6Gb package for £69.99 now - but only if you buy out the remainder of your existing contract.

Having been with EE broadband for many years now,  it sounds like the £81.99 deal might require you taking out at 24 month contract from now but not having to buy out your existing contract.

My recommendation would be to stick with your current deal and look at this again in the final month of your current contract.

bristolleedsfan

O/P also bear in mind renew now will face £3 per month increase from end of March 2025, usually no increase for price increase year if renew after March 1st.

cader

pcxajb said:

I had an email from BT advising they have joined with EE to provide broadband and to see what upgrade deal I can get.  My contract is a 24 month one expiring in 9 months.  I’m paying ~£75 monthly for a 900 Mb package which I’m happy with.

Following the links the recommended upgrade was to EE’s full gigabit option at £81.99 monthly for a 1 Gb speed.

As this was the only option available I checked the EE website to see they had a 1.6 Gb package for £69.99 monthly.

I phoned EE to see if I could get this deal and after confirming I could as this was an upgrade in speed they advised I’d have to actually request the package via BT as my contract was with them (although they are the same company now).  

BT only gave me the £81.99 option and when I said EE had told me I could get the 1.6 Gb for £69.99 the tone changed and I got a grilling on if EE had actually offered me the deal.

I pressed the matter and have a call back booked in next week from a BT manager after they listen back to my call recording with EE.

The question is do BT have to honour this much better deal even though I’m mid-contract (but they sent the original email saying I could upgrade)?  It feels like they only want to give me the more expensive deal (and lock me in for another 24 months) and not the best one available.  I’d like to know where I stand before the call next week in case I get incorrect information.

Many thanks in advance!

I had the same offer via email. I wouldn't do it at the moment. There are thousands of EE customers at the moment who cannot access their account online. This has been an ongoing situation for months and months. I have spent hours on the phone with their tech guys. Unlike many other customers, they have been let down by EE NOT BEING ABLE TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE.  Last year I moved my BT mobile to EE. I'm currently still with BT with my broadband. I have no intention of moving to EE with my broadband. It's absolutely outrageous that a communication company like EE are unable to resolve 's their customers to being able to access their accounts. 
I realise that eventually. BT will try and force you over. My plan is to cancel when that eventuality arises and move to a more reliable broadband company. Who clearly don't have an issue allowing their customers to access their accounts. Not only my broadband, but I will be also moving my mobile account to another provider.

HaroldWhistler

You were right to point out the £61.99 price, which if I'm not mistaken is on the EE website as the price for new contracts for the 1.6Gbps package. 

As far as I was aware, you could upgrade with BT to a higher package towards the end of the contract (3-6 months to go), which would start a new contract. Though the price would be as an existing customer, not necessarily the new customer price. Which used to be a better price, but more often than not nowadays is not as good a price. 

In this case, BT seem to be trying to move over retail customers to EE, which for some reason they think has a better brand name than the legacy BT. The price they are trying to move you over at for the 1Gbps though is extremely expensive at circa £82 a month. Even BT's own price is not that high as a new customer. And from what I understood, it sounded like that meant a new 24 months contract as well, not even a 12 month contract, with two price increases of £3 each year. 

BT might not offer that "new customer EE price" at £61.99 because they are classing it as an upgrade. Closer to the end of your contract of course, you would have more negotiating power saying you'll simply switch provider then. Or else, you could just literally go and join EE and migrate over at the end of the contract at the better price!

In short, unless you have a problem with your existing service and the price (which is lower than what they want to charge you in their so called upgrade deal), it would likely be best to wait out the remaining months on the contract and get a far better contract after that (with BT, EE, or anyone else).

As an example when it comes to price, even if you wanted to stay on 1Gbps, look at Aquiss Broadband, which according to ISPnet is one of the best customer rated broadband providers and a family run business. They provide an Openreach Full Fibre 1Gbps broadband package for £55.99 on a 12 months contract. With an introductory offer of 6 months half price as well. Which would work out to roughly £42 a month. On a much shorter 12 months contract. No price increases after the contract ends either. Given their customer rating, I'd suggest that that is a much better price/deal than upgrading to 1Gbps on EE at £82 a month, or BT for that matter on a longer contract.