Trapped by BT

TheLavenderHouse

My elderly mother has BT home phone (with unlimited minutes) and broadband (her TV is connected by WiFi). The home phone is her only means of communication and she has been forced on to digital voice, which she never wanted and doesn't understand. Her TV has to be connected to the router by WiFi and BT assured us that the speed she has would be more than adequate to run both. (I should add that she cannot work any devices, she doesn't know how to record anything/use on demand etc. She definitely can't work a mobile phone - I've tried).
BT are charging her the best part of £75 a month and neither service is either reliable or adequate. Her phone often doesn't work (highly dangerous) and the TV signal is appalling. The exit fees are just short of £600. Apparently for a reliable service she needs to pay even more. This just isn't an option given that she's unwell and needs to heat her home, eat etc. Does anyone have any suggestions of what we can do? I'm so worried

born_again

Does she not have ariel for TV?

Neil49

There are a few issues here but to start off I suggest you run a speed test on the WiFi signal close to the tv. You can use an app such as Meteor on your mobile phone to do this. Also run a speed test while next to the router to see if there is a significant drop in performance between the two. 

We have BT digital voice and it works well. Let us know what wifi speeds you are getting and also the name of the BT package she is on. If she is on a TV package then that could account for the cost. A smart tv connected to the Internet would get around that but is not as easy to use. 

iniltous

No one is forced to use BT , literally hundreds of alternatives , even if not everyone is available in that area , dozens will be.

 The bandwidth required for telephony via DV ( out of whatever total bandwidth the broadband provides ) is minuscule, so there is no way your ‘broadband’ can’t do both TV and DV , what’s more BT/EE won’t sell TV unless 25Mb or better , if you chose to use WiFi for connecting a TV rather than an Ethernet connection ( directly wired or via powerline adapters ) that’s your choice but it’s  the home environment dictates the WiFi speed at the TV  , BT/EE routinely supply powerline adapters for TV customers on request if connectivity is an issue .
If the exit  fee is so large , then presumably the contract must have been recently renewed, obviously renewing a contract then looking at alternatives is not a good policy , that’s hardly the ISP fault .

As far as I can tell , if the TV ‘reception’ isn’t good , hard wire it from the router with an Ethernet cable or ask BT for powerline adapters, as far as DV being unreliable, the telephony  is absolutely no different to the previous telephone apart from being delivered via the router rather than a wall socket and again on request, BT will provide a telephone adapter for free to convert a corded landline phone to DV compatible if a corded phone is what the customer has , the only real issue is power outages and you don’t claim that’s a problem.

If there is a broadband fault that’s causing these problems, that’s not unique to BT , any provider may face that type of issue, just report the fault and get it fixed .

littleboo

When you say "the TV signal is appalling", are you referring to TV channels received over the air, ie via an aerial, or channels delivered over the broadband?

BrilliantButScary

Would this help with any of the issues your Mum is having?

https://www.amplifiedtelephones.co.uk/sim-home-phones.html

Olinda99

what broadband package is she on and how much?

eg fibre 1, fibre2, essential fibre

she also has a landline / calls package - how much for that?

does she also have a tv package eg EE tv ?

TheLavenderHouse

born_again said:

Does she not have ariel for TV?

No sadly not.

Neil49

TheLavenderHouse said:

born_again said:

Does she not have ariel for TV?

No sadly not.

A bit more information on what her phone/broadband package is and also how she currently receives her tv programmes would help us come up with a solution.