Help please. Broadband renewal anxiety

Timalay

Please bear in mind that the BT group is stopping any copper repairs.  So if anything happens to your connection, they will replace your line with full fibre.  I had a quick look, and the lowest price I can see is £24 for NowTV 74Mbps full fibre broadband.

brewerdave

Timalay said:

Please bear in mind that the BT group is stopping any copper repairs.  So if anything happens to your connection, they will replace your line with full fibre.  I had a quick look, and the lowest price I can see is £24 for NowTV 74Mbps full fibre broadband.

Haven't seen that in the Press? There are still many areas with limited or no "full fibre" availability, Openreach will still be repairing Cu in such areas.
I'm not even sure that you are correct re no repairs even for exchanges that have gone " fibre priority "., eg in my area still plenty of customers on existing "copper" broadband and there appears to be a waiting list to get full fibre installed even if the customer wants it.

moneysaver

I have had an email the last couple of days from Plusnet trying to encourage me to change to full fibre, as the old copper system will be ceasing to exist in the near future.

I am actively looking to move house sometime this year and do not want to commit to full fibre just yet.

 Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Moneysaver

QrizB

moneysaver said:

 Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Phones are OK for occasional tethering but the radios aren't really designed for long-term use like that. You'd be better off with a dedicated device. Details of a mobile broadband solution were shared back on the first page of this thread.

My son's a student and his flatshare didn't have a wired broadband connection (the copper pair was dead and the landlord wouldn't let them install FTTP). Six students got along fine for a year with a used router from eBay and an iD Mobile unlimited SIM.

They said it only gave problems at 4pm when the local secondary school kicked out and all the pupils were standing at the bus stop over the road trying to stream TikTube videos on their phones, overloading the cell 😄

iniltous

Timalay said:

Please bear in mind that the BT group is stopping any copper repairs.  So if anything happens to your connection, they will replace your line with full fibre.  I had a quick look, and the lowest price I can see is £24 for NowTV 74Mbps full fibre broadband.

This isn’t true , certainly not to the extent this comment suggests , there was trial 
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/12/openreach-trial-new-fttp-option-for-copper-lines-with-complex-faults.html
but it’s certainly not a fait accompli.

iniltous

moneysaver said:

I have had an email the last couple of days from Plusnet trying to encourage me to change to full fibre, as the old copper system will be ceasing to exist in the near future.

I am actively looking to move house sometime this year and do not want to commit to full fibre just yet.

 Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Moneysaver

If you don’t want to change provider, risk mobile broadband or renew with PN simply stay as you are , PN are wrong or trying to mislead you or more likely you misunderstood what they said , the only ‘deadline’ in January 2027 for the withdrawal of PSTN telephony , that’s where your phone connects to the socket on the wall ( so connected directly to the copper pair ) rather than IP telephony where the phone connects to the broadband router….a complication is PN intend to be broadband only so if you renew with PN you can’t keep the phone service , but they will switch you to BT or EE ‘for free’ if you want to keep a phone service .

FYI , you can  stay as you are , presumably out of contract , so paying a little more than someone inside a minimum term , but that keeps your telephone and broadband as it is until you move , you simply say ‘No thanks’ to any offer , unless you move to BT/EE with PN arranging it , then when you move , take BT or EE with you to the new address .

Frozen_up_north

moneysaver said:

Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Moneysaver

Check coverage before you opt for a particular mobile broadband provider. Here the Three site has no battery backup and goes off line at the drop of a hat. Three support was useless too.

We have good 5G coverage from EE and use SIMs from Scancom via Amazon. Depending on the likely amount of data you need, the costs can be very low, circa £3.20 per month (pre-paid, throw away when expired) with a 50 GB/month EE SIM. "Unlimited" data is in reality limited to around 500 GB to 1000 GB per month depending on network, although unless you stream TV 24/7 you are unlikely to run foul of that. EE unlimited SIMs work out around £14 per month.

I receive emails from EE whenever they detect a problem in the area (you have to register for that) and spoke with EE tech support a few days ago about a repair that was taking longer than anticipated, the phone was answered promptly and the guy was very helpful with explaining that an engineer had gone for spares and gave me an eta for his return to site... Not many mobile providers are that good.

Even at peak times we can stream HD TV without buffering, although that very much depends on location and how many others are likely to be using mobile broadband at the same time.

We use TP-Link NX200 routers which include a SIM slot and operate on 5G, they are not particularly cheap, typically around £200.

Incidentally, a mobile phone hotspot is nowhere near as good as a standalone router. Yes you can use one for a temporary solution, eg when a friend has no coverage on their network and wants to check email, but for anything longer term, forget using a mobile.

moneysaver

iniltous said:

moneysaver said:

I have had an email the last couple of days from Plusnet trying to encourage me to change to full fibre, as the old copper system will be ceasing to exist in the near future.

I am actively looking to move house sometime this year and do not want to commit to full fibre just yet.

 Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Moneysaver

If you don’t want to change provider, risk mobile broadband or renew with PN simply stay as you are , PN are wrong or trying to mislead you or more likely you misunderstood what they said , the only ‘deadline’ in January 2027 for the withdrawal of PSTN telephony , that’s where your phone connects to the socket on the wall ( so connected directly to the copper pair ) rather than IP telephony where the phone connects to the broadband router….a complication is PN intend to be broadband only so if you renew with PN you can’t keep the phone service , but they will switch you to BT or EE ‘for free’ if you want to keep a phone service .

FYI , you can  stay as you are , presumably out of contract , so paying a little more than someone inside a minimum term , but that keeps your telephone and broadband as it is until you move , you simply say ‘No thanks’ to any offer , unless you move to BT/EE with PN arranging it , then when you move , take BT or EE with you to the new address .

This is the quote from the email,

The existing landline network has become old and outdated. Across the UK, landlines as they are today are being retired and upgraded to a digital service. What does this mean for me? As part of the digital switchover, our older packages which use a landline connection won’t be available, and you’ll need to move to a broadband-only product. Or if you wish to keep a landline, a digital home phone service.

I am still in contract at the moment. I just thought that trying mobile broadband might have been worth a try. 

Moneysaver

AndyPK

You don't have to use your phone for a 4G data connection. See here, if you are moving soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2g45rVo9hM

moneysaver

Frozen_up_north said:

moneysaver said:

Has anyone got experience of mobile broadband? In particular Three mobile broadband. I see they have a 30 day sim I could try and was thinking of using my phone as a hotspot temporarily.

Would this be a good idea or not?

Moneysaver

Check coverage before you opt for a particular mobile broadband provider. Here the Three site has no battery backup and goes off line at the drop of a hat. Three support was useless too.

We have good 5G coverage from EE and use SIMs from Scancom via Amazon. Depending on the likely amount of data you need, the costs can be very low, circa £3.20 per month (pre-paid, throw away when expired) with a 50 GB/month EE SIM. "Unlimited" data is in reality limited to around 500 GB to 1000 GB per month depending on network, although unless you stream TV 24/7 you are unlikely to run foul of that. EE unlimited SIMs work out around £14 per month.

I receive emails from EE whenever they detect a problem in the area (you have to register for that) and spoke with EE tech support a few days ago about a repair that was taking longer than anticipated, the phone was answered promptly and the guy was very helpful with explaining that an engineer had gone for spares and gave me an eta for his return to site... Not many mobile providers are that good.

Even at peak times we can stream HD TV without buffering, although that very much depends on location and how many others are likely to be using mobile broadband at the same time.

We use TP-Link NX200 routers which include a SIM slot and operate on 5G, they are not particularly cheap, typically around £200.

Incidentally, a mobile phone hotspot is nowhere near as good as a standalone router. Yes you can use one for a temporary solution, eg when a friend has no coverage on their network and wants to check email, but for anything longer term, forget using a mobile.

That sounds what I am after. I would like to try first before committing to longer term so a smart phone might be the only thing for short term. Some of the property's I have viewed do not have BT lines so that is why I am thinking of mobile broadband.

I am looking at moving house in the near future but I am still under contract with PN for another 12mths. I will need to pay early disconnection fees but I am resigned to this.

Moneysaver