Changing BT DV Calling Plan but not start a new contact

littleboo

Hi,

I have broadband and Digital Voice with BT. The broadband is on a rolling 30 day contract - My BT shows "Your contract period has ended", but nothing similar for the DV, I assume because the two products are part of the same contract?

I want to remove the Unlimited Minutes from the DV, but don't want to inadvertently start a new contract for either/both services at the moment as I may change provider.

Has anyone got experience of this, can I change the the calling plan to PAYG and remain on the rolling contract for both BB and DV?

TIA

mazjohn108

When I had BT digital voice, I changed from inclusive minutes to PAYG but had to pay £2+ per month to receive incoming calls which were mostly spam so I have cancelled my landline now.

iniltous

Changing the calling plan from Unlimited Minutes to PAYG (pay as you go) or PAYG to Unlimited doesn’t affect the minimum term , you can normally do this online yourself, the new plan starts at the beginning of the next month , AFAIK, the list price is £5 PAYG and £18 for Unlimited , but calling and negotiating a discount on the list price may come at the cost of a new minimum term, so if you accept (for example) PAYG for £3 , that discount starts a new minimum for both services.
When you say you want to remove unlimited minutes, what do you want to replace it , the PAYG call plan or no telephony at all …..if you want to remove telephony completely (so no phone number associated with your broadband, no incoming calls or 999 calls possible) that will require you to start a new minimum term as your contract changes from two services to one service.

littleboo

Thanks. Yes, I want to go from inclusive minutes to PAYG, which is showing as £3 in my account. So that's my concern really, is the £3 showing in my online account a discount which requires a new term, or is that the standard price.I think I need to call to check

iniltous

£3 is the usual discounted PAYG price (it’s what I pay , and I dare say the majority of BT PAYG customers) as this represents a £2 discount on the £5 list price , it’s unlikely that it’s offered for no obligation on the customers part , as stated you should be able to go into your My BT online account management and simply tick the PAYG box on your telephone service ( and next month the Unlimited Minutes option will appear as you need one or the other ) , this should not affect your out of contract status , but if you accept an offer in the My Offers , you tacitly are accepting a renewal offer ……as you state , probably best to call , but if all you want is PAYG while you consider your options, you should be able to do that without calling , although calling if you want to renegotiate ( and if the price is good enough to sign up again)

littleboo

This is what I see, no suggestion of the price being an offer or discount. Seems I could keep Unlimited for £6 less than I'm paying

iniltous

One of the advertised benefits of the new call plans (back when they were introduced a few years ago ) was the ability to swap monthly between them , it’s fair to say I’m surprised the PAYG option is £3 and not the regular list price of £5 , and as you say Unlimited Minutes shows you the ‘after negotiation’ price of £12 not the list price of £18 , so it’s a leap of faith, the fact you can self select suggests no contractual changes to the minimum term or it’s a re-contracting event if outside a minimum term , but the prices are the same as those offered to recontracting customers who negotiate a better deal , I’d call to check as it’s a bit if a mixed message.

If you did select one and it’s a re-contracting event you should get email confirmation of the new contract terms, minimum term etc , so you would get the opportunity to cancel in the cooling off period, if that’s necessary

littleboo

As an update, I phoned BT and spoke to someone who said a change to the phone calling plan would mean re-contracting the broadband at more thanI'm paying now. I then tried chat, who said the same thing, to downgrade the calling plan, I need to enter into a two year contract for BB and phone.So I'll swap to a new provider for BB only and port the number within 30 days to A&A

Neil49

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085080#Comment_82085080

I was in a similar situation and ended up switching from BT to Plusnet and porting my number to voipfone. I got a £135 gift card from Plusnet as part of the switching deal plus I went via Topcashback as well. Phone number switch took about 10 days after leaving BT.