MSE News: BT to raise prices AGAIN - how to beat the hikes
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Limited and unlimited downloads .
Superfast Plus the old Infinity 2 up to 76 meg .
Hopefully someone can help me out here or give some advice.
Here's my current situation:
I have Virgin Media broadband and have had it for years - happy with the cost and speed (300Mbps on cable). Address is non-serviceable for calls from Virgin (long story) and so have no option but to have BT landline at £18.99 per month.
My wife and I also have BT Yahoo email accounts (Talk21) which we have had for 20 years when BT included it free as part of their calling plans.
Now BT want to charge £7.50 per month each to retain those email accounts - another £15 per month on top of £19.99 per month (after another £1 increase) for a landline which we barely use.
The only way to keep the email accounts for free is to have BT broadband & BT keep trying to convince me to take their broadband package, but highest speed is 67Mbps and even that is variable - so a no go compared to Virgin and their speed of service (regularly tested at 250-350 Mbps).
Reluctantly my wife & I now appear to have little option but to begin the very painful migration process away from our Talk21 email accounts.
I want as little to do with BT now and am considering trying to take the Post Office Home Phone, which appears to be available at £11.50 per month. Here's the question:
The Post Office T&C's are as follows:
HOME PHONE: Offers available for new sign-ups with a working phone line only (excludes cable phone lines) and customers who don't have fixed line broadband from Post Office or any other broadband provider.
Is my Virgin Cable a fixed line broadband? - I think not, but others may have a different point of view.
Does anyone have any advice on whether the Post Office Landline is an option and also and good tips on migrating an email account with so much history attached to it (although it will get us away from so much junk mail!)
Thanks
BB as posted elsewhere PO would not know you have BB with VM . They would only know if you had BB down the BT OR line .
Sign up and don't mention VM BB .
Do you need to migrate huge amounts of history .Unusual unless its a business .
I thought Virgin telephone line uses the cable? Is there a short version as to why you can't get it?
I got my price rise email on 26th June and it states:
"If you want to leave and you're within your minimum contract term, you'll need to call us within 30 days from the date of this email to avoid paying a charge for leaving early. You'll need to give us 30 days' notice to leave (or 14 days if you're switching to a new provider)"
It doesn't say anything about simply signing up for another 18 month contract to avoid the September increases - this is initiated by following the ACT NOW link in the email taking me to my account to see what deals are available.
I added BT Infinity to my landline (already from BT) in January this year and am actually very happy with it. Consistent 50 / 52 Mb/s download and a reliable service up to now. Costing me £37.49 per month with fully inclusive calls. We also use BT Smartalk (the mobile phone app) a lot when travelling so that is a bonus as was the £125 'gift card' as part of the deal.
So, the question. I wanted to know how long I could wait before re-signing for 18 months to avoid the September increase in order to maximise the time before my 'new' 18 month contract expires. The first rep said that I could wait until early September but a different one (today) says that I have 30 days from the date of the email (26th June).
As I said earlier, no mention in the email or anywhere I can see about this 30 day limit so does anyone KNOW which it is - do we users get sight of this supposed 30 day renewal limit anywhere?
If it is 30 days I need to move by 20th to 24th July 30 days from email date) to get another 18 month contract at my current price so any solid info would be useful.
Thanks, Frank
It'll be 30 days from the email to take out the new deal. After that, as you have lost the ability to move penalty free, BT will have no need to offer you a better deal as you will have accepted the new prices.
Come September, you will have no leverage, so will be hoping for goodwill from BT. And as you will then be still locked in to your current agreement, they are not likely to give you a better deal.