| Computer Related > Phone and broadband | Buying / Selling |
| Thread Author: legacylad | Replies: 26 |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 19:59
Phone and broadband - legacylad
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Maybe this post should be in ‘Computer Related’ ? Why is it so difficult to compare and contrast when out of contract? It seems simple enough on the comparison sites. All I require Plusnet to do is keep me on a similar priced contract to last time. £197 annual line rental paid up front. Plus £9.50 anytime calls and BB. Fibre makes no difference in my neck of the woods, despite what they tell me. And charge more for it. And don’t call me mate please. And then you decide to change to a different supplier, but read awful reviews before doing so. First world problems eh. But infuriating nonetheless. |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 20:10
Phone and broadband - tyrednemotional
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If you're close to renewal date, ask to talk to "retentions", and if you get nowhere, leave it a day and try again. I'm with Plusnet - this year's renewal was as per yours, but with unlimited calls to mobile as well. All for line rental up front and £9pm, and only a little persuading needed. |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 20:14
Phone and broadband - legacylad
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How odd. I spoke to retentions. My new ‘mate’ couldn’t give a stuff and was most unhelpful a few days ago. I was going to try ‘retentions’ again tomorrow. Hope it’s not the same wazzock. And I didn’t call him that ! |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 20:25
Phone and broadband - Zero
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>> If you're close to renewal date, ask to talk to "retentions", and if you get >> nowhere, leave it a day and try again. Thats taken from T. Mays Brexit strategy. It never worked for me either, with O2, they said "goodbye" Last edited by: Zero on Thu 3 Jan 19 at 20:25
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 20:39
Phone and broadband - tyrednemotional
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...I've had it work.....I've had it fail.... * Too many unknown variables in the ISP's business plan to predict any outcome though. When you 'phone up for a renewal, it always pays to have your (notional) backup supplier sorted (not least as it can provide a bit more leverage - and Sky is a good one to use, as they offer discounts for subscribers, and the guy on the end of the 'phone won't know whether you are or not). "Of course, I became a Sky subscriber this year, and can get cheap broadband now, but xxx service has always been good, and I'd rather not have the disruption, so what's the best deal you can do to tempt me to stay?" * Once, on a second call to TalkTalk, I was put on hold, and then the guy came back with a *cheaper* deal than my current, let alone the increased renewal I'd already been quoted! (I think he might have been first in line for retraining!) |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 21:45
Phone and broadband - zippy
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Oh the luxury of wired broadband! I don't live in a town with a population of 100k but can't get wired broadband. They will sell me ADSL with 0.75mb down and 0.25mb up but no fibre as the "cabinet is full" and there are no plans to extend. I am currently running off a 3 unlimited SIM card in a 4g router. That gets me 5mb down and 7 mb up (no idea why its that way round). I wish I could get a Virgin unlimited SIM but they are for Virgin Broadband customers only and are good for 30mb down and 10mb up from here. |
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New Thu 3 Jan 19 23:15
Phone and broadband - bathtub tom
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Last time I renewed with Plusnet I found them recalcitrant, so I went away and found a better deal with talk-talk. A second call (quoting the better deal) and hey-ho, they were prepared to match it. Not that I'd go with talk-talk, have you seen their reviews? Mine's up for renewal next month, I wonder if that will work again? |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 00:07
Phone and broadband - Stuartli
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>>* Once, on a second call to TalkTalk, I was put on hold, and then the guy came back with a *cheaper* deal than my current, let alone the increased renewal I'd already been quoted! (I think he might have been first in line for retraining!)>> As I've often posted in these columns before, I've been with TalkTalk since April 2006 (along with several other family and friends) and have always had a great relationship (apart from one or two very minor problems, usually sorted out very quickly). It now costs me £22.50 for line retail and 38Mb fibre broadband, a price that has gradually been reduced over the past four or five years, and I get virtually maximum upload and download speeds (generally 9ms Pings, 37.75Mb download and 9.60Mb upload speeds). If TalkTalk brings in a better offer then I can switch without quibble and I've done so several times over recent years. People do complain about TalkTalk, but it's no worse than BT or similar and it would certainly be surprising if, with more than 4M subscribers, some didn't have problems occasionally. What is ironical is that BT, who supply other ISPs with fibre broadband, actually charge far, far more than ISPs such as TalkTalk for exactly the same service....:-) |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 01:32
Phone and broadband - No FM2R
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>>What is ironical is that BT, who supply other ISPs with fibre broadband, actually charge far, far more than ISPs such as TalkTalk for exactly the same service....:-) I assume that you know this, but in case others don't.... As a regulated industry BT has to account for the proportion of it's cost that is infrastructure related. It can attribute all build, design, maintenance, operation etc. etc. but may not allocate any cost which is not directly linked. It must then supply it at that cost plus an agreed mark up to anyone who wishes to resell it. I cannot remember the margin, but it's not very big. 6% maybe? It must also provide the same uptime and fix times that it supplies to itself to those same resellers. For their own business then BT will add every other cost they have according to services or packages they offer, guarantees or support, etc. etc. plus of course their own overhead costs and their own profit margin to come up with their retail price. And BT is an expensive company to run for a variety of indefensible reasons and for some defensible ones. Consequently, a company which is cheaper to run, even a wholly owned subsidiary, will be able to attribute much less in the way of overhead cost and charge a lower resultant retail price even while maintaining a reasonable profit margin. Typically resellers will offer a closer to vanilla package whereas BT will offer more complex layered services. Whereas the reseller may offer a different service bundles by reselling [say] TV, Cell phone and ISP from competing suppliers in the same package. Also typically with a narrower and smaller customer base, they can take a different, and frequently better focussed, approach to customer service. AS you say, every supplier will have issues and to expect otherwise is unrealistic and naïve. It is how they manage and resolve those issues which matters. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 09:16
Phone and broadband - Zero
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It helps when talking about Broadband and your options, to separate BT into its functional components, BT, the service provider and Openreach, the infrastructure supplier. This is a very good explanatory article (for wiki) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openreach Generally speaking I don't get the complaints about UK broadband, in my experience traveling, and people I know abroad we fare pretty well, both for fixed line and mobile data availability/throughput and cost. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 09:46
Phone and broadband - Zero
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Another interesting perspective from the BBC Landline use halved in 5 years. www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46757676 |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 10:18
Phone and broadband - sooty123
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| I thought the generation split over area codes was interesting. I guess for brought up with smartphones, where a business is located is irrelevant yet for those older it was something they liked to know. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 12:13
Phone and broadband - Bromptonaut
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>> Another interesting perspective from the BBC >> >> Landline use halved in 5 years. >> >> www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46757676 Making/taking approx 40 calls a week for work I see very few landline numbers. Where I do it's likely subject will be an older person. Referrals from outside bodies, typically for debt advice, often give mobile number and landline. About 20% of landlines go to an 'out of service' message. Number is presumably on referrers database from whenever and they neglect to confirm the landline is current before passing it on. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 13:33
Phone and broadband - Stuartli
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>>I assume that you know this, but in case others don't....>> Yes, I'm aware of the role BT has played over the years - I've discussed it for hours with a friend, now retired, who was a BT exchange manager and was one, if not the first in the country to oversee the installation of broadband equipment, plus BT/OpenReach engineers who've told me for instance just how little the ISPs pay BT for various services. I've also been told of the remarkable technology advances made by BT over the years which have been wasted through lack of investment or interest by its top management - video on demand is one example, the basic for which was sold to (IIRC) Time Warner in the States. But sadly as most will be aware this has been the case with many other UK companies over the years, not just BT. Great ideas have been allowed to be taken up by others, especially companies abroad who haven't been slow to take maximum advantage and financial returns. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 17:34
Phone and broadband - VxFan
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>> What is ironical is that BT, who supply other ISPs with fibre broadband, actually charge >> far, far more than ISPs such as TalkTalk for exactly the same service....:-) No different to 02 charging more than Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Lycamobile, Sky Mobile, and anyone else who piggy backs onto the 02 network. 02 have to pay for all the infrastructure, maintenance, etc. Whereas all the other mobile providers don't, hence why they can offer a cheaper tariff than 02. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 18:05
Phone and broadband - No FM2R
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>>02 have to pay for all the infrastructure, maintenance, etc. Whereas all the other mobile providers don't, hence why they can offer a cheaper tariff than 02. No. They all pay the same for the network cost including investment recovery, build, maintenance repair and operation. It is the further corporate and product charges that the resellers do not pay. It's actually a very clever approach, but the regulator needs to be smart and attentive. And typically both Ofcom and Ofgen are. Though Ofcom used to drive me nuts. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 23:04
Phone and broadband - Stuartli
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>>No different to 02 charging more than Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Lycamobile, Sky Mobile, and anyone else who piggy backs onto the 02 network.>> I've been with GiffGaff for nearly seven years (unlimited minutes and tests plus 4GB of data for £10 a month) and would like to point out that it's owned by Telefonica, who operate 02!! The difference, of course, is that GiffGaff is PAYG and is operated entirely from its website. If I didn't have to have a landline for fibre broadband, I would get rid of it and monthly line rental charges like a shot...:-) Last edited by: Stuartli on Sat 5 Jan 19 at 23:06
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 13:11
Phone and broadband - tyrednemotional
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>> >> Thats taken from T. Mays Brexit strategy. It never worked for me either, with O2, >> they said "goodbye" >> ....endlessly repeating "Broadband means Broadband" down the 'phone was never going to get you anywhere....... ;-) |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 14:30
Phone and broadband - DP
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>> Thats taken from T. Mays Brexit strategy. It never worked for me either, with O2, >> they said "goodbye" I'd reached the point with O2 where they could have offered to pay me to stay with them, and I'd still have told them where to go. As it turned out, their customer retention offers were lousy, and they couldn't have cared less. "Here's your PAC code, see you later." Mrs DP brought home a new work phone just before Christmas which is also on O2, and it's almost unusable. Calls going straight to voicemail without the phone ringing or registering a missed call, even with full signal strength. Also, the same thing that drove me completely nuts, is the infuriating habit of receiving an entire day's worth of text messages in one massive dollop up to 24 hours after they've been sent. And our postcode is in a blue (good indoors and outdoors) area on their coverage checker. |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 14:39
Phone and broadband - bathtub tom
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>> Mrs DP brought home a new work phone just before Christmas which is also on >> O2, and it's almost unusable. Calls going straight to voicemail without the phone ringing or >> registering a missed call, even with full signal strength. Also, the same thing that drove >> me completely nuts, is the infuriating habit of receiving an entire day's worth of text >> messages in one massive dollop up to 24 hours after they've been sent. I've been with O2 since Adam was a lad and never had any of those sort of problems. Are you sure it's not the way the 'phone is programmed. |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 14:46
Phone and broadband - No FM2R
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| Which phone is it, may I ask? Because that is not a typical O2 fault, and may well be a phone issue. |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 15:19
Phone and broadband - DP
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It's only a cheap Motorola Moto G, but I had the same issues with an iPhone 5S, a Google Pixel 1 and a Samsung S4 when I was with them. Interestingly, I had no problem at all for the first six months or so, then started to get these problems. Switching handsets and even two replacement SIMs didn't make any difference. O2 initially told me there was a mast fault in the area and said it would be fixed ASAP. A month or so later, they reported it fixed, but the problems remained. I lived with it for another year, and ditched them for Vodafone. Never had an issue since. We got the 5S unlocked and my youngest daughter is now using it (also on Vodafone). It works perfectly. |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 20:27
Phone and broadband - bathtub tom
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>> I've been with O2 since Adam was a lad and never had any of those >> sort of problems. Are you sure it's not the way the 'phone is programmed. I asked this because my SWMBO got a digital radio for Christmas and every time she uses it, she re-programs all the presets to one station. I've got fed up of sorting it out, given her the instruction book and told her to RTFM. |
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New Fri 4 Jan 19 20:51
Phone and broadband - legacylad
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I contacted ‘retentions’ again, and this time spoke to someone who didn’t want to be my mate. The same 12 month line rental price as last year, £198, and £12.75 pcm for unlimited downloads ( not fibre which makes no difference to speed according to neighbours) and anytime calls. Not that I use the phone much, 95% of calls are on my mobile. That’s about £3.50 a month more than I’ve been paying for an identical plan. I’ve read several horror stories about people changing suppliers and encountering a myriad of problems so that’s made me wary of change.....14 days to cool off if I change my mind, but 12 days in Tenerife imminently. |
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New Sun 24 Feb 19 22:21
Phone and broadband - tyrednemotional
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>> I contacted ‘retentions’ again, and this time spoke to someone who didn’t want to be >> my mate. The same 12 month line rental price as last year, £198, and £12.75 >> pcm for unlimited downloads ( not fibre which makes no difference to speed according to >> neighbours) and anytime calls. Just migrated mine (with Plusnet) to fibre from copper. Effectively same as yours (with anytime fixed and mobile calls, but on fibre) for £13.99 pcm (+ line rental, which I prepay) on an 18 month contract (with price fully fixed for that period). It's £4.99 pcm more than I currently pay for copper, but they've already hit me with a £1 pcm increase which I (successfully) rebutted due to the terms on which I last re-contracted, so the move to fibre is likely to cost me around £2 pcm given they now have other increases in the pipeline since last contract. I should double download speed (which is useful, but not actually critical to me), the potential 500% improvement in upload might well prove of interest, though. I've actually found Plusnet pretty good to deal with (they've made mistakes, but generally held their hands up and corrected very quickly). In addition, they're very good at confirming in detail by email the full nature of any re-contracting. |
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New Sat 5 Jan 19 23:08
Phone and broadband - Stuartli
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>>I've been with O2 since Adam was a lad and never had any of those sort of problems. Are you sure it's not the way the 'phone is programmed.>> Same for me with GiffGaff. 4G coverage is great all along the North West coastline. |
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New Sat 9 Mar 19 15:31
Phone and broadband - zippy
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After trying a site to site solution from mother in laws house to ours, we decided to stick with the unlimited SIM (currently 3) in a 4g router. It works to a fashion and gets us between 2 and 12mbps depending on time of day and weather. The site to site solution was impacted by the foliage between on the two buildings. Anyway, a cryptic message was received from Openreach last week that said infrastructure problems prevented them from expanding our local cabinet (its between a drive and a path and has about a foot either side and I guess they would have to re-site it to expand it) but I should check availability very regularly as sometimes there can be availability. So I checked everyday this week and on Thursday, after getting home from Yorkshire at about 11PM, I checked the Openreach availability tool and there was! Yippee! Its only standard FTTC not the 2x speed variety but should be good for 28mbps. Need to be careful though as half of the suppliers were willing to charge for the faster speed whilst only guaranteeing the 29mbps rate! Order placed and now waiting for the engineer to turn up on the 20th. |
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