Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => ISPs => Topic started by: broadstairs on December 15, 2023, 10:17:36 PM
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After trying to find an ISP which would allow me to migrate and take my digital voice phone number with me I ended up signing up with Vodafone with what seems like a good (black friday) deal. However it has not gone smoothly and I'll explain why.
The online sign up seemed to go fine and got all the paper work via email including a url to keep track of my migration. This is where it went wrong. I had said I needed to start on or after 16th December when my contract with BT expired on the 15th, so when it got to the 15th (today) and no sign of any action I thought I'd use their online chat to find out what if anything was happening - bad mistake! I spent 40 minutes with their online chat with a human (after the initial contact with their chatbot) and got absolutely nowhere because I could not pass their security checks. This seems to require a PIN number which I don't have because you cannot sign in to your account until activation! Plus I had no account number or actual activation date because I cannot sign in until activation!
So you see the catch 22 situation >:( and in the end it was suggested I go to my local Vodafone shop and talk to an actual human. I jumped in the car and drove the 2.5 miles to the shop. Once sitting down with the very helpful guy in the shop it was all sorted withing about 10 minutes. Transpired that the person doing the online sign up failed to give me the account number and PIN which he had created and while I was there I got the actual activation date as well - 20th December which is fine since BT will not disconnect me until then.
So bottom line here is Vodafone need to re-educate their online sales staff to communicate the required information needed to pass their security checks which will allow customers to contact their help line staff and pass security checks ::)
I'll update again when it all happens - I hope :fingers:
Stuart
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Not good that you had to go to a Vodafone store to be able to sort it. Glad that it finally was. Good luck and I hope all goes well on the 20th.
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Well it's not going well. I still have no router and nothing from DPD couriers to say its on its way. Yesterday I contacted Vodafone again and they said it was sorted but this morning still nothing. If it were only broadband it would not be so critical but this is also migrating my digital voice phone as well and unless it can be used there is no point in trying the migration tomorrow. I guess I'll have to contact them again today and try to sort something out. I would not be averse to delaying the migration but it is rather annoying that they've had since 24th November to get this set up!
Stuart
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Well it all went pear shaped today. After about and hour and a half on their online chat it eventually transpired that there was 'a technical issue' with my original order which meant it was going nowhere. Why it took so long and only because I contacted Vodafone that this came to light. The migration was never going to happen on the 20th! Eventually today the guy on the online chat was able to raise a new order with all my original details and this seems to have gone through OK with an activation on the 17th January, yes later than I wanted but at least I should keep both a broadband connection and my phone number! This time I have been contacted by BT to say that someone wants to take over my connection on the 17th January and if this is wrong contact BT. This never happened on the original order.
So after this fiasco I intend to raise a complaint with Vodafone as I have a record of the online chats so can be sure of my facts.
Stuart
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:( I hope things go well this time.
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:fingers:
Stuart
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Well it looks like it is all going along the way it should for my move to Vodafone on 17th January now. BT have written to confirm that it is happening and OR have also contacted me to say they will switch me on 17th. Also today I was notified my Vodafone router has been dispatched and should arrive tomorrow (12th Jan). :fingers:
Stuart
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Have been following your Vodafone migration story with interest as I will be in the same situation in March, initial FTTP 2 year contract with BT ends, I also have digital voice and very much wish to retain my current long standing LL number.
I know I really should pre-migrate my LL number to VOIP, in fact should have done so before migrating from FTTC to FTTP, however having missed that opportunity BT don't make this easy as their digital voice is contracted with the BB, a situation well documented on this forum and others.
There certainly are better "new customer" deals always available and the Vodafone FTTP + digital voice migration route seems the least hassle and cost effective option for me at present.
Find their FTTP BB speed offerings a bit confusing:
(accepting that most ISP's quote estimated UL/DL speeds)
Full Fibre 2, 73/20 Mbps.
More or less same as (theoretically perfect) max FTTP, 80/20 Mbps?
Full Fibre 100, 100/20 Mbps.
As opposed to BT's Full Fibre 100, 150/30 Mbps.
Full Fibre 200, 200/30 Mbps.
No direct BT equivalent.
Wonder which FTTP package you have contracted for?
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I have signed up for Full Fibre 500 with Vodafone, this was back at the end of November and it was a Black Friday deal so a very good price. I don't need 500mbps but it was significantly cheaper than my existing contract with BT for a 150mbps service. It's a 2 year deal and at the end I will probably drop back to a 150mbps deal when the contract expires.
Stuart
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Have been following your Vodafone migration story with interest as I will be in the same situation in March, initial FTTP 2 year contract with BT ends, I also have digital voice and very much wish to retain my current long standing LL number.
New OFCOM rules that came in in April 2023 should give more flexibility.
Regulated providers need to give 1 month to port out a landline number after it has ceased.
Specific obligations relating to the Porting Process
C7.6 All Regulated Providers shall ensure that:
(a) they provide Number Portability on reasonable terms and conditions to any Switching
Customer who so requests;
(b) they provide Number Portability for a minimum of one month after the date of
termination by the Switching Customer of the contract for the provision of the Relevant
Communications Service(s), unless the Switching Customer expressly agrees otherwise
at the point when they terminate the contract; and
(c) no direct charges are applied to the Switching Customer for the provision of Number
Portability
They should allow customers to drop landline from current bundles and then migrate the number to VOIP without creasing the broadband, or allow you to migrate broadband only away, then port the number to VOIP.
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I have signed up for Full Fibre 500 with Vodafone, this was back at the end of November and it was a Black Friday deal so a very good price. I don't need 500mbps but it was significantly cheaper than my existing contract with BT for a 150mbps service. It's a 2 year deal and at the end I will probably drop back to a 150mbps deal when the contract expires.
Thanks for the additional information Stuart.
Yes, my speed requirements are somewhat similar, 150/30 Mbps is more than adequate, could likely settle for 100/20, will have to see what VF deals are available at the end of March.
Will be interested to hear how you get on with the VF provided router after 17th., I have found the BT SH-2 to be solid and reliable over the close to 2 year contract period.
Having said that, Wi-Fi coverage is not a main factor for me as most of my dwelling is ethernet hard wired and a lot of my Home Assistant wireless devices use Zigbee Wi-Fi to my MQTT broker server.
A very quick browse of the VF customers forum would appear to indicate that although the BB migration/service is generally praised quite a few migrants have had issues with their digital voice migration, of course, as with any forum, only the issues are reported, totally successfull operations less so!
Best of luck for the 17th..
New OFCOM rules that came in in April 2023 should give more flexibility.
Regulated providers need to give 1 month to port out a landline number after it has ceased.
They should allow customers to drop landline from current bundles and then migrate the number to VOIP without creasing the broadband, or allow you to migrate broadband only away, then port the number to VOIP.
Many thanks for the information j0hn.
Wonder if any/how many BT FTTP BB + Digital Voice subscribers have successfully managed to complete LL or BB migrations as per the OFCOM guidelines (rules) to date?
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Well today's the day and I woke up at 2am (as you do at my age ;) )and saw the red light on the BT Hub so went and plugged in my Vodafone Hub and it burst into life, connection up and running at 500mbps according to the speed tester. So went back to bed happy so far. The home phone has a dial tone but as yet cannot call my number from mobile so hopefully that will sort itself out in the next few hours.
Stuart
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Well today's the day and I woke up at 2am (as you do at my age ;) )and saw the red light on the BT Hub so went and plugged in my Vodafone Hub and it burst into life, connection up and running at 500mbps according to the speed tester. So went back to bed happy so far. The home phone has a dial tone but as yet cannot call my number from mobile so hopefully that will sort itself out in the next few hours.
Stuart
Glad the BB migration all went through on time, appears to be fully functional and to contract expectation.
Very interested to see how the digital phone migration gets on, hopefully won't be far behind, that's the difficult bit for ISP's apparently :fingers:
Did you have any pre-configuration to do with the VF Hub or was it completely plug-n-play?
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Did you have any pre-configuration to do with the VF Hub or was it completely plug-n-play?
Only my local lan IPs etc, no connection details had to be set as far as that went I just plugged in the router and it connected.
Just one caveat, the online Vodafone account cannot be accessed OK until activation, once that happened I could login this morning OK but prior to activation it will not work! Apparently that's how it works!
Stuart
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Only my local lan IPs etc, no connection details had to be set as far as that went I just plugged in the router and it connected.
Thanks for the information.
When I migrated from FTTC to FTTP close to 2 years ago I found it was easier just to change virtually all of the BT SH-2 configuration settings to that of my trusty XyXEL router, Wi-Fi SSID, PW, LAN IP subnet address etc, I appreciate that this would all be lost with a factory reset, thankfully, have never had any occasion to do so.
Will follow your LL digital phone migration completion with interest, hope it goes well, appreciate any further updates.
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I have backed up the configuration after I changed my settings so if I need a factory reset I can reload them.
Stuart
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Well our house phone has now been transferred to Vodafone and is working fine, just tested it. So migration now complete including Digital Voice retaining original number. It probably took about 14-15 hours from start to finish but as has been suggested the phone takes the vast majority of that time.
Stuart
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Well our house phone has now been transferred to Vodafone and is working fine, just tested it. So migration now complete including Digital Voice retaining original number. It probably took about 14-15 hours from start to finish but as has been suggested the phone takes the vast majority of that time
Excellent news, great that the full migration process went so well after your earlier signing up issues.
I assume you are using a DECT base station connected to the VF Hub?
Have you found the VF Hub's user interface adequate for your configuration needs?
Quite a few VF users on their members forum have opted for 3rd party routers, permissable and very easy to do for BB service but more complex for digital phone service usually requiring additional hardware and FV VoIP configuration details which they are reluctant to disclose.
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Yes that earlier issue was I believe caused by human error.
There is no configuration for the phone. Yes I am using a DECT phone plugged in using my in-house original wiring from previous non-DV phone allowing router upstairs and DECT base station in kitchen. This is what I did with the BT Hub as I did not like their DV adapter which I felt created a poor signal and some interference.
As for the main router configuration so far I've found it quite easy to use and had no issues - yet. Although I've enabled Wi-Fi on it we don't use it as I have the BT mesh system which handles that.
Time will tell but so far it seems straight forward. My only issue right now is that when I used their Android Broadband app to modify the device names to meaningful ones these changes do not seem to have migrated to the router so when I use the browser interface the names are still the mac address >:(
Stuart
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There is no configuration for the phone. Yes I am using a DECT phone plugged in using my in-house original wiring from previous non-DV phone allowing router upstairs and DECT base station in kitchen. This is what I did with the BT Hub as I did not like their DV adapter which I felt created a poor signal and some interference.
Regarding the VoIP digital phone, I currently use the BT DV Wi-Fi analogue adapter which allowed siting the DECT base station in it's original location, hall table, works very well for me, could have just sited the DECT BS at the HUB of course!
Interesting regarding the Hub to old copper phone wiring connection, sounds like a very good idea.
Can remember a post quite a few months ago I believe by "NewtronStar" regarding the logistics of such a setup but can't for the life of me find the post now!
Wonder would you have any details of the wiring involved, RJ11 plugs, adapters, cables etc?
PS. Don't forget to change your profile :)
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Profile done. Plugs are different between BT and Vodafone. I'll update again later.
Stuart
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The wiring was straight forward for the BT Hub which uses a BS6312 plug to connect the phone and I have a couple of RJ11 to BS6312 adapters, so I connected an RJ11 to RJ11 cable using these adapters to the BT Hub and the old ADSL box in my loft which still has the cabling connected to the faceplate and on to my kitchen socket (BS6312) downstairs. When I got the Vodafone hub it uses RJ11 sockets for the two phone connections so all I had to do was remove the adapter on the end of the cable and plugged in the RJ11 plug. Works fine. Obviously I cold do this because I had not removed the cabling when I converted to DV.
It was a bit subjective about the BT DV adapter but my wife who has hearing issues kept on complaining about the home phone being not clear and didn't like using it, where her mobile was fine. Once I changed to utilise the old wiring direct to the hub she stopped complaining and was happy to use the home phone. So obviously that's the way it stays ;)
Stuart
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Many thanks Stuart for providing the wiring details and the detailed saga of your BT to VF BB & digital phone migration process, much appreciated, I'am sure this will be of interest to many forum patrons.
I still have extensive phone distribution wiring in place so will certainly keep this method in mind when I change ISP's from BT in March with VF being the most likely contender at present.
I signed my daughter up for VF BB last night from her current BT 150/30 FTTP service, had already dropped her LL service with FTTP.
Quite a big saving for 100/20 FTTP service which is sufficient to her needs at present over BT whose contract renewal best offer was the same price as per the first 2 year contract ie, no end of contract increase.
VF also give a free (not calls) new digital phone number as well with the contract which may or may not be used.
Migration booked for 1st Feb, confirmation e-mail notification regarding service termination already received from BT so looking good.
Edit: Typo correction
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Just one caveat, the online Vodafone account cannot be accessed OK until activation, once that happened I could login this morning OK but prior to activation it will not work! Apparently that's how it works!
Just tried this on my daughters VF account who is in the system but not due to migrate BB until 1st Feb..
Even though an e-mail was received stating that the account was now active and providing an initial logon PW, was not possible to access, unrecognised ID/PW, will wait until activation completion and try again as you have suggested.
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Just tried this on my daughters VF account who is in the system but not due to migrate BB until 1st Feb..
Even though an e-mail was received stating that the account was now active and providing an initial logon PW, was not possible to access, unrecognised ID/PW, will wait until activation completion and try again as you have suggested.
Yes that's correct, I was puzzled until I checked on the Vodafone community where it was confirmed. Although I could login on the activation day it took 24 hours before all my details were there and accessible. I really think that email should explain this when sent to stop worry and confusion.
Stuart
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With apologies to Stuart "broadstairs" if I'am over subscribing to his thread, just a quick review of the VF supplied THG3000 Hub, off line which I've had a chance to play with prior to my daughters promised "go live" day on Thursday.
The GUI as reported by many is fairly basic but friendly and very easily navigated, I certainly prefer it's GUI to my current BT SH-2, will be more than adequate for my daughters needs although can't comment on Wi-Fi coverage as yet.
From my perspective as a potential VF BB & Digital Phone migrant at the end of my BT contract in March, the Hub would appear to satisfy all my requirements such as LAN/Wi-Fi MAC address filtering in order to assign static IP addresses to my LAN devices.
Wi-Fi is not a big issue for me, LAN mostly hard wired.
VF of course do permit use of (approved) 3rd party routers and will supply ID & PW details on request.
This does complicate things where VF Digital Phone service is used, however, many have managed to get around this using additional hardware and VF will supply (with a little persuasion) VOIP connection details and a static public IP address FOC on request.
The basic VF Hub should not be a VF ISP deal breaker, hopefully their support service which has previously had some very poor reviews has now improved.
With Stuart's permission, I will update my daughters BT/VF migration experience after Thursday, all appears to be in place for this :fingers:
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I think adding your or your daughters experiences here is quite a good idea as it will keep things together. However lets keep it to initial feedback, I think any unique issues would be best in their own threads.
As for the VF Hub and static IPs I have now set 10 devices as static, they appear as lan devices as I do not use the Hub wi-fi, and so you can do at least 10. Not sure if I will add any more to see how far I can push it. I know some routers have a limit.
One strange thing is that you can name devices on the Hub but is does not seem to allow spaces in the name, however on their Broadband app you can also name devices but that does allow spaces and does not seem to replicate that data to the Hub. Looks like you have to do it on both!
So far my connection has been stable and not had any issues. Speed tests seem to show as expected so that's good although I only hit max speeds briefly when downloading updates to my Linux desktop where there is a large file.
Stuart
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One strange thing is that you can name devices on the Hub but is does not seem to allow spaces in the name, however on their Broadband app you can also name devices but that does allow spaces and does not seem to replicate that data to the Hub. Looks like you have to do it on both!
I'm guessing the Hub UI is just letting you assign hostnames but the app is letting you add aliases/descriptions too?
I only hit max speeds briefly when downloading updates to my Linux desktop where there is a large file.
Seen the same on Fedora, none of the packages are really large enough to ramp up the speed but updates still end up being incredibly fast compared to FTTC.
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As for the VF Hub and static IPs I have now set 10 devices as static, they appear as lan devices as I do not use the Hub wi-fi, and so you can do at least 10. Not sure if I will add any more to see how far I can push it. I know some routers have a limit.
From the VF Hub GUI, "Settings/MAC Filter" page narrative states "max 32" reservations, I'am assuming this refers to ethernet LAN connections.
On the "Wi-Fi/MAC Filter" page narrative again states "max 32" reservations, would appear obvious that this page refers to Wi-Fi connections.
Not sure if max 32 reservations refer to collective ethernet/Wi-Fi total or 32 in each catagory?
Either way, will be more than adequate for my requirements and a big improvement on my previous FTTC/VDSL ZyXEL VMG3925-B10B router which had a limit of 8 reservations.
My currently in use BT SH-2 has been fine with static IP reservations have never hit a limit.
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I think adding your or your daughters experiences here is quite a good idea as it will keep things together. However lets keep it to initial feedback, I think any unique issues would be best in their own threads.
Yes indeed, I will most certainly start my own migration thread when my current ISP contract expires at the end of March, although probably not off topic here as such I likely got a bit carried away as I do due to interest in the subject.
From your migration experience and my daughters experience so far (early days) Vodafone is currently top of my ISP contender list.
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Its good to see Vodafone doing so well as I believe they had a pretty poor reputation when they were rolling out VDSL.
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Its good to see Vodafone doing so well as I believe they had a pretty poor reputation when they were rolling out VDSL.
Yes their "first line" customer support was foreign based, not sure if that's still the case and reviews were very bad, hopefully better now :fingers:
However, with retail outlets in most towns there's always the option to directly interact with a human, I think Stuart (broadstairs) used this option when his initial order went wrong with some success.
I like the idea that they will permit 3rd party hardware supplying ID & PW to accomodate, issue a static public IP FOC and give VOIP phone configuration details on request.
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Final update on my daughters BT to Vodafone FTTP migration today, 1st Feb.
Did not get time to visit the residence until this afternoon, found the BT SH-2 had already disconnected, installed the VF HUB which connected without any issues, completely plug-n-play.
Plugged in an old Gigaset DECT base station (with new handset nimh batteries fitted) directly to the router via a RG11 to BT631A adapter (not supplied) and phone fully tested with the new digital phone number supplied by VF, everything working perfectly, BB DL/UL speeds fully to contract expectation.
As Stuart (broadstairs) has already reported, found that on line access to "My Fodafone" was now permitted, two factor authorisation is in place, PW + text to designated mobile.
All in all a very painless migration process carried out on time with lots of status updates along the way, most impressed.
Plan to connect the Hub phone line to the old existing phone distribution system in order to move the DECT base station to a better location, have ordered up a short RG11 to BT631A adapter cable for this and will of course disconnect the old (now dead) copper feed pair first.
Many thanks to Stuart (broadstairs) for the very comprehensive and detailed thread which prompted this migration, I hope to follow suit with my BB & Digital Phone in March when my existing BT contract terminates.
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Glad it went well. I'm sure my issue with the initial order was probably human error as the second one went fine.
Because of all the hassle with the first order they sent me a VF Hub for that first order, and then another hub with the second order so I now have a spare ;) unless they ask for it back :-X
Stuart
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Because of all the hassle with the first order they sent me a VF Hub for that first order, and then another hub with the second order so I now have a spare ;) unless they ask for it back :-X
Yes, I had a similar scenario with my previous Zen FTTC to BT FTTP migration, first order "disappeared" after they had dispatched the SH-2 Hub and a second order had to be raised which resulted in a second Hub arriving.
BT very quickly "demanded" that the first Hub was returned which I did immediately, unopened, it was at least 2 months before they accepted that the unit had been returned and issued regular threats of charges in the interim period.
BT seem to be very pedantic with respect to equipment return, most other ISP don't seem to bother, time will tell with Vodafone, hope you get to keep your spare Hub by way of compensation for the earlier order mix up.
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Yes BT are insistent now that Hubs are returned. I posted mine and it never showed up as delivered but BT emailed me to say they had received it over about 10 days after I posted it using their pre-paid label with 48hr tracking!
Stuart
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After my daughters very successful and painless migration BT to Vodafone yesterday as reported, she has received 2 texts today from BT stating that there is an issue with her BB and requesting that she checks the ONT/Hub connection ???
On the positive side, it's good to know that BT would proactivly check BB connection health and report to user, however, somewhat surprising that this should occur the day after a successful migration to another ISP?
Perhaps a different department ;D
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After my daughters very successful and painless migration BT to Vodafone yesterday as reported, she has received 2 texts today from BT stating that there is an issue with her BB and requesting that she checks the ONT/Hub connection.
On closer examination of the texts realised that they were from Openreach, apologies to BT, were obviously refering to the new Vodafone connection and requesting confirmation that it was working correctly, just required a one word answer.
I know it's unusual for Openreach to contact customers directly which probably led to the confusion on my part :-[
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On closer examination of the texts realised that they were from Openreach, apologies to BT, were obviously refering to the new Vodafone connection and requesting confirmation that it was working correctly, just required a one word answer.
I know it's unusual for Openreach to contact customers directly which probably led to the confusion on my part :-[
It does seem kinda flawed, as the average customer is not going to know who Openreach even is.
You'd think it would say something like:
hi, its Openreach who recently connected your broadband on behalf of Vodafone. We just wanted to check everything is working okay.
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It does seem kinda flawed, as the average customer is not going to know who Openreach even is.
You only get that msg on FTTP and their name is on the ONT.
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Having had a phone call quite recently from "Openreach" I'd by default treat any such communication as attempted spam/fraud UNLESS I'd been warned in advance by the supplier I'd contracted with. :no:
(I did contact both BT Retail and Openreach and they confirmed that neither had any reason to call me, nor had they tried)
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You only get that msg on FTTP and their name is on the ONT.
You have an awful lot of faith in people if you think they pay attention to that sort of thing. ;)
Having had a phone call quite recently from "Openreach" I'd by default treat any such communication as attempted spam/fraud UNLESS I'd been warned in advance by the supplier I'd contracted with. :no:
(I did contact both BT Retail and Openreach and they confirmed that neither had any reason to call me, nor had they tried)
That too.
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Once I had a successful contract with Vodafone I got several texts from OpenReach about the migration and one afterwards asking if all was OK. I think this is now normal on full fibre.
Stuart
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@broadstairs:
Wonder if you have had any BT exit billing issues?
Checked my daughters BT account today which is still open post her BT/VF migration completion on 1st. Feb, was surprised to see that there was notification of the next bill, to be issued on 21st. Feb, this advises of an amount for the new post contract full, non-discounted monthly amount!
Her BT 2 Yr. contract ended on 20th. Jan and as stated, BB migration was completed on 1st. Feb..
My understanding is that all ISP's charge for services in advance, so what I would have expected at most was a bill (at the new rate) from 21st. Jan to 1st. Feb only.
As your circumstances were very similar other than migrating your digital phone LL number to VF, she took a new LL number, wonder if you had any similar issues?
Obviously will have to get on the phone to BT accounts, she has not had a chance to do this yet.
To expectation, the returned router & PSU, sent on 10th. Jan, is still showing outstanding, seems to take weeks if not months for this to be acknowledged and many "warnings" of impending charges are usually issued in the interim period.
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I had a normal BT bill and then the next one refunded about 95% of what was paid and it showed as final settlement. As for return of the kit if it is about 2 weeks or more after you posted it then phone up which is what I did and they confirmed it was received despite still showing on Royal Mail tracking as being stuck in the system. I don't think they bother to tell RM.
Stuart
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It seems awfully common to bill that way, taking the full amount then refunding it back later. Personally I think that should be illegal as it can cause major problems if someone isn't expecting it and another barrier to migration if you know that will happen and can't afford the double billing.
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It seems awfully common to bill that way, taking the full amount then refunding it back later. Personally I think that should be illegal as it can cause major problems if someone isn't expecting it and another barrier to migration if you know that will happen and can't afford the double billing.
In fairness to BT because of the timings of the migration I was with BT for longer than planned so I did have to pay the installment hence the refund for slightly less than the full amount. Delay caused by the Vodafone mess up with the first order.
Stuart
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I had a normal BT bill and then the next one refunded about 95% of what was paid and it showed as final settlement.
Thanks for the response, much appreciated.
So, really need to wait until the next bill, end of March which should hopefully produce a final settlement and a refund.
That will be 2 full months after migration completion date!
As Alex Atkin UK has commented, not really a very fair way of doing business especially in the current economic climate.
Will still get my daughter to clarify with BT accounts just in case ;)
Don't really anticipate a lot of joy with that.
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As I pointed out in my case my next BT bill was due around the same time as migration so completely reasonable in my view. Also remember if you have digital voice there may be call charges to pay which are not in advance!
Stuart
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My daughter and I spent close to an hour on the phone to BT last night with 3 different rep's, initially in Dublin then transferred to Liverpool.
We basically asked with reference to the "My BT" desktop why a normal, full monthly bill was scheduled for issue on 21st Feb. when service ceased on 1st Feb.
The 3 rep's either didn't know or had a different take on this hence the transfer to other departments during the call.
Bottom line would appear to be, final bill has not yet been issued, until that happens, the "My BT" desktop will just keep scheduling monthly bills, whether the scheduled Feb. bill will actually be actioned or not the rep's couldn't say.
Having just noticed that the December monthly bill was at the full non-discounted contract rate with the 2 year contract not ending until 20th Jan, would certainly expect credit to be due on the final bill when ever that happens.
With no conclusive information from the BT rep's will just have to wait and see.
Edit:
My daughter did not have digital voice with BT, BB only.
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With Stuart's (broadstairs) tolerance the final chapter on my daughters BT/VF BB migration:
Feb. bill now published, assumed to be the final bill but does not directly state this, content somewhat surprising!
£17.48 due, designated "charge for ceasing within the notice period".
Note, 2 year contract period ended on 20th Jan, BB service terminated on 2nd Feb.
The period associated with this charge is listed as 21st Feb to 03rd March.
Can only assume that BT are charging a pro-rata monthly fee for this period in lieu of notice?
My understanding of the ISP migration procedure is to only inform the new provider who looks after the procedure including all contact with the existing provider.
At what stage would BT expect to be given 1 months notice of leaving, can they legally impose a lack of notice departure penalty where a fixed term contract no longer exists?
On the December bill BT have also charged the full non-discounted monthly rate where the 2 year discounted contract only ended on 20th Jan, no mention of any refund for this.
To be honest, after the last attempt at talking to BT by phone it's not worth the hassle any more, just cut our losses and move on.
Probably exactly the reaction the system is very much geared up to produce :(
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I must admit I find that strange. When I finally got a valid contract with Vodafone I was sent quite a few texts emails and letter by BT saying someone was planning to take over my broadband and phone so they knew about all this first email was dated 20/12/23 with a migration date of 17/01/24. My contracted had already ended well before this. BT did raise a normal bill on 15/01/24 as this was 2 days prior to migration and it was about 95% of this refunded.
Stuart
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My understanding of the ISP migration procedure is to only inform the new provider who looks after the procedure including all contact with the existing provider.
At what stage would BT expect to be given 1 months notice of leaving, can they legally impose a lack of notice departure penalty where a fixed term contract no longer exists?
You are correct. The 30 days notice is only required to cease the service, not for migrations.
I would query the bill.
My advice is to never contact your current ISP (the losing provider).
It's an entirely gaining provider led process and issues can arise if you notify the losing provider.
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You are correct. The 30 days notice is only required to cease the service, not for migrations.
I would query the bill.
My advice is to never contact your current ISP (the losing provider).
It's an entirely gaining provider led process and issues can arise if you notify the losing provider.
Thanks for the confirmation j0hn, I have always been aware of and adhered to this rule with any previous migrations, never had any issues.
Will query the bill when my daughter is available again, phone help line is hard work, have never seen their chat service actually being available and never have found a way to engage in an e-mail billing query.
It's not a fortune but why should I let BT away with it regardless of the time, effort and stress involved.
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There can actually be cease charges levied for some migrations. BT Wholesale can charge the provider if you migrate off their backhaul and some providers pass it on to the customer.
I was always of the opinion that BT didn't have any such charges. I've gone from BT to Talktalk without incurring anything other than the part monthly charge for days used since the previous bill.
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I certainly have not had any such charges.
Stuart
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I certainly have not had any such charges.
Must just be my daughters bad luck then!
I eventually managed to get the option to enter the BT help chat line this afternoon after a very long wait, spent over an hour on that, zero results.
With first agent, after lengthy ID verification process, the connection suddenly dropped after a few unanswered questions.
Second attempt, full ID verification process again, as soon as I mentioned OFCOM guidelines the connection again dropped, complete waste of time.
Isn't it strange, signing up with ISP's is virtually always a very easy well oiled process, exiting without issues not so easy :(
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There can actually be cease charges levied for some migrations. BT Wholesale can charge the provider if you migrate off their backhaul and some providers pass it on to the customer.
I was always of the opinion that BT didn't have any such charges. I've gone from BT to Talktalk without incurring anything other than the part monthly charge for days used since the previous bill.
Yeah its sketchy, as isn't the whole point of a minimum contract duration supposed to be to cover that cost?
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Just a final note on my daughters BT/VF BB migration:
Having now given up through sheer frustration on BT's phone and chat line facilities in connection with the final billing issue, resorted to composing a letter listing the perceived grievances and posted off to "Customer Service Manager".
Letter receipt was acknowledged by e-mail & text within a week advising that BT were looking into the issue.
After a further week, text received requesting acceptance of a call from BT's complaints resolution department in Enniskillen, N.I. which duly followed within a short time.
A very nice lady there advised that the issues raised were totally accepted as valid and a full months refund of the non-discounted, higher charge rate was agreed, this was confirmed by e-mail and credited to account a few days later.
The "My BT" account desktop also now reflected this transaction on the revised final bill.
A good result in the end all be it with the time and effort required in resorting to old fashioned "snail mail" communication, disappointing & frustrating that this could not be easily achieved by the other more common methods that BT deploy for dispute resolution.
Again, apologies to Stuart, "broadstairs" for practically taking over his original post, it sort of just "grew arms and legs", should really have started another post :-[
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@tiffy no problem glad you got it sorted in the end.
Stuart
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@broadstairs, final, final comment:
Further to your good experience and excellent reporting regarding your BT to VF BB & LL migration, also my daughters similar migration, I have now signed up to migrate my BB & LL to VF on 26/03/24, my BT 2 year contract ending on 23/03/24.
Went for the 200/27 BB package (odd upload speed!) with existing digital phone free migration @ £30 per month on 2 year contract.
Supposed to be no yearly increase applied until April 2025 and a £75 gift voucher after 3 months, time will tell if either/both of these occur, if so that's a bonus :fingers:
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:fingers:
Stuart