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Author Topic: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes  (Read 10088 times)

NewtronStar

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #15 on: June 24, 2016, 12:54:54 AM »

As I understand it, Plusnet only now supply 80/20 and 40/2 based services.

Oh dear then that is plusnet marked off the books for my next ISP
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WesBez7

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Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2016, 05:07:45 PM »

Just an update to this. This bill was set to rise during my contract which would allow me to cancel. I made a complaint about the constant price rises. I voiced my opinions and the BT agent was taking it serious. Listening and discussing at length.

Final decision was to give me new customer prices. BT retained me because of this decision. I was able to lock my price for broadband and line rental for 24months @£24.50 which I was happy with. (Infinity 2)

Got the the full BT TV package for £13.50 for another 12 months. Great package but missing FOX.

I have a 3rd party router and BT wanted £50 for the new hub. It would only be used as a AP so I decided against it. Citing Lack of features

« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 05:12:14 PM by WesBez7 »
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William Grimsley

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2016, 05:11:52 PM »

Can't understand why line rental is going up, to be honest.
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WesBez7

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2016, 05:13:55 PM »

Same here. The prices of other services are being tacked on in my opinion. SPORT, AMC etc
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William Grimsley

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #19 on: July 01, 2016, 05:15:04 PM »

Line rental has been line rental for years, it's nothing new. Surely, as more people buy broadband they will get more profit anyway?
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highpriest

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2016, 06:58:01 PM »

4 or 5 years ago, line rental saver from BT was something like £120 a year. Today it is £194.28, an increase of nearly 62% in 5 years. It's utterly astonishing that they are allowed to get away with this.
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aesmith

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #21 on: July 01, 2016, 07:00:49 PM »

At a guess they're getting less income from call charges.

As an aside, why are they allowed to put the price up during the term of a contract, just giving the customer the option of leaving?    I'll bet it wouldn't work for you to contact them and say you've decided to pay less each month (give them 30 days notice) but if they don't like that then you will end the contract early.
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WesBez7

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2016, 08:27:15 PM »

Sadly customers have to do the grafting. That would never come to fruition. Sadly changing is not easy enough so they risk allowing customers to leave knowing that they will most likely stay.
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Ronski

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #23 on: July 02, 2016, 07:34:50 AM »

Same here. The prices of other services are being tacked on in my opinion. SPORT, AMC etc

It's simple really, revenue from calls is dropping, mainly due to mobiles and inclusive calls, and apps like Skype,  Viber,  What's App. We have evening and weekend calls included, but it's still extremely rare for us to use the land-line. People look at the cost of broadband, line rental is more hidden so that's what gets put up and of coarse even those without broadband have to pay line rental if they want a landline.

When I  was young I'd spend age's on the landline chatting to the girlfriend, how many young couple's do that now on a landline?

At work a lot of communication is via email,  many companies ours included has switched to voip, where we used to have five line's we now have just one and that's for broadband.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 07:38:06 AM by Ronski »
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WesBez7

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #24 on: July 02, 2016, 01:07:34 PM »

 @Ronski I take your point about landlines not being utilised for calls. I too did the same. I don't believe Customers should pay for their inability to innovate and change fast enough. They've only just gone back into the Mobile space again. There is absolutely no value to the line rental for a modern house. It keep going up +-60% in the last 4-5 yrs.

Mobile companies have moved to Data centric plans. They don't charge a access fee for the network. Prices have not gone up drastically. I pay £18 for my plan (4GB) and £20 for my phone. My phone bill has always been between £32-£38 for the same period with a IPhone contract.

I know that lines are necessary but they are feel more like a connection fee in this day and age. 
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Chrysalis

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #25 on: July 03, 2016, 12:06:41 AM »

Usually when sales drop the prices drop to stimulate sales, however because line rental is required for broadband then the opposite has happened in that line rental is now been used to replace call revenue.

Call costs themselves going up is not quite so clear cut, and it seems what is happening is they trying to make PAYG unattractive to sell call packages.  I suppose the thinking is the customer is already paying close to £20 a month for the line why not make it seem that paying just an extra 10-20% on top of that they get inclusive calls and to try and entice them away from mobile voice plans.

I still have the view this is clear market failure.  Its a sort of unofficial cartel going on.  But ofcom still are taking the position that because "almost" everyone is doing it then its ok, they only really care about companies been able to compete with each other rather than direct intervention on the retail side.

In the end unless people are either prepared to do away with voice services all together (unlikely given they want broadband) or they move to companies like pulse8 who charge normal line rental then these CPs know full well it doesnt matter if people can leave, because they will have new people to replace them who are leaving other isp's for the same reason.

e.g. Jack leaves BT due to the inflation busting line rental increase, he joins sky, 2 years later he leaves them for the same reason and goes to talktalk, 2 years later he does full circle and joins BT again because talktalk are ripping him off for line rental.  It is sort of like the fake competition on home energy where people are going round and round between different power companies whilst prices are rising rapidly across the board.
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highpriest

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2016, 10:44:12 AM »

Usually when sales drop the prices drop to stimulate sales, however because line rental is required for broadband then the opposite has happened in that line rental is now been used to replace call revenue.

Times are changing. There's a reason why companies like Blockbuster went bust and the likes of Netflix survived. People don't use a land line to make calls simply because there is a much better and cheaper alternative available, and it's already in the hands of every single person.

BT didn't adapt and switch to the mobile market early enough, and now they are trying to milk existing wired customers because they know they can get away with it.

And they are still not innovating in the one space they can and should - modern broadband technologies. Things like G.Fast are there to just distract the press, regulators and the public; some people may see the benefits, yes, but for the vast majority, I suspect it is either not going to be available for years and years or will prove not that beneficial.

What really gets me is the sheer hassle I have to go through to raise a fault with BT, despite paying nearly £50 a month for broadband. Every time I contact them, the first thing I get is repeated threats of a £160 call-out charge (which was, what, £90 or so 4 years ago?). My line is currently banded and I have lost 6 mbps of sync speed. The line rental mafia did nothing to correct it.
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WesBez7

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #27 on: July 15, 2016, 10:37:41 PM »

I really have to commend BT on their TV offerings. You can't get better programming for this money. Credit where credit is due.
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highpriest

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #28 on: July 16, 2016, 08:41:07 AM »

I really have to commend BT on their TV offerings. You can't get better programming for this money. Credit where credit is due.
Agreed. If they had offered me the same deal that you are on, I would have been very tempted to take it. They didn't want to know, and weren't willing to listen.

Having said that, I would have missed some of the Sky exclusive channels.
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kitz

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Re: Frustrated by BT constant price hikes
« Reply #29 on: July 17, 2016, 02:17:37 AM »

Line rental pricing is a real bug bear of mine and one that Ive harped on about for years and made numerous posts about it.  eg

It should be noted that it is the ISPs who are profiteering from this and basically using it to subsidise the cost of DSL.
What some of you may not realise is that the wholesale cost of line rental has actually gone down over the past 10 years.

In 2006 what BT charged the ISPs was £100.68.  From April 2016 it is £86.72.    Practically every year the wholesale cost for line rental has decreased, yet we the consumers are being taken for a ride because the ISPs have increased it.   
 
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