BT calling the tune?

The first coincidence is that on the same day that Plusnet make the default on new Home Phone connections "Weekend calls included" rather than "Evening & Weekend calls included", BT Retail do the same to broadband bundles?

The second coincidence is that the "Evening & Weekend" add-on does not appear on the page describing add-ons, where Anytime, Anytime International 300 and the 300 mobile minute options are to be found

The third coincidence is that the previous two coincide with the split-testing that makes 50% of the broadband products invisible to some website visitors. This can surely only be a way of testing the water for withdrawal from sale of broadband only.

Do I hear the master's voice speaking?

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 09-May-13 19:05:43)

BT standard Weekend calls only has been like that for ages

In reply to a post by Oldjim:

BT standard Weekend calls only has been like that for ages

BT used to include E&W calls when you took broadband.

Thanks Jim and Oliver - post edited in the light of both comments.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 09-May-13 19:35:09)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Thanks Jim and BatBoy.

I ain't BatBoy.

Wouldn't you like to be? . (Fixed, sorry).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The first coincidence is that on the same day that Plusnet make the default on new Home Phone connections "Weekend calls included" rather than "Evening & Weekend calls included", BT Retail do the same to broadband bundles?

Which "same day" is that? Yesterday, when PN splitting started? I noticed about a week that W/E calls was now standard for BT's BB packages.

does not appear on the page describing add-ons

What page/link is that?

I also notice that price of Anytime has increased to £7 pm from £5.15.

What if Plusnet were just another branch of BT Retail?

Say for example, all their directors had an address of 81 Newgate St, London?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I also notice that price of Anytime has increased to £7 pm from £5.15.

Yeah, steep. At least the E&W price (phone only) has dropped to £2 though.

Hasn't E&WE been £2 for ages?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Hasn't E&WE been £2 for ages?

I recall it being something like £3.15 until recently.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The first coincidence is that on the same day that Plusnet make the default on new Home Phone connections "Weekend calls included" rather than "Evening & Weekend calls included", BT Retail do the same to broadband bundles?

Which "same day" is that? Yesterday, when PN splitting started? I noticed about a week that W/E calls was now standard for BT's BB packages.

I'll take your word for that . It doesn't alter the thrust of my post however.

does not appear on the page describing add-ons

What page/link is that?

I also notice that price of Anytime has increased to £7 pm from £5.15.

I think you are looking at the BT side? I'm talking about Plusnet. Click the "Show details" on any bundle on this page, or any other they appear on. In the announcement on the Community forums we have "�The 'Talk Anytime' and 'Talk Anytime International' call packages have been superceded by 'Plusnet Anytime' and 'Plusnet Anytime International' charged at £5.00pcm and £7.00pcm respectively (£1pcm more than their former counterparts)."

Of course I'm looking at the BT side! That was the Forum Subject and grammatical subject of your post.

All you were doing was putting it into the context of a PN event.

If you say so .

A question. Whose tune are they calling?

Seems that way to me I think these new moves are a bit pathetic really, most offer evenings and weekends nowadays as standard. A good tactic from Plusnet to try and force people to take the anytime calls package. I signed up two relatives after I went live with PN, and if it was the case now I simply would have looked elsewhere because they wouldn't be saving anything at all.

I think it is fair to say that a business works best when it has an identifiable target customer in mind.

That means it is probably best business for BT Group as a whole if BT Retail and Plusnet have different customer targets in mind. So it kinda makes sense if there is some level of co-ordination over strategy, or direction of strategy, at a high level, even if it isn't necessary to the tactics at a lower level. Whether they do or not, I don't know

But I think the coincidences tie in with something different...

The whole announcement over BT Sport is a big game-changer for BT Retail and BT Vision, and probably has caused them to re-evaluate their target markets considerably - presumably with great reference to Sky's core TV viewer or Virgin's core TV viewer - and the packages/pricing they offer.

If there is any co-ordination or control going on, you'd expect there to be a knock-on impact to Plusnet's target market, packages and pricing too.

Actually, even if there is no coordination or control going on, and they worked totally independently, you'd still expect Plusnet to evaluate and react to a big shift by one of their biggest competitors.