FTTC Regrade in WLR/PSTN stop sell exchange

Trying to help my elderly mother update her broadband. She currently has 40/10 FTTC from NowTV, and about two weeks ago NowTV offered to switch her to 80/20 as part of a contract revewal. She needs to retain her landline number as she doesn't use a mobile - and wouldn't be able to replace her router on her own, plug the landline phone into it etc.

The order seems stuck - breaking NowTVs customer portal.

Before I call them up again, is it actually possible for NowTV to offer this regrade? Exhange is Peebles ESPEB - which is FTTP priority but there's no Fibre avaliable in her apartment building sadly.

Hi,

In reply to a post by cjt105A:

Trying to help my elderly mother update her broadband. She currently has 40/10 FTTC from NowTV, and about two weeks ago NowTV offered to switch her to 80/20 as part of a contract revewal. She needs to retain her landline number as she doesn't use a mobile - and wouldn't be able to replace her router on her own, plug the landline phone into it etc.

The order seems stuck - breaking NowTVs customer portal.

Before I call them up again, is it actually possible for NowTV to offer this regrade? Exhange is Peebles ESPEB - which is FTTP priority but there's no Fibre avaliable in her apartment building sadly.

This should be quite possible from an Openreach perspective but there may be issues that prevent NowTV achieving it.

Can you confirm whether her voice service is provided by NowTV or whether that remains with BT retail? Is the existing voice service a traditional analogue line or is it a digital voice service from NowTV?

If the voice is currently a traditional analogue line then NowTV will probably want to transition that to a digital voice service and if you mother has been identified to NowTV as elderly / vulnerable then that might (should!) have caused their systems to stop the order awaiting human intervention to ensure that any vulnerability is addressed.

There is nothing much you can do to stop the transition to digital voice but it is worth making sure that your mother has the necessary support for the change.

If it important then you should also make absolutely sure with NowTV that you mother's number won't change.

In reply to a post by cjt105A:

Trying to help my elderly mother update her broadband. She currently has 40/10 FTTC from NowTV, and about two weeks ago NowTV offered to switch her to 80/20 as part of a contract revewal. She needs to retain her landline number as she doesn't use a mobile - and wouldn't be able to replace her router on her own, plug the landline phone into it etc.

The order seems stuck - breaking NowTVs customer portal.

Before I call them up again, is it actually possible for NowTV to offer this regrade? Exhange is Peebles ESPEB - which is FTTP priority but there's no Fibre avaliable in her apartment building sadly.

FTTP priority is on a premises level, if FTTP isn't available to the address then it doesn't apply.

The problem is that you're trying to do an FTTC regrade after WLR stop sell - you can't do this. You have to move to SOGEA which in turn means no analogue voice.

Got it - thank you. In which case, she can stick to the 40/10 speed for now and just renew the contract. Frustrating in this day and age though!

I've no idea why Sky are neglecting the Now products so much - either close it down to new customers or bring VoIP to it. You can go on their website now and go through the order process to get a broadband service with a "phone line" but their router has no ability to support this arrangement.

I wouldn't say they are neglecting it because there's now a 100Mbps FTTP Now TV package called "Now powered by Sky" which comes with the SR203 hub.