BT mislead me?

I'm current on BT home essentials in a 12 month contract. (Broadband for low income) On this contract I can leave at any time without early termination fees.

Fibre recently became available here and we've (the family) all chipped in to get full fibre.
I phoned BT and was told that the only way I could get the black friday deals was if I went without internet for 2-3 weeks so I sucked it up and went without a deal.

A friend told me that this is not true and you can have FTTP and FTTC alongside each other. Meaning I could have waited until FTTP was installed and then cancelled my FTTC. Is this true? If it is true is there any way I can challenge this? £180 (free 3 months) is a lot of money to me.

Yes, you can have FTTC and FTTP installed alongside each other. I do - albeit from different providers (Plusnet and Cerberus)

However, I suspect what happened was that the Black Friday deals are for new customers only, meaning new-to-BT. You're quite lucky if you only needed to leave BT for 2-3 weeks to be treated as a "new customer".

Aside: "£180 (free 3 months)" implies you've gone for the full gigabit shebang. If money is tight, I'd say go for 160/30 or 330/50. This is tons of bandwidth, you're unlikely to notice the difference with gigabit, and can be considerably cheaper. Gigabit is mainly going to highlight inadequacies in your client devices and/or wifi.

I have 300/50 and am very happy with it. Downloading updates at 40MB/sec - unpacking and installing them takes much longer than the actual download.

It does sound rather odd ...

Yes you can have FTTP and FTTC at the same time and I cannot see any reason why you cannot get an FTTP install. Mayvbe, you need to get husband/wife/partner/parent/child at your address to have FTTP installed in their name - so separate from you.

Then, migrate your number to a VoIP provider whch will cancel your home essentials. Others may know better how to do that.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

However, I suspect what happened was that the Black Friday deals are for new customers only, meaning new-to-BT. You're quite lucky if you only needed to leave BT for 2-3 weeks to be treated as a "new customer".

Aside: "£180 (free 3 months)" implies you've gone for the full gigabit shebang. If money is tight, I'd say go for 160/30 or 330/50. This is tons of bandwidth, you're unlikely to notice the difference with gigabit, and can be considerably cheaper. Gigabit is mainly going to highlight inadequacies in your client devices and/or wifi.

That was at the back of my mind when I suggested using someone else resident there to order it.

You are definitely right about Gigabit being over the top. I have a business 300Mbit connection - all they woudl sell me at te time (Consumer could get Gigabit though) and can see no reason to upgrade.

You can have FTTP and FTTC together yes.
You cannot however have BT Home Essentials alongside another BT broadband package.
It's a package for people on universal credit and BT have taken the decision to not allow people to take advantage of Home Essentials while also spending additional money on a 2nd package. That's up to them.

I think it's fair enough. They give you a subsidised package on the condition that it's the only package you take.

Edited by j0hn83 (Fri 19-Nov-21 10:40:26)

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

You can have FTTP and FTTC together yes.
You cannot however have BT Home Essentials alongside another BT broadband package.
It's a package for people on universal credit and BT have taken the decision to not allow people to take advantage of Home Essentials while also spending additional money on a 2nd package. That's up to them.

I think it's fair enough. They give you a subsidised package on the condition that it's the only package you take.

Ahh, that makes sense now. I have closed my 'complaint' that I just raised. Gutted I missed out on the free 3 months, but I also had a low cost broadband for 6 months as well so it's not like I haven't benefitted.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Edit: replied to myself by mistake. Doh.

Edited by j0hn83 (Fri 19-Nov-21 11:02:45)

You could try get another adult in the property (provided there is 1) to order the FTTP under a new account.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

You could try get another adult in the property (provided there is 1) to order the FTTP under a new account.

I could, but the order is in and my install date is at the start of December. I don't want to mess things up.

I am presently on a BT Halo 1 contract (FTTC), plus a 500 minute call package. That contract is due to end on 2nd January. Halo 1 and the 500 minute call package are no longer available, even for renewals, so BT wanted me to upgrade to a Halo 3 "Black Friday" deal with a 700 minute call package, both of which would cost more and involve a new 24 month contract. I do not need any of the extras that come with Halo 3 and to add insult to injury, they warned that if I do not renew, the cost of my subscription to BT Sport would increase by £6.75 per month.

I might have been prepared to renew for 12 months on existing terms, but certainly not for 24 months. Furthermore, BT are broadcasting fewer of the sports that interest me, so I have called their bluff and cancelled the Sport subscription. Consequently, Halo 1 and the existing 500 minute call package will continue on a rolling basis and most importantly, I shall be free to move to another supplier at any time, if a better offer becomes available.

However, the key message is to beware of BT's new 24-month contract terms, which could prove to be very expensive, if you need to exit before the end of the term.