need to switch from BT

i got a bill from BT today saying i owe £136 pound to them and my monthly payment has gone up from £54 to £87 i am normally getting speeds of around 2.5 meg with them.

i am looking to change to another company that will offer me the same speed or better and for alot cheaper price and unlimited downloads.

i am on this exchange here
and i mostly only use the internet for xbox live posting on forums and downloading the odd album

if i am just doing this is there any need to have unlimited?
also when i change how long should i expect to be without internet for??
thanks

That exchange is enabled for a number of LLU services. These days the only way to get unlimited ADSL is to subscribe to an LLU based service. The samknows page you linked to lists the available LLU operators.

We're now able to offer an LLU based connection at your exchange on a three month contract. pm me if you want details.

"These days the only way to get unlimited ADSL is to subscribe to an LLU based service. "

Not strictly true - Sky and Be/O2 are sort of there at a consumer price point, but if willing to pay the cost then unlimited is available no matter where you live in the country.

£54 to £87 a month sounds an odd number for broadband, or is this telephone and broadband together? Or are BT billing you for usage over and above your usage allowance?

What do you do with XBox live? Since an XBox can mean just playing online games, which if you played every minute of the day would be around 1GB a day, or it can mean buying movies or downloading games demos which can vary in size enormously.

So long as you migrate between providers using a MAC (Migration Authorisation Code) it should all happen the same day. Be or O2 look to be your best bet, they are the same company, so O2 will be cheap if you have a mobile with them too, but Be is there more geeky service with some interesting options like higher upstream speeds (handy for hosting games)

they were taking out £54 a month every month but i must have been going over on the phone calls or something. they didnt give me a straight answer.

on xbox live i alway play online and download the odd game/demo but never movies.

im also looking to get the phone with them too if thats possible

i just looked at 02 and the standard broadband seems fine for me i think because thats unlimited. also talk talk keep ringing me to go with them. are they any good?

O2 standard at £7.34pm or £12.23pm is excellent and truly unlimited. Currently also 2 months free, and if you sign up through Quidco possibly £50/£45 cashback.

I feel TalkTalk is probably better these days than is reported here and would be your cheapest option with the full bundle of phone and broadband.

However it has at least two limitations relevant to you. It has a 40GB per month limit unless you double that for another £4pm. And any P2P downloading is severely throttled. I don't know about pings/latency - you would need to ask in the TalkTalk forum here.

The TT help line has a poor reputation but they have their own on-line forum where apparently some good support staff help. O2 support has a good reputation.

The three compared.

As a first step you definitely need to go through your quarterly phone bills and understand why your charges have changed so much.

Little value in saving a little on your broadband bill, if it is the phone calls that are causing the problem.

it has to be the calls

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

they were taking out £54 a month every month but i must have been going over on the phone calls or something. they didn't give me a straight answer.

£54 pm seems very high even for 'phone + BB. If you are going over with your 'phone calls, then changing BB, or even phone, provider is not gonna help you one iota!

You seem uncertain as to the reason why your bill is so high. Surely the bill you just received will tell you in the detail? Is it a 'phone or BB bill, or do they combine them? You can also easily register and see your 'phone bills online at http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProduc...

If you make a lot of geographic or 0845/0870 calls, maybe you need to switch to the BT Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan; a typical rental for which is £20 pm.

Obviously I have no idea how you receive your BT bills, but if you use their paper free online service you can get a detailed breakdown of all your outgoing calls.

So if you can't identify the problem from this quarter's bill, and you don't have paper free billing, just register your BT account with www.bt.com. You don't have to wait a full quarter to examine your bills, there is a "recent calls" options to show the calls since your last full bill.

Sort your phone calls out, then look at your ISP options when you feel you have everything under control.

Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Aug-09 16:20:37)

i only call landllines and the bill is for both bb and phone. i might get the standard 02 and bt anytime calls for £15

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

i got a bill from BT today saying i owe £136 pound to them and my monthly payment has gone up from £54 to £87

The increase in the monthly payment will at least be to recover the outstanding amount. The question is why you are so much in arrears in the 1st place. Was it not just a 'phone bill? BB is usually charged automatically and the bill is just available online.

Identify the root cause of the problem before guessing solutions

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Identify the root cause of the problem before guessing solutions

I didn't attempt to address the problem. I merely tried to answer the question .

the reason why i owed them money is because i was always paying £54 a month but my calls were coming to more than that a month so i owe them money

so i was thinking about going with the 1st or 2nd o2 package but i dont know which yet.what do you think is the best for me. i regularly use xbox to play online. and the bt free evening and weekend calls for £11 a month.

also 02 says that it is a 12 month contract but if i want out i just have to give them 30 days notice. is that right?

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

so i was thinking about going with the 1st or 2nd o2 package but i dont know which yet.what do you think is the best for me. i regularly use xbox to play online. and the bt free evening and weekend calls for £11 a month.

also 02 says that it is a 12 month contract but if i want out i just have to give them 30 days notice. is that right?

There is no difference in performance between the O2 Standard and the O2 Premium except that Standard is capped at 8Mbps.

However both are interleaved which increase latency a bit (bad for pings). Better for gaming to go to Be Unlimited, where you can get interleaving turned off by selecting gaming mode in your control panel or by ticket which is even better as some second form of error correction is turned off as well via ticket.

Though if you are on interleaved and happy at the moment it probably doesn't matter.

O2 is a 12-month contract, becoming monthly after the end of the 12 months. (For fellow pedants - after the end of 11 months). I think the 30 days you are on about is the trial period at the beginning which allows you to leave within the first 30 days with your money back. (As at the moment the first two months are free there wouldn't be any refund anyway).

Be is also a 12-month contract and doesn't have the 30-day initial getout. But on Unlimited and Pro you can pay a bit extra and get a rolling 3-month contract. Trouble with that is it continues as 3-month for ever instead of becoming monthly after 12 months.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 17-Aug-09 14:07:48)

where can i find out more about this gaming mode? i cant seem to see it on the website

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

where can i find out more about this gaming mode? i cant seem to see it on the website

Which web site?

the be website

Just checking you didn't mean O2 site .

You're right, I can't find it either. But I assure you it is correct.

Go to the Be forum and search for Gaming Mode.

You could always post a question about it as well if unsure. It isn't available on Be Value, that's all so far as I know. Neither is the 3-month contract option.

so i'd have to get the £17 2nd package to get it?

also would it be worth going to be just for the gaming mode? or would it be ok to game on the 02 with higher pings

I don't game. No idea sorry.

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

the reason why i owed them money is because i was always paying £54 a month but my calls were coming to more than that a month so i owe them money
......
and the bt free evening and weekend calls for £11 a month.

Then you musta been making a hell of a lot of Daytime landline calls. Simply switching to BT Anytime Calls will save you a packet, without bothering about your BB.

also i just remembered i have an old 02 pay as you go sim card, could i use that to get the discount or does it have to be a contract?

PAYG is fine. Top up by £10 per quarter.

Choose one of the PAYG plans. Those imply you have to top up monthly but you don't. Month 1 of your quarter you top up and get the PAYG Plan benefit. Month 2 and 3 you don't get the benefit, just normal charging rate (I forget what they call it at the moment). The broadband discount is fine because of the Month 1, Month 4 ... topups.

If you forget to top up then you pay full whack for the broadband next bill, but if you top up when you realise then you get the discount from the next month. You don't get back-dated discount though.

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

also would it be worth going to be just for the gaming mode? or would it be ok to game on the 02 with higher pings

I'm not a gamer either but I know a man who is. It depends on your line quality of course but I'm assured that the O2 Standard package is fine for gaming and VoIP etc.

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

also would it be worth going to be just for the gaming mode? or would it be ok to game on the 02 with higher pings

I'm not a gamer either but I know a man who is. It depends on your line quality of course but I'm assured that the O2 Standard package is fine for gaming and VoIP etc.

Yes I agree. I've seen at least one similar report - though maybe the same one.

I did only say Be was likely to be better, not that O2 had a problem . I also followed that with "Though if you are on interleaved and happy at the moment it probably doesn't matter".

In any case it is (currently) possible to migrate between O2 and Be within the 12 month contracts, with no penalty.

thanks guys you have been a real help. i think i am going to go with the 1st 02 package and the bt evening and weekend calls and if i feel i need to change to be unlimited its good to know i can

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

thanks guys you have been a real help. i think i am going to go with the 1st 02 package and the bt evening and weekend calls and if i feel i need to change to be unlimited its good to know i can

The O2 standard package is unlimited in every sense except that after a week or so, you'll be artificially pegged to 8M/1.3M speeds. This gives you the advantage of seeing what your line can do if you were to take a more expensive package.
You will need to ensure that your internal cabling and telephony equipment is in good order though as ADSL2+ uses a wider frequency range.

i cant get over 4meg now so i think that 8 is gonna be fine for me

also how do i know if my internal cabling and telephony equipment is in good order?

Edited by lew87ys (Tue 18-Aug-09 00:40:04)

You'll get UP TO 8M depending upon your line characteristics.
The simplest method of testing your internal wiring etc is probably to note your line stats from your current setup and then take a reading from the hidden test socket of the NTE5 (If available). If there's an appreciable difference in "attenuation" and or "SNR" or similar, you have a problem that needs fixing.
Using CW1308 or better cable, removing the "ring wire" from all sockets (Leaving only terminals 2 and 5 connected) and sensible cable routing will improve conditions dramatically in most cases. There's a pic here of an NTE5 along with directions for wiring.

Just to confirm what Deadbeat says, if you get 4Mbps now you are very unlikely to get any significant increase on ADSL2+. You will get a huge jump in upstream though.

Re the NTE5 wiring I prefer this link.

Re your expected download speed, all graphs about that are slightly questionable, but the second one on this page gives the sort of thing to expect. To find your attenuation from your modem/router if you don't know how look here. (That's the same link as Deadbeat gave you for line stats).

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 18-Aug-09 09:24:25)

i just got off of the phone with bt to get my mac code and they said that providers like 02 use LLU and its very unstable and speeds with drasticly decrease in peak times. is this true?? or are they just getting me to stay?

That can only be described as outright lying, or the person saying it is completely without any knowledge. In both cases they have no right to be saying it. Exactly the opposite is the truth.

"very unstable and speeds with drasticly decrease in peak times". Isn't that what all the complaints about BT in that forum here are all about?

The truth is that O2 offer two services - LLU and BT based. The BT-based one is dodgy.

The LLU one is excellent. All the reports you will see on here from O2 LLU users (barring genuine faults) are that their download is over 80% of their connection speed 24/7. The maximum possible is about 85% and most of us get over 83% nearly all the time.

Equally as good is their sister company Be. I believe also good are Sky/UKOnline/Easynet. TalkTalk is good for mass market such as BT serve - where no great performance is required.

C & W LLU through resellers such as vivaciti, xilo and aquiss are apparently more than satisfactory, though perhaps not through Demon.

Orange LLU some people report good, many report bad. Tiscali and its subsidiaries are dreadful by what we see here.

So with regard to those I suppose the person could justifiably claim that they are no better then BT. But O2 was specifically mentioned and it isn't so.

thats good to know then, they must have just wanted me to stay with them. i have my mac code now and 02 will be ringing me tomorrow to confirm my order. any idea on how long untill the switch will take place?

What are you doing ringing O2?

That has cost you £45! (Well it hasn't cost you, it has stopped you getting £45 cashback through Quidco).

Anyway - at least you made the right decision . You will be amazed how much better it will be. Which package have you signed up for?

wow thanks i forgot to do that. but today when i rang them they game me a email to use with 02 is it to late to get the quidco??

also i got the standard package because i cant get over 8 meg anyway

I reckon it's too late. The signup has to be completely online, and you are already signed up.

I don't reckon on any ISPs email either. It makes it a pain to migrate - so many people and contacts/shops to tell. Lots of people use googlemail and also lots buy ISP-independent email from places like Purple Cloud that I use, or 1 & 1 is very popular. Costs me £1.15 per month and I have my own domain. Nothing at all changes when I migrate.

On the Standard package they run it uncapped for a few days anyway, so you will be able to see what it can do. Then they cap it, but if it will do over 8Mbps you can upgrade.

Enjoy .

damn so there is no way to get the quidco anymore, even if i cancel it and do it all on the internet? or because i havnt given the mac code just do it online now?

In reply to a post by lew87ys:

damn so there is no way to get the quidco anymore, even if i cancel it and do it all on the internet? or because i havnt given the mac code just do it online now?

As you haven't given them the MAC I suppose you might have a chance. I typed quite a long reply about ways you might defeat the system, but just as I was going to post it I realised my solution stood a faint chance of losing the two free months. It depends what you actually asked for and got when you rang up.

The only way I think would be almost sure to work would be to cancel it as you say, then (CLEAR COOKIES) and sign up to Be instead, through Quidco. £10 less cashback though.

Or cancel the O2 and give that 24 hours to get updated through the system, then try through Quidco.

If you are looking at the mobile phone discount that doesn't apply to Be.

I really don't know what to advise. At the moment you will get the service I recommended. The way above gets you Be, but apart from the gaming mode on the more expensive packages I think O2 is better for you.

It's your money not mine. I think O2 is great but Be customers think that is. I think you should look at the costing page 4 update of MKD's comparison document. Possibly the whole document.

All I can guarantee is either will be better than where you are coming from.

i just rang up o2 and said about the quidco and they said the broadband wasnt set up yet so i could just do it on the internet through quidco but i would have to make a different email adress.

so it is all done now, thanks guys

how long will it take to be active?

You get a text to the mobile number you gave for contact. Should arrive today.

Have you got an O2 mobile, or some other?

i gave an orange phone number but they said i can register an o2 sim card to get the discount whenever i like

Yep.

Good luck .

Hello lew87ys.
Just a few notes of endorsement for the advice RobertoS gave you. I changed to o2 over a year ago, and barring a couple of line problems, which o2 sorted immediately (Ones which orange previously said never existed!) I have been really pleased. My speeds from orange were typically 0.5 to 1.0 meg - or nothing! With o2 I get between 3meg and 4.1 meg most of the time. I'd also use Purple Cloud as a surefire way of keeping a tight rein on your email address - or more than one.
Good luck, Les.

thanks guys

just got a text saying i will be going online on the 28th
will i still have me bt broadband untill then

Yes.

Downtime is normally about 10 minutes when it happens. Phone will be out of action as well for a few minutes.