BT charges set to rise

[Simon]

BT has warned millions of customers it is increasing its prices by up to 6.5% from December this year.

It will increase the line rental for direct debit customers by 6.25% to £16.99, and the rate for calling UK landlines by 6.44%.

The set-up fee for landline calls, residential calls, to the speaking clock and call return charges will also increase for some or all customers.

But BT said it had added "extra money-saving options" for poorer customers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28902300

[Den]

I pay my land line yearly so that wont go up and all landline calls and residential calls are included so no change there then. 

[Simon]

I didn't see any mention of wholesale prices rising, which, I think, would be the only reason IDNet's charges might increase.

[Clive]

I thought inflation is supposed to be running at 1.9%.   

[Gary]

I pay my land line yearly so that wont go up and all landline calls and residential calls are included so no change there then. 

Smug becomes you, Den. 

[Den]

I wondered how long you would take before you had a go,  Gary. 

My neighbours broadband went down the other day (he is with Idnet on my recommendation) and he had to wait for 5 days for Openreach to come out and fix it. When I had a problem the other week (not really BTs fault) but they responded within 4 hours. Speak as you find I always say. 

[Steve]

So are you saying Den that you think OpenReach give preferential treatment to BT customers?

[Den]

I know but then it stands to reason that they will. 

[tehidyman]

I pay my land line yearly so that wont go up and all landline calls and residential calls are included so no change there then. 

BT advertise Line Rental Saver as 12 months for the price of 10 so I am expecting mine to go up when due.

[Den]

I've just paid mine. 

[pctech]

Yet another reason to avoid BT Retail?

[Den]

Did I read that right? Avoid because they have ways of saving you money. 

[pctech]

I'm very glad you've saved yourself some cash Den but when it comes to coughing up next year I fear you may get a nasty shock.

[stevenrw]

Steve raises an interesting point. Is there any evidence that people with BT "direct" as it were, as opposed to IDNet for example get better/faster solutions to Open Reach/infrastructure problems?
I have a friend who has just migrated to FTTC with TalkTalk (I know, I know, but they are on a very tight budget..) and so far it has taked just about 5 weeks to get any sort of speed. They were with TT on an ADSL service but due to their location were getting around 1MBPS (ie slower than the old dialup), but the local cabinet was comissioned for FTTC so they got a great deal to upgrade to the fibre product.
Their speed rocketed up to 1.8mbps.
To date they have had 3 engineer visits and its still not great.
Of course TalkTalk blames Open Reach, but I wonder if they are pushing hard enough and I really wonder if they were with BT Internet they would get a speedier resolution.

[Steve]

I would think OpenReach would cease to exist if they gave preferential treatment to BT Retail. My impression with a lot of the last mile infra structure issues and faults is that luck plays an important part for the customer as we've no idea of the quality of the line that we are dealing with. Ie some fixes will be easy some will be uneconomical but we are not party to that information, we just applaud or suffer the result.

[Gary]

I wondered how long you would take before you had a go,  Gary. 

My neighbours broadband went down the other day (he is with Idnet on my recommendation) and he had to wait for 5 days for Openreach to come out and fix it. When I had a problem the other week (not really BTs fault) but they responded within 4 hours. Speak as you find I always say. 

BT and BTOR are separate, BT do not get preferential treatment, its how busy BTOR are and how big a fault it is and how many engineers are available. My Mother is with BT and waited seven days on her fault. Just because BT sounds like BTOR does not make it the same, it has that OR on the end that stands for 'Openreach' a completely separate company, Den.  Also 4 hours sounds like a fault that didn't need major work in fact a flip of the switch type issue, BT don't come out in 4 hours unless you pay for a very expensive SLA or its a fault effecting a big area

[Den]

Just a quote for you Gary.

Openreach is the infrastructure division of the British telecommunications company BT Group. It was established in 2006 following an agreement between BT and Ofcom to implement certain undertakings.