How do broadband contracts work these days?

[Stumble Bum]

So after having been stuck in a rural area for 8 years paying £40 per month for 5mb internet tomorrow I move house and can finally order Fibre internet.

Question: I will probably sign up for Sky 59mb Fibre internet on 18 months contract at £27 p/m. At the end of the 18 months the price hikes up to £44 p/m. Are they now like phone contracts in which everyone then finds a new provider at the end of the contract and switches to a 'new customer' deal.

Also if so, is there usually a period of time where you are without service?

Why they can't just have one reasonable fixed price I will never know. So is switching every 18 - 24 months the norm these days?

 

[Steveocee]

Find a better provider. Zen do a price guarantee, you sign up, fixed term for 12 months but you are price locked whilst you're with them (price may go down though). Yes they are a bit more but worth it for better support and actually being customer focused.

 

[Jez]

When i was on FTTC (80/20) i used to just renew with Talktalk over and over again seamlessly. 18 month contracts, at the end of term they would throw renewal offers at you which were as good if not better than new customer deals. Never switched and therefore no loss of service.

 

[Golf1.6]

There is no real loss of service, the tranditions happen pretty well. The phone snd jnternet shut down for a few seconds and then the new provider takes the line. You plug in your new hardware or just reconfigure your existing hardware. Although its best to usd isp hardware to make sure everything is working.

Most isps now allow you to tske your contract with you when you move house.

I always change each year. New customer desls are always better at the moment they have cashback offers, free google/amazon hardware. The best freebies are cash on a cashback site.

 

[Golf1.6]

You are quite right, new customers get good deals anc then after month 12/18 the price increases by 50%, to get a better deal you need to lock into a new contract but its never as good as a new customer plan. Also you get no cashback.

On nowtv ingot £90 cashback for joining. In 12 months time ill get more cashback equal to that much from the new ISP

 

[Stumble Bum]

Cheers all. Will look forward to the joys of deal hunting in 18 months time

 

[stoofa]

As the majority of ISP's supply a very similar service, I shop purely on price. I rarely need help from their support departments - so I'm not shopping based on reviews of Customer Service.
Since I've been in a fibre area I've used BT, TalkTalk, Vodafone and currently Sky (as they are giving me 80mb for peanuts with my TV plan) and all have been much of a muchness

 

[MissChief]

New OFCOM regulations should be in force by the time your contract is up which state your provider should notify you of your contract ending and then have to offer you the best deal or at least one that matches their new customer offers. This is due to come in early next year, March or April I heard.

 

[stoofa]

New OFCOM regulations should be in force by the time your contract is up which state your provider should notify you of your contract ending and then have to offer you the best deal or at least one that matches their new customer offers. This is due to come in early next year, March or April I heard.

This is the same ruling on mobile phones isn't it?
Come to the end of your contract, your handset is paid of and they should automatically drop you to a "SIM Only" deal.

Overdue.

 

[peterpies]

New OFCOM regulations should be in force by the time your contract is up which state your provider should notify you of your contract ending and then have to offer you the best deal or at least one that matches their new customer offers. This is due to come in early next year, March or April I heard.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofco...19/firms-must-tell-customers-about-best-deals

Therefore, Ofcom has stepped in to ensure fairness for customers, by forcing telecoms and pay TV companies to warn customers between 10 and 40 days before their contract comes to an end. These alerts will be sent by text, email or letter.[3] They will include:

• the contract end date;
• the price paid before this date;
• any changes to the service and price paid at the end of this period;
• information about any notice period required to terminate the contract; and
• the best deals offered by their provider, including telling loyal customers what prices are available to new customers.

I don't think the ISP have to offer new customer deals to existing customers, they just have to inform existing customers what new customers get.

I might be reading that wrong of course.

 

[peterpies]

Quick check, OFCOM have not enforced new customer deals for existing customers, but asked ISP's to do it,

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofco...es/2019/fairer-prices-for-broadband-customers

As a result of our review, the UK’s biggest broadband companies have made a range of commitments to protect customers and cut prices for those who are out of contract.

• BT, Sky and TalkTalk will allow their out-of-contract customers to get the same deals as new customers, when they take out a new contract.[3]
• The difference that any of Sky’s newly contracted customers will pay when their contract expires is no more than £5 per month. From February, BT will cap the difference that existing in-contract customers pay when their contracts expire – it will confirm the amount of this cap in due course.
• BT customers without access to superfast broadband will no longer pay more than entry-level superfast customers. And BT will provide a one-off automatic price reduction for vulnerable customers who are currently out of contract on more expensive deals.
• TalkTalk and Virgin Media will carry out annual price reviews with their vulnerable customers to ensure they are on the best deal for their needs, providing automatic discounts where appropriate if customers do not respond.
• BT, EE, Plusnet and TalkTalk will protect out-of-contract customers from above-inflation price rises.

Most of these commitments will come into effect by March 2020.

BT, Sky and Talk Talk are the only ISP's who will offer existing customers, new customer deals.

So BT, Sky and Talk Talk will lose competitiveness if they can not or will not absorb that cost.

 

[MissChief]

Quick check, OFCOM have not enforced new customer deals for existing customers, but asked ISP's to do it,

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofco...es/2019/fairer-prices-for-broadband-customers



BT, Sky and Talk Talk are the only ISP's who will offer existing customers, new customer deals.

OFCOM have a habit of 'Do this by yourself or we'll introduce it for you by regulation'. The latest Broadband speed checks at signup is called the OFCOM Voluntary Code of Practice' or VCOP. There's little voluntary about it, ISP's just toed the line when OFCOM wielded a big stick.

 

[peterpies]

OFCOM have a habit of 'Do this by yourself or we'll introduce it for you by regulation'. The latest Broadband speed checks at signup is called the OFCOM Voluntary Code of Practice' or VCOP. There's little voluntary about it, ISP's just toed the line when OFCOM wielded a big stick.

Well by the looks, 3 are toeing the line.

Some companies will now take advantage.

OFCOM should have regulated it, or stayed out.

 

[Avalon]

Well by the looks, 3 are toeing the line.

Some companies will now take advantage.

OFCOM should have regulated it, or stayed out.

Having spent more hours of my life than I care to think about with Ofcom auditors, they don’t operate this way. It’s ‘voluntary or else’. If they don’t get the desired result by using voluntary guidelines, they will make it a regulatory requirement, thing is companies regulated by them would prefer not to be in that situation, so they tend to capitulate.

 

[peterpies]

Having spent more hours of my life than I care to think about with Ofcom auditors, they don’t operate this way. It’s ‘voluntary or else’. If they don’t get the desired result by using voluntary guidelines, they will make it a regulatory requirement, thing is companies regulated by them would prefer not to be in that situation, so they tend to capitulate.

Maybe, but in the interim companies will operate from different positions.

 

[MissChief]

Maybe, but in the interim companies will operate from different positions.

The ISP's really don't want to get on OFCOM's bad side. Usually when OFCOM say 'implement this voluntarily by x date or we'll make it so you have no choice' it usually is.

 

[peterpies]

The ISP's really don't want to get on OFCOM's bad side. Usually when OFCOM say 'implement this voluntarily by x date or we'll make it so you have no choice' it usually is.

Yep I get that.

Ok, so members on here are saying every ISP will offer new customer deals to existing customers from March 2020.

I'm saying, that not every ISP will.

 

[MissChief]

Yep I get that.

Ok, so members on here are saying every ISP will offer new customer deals to existing customers from March 2020.

I'm saying, that not every ISP will.

OFCOM have got the big players on board so that's around 90% of the market. That's enough for most people. Sure there'll still be some local firms or smaller suppliers like Andrews & Arnold but the majority of the public will still gravitate towards BT, Talk Talk, Virgin or Sky for their Broadband.

 

[peterpies]

OFCOM have got the big players on board so that's around 90% of the market. That's enough for most people. Sure there'll still be some local firms or smaller suppliers like Andrews & Arnold but the majority of the public will still gravitate towards BT, Talk Talk, Virgin or Sky for their Broadband.

Virgin, Vodafone?

Only 3 ISP's have confirmed they will. (Big ISP's)

If those toeing the line cant absorb the cost, the public will gravitate towards those undercutting.

 

[MissChief]

Virgin, Vodafone?

Only 3 ISP's have confirmed they will. (Big ISP's)

If those toeing the line cant absorb the cost, the public will gravitate towards those undercutting.

I mentioned Virgin. Vodafone aren't a big player yet but likely will sign on. No one wants OFCOM taking a close look at their operations.