Thanks Vodafone

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

Soldato
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Posts
15,699
Location
Limbo
So i've been with BT for 4.5 years, prices creeping up and up and getting frustrated it's not the best deal. Virgin don't service my cul-de-sac and other providers are scant where I live for some odd reason.

Get a flyer from Vodafone a few weeks back - £23/month for 18 months with free connection/line rental, seems a bit too good to be true. So read some reviews, they're all pretty scathing, then check reviews for BT, just as scathing. (i've had one outage with BT in the whole time i've used them).

Take the chance, sign up with them, use an £80 cashback deal from TCB. Router arrives last week, tells me to plug in this morning before 8AM. Did it a little while ago, running perfectly, a touch faster than BT but expect that to drop a little over the next 10 days.

BT want around £85 for breaking contract as I foolishly took a new router last year, however cashback takes care of that. The big picture is that i'm going from about £53/month to £23/month, saving £360/year.

Just figured some other people might be considering it and not sure, people rarely post good news stories, only when things are going wrong.

--------------------------------------------------

tl;dr - switched BT to Vodafone, saving over £350/year.
 
Changed about 3 months ago, getting 76/20 for something like £28 a month including line rental, had about 2 disconnects but i think that was due to work on the cabinet nearby.
 
BT get some hate and when they are bad they are terrible but - the odd issue aside over the years mostly they have just worked - currently on 45 days uptime on the line - last reconnection was manually done for configuration reasons - every time its been needed I've got full speeds and low stable latency.

Been tempted by the Vodafone offer as a couple of times been offered it with a discount being an existing Vodafone mobile customer but taking an if it ain't broke approach to my main connection and staying with BT.
 
I've got no problem with BT but the price...they've been solid and the one time the outage happened, it was fixed promptly. However with my wife going on maternity, I need to make the savings wherever I can.
 
BT's retention offers have been decent at the moment, I think I'd have checked those out first because you were definitely over-paying. I'm less than £53 per month for Infinity 2, line rental, my mobile SIM with 3GB data and the top-end BT TV package.
 
TheVoice said:
BT's retention offers have been decent at the moment, I think I'd have checked those out first because you were definitely over-paying. I'm less than £53 per month for Infinity 2, line rental, my mobile SIM with 3GB data and the top-end BT TV package.
Click to expand...

I gave them a call the day before I signed up for the Vodafone deal, it was a joke. I'm on Infinity 2 with international calls, comes in about £60/month, best offer they could give me was £83/month with a sim deal of 15gb data and bt TV added, neither of which I wanted. This was if I signed for another 12 month contract.

When I told them about the Vodafone deal I was basically asked if I was stupid (in a roundabout way) and it wasn't possible for anyone to offer so cheaply and that I must be mistaken.
 
If you'd asked me about Vodafone when I first went live with them I'd have told you to run for the hills.
I went live in November - my "go live" date came and went, then I was told there was an issue authenticating new users onto the network. I was almost 5 days without internet. First world problems I know, but not really acceptable when no other ISP has messed a switch for me.
My 80/20 fell through the floor to begin with, however I eventually managed to get them to reset the port and I stablised at around 74/19 which was acceptable.
I had an issue where my Vodafone router failed to get a firmware upgrade over and over, causing numerous reboots of the device. This was eventually fixed and right now I've been at 79.9/19 for the past 4 weeks without any issues.
Fingers crossed this is now going to remain stable.
 
stoofa said:
If you'd asked me about Vodafone when I first went live with them I'd have told you to run for the hills.
I went live in November - my "go live" date came and went, then I was told there was an issue authenticating new users onto the network. I was almost 5 days without internet. First world problems I know, but not really acceptable when no other ISP has messed a switch for me.
My 80/20 fell through the floor to begin with, however I eventually managed to get them to reset the port and I stablised at around 74/19 which was acceptable.
I had an issue where my Vodafone router failed to get a firmware upgrade over and over, causing numerous reboots of the device. This was eventually fixed and right now I've been at 79.9/19 for the past 4 weeks without any issues.
Fingers crossed this is now going to remain stable.
Click to expand...

Granted i've only had the connection a little over 24 hours but my ping is down to very low double digits and my connection is slightly faster. I also managed to do a firmware update on the router last night with no problems. Fingers x'd for the future.
 
SixTwoSix said:
I gave them a call the day before I signed up for the Vodafone deal, it was a joke. I'm on Infinity 2 with international calls, comes in about £60/month, best offer they could give me was £83/month with a sim deal of 15gb data and bt TV added, neither of which I wanted. This was if I signed for another 12 month contract.

When I told them about the Vodafone deal I was basically asked if I was stupid (in a roundabout way) and it wasn't possible for anyone to offer so cheaply and that I must be mistaken.
Click to expand...

That's disappointing! Still, sounds like you've got a good deal now.

Was it a newer SmartHub you got from BT last year? I've been considering getting one to replace my HH5, so stick it up on the MM if you ever feel like getting rid of it. :)
 
I got them to £32 for sport and infinity 2 when they were telling me it was going up to £40 or something (line rental is extra) when the free sport ran out. Still on the old hub.
 
TheVoice said:
That's disappointing! Still, sounds like you've got a good deal now.

Was it a newer SmartHub you got from BT last year? I've been considering getting one to replace my HH5, so stick it up on the MM if you ever feel like getting rid of it. :)
Click to expand...

It's the Home Hub 5 - Type B (http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/bt/bt-home-hub-5), got no more use for it so if you're interested, drop me a line in trust. :)
 
I wanted to join Vodafone and we actually started a switch from BT not too long ago. unfortunately, the router never arrived, they never activated my line and the service was awful. I canceled my order and went back to BT who reactivated my line in minutes - perhaps I'll revisit the idea of joining Vodafone if people continue to have good experiences.
 
Slow hand clap for BT...they're charging me £65 for the hardware I took last year and also emailed me asking to return the router.
 
Steve_bullockuk said:
Is it true that the Vodafone service will only work with the Vodafone supplied router? Asking for a friend.
Click to expand...
Yes.
You will find people who will tell you they managed to get their PPoE username/password so they can use their own equipment. The number of people who do have this information is tiny. I've personally tried every single avenue open to me, including letters to the UK CEO and it has gone nowhere.
The Vodafone router is your standard affair, no better, no worse than anything else an ISP throws at you. For me it isn't a massive issue as I disable the onboard WiFi and use a Ubiquity unit.
But assume that you will be forced to use their router and if you manage to get your details then consider that a major bonus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom