Millions of BT’s broadband, phone and TV customers are about be hit with inflation-busting price rises. But the good news is you can switch to another provider and save around £230 for an identical service.
Last weekend BT – which has just announced its first quarter profits up 9% – sent out letters to customers telling them it is adding £1 to its monthly landline charge, taking it to £17.99 a month – and upping most other charges by almost 7%.
However, under Ofcom rules, it has to allow customers to leave, fee free, even if they are in the middle of a contract.
BT says customers can cancel if they contact it within 30 days of notification of the price rises, which some will have already received.
Phone and broadband charges will go up by around 6.94% from 20 September – in part to pay for the lavish sports TV rights it spent a fortune acquiring.
If you like watching sport you may decide it is worth staying with BT for its Champions League and Premiership football coverage.
But if you don’t, you are probably simply subsidising those who do. You can get a much, much, cheaper deal elsewhere – or possibly at BT by threatening to leave.
Money estimates that a BT customer who wants the basic broadband and landline and an Anytime calls package, will save £230 over the next year – once a £50 cashback deal is applied – by switching.
There are similar better deals for fibre customers. Plusnet, which is owned by BT but run separately out of its Sheffield HQ, has also announced it is upping its prices on 2 September, but if you switch this week you can still lock into its existing prices.
The company, which is a Which? best-buy, is offering customers the chance to pre-buy annual landline rental for an upfront payment of £156. Those now with BT will soon be paying £17.99 a month – or £215 a year.
Plusnet has a basic broadband package for £2.50 a month, fixed for the next 12 months – compared to the typical £13 a month most existing broadband customers are paying BT.
Add Anytime calls to your Plusnet account for £6 a month – again fixed for the first 12 months – and you are in business. BT is about to put up its Anytime calls package to £7.50 a month.
If you don’t fancy Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin and Sky have tempting deals, too. But TalkTalk, traditionally the cheapest provider, put its prices up on 1 June. For example, its broadband is the same as Plusnet at £2.50 a month, but its upfront annual landline charge now costs £180 a year, compared to Plusnet’s £156.
TalkTalk has also irritated existing customers by dropping calls to 0845 numbers from its Anytime package, but it does include calls to UK mobiles.
Right now Plusnet also has a £50 cashback offer – sent to switchers as a cheque. Be aware that the company is difficult to talk to as callers face long wait times – but that is the same at all telecoms firms.
The contract only lasts 12 months so you can switch again at the end of it. Fail to do so, and Plusnet will start charging you £9.99 a month for broadband, which makes it much less attractive.
TalkTalk offers a £50 shopping voucher to new customers, but we’d prefer a cheque.
Money gets far fewer complaints about Plusnet than TalkTalk. The latter suffered a major data breach last year that led to a significant number of its customers being defrauded of thousands of pounds.
The company has persistently refused to admit any liability, even though the fraudsters were quoting victims’ TalkTalk account numbers.
BT has told customers that they will not be charged for their router if they are leaving due to the price rises.
However, if you are on BT’s line rental saver, you won’t be refunded any unused months left on your contract.
Switching is easy and you should be off-line for no more than 20 minutes – so what’s to stop you? As ever, it’s best to do a full market search with one of the switching sites.
Meanwhile, if you want lower bills and don’t want to switch, BT will almost certainly offer you a deal to stay. Make it clear you are leaving, and a better deal will mysteriously appear.
If you are leaving, the company you are moving to, carries out the switch.
