BT Infinity - any catches?

[ARW]

My Dad got this letter last week and I am suggesting he goes ahead with it

Anyone got any comments?

[Toby]

Sounds good to me, if what he is currently paying for the broadband is reasonable, and he is happy with BT, then I see no reason bot to take them up on it - might be a good idea to pretend you want to order it first, to see what sort of speed estimate you can get.

[Andy Burns]

If BT can offer him Infinity, then he can also take "fibre" broadband from any other ISP that offers it, I'd have a look at Plusnet ...

[ARW]

There is a catch. He also wants to watch BT Sport for free on the TV in the lounges ie which ever lounge my Mother is not in, it seems BT Sport is free with the BT offer.

[Andy Burns]

That's true, if he wants the BT sport, then BT Broadband is the way to go.

[ARW]

And no catches? It just seems too good to be true.

[Andy Burns]

BT Retail is never known for being cheap, so it's possible their ADSL price is already similar to everyone else's FTTC price (excluding the sport sweetener) so it's more of a way of tying existing customers in for longer, rather than have them migrate to other ISPs.

[D.M.Chapman]

A few mentions online...

In particular, comments like:

"The letters are from a sales company working on behalf of BT. The "free" upgrade is only for the period left in your present contract and it then goes up to the normal price for the Infinity package you selected"

Dunno if that's a problem (or even true!)

Darren

[Capitol]

I thought there were problems with the BT Sport boxes being reported?

[Andrew Gabriel]

The free offer almost certainly won't apply to any other ISP's offering.

I wonder if there's some other reason, such as the area has run out of resources for POTS lines? Given the rate people are giving up BT lines, that seems unlikely, unless there's a new development nearby.

[Jabba]

Capitol scribbled...

The software in them was s**te, so they upgraded overnight, which deleted all of the saved programmes on the boxes.

The new software isn't much better.

[Andy Burns]

Yeah, I hadn't actually looked at the BT letter before I replied.

You still need a POTS line to have FTTC.

[Brian Gaff]

And what is Infinity plus which has been advertised on the local radio? Brian

[John Williamson]

BT's version of fibre to the cabinet.

[Andy Burns]

Dunno, sounds like it could be marketing bullshit for the 80Mb flavour of FTTC, as opposed to the 40Mb flavour.

[Peter Crosland]

The initial charge may be free but I bet they charge him £10 per month extra on top.

[ARW]

Well I did get the perfect solution this morning. It turns out that he can get BT Sport for free via the SKY box as he is a BT Broadand user -I never knew that as I do not have SKY or BT.

Sure he now has with a new 12 month contract but he his happy enough. He does not need BT Infinity.

The usual 30 minute phone call to help him find his SKY viewing card number -he swore blind that he did not have a viewing card and that there was no "settings" button on the remote control to also get the info.

The Infinity offer is probably due to the new houses that are been built next to his house, BT have been doing a lot of work there - and as you say it ties up a customer for another 12 months.

Cheers

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I thought that relied on a special BT STB? Basically just a Humax variant?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My guess is he'll end up paying the standard charge for fibre at some point in the future. Presumably at the normal renewal time for his current setup.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Have that here with BT fibre. I can't in all honesty say it makes much difference in practice over the older one at about 11 Mbs. With most things the limitation seems to be at the sending end.