BROADBAND PRICE HIKE

[190]

My understanding is that BT will not provide a power outage solution for all customers.

I would have thought the majority of landline users are already subject to phone loss on a power failure. The ubiquitous BT cordless phone won't work when the power fails. A hardwired handset will work during a power failure but how many still use one of those. Vulnerable people ought to get one if only to put in a drawer for emergency use.

 

[NJSS]

There is a good article on BTs switch off here

190's suggestion of a hardwired handset will, sadly not work, once a customer has been switched to VoIP - remember that BT say that they will switch all customers to VoIP by December 2025.

NJSS

 

[grober]

Welcome to the dependancy culture.
Data centres are now using more electricity than rural Irish homes
Ironic that people are getting their knickers in a twist about a lack of EV CHARGING infrastructure whereas multinational commmunication companies internet servers are gobbling up entire countries generating capacity. an oft quoted example -- a 5 minute internet search uses as much server power as boiling a kettle! These communication companies gravitate to countries which offer the cheapest electricity--until recently twas rumoured the bulk of Bitcoin [other crytocurrencies are available ] transactions were handled by servers in Iran

The electricity demands of data centers are making it harder to build new homes in London

No space on the grid

www.theverge.com

 

[SpikyMikey]

I would have thought the majority of landline users are already subject to phone loss on a power failure. The ubiquitous BT cordless phone won't work when the power fails. A hardwired handset will work during a power failure but how many still use one of those. Vulnerable people ought to get one if only to put in a drawer for emergency use.

I've still got one of these, but as NJSS states, it won't help when they switch it all off.

 

[AMGeed]

Well left Talk Talk with great trouble and I am with Sky which 4 months ago was the cheapest fast fibre I could find at £23 a month 18 month contract and it looks like they are not joining the others in putting the cost up.

Be patient. Sky will follow BT/VM/Plusnet in raising prices by around 14%, most likely in April.

 

[zipdip]

Be patient. Sky will follow BT/VM/Plusnet in raising prices by around 14%, most likely in April.

Well the price is fixed for 18 months so it was a good deal the price is now £25 for a fixed 18 months ,this gives me all the download speed I need there are other packages

 

[BigJase88]

Well the price is fixed for 18 months so it was a good deal the price is now £25 for a fixed 18 months ,this gives me all the download speed I need there are other packages

Yeah the price is fixed however the terms say that it will increase in line with RPI + however many %. So goes up every year regardless

 

[AMGeed]

Well the price is fixed for 18 months so it was a good deal the price is now £25 for a fixed 18 months ,this gives me all the download speed I need there are other packages

See Post#27.
I fixed my gas and electricity prices last October.
Didn't stop them being increased in Jan and another rise due in April.
Contracts are a joke.

 

[BigJase88]

See Post#27.
I fixed my gas and electricity prices last October.
Didn't stop them being increased in Jan and another rise due in April.
Contracts are a joke.

Yup they are a nonsense.

Same with mobile phone bills. EE are some mob that goes up min £5 a year

 

[Smiley]

Have they come up with a solution for service continuation in the case of a mains power failure?

They have. It is your mobile phone.

 

[SpikyMikey]

They have. It is your mobile phone.

Wouldn't be any good for me then. I'd have to drag myself outside with my broken leg having fallen downstairs. No mobile signal on the ground floor unless in the garden at Chez Spiky.

 

[fourwheels]

Sorry to hear about the broken leg @SpikyMikey Hope you recover soon.
On other points, fixed price contract won’t stop a RPI increase in April as you will have accepted that when agreeing to your fixed price contract. Best you can hope is that if you have managed to reduce your contract price now it will put you back more or less where you were. We have reduced all of ours recently for the same service just by phoning them.
We also live on the south coast. Mobile coverage is appalling. Wi-Fi Calling helps a little but it’s by no means a complete solution. Easy to understand why they don’t plonk transmitters/repeaters on the beach but it’s a reason we hang on to a conventional land line. Not sure what comes next though.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Sorry to hear about the broken leg @SpikyMikey Hope you recover soon.
On other points, fixed price contract won’t stop a RPI increase in April as you will have accepted that when agreeing to your fixed price contract. Best you can hope is that if you have managed to reduce your contract price now it will put you back more or less where you were. We have reduced all of ours recently for the same service just by phoning them.
We also live on the south coast. Mobile coverage is appalling. Wi-Fi Calling helps a little but it’s by no means a complete solution. Easy to understand why they don’t plonk transmitters/repeaters on the beach but it’s a reason we hang on to a conventional land line. Not sure what comes next though.

Thankfully it was a hypothetical broken leg, but cheers for the get well message nonetheless

 

[Benzowner]

My Virgin Mobile phone has had a dramatic increase;
Hi. From 1st April 2023 the monthly price of your calls, texts and data will go up by 17.3%, in line with the Retail Price Index inflation of 13.4%, plus 3.9%. For example, a £8 plan will increase by £1.38. See full details and Legal Stuff at

 

[rockits]

Funny how fixed contracts are fixed when the price goes down but go up with CPI and any other costs when they occur

 

[BigJase88]

My Virgin Mobile phone has had a dramatic increase;
Hi. From 1st April 2023 the monthly price of your calls, texts and data will go up by 17.3%, in line with the Retail Price Index inflation of 13.4%, plus 3.9%. For example, a £8 plan will increase by £1.38. See full details and Legal Stuff at

It is a complete joke

 

[rockits]

It is a complete joke

I suspect it is unlikely that VM increased their staff salaries by the very same CPI % across the board?

 

[fourwheels]

My Virgin Mobile phone has had a dramatic increase;
Hi. From 1st April 2023 the monthly price of your calls, texts and data will go up by 17.3%, in line with the Retail Price Index inflation of 13.4%, plus 3.9%. For example, a £8 plan will increase by £1.38. See full details and Legal Stuff at

You might want to challenge that. EE have just told us 14.4% based on CPI plus 3.9%

- We wanted to let you know that on or after 31 March 2023, your price plans for the following numbers will increase by 14.4%. This is in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation published in January, plus 3.9%.

 

[fourwheels]

Thankfully it was a hypothetical broken leg, but cheers for the get well message nonetheless

Hypothetical is always good

 

[Smiley]

I believe that BT is the one to blame for this "CPI plus 3.9%" annual increase. They pass that on down the line to all of the other BB providers using the Openreach equipment I guess. It is pure greed or to fund the BT pension pot, there is now way that the cost of maintaining the network grows at that rate.
With all of the pressure to try to contain inflation I am surprised that these super inflationary price rises are allowed.