O2 Broadband

[MYstIC G]

Just found an e-mail in my spam folder saying that O2 are kicking my broadband price up to £13.00 (including the £5 customer discount).

I'm bored of this as Sky tried jacking my broadband price when I was with them and that's why I'm on O2 as it is. Frankly I'm not inclined to spend more than £120.00 a year is for broadband, especially as I recall the £25.00 a month for cable when it first came out.

So, I'm after recommendations please people. Who are you with, how much and why are they great / what should I watch out for.

 

[MYstIC G]

More info:
O2 to hike broadband prices
O2 Home Broadband and Home Phone - Price changes

 

[dysfunction]

Seem to be quite a few people complaining about this.

Some people have called up O2 to say they may as well go with Sky unlimited at £10 if they amend your broadband in any way.

They get told if they didn't mind signing up for another 12 months they can do a good deal like package for £7.00 a month and got them to confirm there would be no changes to their package ie data cap, bandwidth, speed etc...

Worth calling them!

 

[MYstIC G]

Cheers dys. Have you got a source floating about anywhere?

 

[GReaper]

Frankly I'm not inclined to spend more than £120.00 a year is for broadband, especially as I recall the £25.00 a month for cable when it first came out.

Your expectations are possibly a little bit unrealistic.

Just to be clear, are you after a broadband connection which is probably throttled quite badly or has a very small data cap and all you care about is just being online? Or a connection with fast speeds and no throttling?

If you don't care about connection quality, I'm sure Plusnet or some of the other bargain basement ISPs will provide you with something. If you actually want decent download speeds then try to haggle with O2, change your package, or live with the price change.

 

[MYstIC G]

I don't believe they are as there are other options at the £10 mark. For example I could switch to Orange on a 18 month contract. That's why I'm after peoples opinions on their ISP's. In all honesty I just don't want a data cap as they're bullshit.

 

[dysfunction]

Cheers dys. Have you got a source floating about anywhere?

It just something Ive been reading on another forum so i don't have any real specifics other than that. Sorry.

I think the people on that forum just rang 02 broadband customer services and chatted with them...

 

[Starman]

Personally speaking o2 are increasing my 8Mb BB from £7.50 to £9.50 per month and as I generally do 300-400gb per month I don't mind the increase too much as I'd struggle to find the same service anywhere else for the same amount. Was considering upgrading to Infinity but the limited combined usage is the killer thus far.

 

[MYstIC G]

Cheers Dys.

Rang O2 retentions, chap was very polite and helpful, asked me what I used my broadband for, told him transferring large files to and from work to use at home. He very quickly said "new deals would be no good for you" and I agreed. He asked me if I'd been happy with everything, I said yes, except the price increase as that's why I'd switched to them from Sky in the first place. He applied a £2.50 discount for putting it back into contract for 12 months.

This suits me fine as it's my broadband over my home phone which has to stay with BT on a BT calling plan (don't ask).

My bad math is that:
Originally £10.00 pcm (£8.51 + VAT of £1.49 at 17.5%)
Currently £10.21 pcm (£8.51 + VAT of £1.70 at 20.0%)
From now £10.50 pcm (£8.75 + VAT of £1.75 at 20.0%)

If VAT drops back within the 12 months it'll only be £10.28 a month? All this includes my £5 O2 phone customer discount which is also fine with me as the iPhone Simplicity tariff I'm on is not going anywhere soon.

So basically £10.50 - £10.21 = £0.29 x 12 = £3.48 increase in total for the year instead of £36.00, big difference.

Anyone else on there (*cough* Starmie *cough*) should call their retentions on:

0800 230 0202 and choose option 1 (Home Broadband), 5 (Leaving O2), then 2 (Leaving O2)

and see what they can get.

 

[dysfunction]

Ah excellent!
Good to see it worked out then!

 

[MYstIC G]

Aye, there are apparently people getting even better deals (6 months free) but to be honest I didn't want the row and generally O2 retentions just give me what I've asked for.

 

[Starman]

Well considering I'll still be paying £1 per month less than your Meg. I won't bother for now and I'm kind of worried if I call them and agree to another contract they'll just stick me on the new crappy usage allowance.

 

[MYstIC G]

Yeah but you're on 8mb. I'm on 20mb Starmie. They've done mine fine. Got confirmation e-mail & everything.

 

[Starman]

My line only supports around 7.5Mb anyway so perfectly suitable