Is Offering Free Broadband to All during This Time a Good Idea?
In the News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51965412
In the US, some broadband providers - including Spectrum, Charter, and Comcast - are providing a free service to students and low-income families for 60 days amid the Coronavirus outbreak.
I have no problem with it being offered here in the UK. But the resistance is very much coming from the providers, who claim it the move might threaten delivery of a smooth service (I’m sure there are already providers who offer than a less than smooth delivery before this outbreak)
It'll depend on the area but I think they're just coming up with excuses. There's nothing stopping them from limiting the free users bandwidth etc.
I got the following email from Virgin yesterday, nice gesture.
..............So for the next month, we’re giving you unlimited mobile minutes to UK landlines, 03 and mobile numbers, plus an extra 10GB of data on top of your existing data allowance, at no extra cost.
This means you can make even more calls without having to worry about extra charges, and have extra data to stream plenty of shows. And don’t forget: with Virgin Mobile, you already get data-free messaging on WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook Messenger.
Your minutes and data will be ready to use from Monday 23rd March. This doesn’t change your contract and will last for a month (until 21st April). That said, we’re keeping an eye on the situation and how we can continue to .............
Yes that’s a very nice gesture indeed. Lebara only text messaged me to say they will ensure they continue to run their services during these tough times...I guess that’s all I get for paying £5 per month lol
LeanneWard my broadband is with Sky and the service hasn’t been great for a while now. I don’t expect it to get any better - it’s so slow
I'm reasonably certain TalkTalk will try to find some way to charge their customers extra during this crisis. They've found ways to charge me (and thousands of others) for three things that were supposedly FREE when my contract, which ends in May, started.
One can't expect a company whose founder paid a convicted fraudster for business advice to miss out on a chance like this.
A warning to anyone who has a TalkTalk email address (which fortunately I don't) if you leave TalkTalk you'll be expected to pay them £5 a month or £50 a year to keep that email address , so try to organise another email address in advance if you're thinking of leaving, there are a few free ones. Two that come to mind are Gmail and Yahoo.
Just to clarify those who were AOL customers and have AOL email addresses and were switched to TalkTalk - needn't worry (as I did) their email accounts are now with Yahoo (which is free), But any who have Tiscali email addresses or any others that might have become TalkTalk need to check things out,
Apparently this charging for email addresses if you leave an ISP also applies to BT customers, who have BT email addresses.
Talktalk - don't mention those aholes to me! When I moved they wouldn't end my contract and it was still going when the new people moved into my old house. I had to pay to have a block put on my number so they didn't end up calling australia, involve the solicitors etc. It took me 5 months to finally get rid of them and it cost me £120 pounds. They kept trying it on to add more and more money. I rang them at least 7 times. They were awful compared to every other provider who were totally fine about me moving house and cancelling service as I was back with my parents for a few months and didn't need to take it with me.
ShellyAnn I had one lady (in her late eighties) on the phone to me almost in tears, they'd threatened to send the bailiffs in to remove her furniture etc. because she wouldn't pay a bill, she didn't owe. I know how she felt. . . some years ago, I couldn't use my phone for outgoing calls because I wouldn't pay for what clearly wasn't owing. If I tried to make a call I just got a message saying I had to pay for the service I'd already paid for before my line would be cleared for outgoing calls.
It's my aim to try to prevent at least one person to avoid ever considering them as a provider for every pound they've swindled me out of, please do the same. As long as we tell the truth they can't do a thing about it.
Incidentally that elderly lady who phoned me lived a few hundred miles away, so I'm spreading the word quite well.
Getting anything extra in these times would be welcomed. Having freebies would be even better, but I doubt our telecoms companies will want to do it
That's a thing that annoys me, we the taxpayers have paid millions possibly billions, for the infrastructure of broadband, yet private companies can use it to make their founders billionaires and charge us AGAIN for using it.
Another thing that "puzzles me" is why does it cost less to have a phoneline with a slower speed broadband than the price of just the phone line. I've been trying to get this across to my sister and others who are not online - and don't want to go online. That they could switch and simply not use the broadband.
davidstockport It is annoying, and the information to customers isn't clear, deliberately confusing so people are afraid to switch. I have been looking into cutting my phone line for a while now, and looking into the alternatives but for now, only a data sim is the feasible option, which I am unsure how reliable it will be (probably better if I downsize, but to power a whole hose, I doubt it is the best option)
ptenn00 The actual size of the house isn't as important as the number of appliances that are using the broadband, I too, being on my own, probably pay for more than I need. But what little TV I watch is via my broadband connection and I'd rather have something "in reserve".
I don't use a smart phone or tablet, I use pay as you go for my mobile which costs me 1p a minute, (£30 a year minimum) so don't pay extra for outgoing calls on my landline. If you want more details just ask. It's the best I could find, for what I use, and works perfectly.
There are still plenty, especially among the elderly, who don't have internet access, this doesn't give the actual percentage but says that only 87% of adults use the internet every day which gives some indication.https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/2019
One would think...but I do know a few people, young people, who haven’t bothered as they’re only renting and only intend to rent short term. They’re just using their data sims for now
Join for free to get genuine deals, money saving advice and help from our friendly community
Chief Bargain Hunter
