Why I am switching from BT

For those that know me, I know! – I have always recommended BT with Their track record for reliable steady connections.

That was until it came for my contract renewal in 2023.

I am on their Halo2 Package. FTTC, with 4G Backup. A little disc that is supposed to keep me connected when the main connection drops.

I used to be on ADSL2 – With a rock steady 66mbps connection, with a 6mbps upload speed. Nice for the time. However over the last few years I have seen my speed fall gradually. Last week it was down to 25mbps. for a FTTC connection in an urban area, this is not good. I do not even use their awful BT hub, moved it over to a Draytek router. Its my connection, I want to be in charge of who uses the connection. (BT Hubs are open to EE and BT Customers for free wifi — from YOUR hub!)

So what changed my mind at renewal? Well I was told that BT Openreach were making my line FTTP in Autumn of 2023. Great!!! or so I thought. That slot came, and went with no FTTP. So I made the call to BT to see what was happening. “Delayed until summer 2024” Ok, not happy but surely worth the wait. Summer 2024 came, and went, still no FTTP. So a quick call – “oh, BT Openreach are not making your area live” WHAT???? So not being happy I decided to reach out to BT Openreach and ask WHY? No valid answer.

I then engaged with my local MP, Connor Naismith. I asked him if he could reach out to find out why the residents and businesses down here were being forgotten. I got the same dull, vague and honestly, pathetic excuse that I got, we are not a priority.

Now this is where it gets uncomfortable. I work in IT Infrastructure, I see how commercial decisions are made. This did not make any sense whatsoever. The street I live on is a main road in the town of Crewe. Its not a small street. There are LOTS of businesses down here, and a lot of residential properties. We did have fibre put in the street about 4 years ago, a company called Lila Connect. They caused havoc with digging everywhere up. Then abandoning the cable. Never lit it up, so we cant get it from them either.

I am fed from a pole, that pole is fed with…. you guessed it, fibre from BT Openreach. All they need to do is pull a cable from that pole to my property, a distance of around 100M. Light me up and away we go.

But we are not important enough. Most of Crewe has Zzoom Internet – so lovely FTTP, 2gb for around £30. Me, I am on the FTTC Halo 2 at less than 30m, costing an extortionate £83 a month. (admittedly I still have a BT sport pack) The “4G” backup still only connects at around 40mb, despite my 5G EE Phone hitting over 350mb down!!

Residents and businesses down my street are being held back by BT Openreach.

I will not renew with BT, nor will I renew my Mobile contracts with EE. I will move everything over to a cheaper supplier.

Nor will I recommend BT – they at best misled me, at worse, downright lied to get my contract renewed.

If you have a similar issue, its no use complaining. BT Openreach get millions in subsidies from the government to supply fibre for the digital switchover. If the fibre is at the pole, even if its useless, they get paid!!

Meanwhile modern families, with working from home and everything else that we need in the digital age are left struggling because someone at BT Openreach made the decision that we are not important. Probably got a nice bonus as well!!

Links: BT Openreach Fibre Checker – Here