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VDSL Fibre rip off

dapling

Member
I'm PoA on my mother-in-law's Sky account (she's in her 80s) and like to try and keep all her phone, broadband and TV services under one account for ease of management. I made the annual 'negotiation' call the other day so I could attempt to get her monthly bills back down to a sensible level. No problem negotiating TV services, however when it comes to broadband I'm shocked that we're getting fleeced £38 pm for a basic 30Mbps service (£43 less a miserly £5 discount). There is no access to full fibre in her area, otherwise I could move her to a £24 deal for 150 Mbps. Seems to me the ISP are holding us ransom for standard VDSL whilst we have no other option to upgrade. No beef when i called to negotiate and I really don't want to put her through the hassle of an ISP switch (or even a Full Fibre upgrade, if it was available) but not sure what other option is left except to pay Sky more than the going price. Unfair?
 
Part of the issue is Ofcom bizarrely approved a Openreach cost increase on copper services, including areas where there is no OR FTTP.

Would she qualify for a social package?
 
Other than receiving qualifying benefits for a social tariff as mentioned in the post above me, your only option is to switch.

With one touch switching it's minimal hassle. You can just order the new provider and they will cancel the Sky broadband for you. The internet will come down the same line with no need for an engineer visit, and minimal downtime. All you need to do is unplug one router and put the next one in.
 
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As FTTP increases with its competition then the relative costs of copper are increasing and Openreach will need to recover them.

The important issue here is possible disruption and number porting issues. Currently I would bite my tongue and either continue with the broadband out of contract (if same price) or renew one more time in-contract.

Alternative is to switch to BT/EE they will convert to FTTP at same price when it’s available. Depends what area she is in. They will probably convert to DV though.

Note Sky do no charge for PAYG but BT/EE do charge £5/m. Call plans include this if required.
 
Is your 80 year old mother in-laws household a big Internet user? Perhaps consider a 4G or 5G router if available in the area. Assuming Sky via a satelite dish.
 
Other than receiving qualifying benefits for a social tariff as mentioned in the post above me, your only option is to switch.

With one touch switching it's minimal hassle. You can just order the new provider and they will cancel the Sky broadband for you. The internet will come down the same line with no need for an engineer visit, and minimal downtime. All you need to do is unplug one router and put the next one in.
And change the connection settings on the router so that all her devices connect, meaning I need to be there to do it for her... (she's not local to me). Plus it's an additional service to manage when it comes ot renewal and the price goes up. Tbf to Sky, their accessibility line is excellent and the folks are v good at allowing me to access and manage the account on her behalf (unlike some other providers!), hence why I feel like I'm being held over a barrel.
 
Is your 80 year old mother in-laws household a big Internet user? Perhaps consider a 4G or 5G router if available in the area. Assuming Sky via a satelite dish.
30Mbps is more than sufficient, so long as it is reliable (which it has been). The idea is to keep it simple - same account, same settings. She tends to get quite stressed at the idea of anything changing. Hence the post - vulnerable / aged customers are less likely to take advantage of Full Fibre upgrades, which are now much cheaper than VDSL. At least in this case she has me to resolve it for her, when I can, can't imagine many 80+ individuals taking on the hassle of a BB switch (which is always more of a pain than you are led believe) and therefore held over a barrel just to avoid the stress factor.
 
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30Mbps is more than sufficient, so long as it is reliable (which it has been). The idea is to keep it simple - same account, same settings. She tends to get quite stressed at the idea of anything changing. Hence the post - vulnerable / aged customers are less likely to take advantage of Full Fibre upgrades, which are now much cheaper than VDSL. At least in this case she has me to resolve it for her, when I can, can't imagine many 80+ individuals taking on the hassle of a BB switch (which is always more of a pain than you are led believe) and therefore held over a barrel just to avoid the stress factor.

I agree with @uknowiama, 4G could be the way to go. Although Three (and I guess others) have a 14 day cooling off period, to avoid stress I'd suggest buying your own second hand router and a 30 day SIM with unlimited data to run the 4G in parallel. This is what I set up for my daughter. After a month she ditched Vodafone Broadband and got a 12 month unlimited Three SIM for £11.50pm. If your trial is a horrible failure then not much is lost as you can sell the router.
  • A couple of years ago we used the money-back guarantee to test 4G, sent the router back then ordered again some months later when our ISP contract expired. All was well though some people have a nightmare experience trying to get a returns bag for the router so I wouldn't recommend that.
  • I have this 4G router, fantastic piece of kit. I keep it as a backup for my 5G
  • SIM options - all stress-free. My daughter tested using a spare iD Mobile PAYG SIM I had which I loaded with a £20 unlimited data 30-day bundle. She then got a standard 12 month Three SIM (unlimited calls/sms/data) via Moneysavingexpert. That was last December and it has been fine in her router. I have a 500GB/month prepaid Scancom data SIM which expires Nov 2026, works out under £4.50/month.
 
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