£6 broadband tax to be pushed through before election – broadband comparison site Broadbandchoices.co.uk comments

September 24th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases


Michael Phillips, product director, said:

“Our concern is that the upgrading of the UK’s broadband infrastructure is a mammoth undertaking and this unpopular tax will barely make a dent in the likely total cost.

“Research we carried out earlier this year indicated that half of consumers felt that line rental costs weren’t good value for money. This is just another body blow to customers that have already seen the majority of telecoms suppliers significantly raise line rental charges this year.

“If you aren’t on paperless billing (or ‘e-billing’) and paying your bills by direct debit then we would recommend immediately doing this. The savings will – thankfully – more than cover the new broadband tax costs.

“If you are on paperless billing and direct debit and still feel you are paying too much then consider switching to a cheaper supplier. The Primus Home Phone Saver package at £9.49 per month is the cheapest line rental deal available in the UK and is exclusive to Homephonechoices.co.uk.”

“Our top tips for getting the best line rental deal are below.”

1. Pay by direct debit – Nearly all providers discourage payment by any means other than direct debit and impose punitive charges of anything up to £5 per month for dealing with cheques. The Post Office accepts payment by various means with no additional charges.

2. Go for paperless billing – Some providers offer useful savings if you receive your statements online, not by post. You’ll also do your bit for the environment.

3. Check your small print – If you’re tied to a 12 or 18 month contract, you may be faced with exit fees if you want to switch before the contract term ends. Weight up the savings and charges before making your decision as you may find the savings don’t merit the switch.

For further information, please contact Polhill Communications on 02076550540

About BroadbandChoices.co.uk

BroadbandChoices.co.uk was launched in 2005 and is the UK’s leading Ofcom accredited broadband comparison calculator.

We offer comprehensive and impartial advice on broadband, mobile broadband and bundled packages (broadband with home phone and digital TV) saving our users over £230 when they switch.

The BroadbandChoices.co.uk calculator compares thousands of different combinations of packages and provides results in a clear, intuitive table where users can rank and compare services according to their individual needs.

BroadbandChoices.co.uk powers over 20 leading comparison services including Confused.com, Comparethemarket.com and GoCompare.com.

BroadbandChoices.co.uk – working hard to save you money

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Free line rental arrives from the post office

August 29th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

It would appear that we’re finally seeing the results of increased competition in the home phone marketplace. The last bastion of resistance, charges for use of a BT landline, is finally crumbling. The post office, long to be commended for their simple understandable approach to customer service, is offering a package for home phone and broadband that at just over 20 pounds per month seemingly includes free line rental.

Or at the very least is billed to imply this. No doubt, BT is still receiving their wholesale payment from the RBS Post Office, but we as consumers needn’t be concerned with this. Our only concern should be the bottom line, how much we are paying every month for the services we desire. Popular consumer assistance website homephonechoices.co.uk has assembled a superb comparison of all the best deals for home phone service available in the United Kingdom.

And because so many UK consumers are now connected to the Internet, Home Phone Choices has constructed these reviews both with and without broadband bundling. In order to simplify the process of comparing telecommunications services for the home, Home Phone Choices has placed on their website’s home page a simple to use service comparison tool. To use this free tool one merely enters their post code into a box, selects the degree of service they prefer and clicks to compare prices.

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Repercussions home phone and broadband packaging

August 21st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

By now almost everyone in the UK has grown accustomed to and accepted British Telecom’s 1 pound per month increase in the charge for line rental. This of course is the charge from BT to BT customers. Other home phone service companies using BT’s copper cable that have the means to carry their service into your home are charged less by British telecom and consequently charge their customers less.

British telecom competitors such as Primus, Post Office home phone and Yourcalls.net are obviously not in the position to offer free line rental that can undercut the BT price by around 3 pounds per month. Free consumer assistance for home phone matters website Home Phone Choices reports that switching home phone service providers just to save these particular three quid is probably not worth the bother. Home phone choices does suggest however that if any of the major BT competitors have other services bundled with home phone such as home phone and broadband combined, then the likely savings are well worth changing over for.

Still, one wonders why solid loyal BT customers are charged more than those who choose their competitors. In light of BT’s recent line rental increase, would a mass desertion of the BT customers force British Telecom to take a more competitive approach? And for that matter if companies such as Talk Talk and Virgin Media are going to give us home phone service as almost a throw in with the purchase of broadband and television channels is it not simply time to leave BT and move on to better deals.

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Location, location, location for home phone and broadband

August 17th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

There is an old axiom for those in the real estate business stating that the three most important factors for sales are location, location, and location. While that humor has long gone stale, the application of the idea seems to transfer very well to what we as UK consumers must pay for our home phone service. Companies such as Tiscali and Virgin Media have been busying themselves with the creation of new fiber optic communications networks in various locations around the United Kingdom.

Those fortunate enough to be served by this new technology generally receive far lower prices for combined home phone and broadband service. This new fiber optic network eliminates the need for the base BT landline. Closer comparison shows that Virgin Media still charges for landline rental while Tiscali broadband now offers completely free line rental. A quick comparison of home phone service found at homephonechoices.co.uk reveals that presently only Post Office home phone service and Tiscali have eliminated line rental charges by bundling services together.

Of course, we must remember that many companies only offer their services in certain parts of the United Kingdom. In order to find what is absolutely the best deal on home phone service in your area you will need to use a location specific comparison tool for home phone service. Such a tool is available for use free of charge at homephonechoices.co.uk.

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UK BROADBAND CUSTOMERS NAME THEIR FAVOURITE PROVIDERS IN THE BROADBANDCHOICES.CO.UK 2009 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

April 29th, 2009 by admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Press Releases

A record number of over 10,000 people have given their opinion of their broadband provider in the latest Broadband Customer Satisfaction Survey from BroadbandChoices.co.uk.

The survey, which is conducted every six months, aims to find out how UK broadband users view the services and costs of their internet providers.

Standing out in the spring 2009 survey:

• Less than half of broadband users are satisfied with the customer support they receive.¹

• More than half of broadband users are considering changing their ISP in the next six months as the credit crunch bites.²

And the winners are…

• O2 is king of the ISP hill, winning all six key satisfaction categories as well as being voted best overall provider.³

• Virgin Media is the most improved ISP overall, compared to the autumn 2008 survey. 4

• Sky is best ISP overall for bundled services. 5

• Virgin Media is winning the bundled services race for speed, voted fastest service for bundled packages. 6

• TalkTalk provides consumers with best value for money for bundled services. 7

Michael Phillips, product director of BroadbandChoices.co.uk said:

“We were overwhelmed by the responses to our survey, the sheer number of which indicates that broadband is coming under more scrutiny than ever before from consumers. The size of the survey this spring meant that we could confidently report results across a larger number of ISPs and also break out results on bundled services for the first time since these are now such an important part of the market.

“It’s impressive to see that O2 scored an average of 86% for very/fairly satisfied across all categories. They were streets ahead of the other ISPs who averaged 60%. For bundled packages, Sky took the top position overall but Virgin Media is close on its heels and manages to rank highest for download times with its cable network.

“Our findings indicate that more than 46% of customers have already switched provider8. As competition in the broadband market increases, it’s encouraging to see that consumers now recognise that there are viable alternatives. They can use our Ofcom accredited comparison service and findings from research like this to refine their choice and make the right switching decision with confidence.

“The key reason for considering switching is overwhelmingly due to the frustration of not receiving the speed performance users have been promised9. As underlined in recent Ofcom tests, it’s clear that ISPs fall well-short of adequately managing their customers’ expectations in this respect.”

Phillips adds: “Every time we do our survey we get inundated with customers bemoaning the after sales support they receive. This spring’s survey further underlines this with customer service coming bottom across the board in terms of satisfaction.”

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Broadbandchoices comment on joint approach to Internet Streaming TV on Demand

December 11th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

tv on demand
 
11 December 2009
 
BroadbandChoices.co.uk comments on the news that the BBC, ITV and BT are
joining together to promote a common industry approach to deliver on-demand
TV over broadband for consumers

 
* Broadband users need to be made more aware of their download limits
and fair usage policies
 

* ISPs need to continue to invest in fast, reliable broadband networks

 

Michael Phillips, Product Director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, comments:

 

“We welcome the proposal as a compelling consumer application for broadband
and the next logical step in the development of the broadcasters’ web-based
on demand services.

 

“Consumers would need to be mindful of their broadband download limits since
these could easily be exceeded by accessing the type of on-demand and high
definition content to which the consortium alludes. Recent research has
shown that 86%(1) of broadband customers still aren’t aware of, or don’t
understand, their download limits. If they were to exceed them they could
face punitive charges. ISPs must make the limits clear and broadcasters
must clearly highlight the size of various types of content.

 

“Whilst ITV calls the planned services ‘free,’ some ISPs charge customers 75
pence or more for each GB they download above their monthly limit so costs
could quickly escalate – and this would be in addition to their television
license fee.

 
“This is an exciting development and we would urge ISPs to continue to
invest in their networks to provide fast, reliable broadband services to
support it.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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BroadbandChoices.co.uk comments on the new BBC streaming service

December 1st, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

• Broadband users need to be aware of their download limits and fair usage policies before streaming live TV programmes
 
• BroadbandChoices.co.uk offers its top downloading tips for consumers thinking of using this service
 
Michael Phillips, Product Director, BroadbandChoices.co.uk commented:
 
“This new service from the BBC is a positive step forward and allows broadband users to take advantage of exciting new applications and new content. We are concerned however that the wider public may not be sufficiently aware of the broadband usage caps and fair usage policies they may fall foul of when using this new service.
 
“The BBC iPlayer successfully opened up the downloading of high quality video programmes from a dedicated minority to the general public and this new service takes things one step further with high quality video streaming. As a public service broadcaster they have a responsibility to clearly inform users of the potential impact to their broadband service and punitive charges they might incur through accessing high quantities of this content.
 
“A live streaming service of this kind will certainly test consumers’ broadband packages due to the high speed connection and substantial download limits that it will demand. It’s important that consumers know what their monthly download limit is so we would recommend using our free Broadband Download Monitor to track downloads and alert them as they reach their limit.”
 
Best broadband packages for speed – Be There and Virgin Media offer packages with fast headline download rates.
 
Best broadband packages for download limits – O2 and Be There both have generous fair usage policies compared with other ISPs. Also, Sky’s top package is currently the only service to offer truly unlimited downloads without any caveats.
 
 
Broadbandchoices.co.uk 5 top tips for downloading:
 
• Download at night – If you don’t have to watch the programmes live we would recommend using the iPlayer to download the content overnight when download usage is unmetered or usage caps are often less restrictive.
 
• Pick the right ISP – If you think you will be a regular user of video streaming applications it is worth comparing faster packages with larger download limits. Our guide looks at the most suitable packages on the market .
 
• Track your usage – Be aware of your monthly download limit. Install a download monitor (Broadband Download Monitor) and set it to alert you as you reach your limit, before you incur any penalties.
 
• Boost your speed – If you don’t want to switch providers, there are still a number of tricks you can try to boost your speed. Our guide to speeding up your broadband connection should help you get the most from your current package.
 
• Be aware of the cost – Technically, this new BBC streaming service is only available to licencse fee payers. As a licencse fee payer, it is important to minimise any additional costs (for example, fair usage penalties) otherwise consumers will effectively be “paying twice” for watching the programmes online.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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TalkTalk BroadBand – Customer Service Reported As Frustrating

August 31st, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

The following is a Direct quote from a Talk Talk Customer:
 
“Talk talk offered me free broadband with their evening and weekend line charge, I phoned for the offer and was promised connection on 3rd June 2008.
 
I received the modem and connect and go installation as promised but no line connection came through, i have no record of the hours spent on the phone trying to sort this out, however they had me repeatedly going over the same things, the following month they sent out another modem and continued to waste my time going through the same tests as before, i told them time and time again that the problem was with their line not our equipment.
 

Talk Talk Broadband Customer Support was Terrible!

 
Their Customer Support time seems to be a mine field of robots who can’t listen to reason, weeks later they got round to doing a line test still no broadband.
 
In AUGUST they finally sent out a BT engineer. He said the line was too weak for a dial up connection, never mind broadband.
 
I don’t feel that the talk talk offer was really free as they charged an unexpected extra for evening and weekend calls of £5.89 plus £15 per month plus £29.99 connection fee.
 
I still have a poor phone line and am awaiting a refund on the charges for broadband.
 
The lady at talk talk said to be the manager refused to make a refund of the connection fee however she changed her mind when i asked to cancel the account.
 
I still have had no joy with the inferior phone service as it is very quiet and can hardly hear the other party on the phone
 
I am still waiting for a refund of the charges for the broadband connection that I paid.“
 
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After reading this report, I have to say that I am shocked by the lack of support offered by Talk Talk, and I feel that it is appalling that their customer has still not received a refund for the service they paid for, but did not receive.
 
If any representative of Talk Talk would like to contact the above quoted customer of theirs, they can do so by emailing: peterhall347@orange.net
 
 
 
 
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