topic Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV in TV

BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 15:58:36 GMT

My mother 90 has "Entertainment (No Frills)" as part of her ludicrously overpriced contract with BT. I intend to contact BT to try and get a better deal - she's paying nearly £100 per month, don't know how that happened but anyway.

I know BT TV is morphing into EE TV and I assume any possible new package would be under the EE brand but...

(1) I do not see a no-frills TV package on EE - Entertainment at £20 is the closest and she only wants or can cope with Freeview

(2) Is the EE interface basically the same as BT? e.g. channel guides, how to "record" programmes etc.? At 90 she would not like new things to have to learn

Thanks in advance if anyone can answer

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:10:17 GMT

My sad and tortuous journey with BT>EE started exactly with a proposed TV increase to that same £20pm. In hindsight the cynic in me thinks that was a deliberate device so I’d ring up and they could start the transition.

That aside, “as a valued customer” they agreed to discount it to £12pm, slightly more than I’d been paying BT, tho the NF side now had ads. On the plus side, they agreed to send me a mini box (used with a non smart kitchen TV) and the EPG layout etc is exactly the same as the main box. Nothing new there for your Mum to learn.

But. What is she paying £100pm for? That’s about my total for Fibre 900, TV Entertainment, and 2 SIMs🤔

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:15:55 GMT

Sorry @NK34 meant to say, if she’s happy with Freeview/no apps, but wants to record, would she be better junking the TV element and just getting a no frills Freeview recorder?

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Matt_124 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:26:43 GMT

Likely on an old Halo package that has just ballooned over the years. They should be able to do a discounted rate on the Entertainment as an existing BT Customer migrating to the newer products.

Would advise calling up with her specifically to BT aiming to get the bill down, or if you have a local store you could go in there and see what they can do as they have a slightly different incentive structure to the Guides over the phone as they're more service-based I believe.

Another thing is if she is in receipt of any of the benefits listed on the BT Home Essential website she could qualify for a reduced rate as part of the social tariff. The details and instructions are here: https://www.bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

However, sometimes it may not be possible to do a TV Package on these Home Essential tariffs, very much depends on who you speak to when you call.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:25:18 GMT

Thanks Minkey1. I'm weighing up the option of a freeview recorder, could be less pain in the long term. I've only just got access to her bills (they aren't posted out to her so I had to get access to them on-line using an account name that BT were adamant didn't exist...it did)

Broadband Package £71.47 !!

700 Minutes Call Plan £9.84 - shes used around 300 minutes during the whole of this year

No Frills TV £9.44

She was sold BT Halo, Home tech experts, Wi-fi in every room, Keep Connected Promise. None of which are needed to support TV streaming and an alexa!

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:27:36 GMT

Thanks Matt

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Matt_124 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:29:14 GMT

No worries,

Let us know how you get on or if you need any other advice or support, glad to help talk it through.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:35:29 GMT

I appreciate she might still want some form of landline, and a basic recorder (she’s not interested in iPlayer or anything?) but her BB element is abt what I’m paying for Fibre 900!? What package is she on?

The only warning I’d have is to be careful ringing up. My strong advice would be to avoid giving them any opportunity to transition to EE. It’ll come anyway. No need to hasten it.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:44:21 GMT

Package is "Fibre Halo 3 and Complete Wi_Fi"

I set up a roku on her second TV and created accounts on Iplayer, ITVx, All4, My5, UKTV etc but with so many different interfaces, occasional cookie messages inducing blind panic, and sometimes needing to re-enter passwords (no chance) that idea was abandoned. My IT support hotline days are behind me.

I'll call BT next time I visit and see what options there are, and only take the EE plunge if its their only way of getting the cost down.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Weerab2024 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:54:46 GMT

It is a shame that EE don't just offer the basic channels as a no frill package as a certain competitior (let's call them V) do this, although they do offer more channels in their IP mode than EE do.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Midnight_Voice — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 19:03:28 GMT

@NK34

Under no circumstances allow her to be switched from BT to EE - posting after posting here shows that with the best will in the world, EE just can’t get this right.

Have a look at the BT Broadband packages and get her something simple and basic - £30-£40 should do it.

Price 300 minutes on the Pay As You Go tariff and compare it with what the 700 minutes tariff costs - we have light telephone usage, but the 700 minutes tariff is the sweet spot for us, even though we use many less minutes than the 700.

One snag, though, is that they will inexplicably tell you that this tariff is no longer available, even though it is in the current, July, price list. Challenge them on this; I got the Unlimited tariff for a few pennies more because it was easier to sell me this heavily discounted than to sell me their price list item at its published price. Go figure…..

Finally, when did your mother get her YouView box from BT? If, as seems likely from that No Frills plan, it was before 13/12/2019, then the YouView box is hers to keep, so don’t respond to BT's threats and blandishments and preaddressed paper bags to require it back; they are bluffing.

You will find with a YouView box out of contract with BT that she can still see the channels from 300-600 in the EPG, but she can no longer watch them, nor any recordings made of them. But she can still watch all the channels from 1-300 (except the internet ones that don’t play anyway) and the radio ones from 600 upwards.

Netflix and Now will stop, but she can go back and subscribe to them if she wants to, and they will then play on the relevant apps on the YouView box.

If she wants Now, don’t take any six-month discounted offers - pay the regular price, but start the cancel process immediately. Now will give you a heavily discounted price to stay. And it’s all automated, so you don’t even have to haggle with a human.

I ran like this for years quite happily without BT or EE; I have EETV now to better support EETV customers now the YouView Community has ceased to be, and didn’t miss much. Though maybe that’s because I am sport-blind; EETV is a much more compelling option for sports mavens, as I have always readily admitted. But unless your mother is a real sports fan, she will likely find what I found.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:08:38 GMT

Thanks for this, very helpful

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Weerab2024 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:17:04 GMT

I would say that sky stream is better for those looking at entertainment channel options.

I had an offer of sky stream whole home for £6.50 a month and took that. I will let my EE entertainment package run down and send the apple TV box back. Could always buy my own if I miss it

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:17:13 GMT

@NK34

@Midnight_Voice knows his stuff. Trust me. I've "known" him previously going right back to the YouView days.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

NK34 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:20:54 GMT

Thanks but a complete new system would flummox her and I would be on-call telephone support daily. I'm getting cold sweats thinking about it 🙂

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:28:59 GMT

"Package is "Fibre Halo 3 and Complete Wi_Fi"

What I had. There's only the 2 of us normally, but we stream a lot, in the highest quality available.

But bless her. If I'm spared to her age, I hope I'm compos mentis enough to turn the telly on, let alone battle with the rest of it.

if BT Shops still exist, might that be an option? I suspect tho they've made the decision to offload the consumer side , and if you can avoid it for now, it'll come along sometime.

Good luck. And good luck to your Mum.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 22:16:16 GMT

@Weerab2024

As you’ll know, there’s not a huge amount of content on Apple TV+, but what there is can be great. I’m thinking Slow Horses, Ted Lasso etc. Abd the box can aggregate other apps.

Before I came to EE I got mine on a buy it now on a well known auction site for £130 new for the 4k Ethernet model and Apple registered it as new. Full whack then was £179 I think but they’re cheaper now. Some bargains to be had 👍

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Midnight_Voice — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 09:50:42 GMT

@NK34

Indeed, that’s exactly why I’m advocating a continuing BT Broadband/YouView solution, but without EETV in the mix.

If her usage is as you describe, she may not even notice that the frills in the ‘No Frills’ plan are gone 😛

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Midnight_Voice — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 09:59:01 GMT

@Profile closed

BT Shops are now EE shops.

I had the most excellent service from the one in our local town, switching my existing mobile from O2 to an EE mobile contract, and I could see all the EETV kit lined up for inspection, though we didn’t need to talk about that.

Have a look on Trustpilot to see how your local store rates, if you wanted to use it, as there is praise for some and horror stories for others.

Re: BT TV No Frills > EE TV

Profile closed — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 10:21:44 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Good tip. Ours does much better than shops overall, tho when I was directed there they couldn’t help, and the yute I took to be the Manager sat slumped in a chair head down fiddling with his phone. Appropriate.

Note EE overall 😱