topic Re: Stable Links Policy in Contracts & Billing

Stable Links Policy

RodNeep — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 10:01:35 GMT

My situation:
I intend to spend up to approximately six months of each year in Australia, and six months in the UK.

In a recent phone call with EE I was made aware of the "Stable Links Policy". I was told that I had agreed to this when I agreed to the EE terms and conditions when starting a new contract.
https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/ee-help/Termsandconditions/PAYM%20Network%20Terms%20-%20v5%20September%202020.pdf

There is actually no mention of the Stable Link Policy in the terms and conditions. Mention of the stable links policy is only in other EE documentation, and I had to search for it on the net.

I was told in the phone call that I would be in breech of the "terms and conditions" and that if I spent more than two months outside the UK then my contract would be cancelled. This is obviously very disconcerting.

In an ideal world I would take my phone with me to Australia so that I could receive calls and text messages. This is particularly important to me as I have fairly regular contact with my doctor and my hospital surgeon regarding kidney cancer, plus contact from the hospital regarding the performance and monitoring of my heart pacemaker.

But it appears that I will be unable to take my phone out of the UK for more than two months at a time without being in breach of the EE contract, and it being therefore cancelled!

Surely there must be a common sense way around this problem? Obviously I do not want to be in breach of contract.

The only logical way that I can think of getting around this problem would be to leave the phone with my son in the UK:

a) to keep it switched on and charged
b) him to make a phone call using my phone, say once a month, to keep it in contact with the UK EE network
c) set up call forwarding on the phone to another phone/number in Australia

Would this be a solution?
Are there any other solutions to my problem?

Thanks
Rod

Re: Stable Links Policy

Chris_B — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 10:18:04 GMT

@RodNeep It’s not a breach of T&Cs what you might end up with is paying for international calls/text after 2 months depending on your usage. You’ll not be cut off if it’s a contract that only applies to PAYG if it’s not used for long periods of time. You might get cut off if and if you start to run up a large bill each month as obviously this can be an issue with some customers if it gets excessively large.

Roaming is intended for short stays abroad up to 2 months at any one time after this time it only breaches the fair usage policy of roaming.

Re: Stable Links Policy

bristolian — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 10:19:36 GMT

There's a few bits in here.

1: A pay-monthly contract will never be cancelled unless you don't keep up regular payments to it, or explicitly give cancellation notice.

2: The stable-links policy applies to your inclusive allowance, which probably extends to using a Roam Abroad chargeable monthly pass.

3: If you remove that from the equation and went for chargeable roaming in Australia, then so long as your bills remain paid - your phone will continue to work.

6months in every 12 is not dissimilar to 2months in 4, but your situation is unique and complex, and I suspect you will struggle to obtain a written or definitive response from EE. You have certainly agreed to EE's T&Cs by using their service.