Broadband - Are new customers being treated bettter than existing customers?

[drofspin]

I was a BT customer for many years.  I was lucky enough to get full fibre 900 Mbit a few years ago, and it's great, but has always been let down by the lacklustre BT SmartHub.  So I have been waiting and waiting for the EE Wifi 7 router and it has finally arrived.  Furthermore it is cheaper than my BT broadband and it is 1.6 Gbit.  Can I get it?  No, because I am an "existing" customer.  So I phoned 150.  "Yes you can get it by switching to EE.  Oh no, it's not coming up on the system.  Look, switch to EE, get the 900 Mbit package with Wifi 6, and once you are on EE the Wifi 7 will become available.  Once you are set up, I'll phone you on Thursday and we'll get it sorted."  (Oh and by the way it is more expensive than the 1.6 Gbit package available to new customers). 

So I am up and running.  Don't get me wrong, the EE Wifi 6 router is miles better than the BT SmartHub.  But no phone call on Thursday, no option to upgrade to Wifi 7 online, paying more than advertised.  Does this sound a familiar story to other people?  Didn't BT have a promise at one point that existing customers would not be treated worse than new customers?  I guess that's history as soon as it's not convenient.

[JimM11]

@drofspin You are surely pushing to the max, just got to convince EE to get you on the 1.6 package now and you will be there, may not be as easy as you hope with that, but best of luck to getting it.🤞 

[drofspin]

So a quick update, after calling 150 and listening to a lot of piped music, the third person I spoke to gave me some useful information:  Busiest Home Bundle (1.6 Gbit/s, Wifi 7) is only currently available to new customers (costing £64.99 per month), which I am not since I am part of the BT family.  However, they are planning to make it available to existing customers some time in January.  So I'll be patient, and wait.

One final comment.  I stayed out of contract with BT for at least 18 months waiting for the EE Wifi 7 router.  As per Ofcom rules BT had to inform me of contract deal prices (which were all more than I was paying), but did not tell me about EE deals, presumably because I was not an EE customer.  However, if I go to EE and try and get a deal as a new customer I can't because I am in the BT family.  So it seems like a somewhat asymmetric relationship - basically you are an existing customer and are not an existing customer of both BT and EE, depending on what suits them best.

[JimM11]

@drofspin As we said, no idea what you have/had etc, you could have been on a great deal saving loads of money, and now they are coming to re-coup, you are kind of caught in the BT - EE twilight zone, hope you get it sorted and as you say, Jan not that far away, moving goal post's the only thing to worry about, and gives the new gear sometime to settle and sure you will be all over the forum keeping the one eye on that!🤞

[drofspin]

Well I was paying BT £84.55 for pretty much the same as I am getting from EE now (costing £76) except with BT I had Digital Voice home phone PAYG, which I have now got rid of (saving £3) while EE gives (lends) me a better router & mesh.  So I am better off now, just not best off.  A victory of sorts, if Pyrrhic. 

[Camlan]

I am in exactly the same situation and getting the same response from 150 calls, not for existing customers. What is really annoying is this on my EE Broadband Homepage:

RENEW TODAY AND GRAB A GREAT DEAL

Renew your EE Broadband today and enjoy unlimited data on your EE Mobile plans.

See renewal deals

Except you can't! All I get is either constant spinning green dots or there is a technical problem. If you can't do it, don't advertise it EE.

[kazak-bg]

Did they give any more details around the January time or was this simply a ball park estimate? I've been looking to upgrade for a while now and dont want to have to keep ringing up EE once a month to just ask if its available.

Their app is terrible for finding the upgrade screen

[drofspin]

They said sometime in January or “at least that’s the current plan”. I’m supposed to get a message when it’s available. We’ll see. 

[Camlan]

Don't hold your breath.

I have been told that every month since August. At least there was some honesty last time in that I was told I probably wouldnt be able to upgrade until just prior to contract expiry which is  November 2025.

That's if I don't walk as a result of this.

[kazak-bg]

Okay, an upgrade definitely will be available at some point. Its annoying they didnt integrate the system before releasing it to new customers only, when i was speaking to the engineer on the offline team she said the plan is to test their infrastructure all the way up to 2.5gbps as thats what its capable of.

Just annoying it's not available for existing customers right now. 

At least they released router with 2.5 ports now

[kazak-bg]

So after speaking to a customer sales rep today who contacted the G1 team, they said the only way i can upgrade is by waiting till the end of my contract in 2 years time, or by buying out of my contract to go onto a new contract incurring fees of 435 pounds. 

Brilliant way to retain customers, will definitely be leaving EE after the 2 years is up. Both phone and broadband will be going 🙂