BT TV No Frills > EE TV

[NK34]

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

[Minkey1]

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🤔

[Minkey1]

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?

[Matt_124]

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.

[NK34]

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!

[NK34]

Thanks Matt

[Matt_124]

No worries,

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

[Minkey1]

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.

[NK34]

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.

[Weerab2024]

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.