Well done BT, but “ethics before profits” is a bit of a stretch.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Well done BT for finally putting together a social tariff worth having, but just how great is their new social tariff and can it already be bettered anyway?
-The previous BT social tariff had stringent usage limits making the service extremely limited in use.
-Other providers already have 50Mbps services at the £15-£20 price level, rather than BT’s average 36Mbps
-Those just over the benefits or UC threshold would pay over 30% more for a BT service than for a like for like service from another provider
-There’s no mention of what happens to those in areas where BT are turning the copper/fibre services off? Will they get a £15 a month full-fibre service?
STARTS
The BT PR machine has been put into overdrive this week with the announcement of their latest BT Home Essentials tariff. But how useful to those on benefits or Universal Credit will this actually be? And what about those that are just above the UC or benefits threshold?
BT Basic, the predecessor of BT Home Essentials had a 15GB data cap which just doesn’t fit the modern use case for a broadband service. The latest release makes no mention of the particulars, so it certainly something to watch out for.
New entrants to the full-fibre market like Hyperoptic launched a 50Mbps, £15 per month social tariff earlier this year and Community Fibre are already offering a 50Mbps service for £20 a month without any benefits qualification criteria.
Finally, for those that narrowly miss the threshold of receiving benefits, there are services that are over 30% less than the BT equivalent, so Usave’s quote of “ethics before profits” is quite a stretch. Providers like Onestream and Plusnet already have equivalent services at much better prices than BT.
“We have been calling for means tested broadband for quite some time, so we welcome the announcement from BT, but wait to see the full qualifying criteria and service limits.
The best advice, regardless of your circumstances, is to search around, and not just the usual suspects. New entrants to the broadband market are popping up all the time with some fantastic offers and services, but not all the Price Comparison Websites are listing them as yet so don’t put your faith is just one comparison service”
ENDS