Shocking Service!!

[#1]

 This is for Townman.

Sky and Talk Talk are part of the BT Plusnet group, so no charges if you join them, or have I mis-read something as an also angry customer

[#2]

@den32amg,

A warm welcome to the forums.  I'm not sure where your question is heading so I will just try to answer some aspects of your question as presented.

• Sky and Talk Talk are most definitely NOT part of the "BT" group
• To call it the "BT Plusnet" group is creating a lot of confusion which is somewhat likely to be unhelpful

Here is a simplified view of the provision of phone and broadband services, which might help clarify some thing for you; note that the "BT Group" has many houses (divisions) which under Ofcom rules are not allowed to have direct communication or favourable relationships which disadvantage other service providers...

1. The wires and equipment which connect your home to the exchange - known as the local 'copper' network - is owned, managed and maintained by BT Openreach (BTOR)
2. Aside from Virgin Media, ALL of the major RETAIL voice service Communications Providers (CPs) and broadband (ISP) providers, use this network for connections between the home and the exchange frame
3. With in exchanges there are connection services provided by a number of parties - where those parties are NOT BT (e.g. Sky and Talk Talk) they utilise something called Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) to disconnect the phone line on the inside of the exchange frame from BT equipment and then connect it to the LLU suppliers equipment ... who become responsible to the connection of phone calls and management of internet traffic
4. All other retail ISPs / CPs use BT supplied services...
5. BT Wholesale (BTw) provide broadband connection services - ADSL / ADSL2 / VDSL / FTTC / FTTP etc - and BTOR provide telephony services
6. BT Retail and Plusnet are two BT retail providers who "resell" BTw and BTOR services to the general public, in a manner similar to the many other CPs and ISPs found in the market place
7. Note that some retail providers are in fact resellers of Talk Talk and Sky services under a different brand

So given you were believing that they are all in the same group ... I am suspecting that you have an issue where you suspect that they don't talk to each other?? Which Ofcom rules actually seek to inhibit!!

Would you like to share something of your problem so that community members and / or staff might be able to help you with it?

[#3]

Hi Townman, I might have worded it wrong.

I am an older person, so not a techie.

I have definitely seen the advert, or wording,  that groups the 4 firms into a monopoly, and if you leave anyone, its £30. Trying to find when the £30 started ?

Thanks

[#4]

Addendum, done it again.

Its if you leave anyone of the 4 to go else where, £30.

I will try and find it again, over the next few days, just for clarification.

[#5]

Ah, yes confusing space, possibly created by some body who might have little understanding of how some things work.

The only monopoly around here is BT Openreach who own all of the service lines between the exchange frame and the premises via street cabinets and distribution points.  Other than Virgin Media, all CP and ISP retailers HAVE to use their access network, so BTOR get to make all of the rules and charges which "hit" the retailers ... therefore it is little wonder that they have all appeared to have acted in consort and might be perceived as a monopoly.  It i snot just the "big 4" who have charged cease fees.

As I said above, on the inside of the exchange there is BT equipment and LLU provider equipment.  When a service is moved from one supplier to another or stopped completely BTOR treats that as a service cease, which might give rise to a charge from BTOR to the LOSING provider.

If there is no continued service or the continued service is "of the other type" (BTw/LLU) then BTOR has had a history of charging the old provider nearly £32 for "ceasing" the service.  Losing ISPs have then "passed this on" to the end user.  There are a number of grey areas in the details here which I am going to expand on, which serve only to confuse, so please treat this as a statement of generality.

The key detail here is that if a user migrates from one BTw reseller (for example Plusnet) to another BTw reseller (for example BT Retail), there is no cease and reconnect fee.  If you move from Plusnet to Sky or Talk Talk there will be a fee because you are moving from a BTw reseller to a LLU provider.

Hope that helps to clarify?

[#6]

Thank you. I think the word better used would be NO understanding. Possible blurred vision as Bt were [-Censored-] for me, then Plusnet for the last 6 months, [-Censored-]. However, I can still see in my mind the wording Bt, Sky, Plusnet, Talk Talk, in that order. So, I will look for it occasionally, as I am a very light user.

[#7]

Have to mention, how can they censor a word from the dictionary ???????

[#8]

Moderators Note.
Posts split into their own topic

[#9]

Try the common contraction of cockerel as in male bird, particularly of the chicken family!!!