Broadband Activation Fee

Hi,

I have been looking at a few broadband service providers such as BulldogDSL.
I see that they all charge a £58.75 activation fee even with a 12 month
contract which they say is paid direct to BT.

If this is so then how can Virgin.net offer a service for £24.99 per month
with no activation fee and no 12 month contract?

I think it is unfair to charge this with a 12 month contract. If you take
BulldogDSL's PrimeTime 1000 service @ £24.99 per month it seems really good
value but then you add the £58.75 over 12 months and it takes your monthly
fee upto £29.88 which is not far off the price of a permanent 1MB
connection...as PrimeTime only give you 1MB at offpeak hours.

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 19:29:33 UTC, "Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have been looking at a few broadband service providers such as BulldogDSL.
> I see that they all charge a £58.75 activation fee even with a 12 month
> contract which they say is paid direct to BT.

You imply that you think they are lying. They are not.

> If this is so then how can Virgin.net offer a service for £24.99 per month
> with no activation fee and no 12 month contract?

That's the business model they have chosen. Presumably they bank on most
people staying.

They charge more than some other ISPs, too. And they say they only
intend you to use one PC with the service.

> I think it is unfair to charge this with a 12 month contract.

Why is it unfair? no one is forcing you to take a particular service.
It's a free market. You sound a bit of a whinger...!

> If you take
> BulldogDSL's PrimeTime 1000 service @ £24.99 per month it seems really good
> value but then you add the £58.75 over 12 months and it takes your monthly
> fee upto £29.88 which is not far off the price of a permanent 1MB
> connection...as PrimeTime only give you 1MB at offpeak hours.

For the first year, it may look expensive. After that, perhaps it isn't.

--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...

> I think it is unfair to charge this with a 12 month contract. If you take
> BulldogDSL's PrimeTime 1000 service @ £24.99 per month it seems really
> good value but then you add the £58.75 over 12 months and it takes your
> monthly fee upto £29.88 which is not far off the price of a permanent 1MB
> connection...as PrimeTime only give you 1MB at offpeak hours.

You pay the fee on any account, its just on some its hidden away as a
small amount every month, same as you pay for that ' free ' mobile phone
on contracts. BT charge the ISP a setup fee, its passed on to you.

Dave

--
And you were born knowing all about ms windows....??

"Bob Eager" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message:

> You sound a bit of a whinger...!

If that is the sort of comments your going to make then can I suggest you
keep them to yourself as they are hardly constructive comments.

I was merely asking why they charge this when they are getting the customers
business for 12 months whereas Virgin are not...it was a simple question
that didn't need an aggressive answer.

I await your constructive response.

>
> I have been looking at a few broadband service providers such as
BulldogDSL.
> I see that they all charge a £58.75 activation fee even with a 12 month
> contract which they say is paid direct to BT.
>
> If this is so then how can Virgin.net offer a service for £24.99 per month
> with no activation fee and no 12 month contract?

Quite simply a commercial decision. All ISPs have to pay it to BT. How they
choose to recover their costs is up to them.

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:29:33 +0100, "Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:
>If this is so then how can Virgin.net offer a service for £24.99 per month
>with no activation fee and no 12 month contract?
Simple really old boy there are some robbing ISP's about and some who
are very decent not only that I have noticed recently that some are
now starting to charge a set up fee besides the activation fee .
Supanet are charging 110.00 activation fee unless I read the info
wrong the other night when I was doing some price comparisons for a
friend !! .
Yes the 58.00 activation fee does go straight into BT's pockets but if
some ISP's can absorb it they all can .
Grant .

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 21:47:27 +0100, "Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>"Bob Eager" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message:
>
>> You sound a bit of a whinger...!
>
>If that is the sort of comments your going to make then can I suggest you
>keep them to yourself as they are hardly constructive comments.
>
>I was merely asking why they charge this when they are getting the customers
>business for 12 months whereas Virgin are not...it was a simple question
>that didn't need an aggressive answer.
>
>I await your constructive response.

Bob does however have a point. You have dozens of ISP's to choose
from. They can charge you what they like, you decide which service to
take. It's called the free market and it is how we operate Broadband
in the UK. If you consider the charge unfair then write to your MP, BT
or Ofcom - I am sure they will be pleased with the feedback.

As to why Virgin don't pass the cost on - perhaps they just want to
buy your business - at a potential loss - if you quit too soon.
However there is ultimately bound to be a catch with any free or
subsidised lunch.

--
Hiram Hackenbacker

"Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

: If this is so then how can Virgin.net offer a service for £24.99 per month
: with no activation fee and no 12 month contract?

As others have said *ALL* ISPs pay this fee and Virgin are almost unique in
not recovering it for early cancellation.
The normal choice is 12 months contract and no fee or shorter term and
pay it!

"Gareth :-) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I have been looking at a few broadband service providers such as
BulldogDSL.
> I see that they all charge a £58.75 activation fee even with a 12 month
> contract which they say is paid direct to BT.

Bulldog have different offrs on at various times. At the moment they appear
to be offering £1 connection on Alltime 1000 & 2000, half price connection
on Primetime 2000 and a free modem on Primetime 1000. All of these are
indirectly passing some of the activation fee back to you so its not really
a con!

There are numerous ISP's to choose from and you are free to take whichever
offer suits you best. Be warned though, there is usually a catch. I have
heard for instance that Virgins service is less than brilliant. They have to
save their costs somewhere!!

Paul

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:47:27 UTC, "Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> "Bob Eager" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message:
>
> > You sound a bit of a whinger...!
>
> If that is the sort of comments your going to make then can I suggest you
> keep them to yourself as they are hardly constructive comments.

I also made a constructive response, but you chose to snip that.

--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...