Getting out of BT Exchange Activate Ripoff?

New to this NG but please bear with me..

Just over a year ago BT put a 512k broadband service in our local
rural exchange here in Scotland, under what they called their Rural
"Exchange Activate" scheme.

For the last 14 months I have been paying BT £29.99 a month for a 515k
connection with a 40-gig d/l limit! At the time, new subscribers were
limited to a choice between BT and one otherr company, called Scotnet.
These two had shared some of the investment cost in upgrading the
exchange, so I guess they wanted their financial return, hence the
lack of choice between ISP's.

Well I now feel I've done my time! I've been paying BT absoutely top
dollar for a really meagre broadband service. Nearly £30 quid a month
for a 512 conneciton is making me feel I'm being totally ripped off.
I can live with the slow speed.. it's just that the cost is sooo high
in relation to what I'm getting. But my year's contract is up now, so
I presume I can Leave BT and go elsewhere with no penalty.

The problem is this, though. Does anyont know if it is possible to
simply jump over to another ISP now that my contract with BT is up?
And if so, has anyone here done it? Or does BT have some cynical
'mechanism' in place to prevent me escaping from their greedy
clutches?

Many thanks.

> Just over a year ago BT put a 512k broadband service in our local
> rural exchange here in Scotland, under what they called their Rural
> "Exchange Activate" scheme.
>
> For the last 14 months I have been paying BT £29.99 a month for a 515k
> connection with a 40-gig d/l limit! At the time, new subscribers were
> limited to a choice between BT and one otherr company, called Scotnet.
> These two had shared some of the investment cost in upgrading the
> exchange, so I guess they wanted their financial return, hence the
> lack of choice between ISP's.
>
> Well I now feel I've done my time! I've been paying BT absoutely top
> dollar for a really meagre broadband service. Nearly £30 quid a month
> for a 512 conneciton is making me feel I'm being totally ripped off.
> I can live with the slow speed.. it's just that the cost is sooo high
> in relation to what I'm getting. But my year's contract is up now, so
> I presume I can Leave BT and go elsewhere with no penalty.
>
> The problem is this, though. Does anyont know if it is possible to
> simply jump over to another ISP now that my contract with BT is up?
> And if so, has anyone here done it? Or does BT have some cynical
> 'mechanism' in place to prevent me escaping from their greedy
> clutches?

What does your contract say about this? It should set out the terms in
detail. The other things to do a check on the telephone number using this
site

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote:
>> Just over a year ago BT put a 512k broadband service in our local
>> rural exchange here in Scotland, under what they called their Rural
>> "Exchange Activate" scheme.
>>
>> For the last 14 months I have been paying BT £29.99 a month for a
>> 515k connection with a 40-gig d/l limit! At the time, new
>> subscribers were limited to a choice between BT and one otherr
>> company, called Scotnet. These two had shared some of the investment
>> cost in upgrading the exchange, so I guess they wanted their
>> financial return, hence the lack of choice between ISP's.
>>
>> Well I now feel I've done my time! I've been paying BT absoutely top
>> dollar for a really meagre broadband service. Nearly £30 quid a
>> month for a 512 conneciton is making me feel I'm being totally
>> ripped off. I can live with the slow speed.. it's just that the cost
>> is sooo high in relation to what I'm getting. But my year's
>> contract is up now, so I presume I can Leave BT and go elsewhere
>> with no penalty. The problem is this, though. Does anyont know if it is
>> possible to
>> simply jump over to another ISP now that my contract with BT is up?
>> And if so, has anyone here done it? Or does BT have some cynical
>> 'mechanism' in place to prevent me escaping from their greedy
>> clutches?
>
> What does your contract say about this? It should set out the terms in
> detail. The other things to do a check on the telephone number using
> this site
>
> http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

I just did a little Googling and in fact even at the price you are paying it
is still heavily subsidised. Scotnet seem to be the only other ISP offering
service and they have had to commit to paying £500 plus VAT per year for a
minimum of three years for each line. This makes the price you are paying
quite cheap. Comparison with the prices paid in less remote areas is just
not realistic.


Peter Crosland

Travec the Dacian wrote:

> Well I now feel I've done my time! I've been paying BT absoutely top
> dollar for a really meagre broadband service. Nearly £30 quid a month
> for a 512 conneciton is making me feel I'm being totally ripped off.
> I can live with the slow speed.. it's just that the cost is sooo high
> in relation to what I'm getting. But my year's contract is up now, so
> I presume I can Leave BT and go elsewhere with no penalty.

perhaps only if you go to Scotnet. Ask BT if you can migrate to Option
1 or try it online at http://www.bttotalbroadband.bt.com/

> The problem is this, though. Does anyont know if it is possible to
> simply jump over to another ISP now that my contract with BT is up?
> And if so, has anyone here done it? Or does BT have some cynical
> 'mechanism' in place to prevent me escaping from their greedy
> clutches?

the restricted portfolio of ISPs continues. Others could join in if
they paid. This I'm afraid is how your broadband provision has been
funded, by ISPs contributing to a special exchange build. The
alternative was either no broadband or more money from the taxpayer.

http://www.btwholesale.com/getbroadband should list the current ISP
options.

"ADSL Exchange Activate could be your solution.

It equips you to buy network capability from BT and deliver broadband
access to a community of up to 30 customers on one exchange, using the
BT IPstream Home 500 service. There is a one-off charge for the 30
ports and an on-going rental charge for IPstream.

For flexibility and to match your operational needs, you are free to
share your allocation of 30 ports with up to four other qualifying
Service Providers. As customer demand grows, you can also buy
additional 30-port blocks at the same exchange.

If BT decides to ADSL-enable the exchange within three years of you
taking up an ADSL Exchange Activate contract, a proportion of the
charges you paid for the ports will be returned to you."


Phil

"Travec the Dacian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> New to this NG but please bear with me..
>
> Just over a year ago BT put a 512k broadband service in our local
> rural exchange here in Scotland, under what they called their Rural
> "Exchange Activate" scheme.
>
> For the last 14 months I have been paying BT £29.99 a month for a 515k
> connection with a 40-gig d/l limit! At the time, new subscribers were
> limited to a choice between BT and one otherr company, called Scotnet.
> These two had shared some of the investment cost in upgrading the
> exchange, so I guess they wanted their financial return, hence the
> lack of choice between ISP's.
>
> Well I now feel I've done my time! I've been paying BT absoutely top
> dollar for a really meagre broadband service. Nearly £30 quid a month
> for a 512 conneciton is making me feel I'm being totally ripped off.
> I can live with the slow speed.. it's just that the cost is sooo high
> in relation to what I'm getting. But my year's contract is up now, so
> I presume I can Leave BT and go elsewhere with no penalty.
>
> The problem is this, though. Does anyont know if it is possible to
> simply jump over to another ISP now that my contract with BT is up?
> And if so, has anyone here done it? Or does BT have some cynical
> 'mechanism' in place to prevent me escaping from their greedy
> clutches?
>
> Many thanks.

You are actually very fortunate you have a broadband service available to
you. In other countries, exhanges are not broadband enabled when there is
not going to be a relatively short return on investment. BT should be
praised making broadband available to so many.

Dan

>
>

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 22:56:15 +0100, "Dan"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

Thanks for your replies.

Thing is, I contacted BT last week and they actually gave me a MAC
number! AFAIK that's effectively an authorisation to change ISP's,
although presumably they could cancel the transfer at any time. FWIW
I have a current application in to move to a smaller (and much cheaper
& better) ISP but so far nothing has happened and I can't get an
answer from them on the progress of my application till Monday. Hence
my post in this thread today, wondering if anyone else had managed to
'get away'. BT tried to offer me a better deal too, to make me stay,
but the cost was still way above the best deal I could get elsewhere.

Regarding my contract. The ONLY relevant restriction was that I had
to fulfil a year's contract with BT. Same as any other new subscriber
to BT Broadband. I've done that now, and there is no mention anywhere
of me being prevented from moving to an new ISP after that.

I don't want to sound ungrateful to BT for putting ADSL into our tiny
exchange, but BT is a huge private conglomerate to whom I hold not the
slightest allegiance. The idea of being 'grateful' to BT for anything
is abbhorrent, especially when the the Exchange Activation was
primarily paid for by Government grants out of public funding, albeit
that BT took all the PR credit. This opens up a whole new can of
worms re pricing, fairness and rural areas . But to remain OT, my
suspicion is that you CAN get out BT's clutches but that BT are trying
to make as much money out of people like me as they can, while they
can, and they are 'unofficially' making it 'difficult' for people to
me to move. Cynical?? Who, me?

The proof of the pudding could be that I just heard a rumour one of my
neighbours has just got AOL Broadband. But so far I take it no-one
reading this has actually been tied into BT rural Exchange Activate
and tried to move away?

Cheers.


>>
>> Many thanks.
>
>You are actually very fortunate you have a broadband service available to
>you. In other countries, exhanges are not broadband enabled when there is
>not going to be a relatively short return on investment. BT should be
>praised making broadband available to so many.
>
>Dan
>
>>
>>
>

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 17:37:57 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>The other things to do a check on the telephone number using this
>site
>
>http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php
>
>Peter Crosland

Thanks Peter

My number check says "BT Wholesale ADSL" is available, so maybe that
means anyone who BT will sell a line to.. and if they want to keep
their 'thing' going, then maybe it also includes whoever they wont
sell to..
I just noticed a section in your checker called "Local Loop
Unbundling Service" and all of the ISP's mentioned in it say 'Not
Available'. There's also a whole lot more ISP's not mentioned at all.
Anyidea what this thing is?

Travec.

On Sun, 3 Sep 2006 00:47:00, Travec the Dacian wrote:

>The proof of the pudding could be that I just heard a rumour one of my
>neighbours has just got AOL Broadband.

Pity them

--
Jim Crowther. "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up , totally worn out and loudly proclaiming;
WOW!!! What a ride." "It's MY computer!" (tm SMG)

Travec the Dacian wrote:


> The proof of the pudding could be that I just heard a rumour one of my
> neighbours has just got AOL Broadband. But so far I take it no-one
> reading this has actually been tied into BT rural Exchange Activate
> and tried to move away?
>

you won't be able to "move away" as there is no alternative to exchange
Activate on your exchange. There aren't many EA schemes around so
you'll be lucky to find another victim. You will also find most ISPs
clueless about it so don't be suprised if they take orders they can't
fulfill.

If you look up your phone number on the BT Wholesal echecker as
suggested earlier you will get a list of ISPs available. I did this for
01808 511444 and the result is :-

Abel Always
Entanet
Broadband from BT
AOL
Scotnet
BT Business
Telecomplete

Enjoy.

Phil

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Travec the
Dacian <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>
>The proof of the pudding could be that I just heard a rumour one of my
>neighbours has just got AOL Broadband. But so far I take it no-one
>reading this has actually been tied into BT rural Exchange Activate
>and tried to move away?

Surely if you have the MAC code then BT are not making it difficult to
migrate?

The limitation with your connection is that you may not be able to get
some of the very cheapest (bundled) deals around as other telecom
providers are unlikely to ever want to put their equipment in your local
exchange, for financial reasons. However the up-side is that you may
get a better service as a result - zero cost could equal zero service.
--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com