Price of changing ISPs

I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this my
current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary migration code and
the new supplier wants £15 to set up the account or whatever, so that's £45
before I make a single connection, wiping out any potential savings and
frannkly making it a non-starter.

If the electricity, gas and phone companies behaved like this we'd all still
be with our old suppliers.

--
Phil Wagstaff

"Philip Wagstaff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this
> my current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary
> migration code...

Which ISP is this ?

Regards
Sunil

I'm with V21 and looking at adsl4less

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Philip Wagstaff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)
>> I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this
>> my current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary
>> migration code...
>
> Which ISP is this ?
>
> Regards
> Sunil
>

On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 23:02:31 +0100, "Philip Wagstaff"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this my
>current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary migration code and
>the new supplier wants £15 to set up the account or whatever, so that's £45
>before I make a single connection, wiping out any potential savings and
>frannkly making it a non-starter.
>
>If the electricity, gas and phone companies behaved like this we'd all still
>be with our old suppliers.

BT charges the new ISP £12.93 (inc VAT) for a migration. Why do you
expect to pay nothing?

Your current ISP probably budgeted for you to keep your existing
connection for at least a year, so they're simply cutting their
losses, or making sure they break even, by charging you a fee for
losing your custom.

Do you expect your employer to run its business at a loss? Why should
ISPs run at a loss? They employ people too, you know.

There's more to broadband than cheap prices.

"Philip Wagstaff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:415f5278$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm with V21 and looking at adsl4less

Thats a bad move. They are proven liars and have no track record. They Claim
they have been trading since November 2003, but their domain name wasn't
registered until August 2004.

Trouble with a lot of people is they base everything on price, and in this
industry it's one of the worst things you can do.

"Jake P" <jake@!!!nospam!!!.jake.org.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 23:02:31 +0100, "Philip Wagstaff"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this my
> >current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary migration code
and
> >the new supplier wants £15 to set up the account or whatever, so that's
£45
> >before I make a single connection, wiping out any potential savings and
> >frannkly making it a non-starter.
> >
> >If the electricity, gas and phone companies behaved like this we'd all
still
> >be with our old suppliers.
>
> BT charges the new ISP £12.93 (inc VAT) for a migration. Why do you
> expect to pay nothing?
>
> Your current ISP probably budgeted for you to keep your existing
> connection for at least a year, so they're simply cutting their
> losses, or making sure they break even, by charging you a fee for
> losing your custom.
>
> Do you expect your employer to run its business at a loss? Why should
> ISPs run at a loss? They employ people too, you know.
>
> There's more to broadband than cheap prices.

No wonder they call this country Rip off Britain with people like you who
believe crap like that!

"Philip Wagstaff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:415f5278$(E-Mail Removed)
> I'm with V21 and looking at adsl4less

Well the £30 charge does seem to be in V21's T&C but it is unusual - most
ISP's don't charge anything for this.

Then again, most of the large ISP's are also signed up to the Ofcom ADSL
Migration code (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer_gui...m_cop/?a=87101)
but neither of these appear to be.

Regards
Sunil

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 23:24:42 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband,
Jake P <jake@!!!nospam!!!.jake.org.uk> wrote:

>On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 23:02:31 +0100, "Philip Wagstaff"
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this my
>>current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary migration code and
>>the new supplier wants £15 to set up the account or whatever, so that's £45

>BT charges the new ISP £12.93 (inc VAT) for a migration. Why do you
>expect to pay nothing?

>Your current ISP probably budgeted for you to keep your existing
>connection for at least a year, so they're simply cutting their
>losses, or making sure they break even, by charging you a fee for
>losing your custom.

While the migration fee at the new ISP is justified as it is made by BT,
there's nothing to suggest the poster is trying to leave before a minimum
contract is up, and it does, to me, look like a nasty fee for providing a
way to change to another ISP. I would complain in writing to the ISP, and
then take it further, making as much bad publicity for the ISP as possible
(first warning them to expect press enquiries about their unfair 30 pound
fee). While I can (up to a point) understand mobile handsets (which have
been subsidised) being 'locked' to a network, a customer shouldn't be tied
in the same way, when there is very little the 'losing' ISP needs to do
to issue the MAC. I see that Wanadoo has a similar 'unlock' fee for
their wireless kit, but this case is different - the ISP is both
bl**dy minded and money-grabbing, in my opinion. Peter M.

On 03/10/2004 00:00 Sunil Sood got up from the bar and shouted..:
> "Philip Wagstaff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:415f5278$(E-Mail Removed)
>
>>I'm with V21 and looking at adsl4less
>
>
> Well the £30 charge does seem to be in V21's T&C but it is unusual - most
> ISP's don't charge anything for this.
>
> Then again, most of the large ISP's are also signed up to the Ofcom ADSL
> Migration code (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer_gui...m_cop/?a=87101)
> but neither of these appear to be.
>
> Regards
> Sunil
>
>

I noticed a few big names missing from this list, Plusnet for example.
Anyone from Plusnet want to comment on why they don't adhere to Ofcom's
Migration code?


--
"This dog don't give a feck..."

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:10:55 +0100, poster <us-(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 23:24:42 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband,
>Jake P <jake@!!!nospam!!!.jake.org.uk> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 23:02:31 +0100, "Philip Wagstaff"
>><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>I want to take advantage of new, cheaper ADSL offers, but to do this my
>>>current ADSL ISP demands a £30 fee to provide a necessary migration code and
>>>the new supplier wants £15 to set up the account or whatever, so that's £45
>
>>BT charges the new ISP £12.93 (inc VAT) for a migration. Why do you
>>expect to pay nothing?
>
>>Your current ISP probably budgeted for you to keep your existing
>>connection for at least a year, so they're simply cutting their
>>losses, or making sure they break even, by charging you a fee for
>>losing your custom.
>
>While the migration fee at the new ISP is justified as it is made by BT,
>there's nothing to suggest the poster is trying to leave before a minimum
>contract is up, and it does, to me, look like a nasty fee for providing a
>way to change to another ISP. I would complain in writing to the ISP, and
>then take it further, making as much bad publicity for the ISP as possible
>(first warning them to expect press enquiries about their unfair 30 pound
>fee). While I can (up to a point) understand mobile handsets (which have
>been subsidised) being 'locked' to a network, a customer shouldn't be tied
>in the same way, when there is very little the 'losing' ISP needs to do
>to issue the MAC. I see that Wanadoo has a similar 'unlock' fee for
>their wireless kit, but this case is different - the ISP is both
>bl**dy minded and money-grabbing, in my opinion. Peter M.

There's also nothing to suggest that the OP *isn't* leaving the ISP
before the end of a 12 month contract, or any other arbitrary
profitable period of time, so your point there is moot.

OP - Mr Wagstaff - or can I call you Phil? Did you go with a cheap
deal in the first place? Be honest. If not, then I agree that a £30
"release fee" is a rip off. But if the ISP has subsidised your
connection expecting that you'll stay with them long enough for them
to at least recoup their costs, then I think you should agree that
it's a fair price to pay (you could argue that it's their fault for
taking such a gamble in the first place).

Not all ISPs are money-grabbing. Some of them have to pay their staff
and shareholders in real money. Weird, no?