I have BT BASIC & now Virgin will cancel

weemax · 01-07-2009, 01:56

Im having a total nightmare with Virgin at the moment. Im on Virgin ADSL.

I have a BT BASIC landline. I ordered ADSL broadband & some telephone minutes bundle on the 15th June through Virgin. Broadband was activated last week 24th June. BUT now they have sent me an email saying because Im on a BASIC phone line, they cant proceed with my order & that they will cancel my order. They want me to change my line with bt to you know the Â£11.95 per month one. I cant afford to do this. Please help, what can I do?

They didnt ask or mention about if i was on BT basic at the time. Please help.

Paul K · 01-07-2009, 07:38

BT basic is a system designed for people on low income/ disability/ benefits etc and is only around Â£13 per quarter line rental, I expect their reasoning for saying no to BT Basic if you want / have BB is that you are paying for BB and therefor should be able to afford a standard line rental situation since many consider ADSL / BB as a luxury and not a necessity.

Graham M · 01-07-2009, 08:42

If you can't afford the normal priced phone line, how are you going to afford the broadband?

weemax · 01-07-2009, 10:39

Thank for the help Paul, i wont bore you with the ins & outs too much. I lost my job & home last year after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. my daughter pays for my internet as she works away in New Zealand 7 I can video talk with her. I cannot afford it myself & i will not pay anymore for this awful service.

Its not the broadband they cant provide - im on it & its working, its just thy cannot take over my line for calls, now they eant to cancel.

I really need to get speaking to someone in Newcastle. Is there anyway I can get through to Newcastle?

01-07-2009, 10:43

sorry about your illness mate

perhaps you will be able to just take out the virgin adsl and not call package anyway I hope you get it sorted

WelshPaul · 01-07-2009, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by weemax

Im having a total nightmare with Virgin at the moment. Im on Virgin ADSL.

I have a BT BASIC landline. I ordered ADSL broadband & some telephone minutes bundle on the 15th June through Virgin. Broadband was activated last week 24th June. BUT now they have sent me an email saying because Im on a BASIC phone line, they cant proceed with my order & that they will cancel my order. They want me to change my line with bt to you know the Â£11.95 per month one. I cant afford to do this. Please help, what can I do?

They didnt ask or mention about if i was on BT basic at the time. Please help.

It's not virgin who will not let you have the broadband it's prob BT, The plan your on has terms & conditions and it says that you cannot have any ADSL service activated on a BT BASIC Phone Line!

Does not matter who you order broadband with BT will not allow it to be installed on your line!

weemax · 01-07-2009, 11:22

Paul, dont be silly - you will give welsh people a bad name! Im already on broadband it is up & running. BT have activated the broadband, BT HAVE SAID BROADBAND IS NO PROBLEM.

Now perhaps youll read the intial post again.

Let me see where it says i cant have adsl on bt basic?

01-07-2009, 11:23

its not ADSL that is being blocked the OP says he is using it. God I wish people read threads properly before posting.

Its the line take over for calls that is being blocked

WelshPaul · 01-07-2009, 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by weemax

Paul, dont be silly - you will give welsh people a bad name! Im already on broadband it is up & running. BT have activated the broadband, BT HAVE SAID BROADBAND IS NO PROBLEM.

Now perhaps youll read the intial post again.

Let me see where it says i cant have adsl on bt basic?

Why on earth would i give welsh people a bad name?

That was the policy when i worked for BT, was not aware that it had changed.

Sorry for making a mistake, i shall go and hang myself right now sir!

(I asumed by cancel your order you meant remove the ADSL service also.)

---------- Post added at 10:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 ----------

I managed to dig up some info but cannot find anything official on BT's site for some reason, BT Basic is a replacement for the BT Light User Scheme which would not allow the use of ADSL.

I left BT before these changes so i assumed (wrongly) that the same thing applied to BT basic, i got it wrong sorry as from info on other forums seems to indicate you are allowed an ADSL service which is pretty good of BT.

**Chris** · 01-07-2009, 12:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by weemax

Thank for the help Paul, i wont bore you with the ins & outs too much. I lost my job & home last year after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. my daughter pays for my internet as she works away in New Zealand 7 I can video talk with her. I cannot afford it myself & i will not pay anymore for this awful service.

Its not the broadband they cant provide - im on it & its working, its just thy cannot take over my line for calls, now they eant to cancel.

I really need to get speaking to someone in Newcastle. Is there anyway I can get through to Newcastle?

This has always been the case. Back in the 90s BT had big problems with people subscribing to the Light User Scheme (the predecessor of BT Basic) and then using carrier access codes to make their calls on someone else's network. BT was practically giving the line away, and then making nothing out of it because those customers weren't then making any BT-chargeable calls on the line.

They eventually got wise to this, and blocked access to all the third party carrier access codes on lines that were subscribed to the light user scheme. We were caught out by this, and had to switch onto one of their regular packages in order to continue to use our carrier of choice. It actually got rather more expensive for us at that point, which was one of the triggers for us to go and get NTL cable instead, but that's another story!

It seems that BT has the same rules in play today for its Basic service. This service gives you a line for a very low rental, but then BT makes that up with higher call charges. If you are not going to make any BT-chargeable calls on the line, then they naturally won't be happy with this arrangement. These days, instead of manually tapping in an access code to make your calls on a third party network, you can opt for 'carrier pre-selection', where all your calls are automatically routed onto your chosen provider's network. In this case, you want to choose Virgin. However, the rules are the same whether you use a manual access code or carrier pre-selection; if you have a BT Basic line, you are not allowed to route your outgoing calls on to a third party.

Now, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot have Virgin ADSL on this line and continue to make your calls on BT Basic. I have Virgin ADSL but I don't route my phone calls through them. Virgin may not be able to complete your order for a phone/ADSL package due to the line being on BT Basic, but they should be able to have you as an ADSL-only customer, just as I am. You need to give them a call and tell them that BT Basic is more important to you than having a Virgin phone line is, and ask them to switch you to one of their ADSL-only packages. You may pay slightly more for the ADSL but so far as I can see it's the only way round this.

weemax · 01-07-2009, 15:21

Thanks very much Chris, thats very helpful of you indeed. very much appreciated. I will ring them and just try for the broadband service only. Top marks A****

Thank you also Zing

Its ok Paul, sorry i was a bit off. I appreciate you arre trying to help. I was just annoyed people were telling me about the luxuries in life & questioning my financial affairs the first few answers.

Thanks again to Chris, Zing & Paul

jamieh1979 · 02-07-2009, 21:08

Do you live in a cable area? If so why not ditch BT altogether and take just Virgin cable broadband and make internet calls through that, through someone like skype or tesco internet phone.

BexTech · 13-07-2009, 00:25

It is BT that won't allow calls from elsewhere, this is a condition for BT Basic, otherwise people would be applying for cheap line rental and then placing calls elsewhere like with Primus or Call 18185 or even Virgin.

http://www.btplc.com/inclusion/phone...ic/faq.htm#get

....

Even if you're getting one of these three benefits there are certain exclusions that apply, such as a phone service provided by another company, if you have more than one phone line or have a business, temporary or payphone line.

BenMcr · 13-07-2009, 01:09

You can get Virgin ADSL Broadband without a call package - which BT should allow on Basic

http://virgin.net/allyours/broadband...bandonly.shtml

m419 · 14-07-2009, 07:51

No! You need to be on BT Together Option 1 to use another provider on your BT telephone line.

Virgin Media and other companies are not allowed to offer services whilst BT Basic is on a line.

BT Basic is a package below BT Together option 1 specially for those on low incomes who cannot afford to use the phone that often and who does not want to pay the Â£5 admin fee for not paying by direct debit, the call charges are more expensive.

What I suggest you do, is contact BT on 150 from a BT landline or payphone or 0800-800-150 from any other phone and ask them to put you on BT Together option 1. Then contact Virgin Media to let them know you have done this. You should not have further problems once on BT Together Option 1.

By being on BT Basic,you breaching BT's conditions of telephone service by using another provider. I don't think broadband is allowed on BT Basic either.

The same above rules apply to BT Pay&Call.

Hope this helps.