Switching providers

Gegerty

I'm already with UTV internet (stop laughing ) and am at the end of my poxy contract in July. I want to switch to my only other option, BT. I'm anticipating some downtime with the switch over so I was wondering if it is possible for me to order BT Broadband now and then just cancel UTV once I get it?

juliuspret

Yeah that seems the right way to do it.
Cancel your UTV and have it setup to end with your contract termination.

BT is my Broadband provider and from what I have read is far better value than the other 2 main providers, especially if you choose that €49 a month deal for Line Rental+Basic Broadband.

Sponge Bob

You could Transfer from one to the other using a process called ' Bitstream Port Transfer ' .

You could cancel and take the downtime while you are in between carriers .

If you have line rental as well as BB with UTV it could get awfully messy so you should cancel in that case.

Gegerty

I have line rental with UTV.

Can I order broadband with BT and then when it is ready give UTV my 1 months notice and then just switch straight to BT once UTV has been cancelled?

I was thinking of taking up the BT broadband and then try switching the line rental. So I would initially be on the BT broadband deal without line rental, then once my line rental has been switched from UTV to BT I could ring them and get the cheap €39 broadband/line rental deal....or is that wishful thinking?!

Sponge Bob

Gegerty wrote:

Can I order broadband with BT and then when it is ready give UTV my 1 months notice and then just switch straight to BT once UTV has been cancelled?

No because BT will not be able to process (enter) the order while you are a UTV line rental customer because Eircom wont let them. Send an email to phil.nolan@eircom.ie and follow his advice on the sequence of orders you give UTV and BT. Tell us what the latest advice is as it does change periodically .

You wish to transfer Bitstream Line Rental and Wholesale Line rental in one operation with no loss of service (or maybe an hour or two while you are at work) and without going back to eircom for billing purposes .

Gegerty

Sponge Bob wrote:

No because BT will not be able to process (enter) the order while you are a UTV line rental customer because Eircom wont let them. Send an email to phil.nolan@eircom.ie and follow his advice on the sequence of orders you give UTV and BT. Tell us what the latest advice is as it does change periodically .

You wish to transfer Bitstream Line Rental and Wholesale Line rental in one operation with no loss of service (or maybe an hour or two while you are at work) and without going back to eircom for billing purposes .

Thanks I'll let you know what he says. So just to clarify, BT will not even process my broadband order while I am on UTV line rental? Not even if I just want broadband without line rental?

juliuspret

I see no reason why you cant have BT Broadband with UTV line rental!

The problem lies in your UTV Broadband connection.

Broadband with UTV is tied to their line rental so you need to stop your broadband service with UTV, then their line rental and after all that you can move around...but you must cancel UTV's broadband first.

Also if anyone is stopping you from moving to BT it is UTV.

dub45

Have you checked your contractual postion with UTV as regards your line rental? (as distinct from your bb contract)

kaizersoze

Have you rang BT to enquire?

Gegerty

I rang BT and UTV and this is the story: UTV require 1 months notice. I asked the girl in BT how to go about switching over without any downtime and she told me that all I do is fill in the form to transfer my line rental/phone/broadband to them and they'll take care of the rest and will contact me when the switch is done. According to her this will involve no downtime whatsoever......sounds too good to be true but I've switched my line rental and phone before and there was no downtime so I don't see why there should ever be any downtime like people have been saying on this forum.....

btw she also said as long as my contract is up they can do the switch, there's no 1 months notice involved like UTV told me.

Edit: Just on the line rental thing, I was just switched over a month ago after ordering it a year ago. There is no new contract when the switch is done, my original contract from a year ago stands.

juliuspret

I dont know of anyone in your exact postition but Im pretty certain that your going to have no broadband for a couple of days!

Take what those reps say with a pinch of salt also as they'll say anything to get your money.

Irishstabber

Hey, but if there is downtime just keep calling them and nagging the s**t outta them. Usually works.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I've just completed a switch to BT. No downtime whatsoever. My account for my old ISP still worked for a day or so.

ambrose :cool:

Gegerty

juliuspret wrote:

I dont know of anyone in your exact postition but Im pretty certain that your going to have no broadband for a couple of days!

Take what those reps say with a pinch of salt also as they'll say anything to get your money.

I'll be prepared for some downtime alright. But if you think about it they're not authorised to cancel my UTV connection, they're only authorised to switch the service over to them. I think people who had downtime cancelled UTV themselves and then went ahead and ordered BT.

kaizersoze

The DTAF (transfer form) gives them the authority to cancel it on your behalf . Thats the way it worked for me. I didn't contact UTV at all.