News

BT "stealth tax" - £15 to migrate broadband, says ISP

by Guy J Kewney | posted on 17 April 2009

An indignant ISP, Andrews and Arnold, has found themselves being obliged to pay BT £15 for a "free" service for some customers, who are thinking they might "migrate" to another ISP.

The company says it will raise this with Ofcom. In a story posted on the ISP web site, AAISP says BT is using "orders pending" as an excuse to refuse the publication of a Migration Authorisation Code, if the line is being upgraded. The company says:

We are upgrading lines to 21CN, and often have hundreds or thousands of lines where upgrade orders are pending. These orders have to go in several weeks in advance. There is also a minimum number per exchange and we have to fit BT's timetable, but these regrades are free of charge.

We have now become aware that BT will refuse to provide a Migration Authorisation Code if there is an order pending. The only way to get one is to cancel the order.

But that costs the fifteen quid! And it gets worse, says AAISP:

BT charge us £15 to cancel the order (even though it is an order for a free service and the cancellation is automated)

If the customer does not migrate (as often happens) we need to re-place the order, as a singleton not a bulk, at a cost of £11

If the cancellation puts us below the minimum 10 per exchange we could find 9 other orders cancelled and having to be placed as singletons later.

"At the end of the day we do not wish to cancel the order," says an exec at the ISP. "Issue of a MAC is not a migration, it is just the potential for a migration. It allows a migration." But often, having tested the market, the customer decides to stay.

He added: "There is no logical reason why we have to cancel an order before a MAC is issued. After all, if we got the MAC first (valid for 30 days) then put in the regrade order the MAC would still be valid. So BT are, in some cases, refusing to issue a MAC unless we agree to pay them at least £15 first!"