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back to article BT gently returns to mobe biz with cheap SIM-only swoop

BT has tentatively returned to the mobile market it abandoned 13 years ago with a competitive SIM-only deal for its broadband customers. The one-time state monopoly – as expected – touted a 4G data, minutes and texts bundle this morning, with prices starting at £5 a month. BT's offer weds existing broadband subscribers to a …

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  1. Vimes

    PC manufacturers put on bloatware, and cell phone manufacturers have got into that game too - all in the name of maximising the money made.

    Presumably BT will, since they're a commercial organisation, also be interested in maximising profit.

    BT themselves got into this game a while ago with Phorm so it would be interesting to know what if any 'stealth trials' they're conducting to do the same here?

    I just hope that they don't get expect to get 'comforting' advice from the home office if the legality of whatever it is they're doing is questioned.

    If you care about privacy: avoid BT.

    4 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Broadband Rollout

      BT signed up to get broadband into ever house, flat, barn, shed and pigsty.

      but it's more complicated than they first imagined, so being able to fall-back on a wireless option is a great saviour.

      If they can't be bothered to roll new copper and fibre out to people in the sticks just sling a 4G transmitter in and send everyone a sim card.

      0 0 Reply
  2. dogged

    BT subsidiaries?

    Does PlusNet (for example) count as "BT Broadband" for the definition of who's a customer?

    1 0 Reply
    1. AMBxx Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: BT subsidiaries?

      Doubt it. We don't get the online sports stuff, only via satellite. Look on the bright side - no overseas call centres with plusnet.

      2 0 Reply
    2. Test Man
      Reply Icon

      Re: BT subsidiaries?

      No, because PlusNet is PlusNet, not BT, obv.

      Yes, PlusNet is owned by BT, but being owned by them doesn't suddenly mean they are BT.

      0 0 Reply
  3. Robert E A Harvey

    Is it me?

    That still seems like an awful lot of money.

    I can't use much of my home broadband when I am not there, so why should my mobile data cost so much from the same supplier? I'd have thought a fiver for unlimited would be an incentive to have BT broadband, but these prices don't look that attractive even if you are a home broadbean customer.

    Now if they were to bundle the whole lot, home and up to 4 mobile users, into one flat rate bill, I might think about it. If the flat were flat enough.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Big_Ted
      Reply Icon

      Re: Is it me?

      They also include BT Sports App and unlimited BT Wifi hotspot useage on all sims so not that bad.

      0 0 Reply
    2. Boothy
      Reply Icon

      Re: Is it me?

      Doesn't seem to be good value, at least not unless you're already a BT customer and so get the discount.

      * BT Plan 1. 500MB data, unlimited texts and 200 mins @ £10.

      For £12 (okay 2 quid more), you can get 1GB of data, unlimited texts, and 500 mins. (giffgaff)

      * BT Plan 2. 2GB data, unlimited texts and 500 minutes @ £17.

      For £15, you can get the same texts and minutes, but with 3GB data instead. (giffgaff)

      * BT pan 3. 20GB data, with unlimited texts and minutes, £25.

      £18 gets you 1,000 mins, and 5GB from giffgaff.

      The last BT plan actually looks quite competitive, the others don't to me.

      0 0 Reply
      1. David Gosnell
        Reply Icon

        Re: Is it me?

        But comparing giffgaff and BT is not entirely fair. With one you get a bunch of clueless and powerless muppets offering "customer support" ... and the other runs via a web forum.

        3 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hidden extras?

    How long before they slap on a £1.75 per month extra charge for answerphone, like they did with our landline?

    1 0 Reply
    1. MR J
      Reply Icon

      Re: Hidden extras?

      Most do that now by actually using your mins against the phone call to get the msg's. Some even use non-inclusive numbers for you to pick up those calls. And some let you pick them up from outside the network by calling yet more numbers that will get them some termination revinue.

      Something else to consider, now that the 0845 "PREMIUM" numbers are known to be poison, BT is pushing their 05x numbers quite hard. These have HUGE termination cost (Above 0845 in many cases!) so it's the same thing over again, but have fun trying to get a block on 05x numbers, as they are going to spin them for umpteen years like they did 0845.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Lamont Cranston

    Lovely.

    A nice stick for me to beat Orange EE with, come renewal time.

    0 0 Reply
  6. Tezfair
    WTF?

    tariff

    So, have 4G dirt cheap but only 500mb of data? I used 1.6Gb on Three last month and barely touched the internet on it, just exchange emails and general look ups.

    Hardly looks like a killer deal to me

    1 0 Reply
    1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: tariff

      "1.6Gb on Three last month and barely touched the internet on it, just exchange emails and general look ups"

      Check your device - unless your emails are attachement-heavy then you have something running in the background using up data

      6 0 Reply
  7. AMBxx Silver badge
    Big Brother

    No thanks

    Don't care how cheap, not touching BT with a bargepole

    4 0 Reply
  8. Boothy

    Do the BT plans allow tethering?

    Do the BT plans allow tethering?

    As I can't see me getting to 20GB on a phone or 4G tablet, but a tethered PC etc. Maybe.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Steve Evans
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      Re: Do the BT plans allow tethering?

      Given it's a limited data allowance, common sense would say "why would they care how it is used"...

      ...Except we all know common sense has gone out of the window when it comes to data tethering.

      With any luck they'll rely on the SIM "tethering not allowed" flag, which is just a quick hack to bypass on a rooted Android.

      0 0 Reply
    2. The Original Steve
      Reply Icon

      Re: Do the BT plans allow tethering?

      Nope - read a similar article on neowin which quoted a BT bod via twitter that said they won't support it.

      0 0 Reply
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

    The deals already been completed.

    Someone I know has been in the BT Mobile network test for the past 6 months.

    He's been told that BT have completed the deal to buy EE and have also purchased O2's 4G Service.

    0 1 Reply
    1. Big_Ted
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

      What a load of bollocks

      BT want EE but wont get the go ahead to buy it (If they do get it) until the end of the year

      O2 are being bought by Three's owner not BT and that will again need up to a year for the go ahead.

      BT Mobile is a virtual network just like Tesco and Giff Gaff etc.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

        It could be a load of bollocks.

        However this is what I've heard from my source in the BT Mobile beta.

        BT haven't bought O2, but they have bought O2's 4G spectrum.

        He has been asked to make notes of which network his phone is connected to and if he experiences any problems with them.

        His phone shows:

        BT Mobile - EE

        or

        BT Mobile - O2

        Depending on which network it is connected too.

        0 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

          "T haven't bought O2, but they have bought O2's 4G spectrum."

          If that's true, how much spectrum have BT got now, are they trying to gain another monopoly?

          0 0 Reply
        2. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

          They have bought some of O2's services, to resell to business customers. They have not bought O2's 4G spectrum. You are conflating a half-repeated story from a 'friend' at BT who can't read the company intranet properly, with this story and the EE story.

          Given BT are likely to get EE, they will probably look to exit any deals that support a competitor as soon as practical - much as they (funnily enough) leveraged the entire business focussed BT Mobile MVNO from Vodafone to EE last year, as part of their long term strategy, which is now creeping back into consumer.

          I'd suspect the BT consider buying O2 was a negotiating strategy to squeeze a deal out of T-Mobile and Orange for their EE UK business, though if EE had gone elsewhere (say Verizon, NTT, China mobile, SingTel, America Mobil, China Unicom etc) with Hutchinson now likely to buy O2 (or Telefonica could have stabilized their business and kept it) BT could have been left shut out as only player being the leviathan Vodafone and Hutchinson owned 3 (Who bought O2 Ireland last year) left.in the game...

          However, if I had been running BT, a strategic global deal with Hutchinson would have been a great fit, with mobile especially and 3's Feel at homefree roaming and inclusive tethering on OnePlan contracts, and a fit into BT Global Services.

          0 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Planned £12.5bn gobble of UK mobile operator EE

      It's a done deal, unless Ofcom or competition authorities, or shareholders block it. It's not gone through yet

      0 0 Reply
  10. Da Weezil

    Im expecting the worst from the EE change and am already looking around for a new place to port my number. The annoying thing is that EE offer the better service to my work location, 02 and Voda are patchy to the point where calls are only possible in a few closely defined spots and im still dubious of 3, apart from the huge issues in this area a few years ago, a friend who crashed at mine for a while had problems with service.

    Why is it so hard to find a network that functions in both places? I do know I want to avoid BT wherever possible.

    0 0 Reply

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