Live data from Hacker News

One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

bbc.com

191–200 of 528 posts

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing that one-sided contracts like this (where you're committed to a term, but they're not committed to a price) don't violate consumer protection laws. What if they chose to double your monthly bill?

This one annoys me. Yes technically you're out of contract when they raise the price, but usually they only give you 30 days to move which isn't always enough to organise an alternative to avoid loss of service. They imply that the price is assured but it isn't at all and often they jack it up just months after taking out the so-called "contract". And the contract terms have been getting ever longer. The regulator ne…

That's not even really true any more - Ofcom (who are in charge of regulating telecoms here) decided that all the companies could increase their prices by inflation plus 3.9% every April without voiding people's contracts or allowing them to cancel and without having to account for this in the headline prices in all their advertisements, so naturally everyone did and ran lots of promotions based on the bogus prices right before the increase. I think they even let some companies do this when there was nothing at all in the contracts permitting it (though that may only have allowed increasing prices by inflation). There's also apparently a newer swizz where companies advertise discounted prices but calculate the price increase based on the original, non-discounted price. The whole thing stinks of regulatory capture and oligopolies and the British media and establishment doesn't seem to care. They're more interested in attacking actually-competitive sectors like supermarkets with tiny profit margins.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#192
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data is ridiculously overpriced in the US. In the UK, I'm currently on a 12GB plan which costs £7.99 month. But you can get completely unlimited data including tethering for £20/month or less from lots of different providers. Never heard of unlimited for less than £15 though (unless its a temporary offer).

“Unlimited” data is not comparable because different subscriber’s data gets assigned different priorities at times of congestion. In the US, you can get “unlimited” data for as low as $25 per month, or as high as $90 per month, depending on what level priority you want (which you assume might make a difference at peak times). And then there is a lot of bundling going on like Netflix and Disney or international. For e…

> “Unlimited” data is not comparable because different subscriber’s data gets assigned different priorities at times of congestion.

> In the US, you can get “unlimited” data for as low as $25 per month, or as high as $90 per month, depending on what level priority you want (which you assume might make a difference at peak times).

Yeah I don't think this happens in the UK/EU. The US system seems really weird and complex in comparison. Those prices I quoted above include unlimited calls and texts to anywhere in the UK.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#193
post #82
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the US, the courts piece by piece courts took apart Section 271 of Telecommunications Act of 1996 that guarantees unbundled network elements (UNE)/local loop unbundling (LLU). By 2003, the FCC basically gave up. They ignored Congress & said, yeah, fine, broadband is exempt, because it's kind of expensive. Their Trienniel review dismantled UNE/LLU. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-03-36A1.pdf So now…

The new 5G wireless providers are changing this some, at least in urban areas. I’m currently using one and get around 500mbits download rate. Cost is about $25 per month.

Which one?

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#194
post #121

Just yesterday I was trying to sign up with Verizon for my new address. Fiber is not available in my building, so they offer "5G Home Internet" for $60-$80/mo, which is crazy expensive for what it is. I asked whether there were ADSL lines available, since these were recently available for as cheap as $15/mo. It seems this is no longer the case. Maybe there's a market here? EDIT: I am in the US, and I've just realized…

ADSL is too slow for most modern internet usage.

If you're referring specifically to ADSL then yes, however VDSL is passable, typically 100 down/10 up. Fiber would be ideal, but not worth 4-5x the price IMO (currently paying $33/month).

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is free WiFi almost everywhere Have you actually tried to use this? I can't remember the last time I used free WiFi and it actually worked as intended. It's always some combination of slow, broken, intermittent, and needs you to agree to terms and conditions too long to read.

BT works just fine. Have used it for at least 8 years without any fuss. I don't even know that I've connected to it unless I checked, it just does it. As such, I use very little cellular data.

If you mean BT Wi-fi that's not free.

https://www.btwifi.co.uk/

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#196

Visiting family in the UK for the first time in about five years. Costs here are _way_ higher than I remember. I bought three hamburgers, three drinks, and two large pops at a burger shop here, the total was 48 GBP (about $60 USD). This was at Five Guys. I couldn't believe it. I visited my co-worker in the UK, and over some beers, he mentioned he's getting taxed at 48-50% on top of this. Also 20% VAT on regular shopp…

FWIW, in CA that order at Five Guys would be $55 (https://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/five-guys-prices/ gives prices at (8.95*3+3.06*3+7.41*2)*1.0725), but I imagine people in CA are richer than people in the UK...

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#197

Visiting family in the UK for the first time in about five years. Costs here are _way_ higher than I remember. I bought three hamburgers, three drinks, and two large pops at a burger shop here, the total was 48 GBP (about $60 USD). This was at Five Guys. I couldn't believe it. I visited my co-worker in the UK, and over some beers, he mentioned he's getting taxed at 48-50% on top of this. Also 20% VAT on regular shopp…

Five Guys is absolutely atypical and has always been very expensive. A burger and a soft drink in a Wetherspoons (love them or loathe them) will be between £5 and £7 depending on the burger.

> he mentioned he's getting taxed at 48-50% on top of this

That's the higher rate for those who earn the most and, again, atypical. https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#198

Visiting family in the UK for the first time in about five years. Costs here are _way_ higher than I remember. I bought three hamburgers, three drinks, and two large pops at a burger shop here, the total was 48 GBP (about $60 USD). This was at Five Guys. I couldn't believe it. I visited my co-worker in the UK, and over some beers, he mentioned he's getting taxed at 48-50% on top of this. Also 20% VAT on regular shopp…

Five Guys has always been that price, but I agree with your point. As a Brit, the US is pretty crazy too though. I just saw a single broccoli for $7 at a grocery store in Palo Alto. On my $172k salary I pay $59k in taxes which is roughly $1k more than I'd pay in the UK but in the UK that includes national insurance while in the US I pay health insurance on top. So while taxes sound crazy in the UK it's not actually d…

You wouldn't be making nearly that much in the UK though.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#199
I just canceled one of my ISPs because there was no way for me to adjust my plan online unless I selected an upgrade. The agents I chatted with were misleading and the website was full of dark patterns. I'd still be a customer if they had simply allowed me to make choices a la carte.
Post reply on HN