Topic: Huwawei homefi

[Robinred]

Been looking at my combined monthly bills for BT and Sky. It’s a lot, and I have BT landline, Superfast broadband, and line rental, and Sky Sports package with Sky Atlantic. I live in Wild West Wales, so there’s no fibre optic to the house, only to the exchange, which fortunately is 200 metres away.

A friend suggested looking at the Huwawei Homefi, from 3, at £22 a month. Has anyone decided to go down this route, perhaps to cut down on bills?

And if so, what has been your experience?

[CraigDS]

I've got this (via EE) which I used when I first moved into my apartment and BT were fucking around with the phone line, and have used it at my warehouse since. It's pretty good as long as you're in a decent EE signal area. We were streaming Netflix through it with no problem.

[Robinred]

Thanks Craig. I’m pretty sure that broadband speeds without fibre optic - even if BT’s claims about it’s speeds are true - are no faster than the independent reviews claim for Huwawei’s device.

My fear is that I’m locked into a B.T contract with harsh penalties for leaving early.

My combined monthly bills to B.T and Sky total over £140. I’d love to cut that back.

[CraigDS]

Ouch.

How long have you been with Sky? Always some good new customer offers out there and you can just open up a new account in another family members name.

[Robinred]

Ouch.

How long have you been with Sky? Always some good new customer offers out there and you can just open up a new account in another family members name.

I live alone unfortunately. I did leave 18 months ago, and sure enough they contacted me with a 12 month offer at about half what I’d been paying. It appears to be the only way. Just as is the case with car and home insurance, it pays to switch every year - loyalty gets you nowhere. Sadly Sky has a monopoly on test cricket and a large percentage of live Premiership games.

[hixxstar]

My fear is that I’m locked into a B.T contract with harsh penalties for leaving early.

My combined monthly bills to B.T and Sky total over £140. I’d love to cut that back.

First thing is to find out were you stand with BT... length of contract left ? .. poss cost to leave.. may charge you for equipment too.
I'd phone them and see.. tell them you need to cut back on outgoings (your job ends soon etc..)
then phone sky & see what they can do for you to take full package (sky tv-BBand).. they both want your custom & you can haggle crazy with them.
i got rid of BT ages ago (was near end of contract so not too bad for me)
now i have sky fibre max unlimited, home phone (i never use)-sky sports HD package £78.00 pm 

[Graeme]

Definately overpaying at £140.

I’m paying £75 for Sky Fibre Max, Sky Talk, Sky Q full package, all the sports, movies, box sets etc.

[Robinred]

Thanks fellas, much appreciated.

Update: spent most of the afternoon talking to various UK based B.T call centre bods. The bad news is that my “Superfast” contract doesn’t expire until December - with swingeing penalties. The good news is that unless the signal boosters they’re sending for free improve radically the speeds I’m actually getting (they’re around 15, but were advertised as 75/80) then B.T acknowledge that the contract is void, and could be cancelled with no penalty.

So I’ve got the Huwawei hub coming in March, £22 per month on a 24 month contract. It’s 4G and the signal here should enable me to get faster speeds than currently. I think I’m likely to do away with everything B.T - including the landline. Sky can add B.T sport to my package.

If that doesn’t materialise, I have the 14 day cooling off period.

There’s no chance in the near future of either B.T or Virgin fitting fibre optic cabling to our homes - it’s just a small village in the Snowdonia foothills.

[Robinred]

Just to update, for anyone else who’s considering Three and a Huwawei SIM 4G hub. Mine arrived last Friday, and I got an unsatisfactory signal after a straightforward set up. I could get online, but stuff loaded so slowly, that it was evident it wasn’t going to be adequate as a replacement for B.T broadband.

Their staff were helpful, and the tech department tried a few glitch busters, but to no avail. The issue was simple - I had been mistakenly told my postcode location had 4G coverage. It doesn’t. The hub only works to satisfactory speeds on a 4G network.

[Roady]

Very popular here in Spain. I pay 10 euros a month for my internet which is fibre optic and great. Works well with iptv box top so get all the channels I could want all 3 pm kick offs and all ppv sports. Comes in at just under 40 a month.