74 12 - 25 June 2019 Do you agree? Let us know [email protected]
custom ers in the first place.
Instea d, BT’s trying to exploit its own
hardware deficiencies by upselling
custom ers to Complete Wi-Fi for, in my
case, an extra £7 per month on top of
the £42 I already pay for BT’s top-whack
fibre connection.
What does Complete Wi-Fi consist of?
The very latest BT Smar t Hub 2 and one- count ’em,
one – Wi-Fi
Disc. The
Wi-Fi Disc
acts as a
Wi-Fi
extender,
repeating
the signal
from your Smar t Hub so that it reaches
that back bedroo m or loft extension that
the Smar t Hub struggles to reach under
its own stea m. BT promises it wi ll give
you up to two more of th ese Discs if you
don’t get a “strong” Wi-Fi recept ion in
every ro om, although I wish you the
Barry Collins baulks at paying yet another
BT subscription – just to get a router
Page 404
very best of British when it co mes to
argu ing what constitutes a “strong”
recept ion with the BT call centre.
What BT isn’t so forward in telling you
is that you can pick up these Wi-Fi Discs
much more cheaply from Amazon
(where they’r e called Whol e Home,
instea d of Complete Home, for some
strange reason – that must ha ve been a
particularly long
lunch in the BT
marketing
department).
So, instea d of
signing a new
18-month co ntract
for an extra £7 per
month – total cost
£126 – you can pop over to Amazon now
and buy one of th ese Discs for £74.50.
Even the two-Disc pack costs only
£123.85, which is still marginally cheaper
than the “exclusive” de al BT is trying to
flog me. Granted, you don’t get a new
router, but I wouldn’t mind betting that
most people will see little or no
performance differen ce between their
current Hub and BT’s latest model,
especially once you’ve got the Discs
relaying the signal.
As I’ve grumbled in this column
before, I’m sick of seeing my disp osable
income bled dry by subscriptions –
mobile phone, broadband, Netflix,
Spotify, online backup, office software ...
the list goes on. BT already gets its
monthly poundof flesh from me. To try
and upsell an extra subscription to
deliver what any half-decen t ro uter
should be capabl e of in the first place is
really taking the Rich ard Bliss.
Still, where BT leads the rest generally
follow. Keep an eye out for your next
“exclusive” offer in an inbox near you
and get ready to clear some space in
your Junk folder.“We guarantee Wi-Fi in
everyroom!”BT’s marketing
email screams. Whatever next?
Runningwater from every tap!
Light through every window!S
top the press –we’ve officially
reached the tipping point of the
must-sell-absolutely-everything-
as-a-subscription-package craze
that hasswept thetech industryover
the pastfew years. Because now, ladies
and gentlemen,BT wants to sell you
routersfor a convenientlyoverpriced
monthly sum.
This comes in the form of BT’s
Complete Wi-Fi package – a concept
that gets right up my nostrils before you
even get to the subscription part. “We
guarantee Wi-Fi in every ro om!” BT’s
marketing email screams. Whatever
next? Runningwater from every tap!
Light through every window!
You shouldn’ t needto pay BT extra
to guarantee Wi-Fi recept ion in every
room of th e average home – it should be
the mini mum requirement.If BT’s
standard Smar t Hubs had prop er
external antennas instea d of th e
sealed units they currently sell, this
wouldn’t be anissu e for 99% of it sIllust
ra
tion
:Andr
ew
To
rr
ens
More money
for the router of all evil