ADSL - Information about new "cease" charge.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: (18/8/07)
Customers will have recently received communication from us regarding the indefinite suspension of cease charges by BT Wholesale. Unfortunately this charge is now being reintroduced for all ceases actioned on or after the 23rd August, this means charging must take effect for all ceases placed from August 16th onwards. This charge will now be reduced to the lesser rate of £5.00+vat

Thanks for your attention.

BT Wholesale Cease Charges -
Following the telecoms strategic review and the implementation of the "neutral" network operator Openreach it has been deemed necessary to introduce a "ceassation charge" for broadband services. *This fee covers the charge made by Openreach to their customer BT Wholesale to unjumper a line when a DSL service is to be ceased, please note that this is a charge for a full service cease and not a migration to an alternative provider. The cease charge will come into effect from August 18th 2007 and will be £5.00 +vat for ALL UK BT LINE BASED ISP customers.
 
Customers will be required to call Green ISP and have the payment taken from a supplied credit or debit card, or to inform us of another payment method.
Customers who have taken advantage of the 1 year promotional products will still be charged the £70+vat cancellation fee separate to the ceassation charge if they choose to terminate their agreement before expiry of their contract. 

**The introduction of the ceassation charge was partly introduced to deter ISP's from bulk ceasing clients and encourage the distribution of MAC codes under the OFCOM policy for migration that came into effect from February 14th.

IMPORTANT: (notes from T and C's)
13.1 The Customer may end this Agreement after the Minimum Period of Service by giving The ISP not less than thirty (30) days written notice expiring no earlier than the end of the Minimum Period of Service. If a Customer wishes to end this Agreement before the end of the Minimum Period of Service, The ISP shall be entitled to charge the Customer an early release fee (this includes any customer "Cancelling" the telephone line that the Service is provieded on before the end of the "agreed term" (3 or 12 months).
13.2 In addition, if a Customer using The ISP ADSL service ceases (totally disconnects without immediately moving to another ISP) their broadband connection then the ISP is entitled to charge the customer a cease fee. The ISP is entitled to levy this charge irrespective of the cause of the cease (for example but not limited to situations where the Customer's telephone service provider makes a change to the line that causes the broadband account to be ceased even if it is without the Customer's explicit knowledge), this also includes any customer "Cancelling" the telephone line that the Service is provieded on before the end of the "agreed term" (3 or 12 months).

 

What we think to this ruling...

We are not too happy with this ruling, as we believe it will effect the small to medium sized ISP more than the dominant market leaders who have historically been aledgeded to be reluctant to hand out MAC codes (one reason for this charge), it may cause the relationship between customer and ISP to break down as the customer may feel unfairly treated if they simply wish to no longer use any kind of ADSL service at all.

We understand the charge has been introduced as explained in * and ** but we are not convinced the process has been thought through carefully.

We respect the ruling and must abide by it.

If you would like to raise this with OfCom then visit http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

Regards.

Green ISP.

***Prices quoted are correct at the time but may change if telecoms strategic review policy changes.
Please see http://www.greenisp.net/