Early termination fee when switching from mobile broadband to home broadband

[orri]

I just moved house from a place which didn't have broadband to one where broadband is available. However, I still have some time left on my mobile broadband contract, now I thought that it wouldn't be a problem to just turn in my gigacube and transfer over to a home broadband contract, but it seems I still have to pay an early termination fee even though I'm just upgrading my contract from a lousy 5g connection to fibre. 
Obviously I understand charging me the 100 pounds if I were just cancelling the contract, or moving to a different provider, but for just wanting to get home broadband now that it is available? It seems needlessly cruel, and of course there is no reason for me to renew the broadband connection with Vodafone if I have to pay an early termination fee.
Hoping someone can help me navigate this, I would rather not have to move my contract to another provider, but cannot imagine staying with Vodafone if they insist on charging me to move from "mobile broadband"(a last resort service to get any internet at all) to actual broadband.

[AnnS · Accepted solution]

These are two separate services @orri, if you are going to agree to a broadband contact you are going to be charged for ending the mobile broadband whilst still in agreement.

Customer Services will be able to clarify this for you, there is also the Social Team here on the form, contactable through social channels here Contact Us 

[Ripshod]

How long do you have left on the mobile broadband contract?

I don't know if it's because it's a seperate service, but broadband customers seem able to upgrade speed after 12 months into the 24 month contract without penalty. I've actually done that twice now during my time here, both times over the phone. 

[Ripshod]

I think a staffer should be able to help some here. They won't be able to link your forum account yo your gigacube account so they'll ask you to contact them on social media - I feel it'll be worth doing. 

[orri]

I am 12 month into a 24 month contract. It just came as a bit of a shock for me because I obviously would've gotten a broadband contract if that had been possible for the flat I was in. They sold it as an alternative, so I thought I would have been able to upgrade when broadband became available.

Maybe because I come from a country with better consumer protection this seems worse to me than it really is.

[Ripshod]

"Maybe because I come from a country with better consumer protection"

Where are you from. This is the vodafone UK site. 

[orri]

I moved here from Iceland - I live in the UK now. Adjusting.

[Ripshod]

Welcome to the UK! Did you take out the gigacube contract whilst in Iceland as they won't be able to transfer between countries? 

It's the weekend so you may not get a response from a staffer until Monday. I'm sure they'll be able to help with it being an upgrade (side-grade) kind of thing. 

[orri]

Oh no, got the contract in London when I lived in a flat that didn't have any broadband capability. I assumed that when I moved to a place where broadband was available, I could just switch from one type of contract to the other since it's within the same provider.

If I have to pay an early termination fee, I will probably move to another provider out of spite. Seems that it is supposed to help with retention, but there is no need to charge such a fee if I'm not planning on switching providers, or even really cancelling a service, just switching from one thing that cost the same as the other. There's no installation cost for a gigacube, so what exactly are they charging me for, in this instance?

This will probably turn into an OFCOM complaint that will go nowhere, and I'll end up switching to Sky.

[Ripshod]

Out of interest, what speeds do you get with the gigacube in your situation? I know Latency can be an issue.