We've been with Virgin since the mid nineties for tv/phone/broadband. The price has crept up and up of course.
Whilst it's reasonably lovely to have 150Mb broadband, a recording TV box, 250 channels and a landline, we have hit, I think final straw territory now with the announcement this month of another price increase on our package to pay for a sports channel we can't opt out of and we don't want.
One option for me is to re-negotiate with them, even to get an idea. But another of course is to entirely ditch the lot and start again with another provider(s).
In all honesty, looking at what we ACTUALLY use, we only really need (in a first world sense):
- whatever you get free to air on TV these days.
- some sort of broadband at about 5Mb or more to stream stuff and get to iplayer in the expected absence of recordings
-unfortunately some sort of traditional landline, as we have patchy or no mobile signal.
So - are any of you lot on something similarly basic, and if so, ball park figures? I guess we're paying a total of about £80 a month at the minute for what we have, so there must be room for improvements?
If however, the "basic" stuff above was still about £50 a month there'd be not much incentive to change.
Edit: should add there is no BT phone line, so anything involving one of those probably needs a £500 billion install?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 21 Jul 15 at 15:27
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Whichever you choose, I recommend having a look on www.topcashback.co.uk/ for any good offers eg. currently Sky £126, BT £115, but obviously check the details.
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Good thought, although I signed up to topcashback earlier this year and have yet to have anything other than an argument, no cash back at all as yet and prices that are more expensive than just going direct for everything I've tried. Perhaps I've been unlucky.
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I've been using it a few years and no real problems that I remember - got £100+ for changing to Plusnet, and did check it was cheaper than going direct.
In fact Topcashback usually just direct you to the merchant's website, recording your click. Although I suppose there's a bit more to it than that as the merchant has to know that you're a topcashback customer so they can let topcashback know that you've bought something.
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Might give this lot a go?
www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/
or go via topcashback for £31.50 back :)
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 21 Jul 15 at 15:51
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>> Edit: should add there is no BT phone line, so anything involving one of those
>> probably needs a £500 billion install?
Err you have NO BT landline? And little or no mobile signal?
Vrigin you could get it down to £39 month.
Talk Talk will charge 50 quid for a line install, and you can get what you want for 26 quid a month.
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No, it's a Virgin line (ok, it's BT somewhere of course at some point I suppose). There was a BT line in the house when we moved in but it was killed off when we went to what was then Cambridge Cable (which became ntl which became Virgin). The CC sticker is faded now...
Talk Talk..hmmm. Dunno.
Maybe I should have phrased all this much more simply. As in:
I have 150Mb broadband, a landline and 250 channels on a tv box that records. I pay £80 a month. What do you have and are you satisfied with the service?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 21 Jul 15 at 16:02
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>> I have 150Mb broadband, a landline and 250 channels on a tv box that records.
>> I pay £80 a month. What do you have and are you satisfied with the
>> service?
I Give up. you said you didn't need that.
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Eh? Am I being unclear? Sorry.
I don't need what I have. I want to see if other people are paying significantly less and if so what they have and if it's ok for them. I do have minimum criteria outlined in the first post.
I thought I was being clear; perhaps I'm getting too old for all this forum stuff.
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If you have a Smart TV, you can also use apps such as TV Player to bring in free additional channels via the Internet.
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I pays just £12 pm for Post Orifice land line which includes free weekend calls from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday.
I pays £15 for 75Gb use to greenisp.net/ who plant a tree when you sign up :o)
I could get that [and more] from TT/Sky/EE/Minusnet etc. but I like to keep phone and BB separate, like.
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We've got Plusnet fibre (unlimited), their basic phone package (free weekend calls I think) and freeview for TV. That works fine for us, but it sounds like you don't need fibre - standard broadband at (up to) 17Mb should be ok. I would compare prices from the usual suspects for that sort of package. Should be well under £80 even after the initial offer ends.
EDIT: also got an ebay £40 PVR (SD) and use NowTV box (£20) for all the iPlayer-like services
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 21 Jul 15 at 16:30
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Thanks to the nephew and others we have literally hundreds of TV channels here. Not many are worth looking at, but it's good to have the F1 racing and big footy and rugger games sometimes, Wimbledon for the ladies (snigger) and Sky Atlantic for the Sopranos and other excellent US schlock. Yesterday is sometimes a good channel too. And all the news, RT, El Jazeera, all the usual Beeb and ITV stuff... It's a wonder I get time to waste here let alone do anything else.
In an hour and three quarters we have to waddle 300 yards down the drive for a drink in the house that is there. It's an OK life if you don't weaken I suppose. But an hour and three quarters is a long time to wait and I fully intend to jump the gun by say half an hour or even more. Tsk!
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We have plusnet on about £19, and now tv for about £7 plus a freeview box that's plenty for us.
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Watching with interest. I have been with Virgin for a very long time, and while the broadband speed is brilliant, I don't think I'm getting full value from the TV package. If it was possible to chip some channels off the package while retaining the broadband and phone as is, I would, but it doesn't seem possible in Virgins current fee structure.
Like the OP, I do not have a BT line, so I assume any change of supplier would involve a fee to Openreach for reconnection, added to which my location means to get a freeview signal I would need to install a very tall aerial.
I suspect apathy will rule and I will continue to line Mr Bransons pocket.
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>> Watching with interest. I have been with Virgin for a very long time, and while
>> the broadband speed is brilliant, I don't think I'm getting full value from the TV
>> package. If it was possible to chip some channels off the package while retaining the
>> broadband and phone as is, I would, but it doesn't seem possible in Virgins current
>> fee structure.
whats wrong with this? £38.99 a month
store.virginmedia.com/big-bundles/big-easy.html?intcmpid=bundles_home_cta_findoutmore_bigeasy
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Virgin are usually pretty good at negotiating downwards if your contract is up and you call for retentions. I keep thinking I pay a lot to them but I do have 150mb internet, two TiVo boxes and a third regular TV box. I think that comes out around £60 - £65 pm and I did do a bit work a year or so back but couldn't find much saving without quite severe degradation of service. Like the OP I pretty much only watch terrestrial but I do depend on the TiVo.
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I once paid a lot to Virgin (NTL as was) for 3 x set top boxes, broadband, phone etc. With moves at one point it was well over £100pm! But at the time Sky didn't do multi-room and this was before PVRs. And broadband was originally £25pm for 512Kbps!
I now have phone (with anytime calls) and BT fibre broadband (from BT) and Sky for the TV with sports. Total is not cheap. When I check what the equivalent is with Virgin Media it's actually more which is a surprise!
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Like Al, I'm watching this as well. We were talking about costs today at a birthday party for 4 yr old g,son. SWM was appalled to learn of our monthly cost to Virgin even though she always looks at the bill. She only seems interested in what the landline costs though.
We were on about £80 a month until we got the TIVO upgrade. Now the bill is a click over £100.
Could really do with getting it down but apathy has ruled for some time. Like Cranks and Alistair, we have no BT connection either.
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>>I think final straw territory now with the announcement this month of another price increase on our package to pay for a sports channel we can't opt out of and we don't want.
What package are you on that this applies?
I am on Virgin broadband, phone and TV but on a basic "M" TV package that doesn't have any football channels?
I am about £45 a month
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Have you a TIVO, Bobby ? I think this was the reason for our big increase. I changed because the original box kept losing recordings and , of course, it was my fault.
I rarely record anything for myself !
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Mine is £66. That's XXL broadband (150mb), 1 x 1Tb TiVo, 1 x 500mb TiVo, 1 x set top box (no recording). M+ TV (which I think is the smallest) plus £16.99 phone line rental. I get a loyalty discount of £8.
You can save nearly £40 pa by paying the line rental a year up front store.virginmedia.com/phone/about-virgin-media-fibre-optic/line-rental-saver.html. I had done this, but I realise this must have dropped off.
The loyalty bonus is as a result of negotiation with Virgin at contract renewal time.
Also get some discount on my mobile phones due to being a Virgin customer.
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I have a 12 month "deal" with BT.
"Up to" 38MB fibre (I get about 32 - 34), + phone line, + all UK calls, any time, for £17.50 per month.
The line rental was, however paid up front, with a lump sum, (including any connection fees) of £206.85.
That gives a year's total of £416.85 or £34.74 per month.
I'm not sure that we get full value for the "anytime" UK call element at £7.50 per month, as we generate few calls ourselves .
TV is via both Freesat (Humax PVR) and Freeview (TV built in tuner), both of which give catch-up TV and recording capabilities.
I would rather pay for fast BB than any commercial TV package.
The BT deal ends in December when the fibre cost escalates enormously, so I'll be looking to either change provider or see if BT will haggle.
Last edited by: Roger. on Wed 22 Jul 15 at 09:27
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Gah. Inertia setting in. Bad.
Looked at a couple of the suggestions mentioned above (and many thanks all) - best on paper so far is actually Roger's Post Office idea, I think. But a bit more research required.
The cheaper Virgin package Zero suggested doesn't include evening phone calls - only weekend ones. After much searching for their costs, it looks as if the cost of Mrs C's one hour a week phone home of a weekday evening would be an interesting (just under) £6.00 at Virgin's rates - that's what, £24 to £30 extra per month just on that one call weekly. Ow. I expect it could be negotiated back in at some price or other of course.
Post Office offer evening calls included for just £1.50 a month. But you need a BT line...so all that would have to be sorted at whatever cost.
Negotiations - already have hammered Virgin down as far as they'll go, and have the "loyalty discount" already applied as well.
Hunted out the 1997 bill - when we started we got phone, feeble 1Mb broadband and about 20 tv channels, all of which seemed marvellous at the time. Cost us £8.99 a month...seems to have crept up a bit!
To answer Bobby, it's the XL package that's going up to pay for some BT Sport thing or other we don't want. My cost has already gone up by £4.50 per month earlier this year anyway as the "annual price increase", and there'll be another similar increase next spring.
www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/news/broadband/virgin-media-increases-xl-tv-package-price-00570
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 22 Jul 15 at 11:01
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Yeah their landline call costs surprised me. Told SWMBO to use her inclusive mobile minutes for chatting.
I did read somewhere that the landline is no longer compulsory with Virgin but having it may reduce the other services, I don't know.
Also many moons ago I switched from Telecential (pre-NTL/Virgin) to an unbundled ISP and needed a BT line, and I think they did the installation for me for free. That 1) may not be true or 2) may no longer be available!
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Crankcase, if you have the XL package you have a helluva lot more channels than you said that you were needing?
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Yes, I have a Tivo box.
My package is
Broadband up to 50mb
TV - M+
Phone - M
Monthly bill £46.99
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Thanks Bob. Some ammo there for when I ring them after me holliers. VAT to add as well, I assume.
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No - that's the actual bill Ted.
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Big Easy Bundle
Talk Weekends TV Size M+ TiVo Monthly Fee Broadband Size: L (Up To 50mb)
Big Easy Bundle total
£30.00
Phone line rental
Telephone Line Rental
Phone line rental total
£16.99
Your package total
£46.99
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Directly replying to the OP.
I'm finding it more difficult to negotiate cheap renewal now that the majority of the big players are bundling more and more into their baseline offerings. I think we're not far way from the industry eating itself (as resistance to the bundling and associated cost grows).
I can't believe that I'm alone in wanting a basic, reliable broadband package, and 'phone with a cost-effective call package.
There's more than enough content on free TV, Iplayer etc. and Youtube for me to want any of the (so called) premium (i.e. additional cost) content.
I'm far from a luddite (there are five active PCs in the house, including an HTPC and various other networked devices including a smart TV).
My needs, however, are amply catered for by a reliable 16Mb broadband connection, and a phone line with anytime UK calls on it.
Whilst they keep trying to add to the bundle, I'm currently on a negotiated package with TalkTalk that gives me the above for the equivalent of £25.03 a month (given that I take advantage of the reduced pricing for paying the line rental annually in advance), with a 12 month commitment aligned to the pre-payment (the standard is 18 months).
I really wish the man-maths would justify fibre, which has recently arrived in the village, but frankly, current download speeds are more than adequate, and I don't upload enough to require faster capability in that direction (backup is done locally to a NAS drive, with irregular physical offsite dumps).
I suspect the next renegotiation will be even more difficult, and I'm preparing the ground for a migration (maybe Plusnet - i.e. BT without the bundling (as yet)).
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I thought PlusNet was owned by Talk Talk but could be wrong.
My BT 18 month contract with BT was up on Monday and on Tuesday I switched to Talk Talk in just 5 minutes with no problem at all.
Cheaper and faster broadband but today I had an email from BT with the subject header 'You need to return your kit'
On reading it carefully, apparently a lot of customers who are leaving CHOOSE to return their router and BT TV box to them for recycling.
I won't be doing that:)
Pat
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"I thought PlusNet was owned by Talk Talk but could be wrong."
Actually owned by BT
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Thanks for that CG!
I'm usually wrong....
Pat
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>> My BT 18 month contract with BT was up on Monday and on Tuesday I
>> switched to Talk Talk in just 5 minutes with no problem at all.
>> Pat
I wish you well. However...
I became so fed up with the appalling service from TT, struggling to understand people in different service centres around the world that one day I just couldn't take any more.
My phone call telling them that I wanted to start the termination process was answered with one offer after another. When I said "No, I just want to cancel. I don't want any deals, I just want to cancel", the call centre staff seemed surprised!
No doubt there are many people who are happy with TT, but if things go wrong, they can be very trying.
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>>No doubt there are many people who are happy with TT, but if things go wrong, they can be very trying.>>
True, but I've been with TalkTalk since April 2006 and, apart from a rare problem which has been sorted out quickly by a UK based call centre, been very happy, so I renewed my contract for another 18 months last November.
I did it after switching from ADSL2+ (16Mb) to 38Mb fibre, a TV service (which I don't use as I already have all the TV internet and apps services I require including Now TV) and the usual phone service.
Got all of it at half price for 18 months, plus line rental, and actually paying less than I did before just for broadband and phone....:-) Spoke to a very nice lassie in the Preston call centre who went out of her way to give me a top deal.
Average fibre download speed is 37.75Mb but I occasionally get up to 61Mb. Last reading (yesterday) was 42.34Mb...:-)
Last edited by: Stuartli on Thu 23 Jul 15 at 00:01
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I was with Talk Talk (or Tiscali as it was then) for 11 years before changing to BT 18 months ago just to get BT Sport for MotoGP.
I had very few problems in that time and the one I can remember ended up with a reduction in monthly costs so I prefer the devil I know.
Paying the subscription to the MotoGP website to watch it directly from them whenever we choose works out cheaper than paying for BT Sport too.
Pat
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>> No doubt there are many people who are happy with TT, but if things go
>> wrong, they can be very trying.
Nail on head, Duncan. Bargepole stuff in my 'umble opinion.
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>>Bargepole stuff in my 'umble opinion.
I'm with ^this^ Geyser.
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Finally got around to reviewing my cost and realised that I had forgotten to pay the annual in advance discounted line rental to TalkTalk in April, and they were also ripping me on a monthly rollover.
I have been paying £16.70 line rental, plus £20 for unlimited broadband (hahaha at 1.8mbps) and 24/7 calls to landlines.
They refused me the new customer deals, but I have switched to "Simply Broadband" which is £16.70 line rental, plus £5 a month for unlimited BB plus £7.50 for 24/7 calls to landlines and mobiles. 18 month contract. Just under £30 total. In a nutshell, £90 a year less and gained 'free' calls to mobiles.
I dare say I could have saved more by moving, but I managed a while back to 'tune' my line speed up from about 1.2 to 1.8 by getting TT to reduce the noise margin target on my connection*. I don't know whether I could easily get a new provider to do that.
*not I might add by dealing with the call centre, but by using the online support forum - the TT people on there are very good.
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Cheaper tv/broadband/landline package sought - Focusless
