Virgin increasing their prices again - have been with them for about 25 years or so but seriously looking at moving away from them.
Use the broadband and M+ TV (which is Tivo box) but never use the landline, ever!
BT doesnt seem that much cheaper on a like for like though can get decent cashback from Quidco to switch.
Talktalk prices seem decent and dont insist on landlines though I remember TT used to get awful reviews?
Every so often I look at moving and then cant be bothered with the hassle, not least the fact that I am not sure what I have in the way of actual phone line into the house as have been with Virgin for so long!
Anyone switched providers recently?
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Yeah, just moved to Virgin because BT was crap and expensive.
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We were looking at ditching Virgin Media before this rise, but this morning's letter will simply bring this forward. A crap service and a crap company. We are on the 200 Mbps "Vivid" package and we are lucky to get 30 Mbps most days. Drops out frequently too.
In fairness, I should have known what we were in for when they screwed up the installation. Our phone line that was supposed to "go live the next 24 hours" had been tied up and chucked in the box without being connected to anything.
Last edited by: DP on Fri 11 Aug 17 at 22:36
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VM has only existed since 2006 but was in various guises before that. My cable experience started with Telecential in about early 90s and went through being Comtel and NTL (and maybe more) before becoming VM
Anyway I have basic phone & TV and 200mb internet. I have been paying about £37 for that. My mate ditched their full package (which was costing him over £120 a month) in favour of Freeview TV with a Humax box, no landline and a much slower internet - but is saving loads.
I have no problems with their service but every year I haggle the price, and a year ago I looked at moving away. But tbh I couldn't match the value for money of the internet connection so I am happy to stay with them till a half decent cheap alternative comes along.
I'll be interested to see how your search pans out.
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Got my letter too. About £4 a month extra.
This year I forgot to setup the "pay your annual landline bill in one chunk and get a discount" thing they do. I suspect if I do that I'll save most if not all of the £4 a month.
Of course, you tie in for 12 months but that's probably ok for me.
Edit: just looked it up. Called Line Rental Saver, £16.33 a month versus £19. Helps a bit anyway.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Sat 12 Aug 17 at 08:54
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Yeah I'd forgotten that cost, on top of my monthly near-£40. That does make it sound expensive seeing as I hardly use the phone, and mostly only watch recorded terrestrial TV which I could do in a different way.
Last time I asked them how much would it save to drop the phone line. They said it would make my cost go up as it's part of a bundle.
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 12 Aug 17 at 09:10
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>>VM has only existed since 2006
yeah I think my first involvement was when they were Telewest in this area - prob nearer 20 years to 25 to be fair.
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Currently paying £54.47 , price was going up to £58.46 after the increase.
Phoned Virgin and was offered the following
£50 - same as I have just now but 100mb broadband instead of £70
£51 - as above but including a V6 box
£60 - as above but including BT Sport package
So decided to go with the £60 package, man maths says its only £1.50 more than what I was getting, going to have faster broadband (Though I think there comes a point you wont notice the difference anywhere) and I get BT Sports.
And it saves me the hassle of trying to find out if I still have a BT socket etc.
So probably a result for Virgin but I'm quite happy as well.
(Have been finding it more and more difficult to find football streams on Kodi)
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Virgin priced out all the ADSL customers a while back, and now don't even offer a service here, but in nearby Tring where they dug the streets up for cable they have a lot of customers. They are always complaining of slow speeds and outages recently running to hours. Could be a local thing.
Bizarrely, when I enquire online about VM broadband, they ask me to register my interest to inform their future cable expansion plans. As we now have FTTC I can't see them laying 4 miles of fibre out here for their share of maybe 300 houses.
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I have been using CricFree for the footy for a few years, Bobby. Like Kodi, it's getting more and more difficult. Not so much finding the match but watching it comfortably with all the buffering and adverts for betting firms which block you from getting on the screen in the first place.
I watched about 3 minutes of the Man City opener today when the screen froze. A few more long freezes and I reverted to the radio. City matches are always on Radio Manchester FM. I started with the bathroom digital wireless before it decided to start a music prog and continue on FM. Grabbed the old FM radio and then had to go to the kitchen for batteries before it would play
At least, we won!
I don't know if I can get BT sport on this set, it's independent from our Virgin Media telly downstairs and on it's own aerial. I suppose, with the radio, I can sit on the patio with a beer on a warm evening and listen......and upset my neighbour,, who is a Chelsea fanatic....pause for a spit !
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I thought the City match was on Sky Sports today. So probably available in UHD if you have Sky Q.
If you don't have Sky Sports or watch in say the pub then how can you complain about not being able to watch it properly? Sky has paid a lot for the right to show some live games.
I'd be very careful of websites allowing access to 'free sports'.... too much risk of PC getting infected with a virus or trojan.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 13 Aug 17 at 00:01
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We had fibre with Sky, and switched to Virgin, seduced by the otherwordly speed claims. What's slightly concerning now is that no other company (including Sky) is saying they can provide us with fibre according to the various checker services on their sites.
Need to hit the phones next week and talk to a human bean methinks.
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>> What's slightly concerning now is that no other company (including Sky) is saying they can provide us with fibre
No available connections in the VDSL street cabinet would be my guess.
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I'm in a fairly good location in the Thames Valley and no other provider could come close to Virgin's speed offering. I have rarely had problems with the internet and speedtest always measures the speed at about 5% over the nominal speed. Currently on 150mbs.
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I never cease to be amazed by what people will pay for these packages.
Admittedly, I have little interest in non-terrestrial TV channels, and have the separate ability to schedule and record such TV as I wish.
I can't, either, justify fibre. A copper connection at a 'nailed on and reliable' 16Mb download rate provides everything I need (quicker download would simply free up time I don't need, I can schedule downloads in the background using my NAS if I desire, and I have no trouble streaming anything I want).
So, I have unlimited broadband and unlimited anytime UK calls for the all-in equivalent (including pre-paid line-rental) of £22.50 per month.
If I ever want to back stuff up to the cloud, then the improved upload speed afforded by fibre might just cause me to migrate, but, for the time being, alternate backup provision takes care of my needs.
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At chez Zippy we have to have fiber as broadband is 1mbit on a good day and I work from home.
We have a good package from Sky at the moment which is about £45 per month with 100mb fiber max, landline, calls, Sky Q, with the 2TB box etc. Unfortunately in October this will increase to about £100 a month!
There is a real problem in this country in that special offers only apply to new customers. It stinks and gives no reason to be "a loyal customer".
My personal SIM only contract is up this month and if I stay with EE I get a price rise of inflation.
If I cancel my contract, get a new SIM from EE I get more data, a saving of a couple of quid plus a £90 Amazon voucher which effectively makes the deal half price!!
It is lunacy!
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I had an offer available for Vodafone fibre broadband (so BT Openreach really) which was considerably cheaper than BT. I phoned up BT and explain the situation and they came close to matching the deal. A bit more but we do get BT Sport Lite as well. So I renewed.
I have a SIM only deal with Vodafone (hence the offer on broadband). When I see a better deal I phone up and they let me switch. I am paying the same as I did a few years ago but get 8 times that data and Spotify.
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Thank heavens I have no interest in soccer, music or movies!
We have a fibre connection with BT (haggled down as usual) BT phone line with anytime calls included, Freeview and Freesat , via a Humax PVR, at choice and told the Virgin canvasser where to go when he called trying to offer cable. and TV for loads of money.
Virgin have just made a mess of all the pavements, in our road and locally, laying their wretched cable, but no way will I put money, however obliquely, into Branson's pocket.
Our mobiles are now both on Giffgaff: one on a £5 and the other on a £7.50 goody bag, to see what our data usage is, when we will settle on a regular recurring deal with them.
I just don't get folk paying close to a hundred quid a month for the usual rubbish TV, WITH adverts, too.
Last edited by: Roger. on Mon 14 Aug 17 at 11:54
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The marginal utility of money is lower for people who have a lot of it.
Of course some of them just act as if they have.
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What have you got against Branson Roger?
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I quite like his pickles....with a good strong cheese.
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Didn't know Branson sold pickles. Might partly explain his wealth.
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Virgin media prices up again - Zero
