NTL users take note!!

[mark.t]

personally i think virgin is better than sky. Sky have realised this and have put sky one as bait on the hook and seeing how many people follow it.

Cable all the way !

ditto

 

[HughJarse]

12.4Kb I get better than that on my mobile phone, at 52Kb on my landline which is soooooooo slow if you only get 12.4K I would ask BT/SKY for a full refund. This year Virgin will bring out 100Mb broadband which BT based services can never match with current technology

As I didn't know where you lived I generalised the picture on distances, this has long been a contention with BT based Broadband services.

I was only pointing out that SKY and any other compnay that specify broadband speeds of upto 16mB from two pieces of copper wire are not able to get very good connection speeds. If you do You must live very close or in an area with a low contention ratio. If you are the only person on that connection in your area you will get very good results. If however 10 people are online at the same time downloading the speed cans drop to less than dialup speeds. This is not the case with NTL/Virgin to the same degree.

If you added the Sky HD package you would, in your case be paying £3pm more than me plus £299 upfront fee for the box. plus the cost of installation. Also how much did SKY charge for the broadband connection setup £50.00 ?

i have just checked and for all the above on Sky as a new customer would cost £73.50pm plus a one off £299 for HD, this equates to an all round figure of £98.42pm for the first year. and then an extra £50py for the box insurance, as you own the box, NTL will replace the box for free even after the first year.

So I do think I am winning still

LOL you dont give in do you.
Sky charged me NOTHING for my broadband setup ( they arent like Virgin you see)
I have no download speed problems - ever, I dont need insurance they replace it free ( this has already happened )
AND as for HD, just tell me what HD you get?
I think Id be correct in saying BBC... youre paying all that for HD BBC

Oh and the icing is I can watch High definition LOST, 24 Battlestar Galactica, Sky Sports football.

Now I appreciate this debate must come to an end and ultimatley its each to their own and I thoroughly believe that eveyone is entitled to their own opinion, but youre wrong Youre paying for a pseudo service really arent you. Yes it may get better, but currently its all slightly false.

 

[ckember]

I can watch BBC, Movies, 4OD, Sports, Music and I can watch them when ever I want as the V+ service allows me to download them.

You still had to pay for the HD box install???

My sister in law has had Sky BB installed which she had to pay for and it hasn't worked for two months.
I had Sky TV, and after the box warranty runs out, standard 1 year from installation, you have to pay for a replacement ot take out sky's cover, My father had to do this last month when his box failed.

NTL have not charged for my BB setup either.

Did you know that Virgin also supply channels to Sky, which if they cut them would leave you with less the me.

I AGREE each to their own but having been a customer of both, apart from the original NTL customer services being S**T, Virgin seems to have improved things I will stick with what I have. The new V+ box is much better that Sky+.

Now if you want to talk about a c**p service try TUTV anytime, they still haven't got a setup box that does what it should when you ask it to, and they dont have BB either.

 

[pammy]

One of my staff have had Virgin halve their monthly rental for losing the Sky channels. Valid for 6 months Good deal!

 

[Spinal]

12.4Kb I get better than that on my mobile phone, at 52Kb on my landline which is soooooooo slow if you only get 12.4K I would ask BT/SKY for a full refund. This year Virgin will bring out 100Mb broadband which BT based services can never match with current technology

So I do think I am winning still

As much as I would LOVE a 100mb line; frankly I doubt this will happen anytime soon. Even before Telewest merged with NTL there were talks of 50mb and 100mb lines available to the public starting in 2006...

Say what, if Virgin release a 100mb line by the end of 2007, I'll buy you a beer!

Michele

 

[Swiss Toni]

I'm a cheapskate who appears more on the telly than watches it.

So

I moved to £19.95/month for Freeview TV, 2MB BroadBand and M Telephone, plus £10/month for the 300+300SIM.

 

[Carrotchomper]

I'm a cheapskate who appears more on the telly than watches it.
I moved to £19.95/month for Freeview TV, 2MB BroadBand and M Telephone, plus £10/month for the 300+300SIM.

I did miss the point completely there and was going to ask what you'd appeared in, but clearly the point is that you don't watch much telly. Duh! It's late...

Do Virgin still do the "Free TV" element? I am seriously considering amending my package as currently pay £40 for M phone, M bb and XL TV. And that was advertised in the paper today for £30!

I would certainly consider Free TV as Freeview has almost all the channels I need, apart from bad reception, so that would be ideal.

Keep trying to psyche myself up to call them and thrash out a decent deal!! Tomorrow maybe. Thinking the V+ is quite tempting since apparently it upscales ALL output, not just HD.

Do let me know, I'd be terribly interested.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Do Virgin still do the "Free TV" element?

Small print on TV ad last night said they do - it's M that comes free with the line rental.

I am seriously considering amending my package as currently pay £40 for M phone, M bb and XL TV. And that was advertised in the paper today for £30!

IIRC I managed to negotiate exactly the same package to £28 (well £37 with a £9 rebate).

Keep trying to psyche myself up to call them and thrash out a decent deal!! Tomorrow maybe. Thinking the V+ is quite tempting since apparently it upscales ALL output, not just HD.

BD's top tip: When you phone make the selections for "I'm thinking of leaving" - you'll go to the team that have greatest dispensation to make you happy - which should mean the most competitive deal they can offer. I think I made a note of the key presses towards the top of this thread.

Good luck!!

 

[Carrotchomper]

Result!

Just spoken to a very nice lady called Nicky. No begging, pleading or threats required. Basic package has come down from £40 to £30 a month.

Asked about V+, I can have this for an extra £10 a month, basically what I am paying now without it. And no installation charge! The only thing that stopped me from biting their hand off was the current 4 week waiting list for installation Why can't they just courier it out, I'd plug the bloody thing in for them FOC!

That was a worthwhile phonecall!

 

[mark.t]

gone for the v+ box myself ....2 nd April fitting date......

 

[Carrotchomper]

gone for the v+ box myself ....2 nd April fitting date......

I have now thrown caution to the wind and decided that having HD and other goodies will enhance my life more than saving £10 a month .

So I've signed up to V+. Fitting date is April 23rd.

How did you get yours so quickly? Or did you sign up ages ago?

Only concern of mine is tying myself into a further 12 months but I'm given to understand there is a certain amount of flexibility here and there. AND NO FITTING CHARGE!! I reckon all in all that's a pretty good deal- Broadband, phone, loads of TV channels, HD and v+ for £40 a month.:bannana:

 

[scotth_uk]

I've had V+ for a while now and my only complaint is that the channel changing is slower than a sky box!

 

[mark.t]

I have now thrown caution to the wind and decided that having HD and other goodies will enhance my life more than saving £10 a month .

So I've signed up to V+. Fitting date is April 23rd.

How did you get yours so quickly? Or did you sign up ages ago?

Only concern of mine is tying myself into a further 12 months but I'm given to understand there is a certain amount of flexibility here and there. AND NO FITTING CHARGE!! I reckon all in all that's a pretty good deal- Broadband, phone, loads of TV channels, HD and v+ for £40 a month.:bannana:

phoned up last tuesday put phone on speaker ....washed up ....tidy kitchen ...and front room ...ran a bath ...got in ...reading book ...and all of a sudden " hello virgin do you have your account number " they have a lot of people signing up for the v+ box and mine was the luck of the draw....but somthing worrying came through the post from virgin .......all about the v+ box and installation ...all about runing cables across your garden and how they leave it as they find it ,,,,hope its not another cable in my garden .....

 

[Carrotchomper]

Oh dear, more cables! TBH I was initially mystified by the fact they couldn't just courier the box and do a swap-over- The only connection is a screw-fitting. Obviously by the fact it takes 40mins and requires more cables it isn't!

I suspect that they are deluged in general at the moment, and people are trying to get whatever they can free, hence the delays. And V+ is very heavily promoted on the TV guide etc. I'm not too fussed about waiting 4 weeks, I'm still very very chuffed about getting such a good deal

And hopefully after the Used Car Roadshow on Sunday I will have a shiny new Merc to play with, to keep me occupied in the interim :bannana:

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The girl I spoke to was great and looked into lots of different options.

We've kept the same broadband (L), same telephone (M), and TV upgraded to XL (previously M), and the bill has come down from £41.50 plus calls to £29.00 plus calls. Happy with that.

I didn't want the TV upgrade but it seems it's not costing us anything, and there was nothing to be saved by downgrading it.

She also said there's no minimum period so could always change again later I suppose - anyone else told the same?

My Orange mobile phone contract hit 18 months yesterday. I called and asked about matching a deal that Virgin's offering, and they said "Call back tomorrow, not much we can do until after 18 months"

Called back today and Orange couldn't even get close, so I've cancelled my contract with them, and registered for Virgin's deal - SIM only (no phone) with 300 minutes and 300 texts per month for £10. Unused minutes and texts even rollover.

Best of all, there is no minimum term - I can cancel at any time. They do advise you not to cancel within 48 hours of a payment being taken, else they may still charge you that payment.

The cancel-any-time thing is great though, as it gives me the flexibility to get a new contract elsewhere when the next-big-thing comes along should I choose too. In the meantime I'll just settle for good value!!

The deal ends on 31 January 2008 (supposedly) so act quick if you're interested.

 

[Spinal]

Problem with Virgin (should you choose their broadband) is their sneaky bandwidth limits...

I'm on the XL package, so I should get 20megs downstream... not "up to" - a full 20 megs...

In reality, between 16:00 and 24:00 I get something like 768kbps in theory (which in reality is closer to 128kbps)... why? Because I've downloaded "too much" during that time! It seems like something as simple and innocend as a linux image will put you over the limit...

Humbug I say! Now I'm forced to use them because I don't even have a BT line anymore and can't change to BeThere...

Michele

 

[Sp!ke]

Yup, they are throttle shaping for certain activities. (If you create a VPN tunnel elsewhere and run your download through that, you get full speed again)

I've been with Virgin/Blueyonder for ages and despite the pain in changing over to BT for broadband and getting a dish etc I'm getting very close to jumping ship.

Regular outages for internet and email, truly awful support when it does go down (that you pay for) and tv service that frankly doesnt offer much more than freeview.

I've just got my landline back up after a 10 day outage... grr. Not good enough.

My problem is I live in an area where outside arials and dishes are banned.

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

I've been with Virgin/Blueyonder for ages and despite the pain in changing over to BT for broadband and getting a dish etc I'm getting very close to jumping ship.

Thanks for that advice - it is very timely as I am with Tiscali who are probably the worst of the lot, and I need to decide who to change to. Virgin Media had been an option.

I will have to install a second BT line, then start a new ADSL account on the new line, then cancel Tiscali ADSL and get BT to transfer the old BT phone number to the new line, all because Tiscali have unbundled the local loop and won't give me a migration code. OFTEL aren't interested despite having the case referred to them six times over the last 18 months.

I have Sky TV and wondered if Sky broadband was any good? Or is it afflicted by the same "(un)fair use policy" as Tiscali?

If so, I guess it has to be BT for me.

I'm lucky; I live close to the telephone exchange and regularly get download speeds of 12-16 MBps (or whatever the unit is) but Tiscali throttles that back to dial-up speeds if I so much as dare look at a video on YouTube. Ba5tard5!!

 

[Spinal]

Strange you mention that Spike! I've had similar problems and am thinking of jumping ship too!

I was thinking of getting a second BT line (its £11 a month) and paying for BeThere's £22 package (24mb down, 2.5mb up). It would cost me £33 pounds a month, still £2 cheaper than what I pay Virgin!

I could keep this a few months, try it, check it and make sure its all set up and happy... then I just cancel Virgin!

Michele

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Phoned Virgin last night - selected "thinking of leaving" - said the cost is creeping up, and I thought the package wasn't competitive - landline calls took monthly cost up to £60 in recent months.

Net result was all landline numbers now included, same TV, Broadband (incl AV), new box (HD), re-routing MODEM from upstairs office, to downstairs living room.

Price: £44 per month, no installation or call out charges.

Not bad I thought.