TV cheaper with Virgin than Sky?

Pia · 06-09-2008, 19:14

Okay i didn't know which section to post this in so i'm sure it will be moved

Also, i guess this makes me lazy as I know I could have easily researched this for myself but I do prefer to have opinion more specific to me

At the moment i pay this:

Line Rental & Talk Int & Talk Mobile (i need neither) Â£14.00
BB Large Â£25
Call barring + Caller display Â£3.50
Talk Unlimited Â£7.95
= Â£49.45
with a loyalty discount of Â£19.46

Â£30.99 total

My question is........

I also pay Â£22 for Sky tv, i get all except disney/sports/movies

Could i get a package cheaper with Virgin to include the TV?

Although not keen on the idea of Virgin for telly but could live with it if i was to save money

I see all these offers for Virgin tv but they have the very basic channels, i'd want the same channels if i was to move!

Charlie_Bubble · 06-09-2008, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

Okay i didn't know which section to post this in so i'm sure it will be moved

Also, i guess this makes me lazy as I know I could have easily researched this for myself but I do prefer to have opinion more specific to me

At the moment i pay this:

Line Rental & Talk Int & Talk Mobile (i need neither) Â£14.00
BB Large Â£25
Call barring + Caller display Â£3.50
Talk Unlimited Â£7.95
= Â£49.45
with a loyalty discount of Â£19.46

Â£30.99 total

My question is........

I also pay Â£22 for Sky tv, i get all except disney/sports/movies

Could i get a package cheaper with Virgin to include the TV?

Although not keen on the idea of Virgin for telly but could live with it if i was to save money

I see all these offers for Virgin tv but they have the very basic channels, i'd want the same channels if i was to move!

I could never get caller display when I had NTL as my phone provider.

Pia · 06-09-2008, 21:13

Think it depends on the area?

lemarsh · 06-09-2008, 21:22

I had a Virgin Broadband (M) & Phone, and was paying Â£19 (discounted from Â£27), plus Â£22 for Sky (all packages, but no movies or sports).

Swapped over to Virgin TV, and now have Broadband L (10 meg as opposed to 2), XL Package (Virgin's package of roughly same channels)*, and Phone - and also V+ box (in my opinion better than Sky+ - and as my Sky+ box kept loosing stored programmes, and Sky wanted to charge to to repair or replace, better to 'rent').

Total Cost was Â£36 now, as opposed to Â£41, and about to rise Â£49.

*Sky 1, News & Sports News not included, by do have BBC HD, Setanta Sports & Music on demand, which I am loving at the moment! Also BBC iplayer.

Pia · 06-09-2008, 22:08

Well at the moment i don't want to lose my loyalty pack as it includes Talk Unlimited so i'm worried that adding TV to my package would affect everything i'd have to ring them i guess...

I am just looking at the VM site and it looks like their equivalent to my Sky Â£22 package is the XL at Â£19.50? Everything except Sky One??
(edit: oops you said that above)

I'm paying Â£53 for everything at the moment, i like Sky though (when it's not torrential rain/wind

) so i'd want to be saving around a tenner a month to want to change!

---------- Post added at 23:07 ---------- Previous post was at 23:05 ----------

BB on my bill is listed a L but mine is only 4 meg, how come you get 10?

---------- Post added at 23:08 ---------- Previous post was at 23:07 ----------

Bah i don't have Sky+ i'm sure they'll offer me one if/when i ring to leave though, so i should prepare myself for the dilemma

joglynne · 06-09-2008, 22:50

I can't really advise you on any thing to do with prices but the 4Mb BB is in the process of being upgraded to 10Mb. I have checked the upgrade schedule and it's saying that Darlington has been done.

Double check what speed you're getting by going here (login should be root/root) and on the Operation Config. page you should see 'Maximum Downstream Data Rate : 10240000' which is 10Mb

Pia · 06-09-2008, 23:20

OH! LOL Yeah i have 10mb wow i wonder when that happened

Saying that, i had noticed ridiculous amounts of traffic shaping at peak hours, but i didn't think it came as a result of an upgrade. I had been impressed with my speed for the most part but i didn't think i was on 10mb

---------- Post added at 00:20 ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 23:55 ----------

Quote:

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:19:23 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 1930 ms = 530.6 KB/sec, approx 4372 Kbps, 4.27 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 2044 ms = 501 KB/sec, approx 4128 Kbps, 4.03 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 1783 ms = 574.3 KB/sec, approx 4732 Kbps, 4.62 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 3759 ms = 544.8 KB/sec, approx 4489 Kbps, 4.38 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 4430 Kbps, 4.33 Mbps

lol... off topic, i know

JethroUK · 07-09-2008, 09:58

if you dont want talk mobile i think you can get

XL TV
L Phone (eve & weekends)
L BB (10 meg now?)

Â£35

Pia · 07-09-2008, 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by JethroUK

if you dont want talk mobile i think you can get

XL TV
L Phone (eve & weekends)
L BB (10 meg now?)

Â£35

Hmmmm...

So Â£35 plus the Â£3.50 i spend on the barring/display = Â£38.50 meaning a saving of just under 15 quid.

I think that's probably worth switching for, it just means talk unlimited becomes TU on evening/weekends only, right??

I'll give VM a ring tomorrow if i get chance after work - also interested to see what Sky offer to try keeping me, i've been a customer for 5.5 years with not even a late payment.

lemarsh · 07-09-2008, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

also interested to see what Sky offer to try keeping me, i've been a customer for 5.5 years with not even a late payment.

My guess is nothing. They are totally un-customer focused. If it follows like I did, they will put obstacles in the way, as opposed to incentives to keep you.

Even if VM went bust tomorrow, and Sky offered free re-connection, I wouldn't go back.

tvtimes · 08-09-2008, 11:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemarsh

My guess is nothing. They are totally un-customer focused. If it follows like I did, they will put obstacles in the way, as opposed to incentives to keep you.

Even if VM went bust tomorrow, and Sky offered free re-connection, I wouldn't go back.

Agreed! When i left Sky they said "Bye then, see you in 12 months enjoy your services with Telewest!" Blatant sarcasm on their part! Well nearly 4 years on and i haven't gone back! Wonder if that girl still works there!

Arthurgray50@blu · 09-09-2008, 16:29

VM will always be cheaper than Sky, BUT, with Sky you get more channels for your money, I have Sky multiroom, and have now two boxes, with all the channels, it costs me 60.00 per month, but if l had VM in all the rooms, it would cost me Â£40.00 and this includes phone and BB, BUT with VM they take channels off, whereas Sky don't unless the channel goes bust, but value for money has to be Sky, especially for its Sports and News (where you can get six stories separately on) and with the Sports you get separate via the red button, whereas with VM you don't.

Pia · 25-10-2008, 21:17

Okay so i called Sky a while back now and told them i wanted to cancel as i wanted to go with Virgin for all 3 services, one hour later and she talks me out of cancelling even though they offered me a rubbish 3 month deal of a downgraded packge @ £3 per month....

I declined the offer and said i wanted to still cancel but she told me to go and think about it as i didn't seem to have made my mind up

Before this though, i had already arranged for VM TV to be installed @ £30, costing around £13 per month for the Sky equivalent of £22 per month.

I forgot to call Sky back, to give my 30 days notice and today the VM installer turned up to install my cable TV.... Now i have both services and my plan to save money hasn't worked at all because i'm going to have to pay Sky for this next month that i'm not even using it

I'm thinking about cancelling my direct debit for Sky and writing a letter to say i wanted to cancel ASAP and was guilted out of it so can i please have it disconnected as of now... and hope to get away with paying them for the 30 day notice period!

As for the Virgin TV, i am VERY pleasantly surprised, after using it for the last few hours it appears to beat Sky hands down features-wise.

AndyCambs · 26-10-2008, 04:07

I think Virgin Media wins hands down with the Catch up TV which now includes all the BBC I-Player content. It's so very useful if you forgot to record a programme. (and where there's nothing on television to watch - but you scan what has been on in the previous week). That's worth the change really.

MrB · 26-10-2008, 09:15

Catch up would be even more excellent if they managed to secure the ITV and Five catch up services as well - any news if/wen this is likely to happen (this is where I go onto the next thread and find the answer no doubt ...

).

MrB