Virgin phone vs BT

[m419]

Ok, Virgin Media must have there eyes shut or something, BT is offering line rental,unlimited calls to 01,02,03,0845,0870 numbers,free caller display and 3 calling features for £15.65 per month, when you pay line rental annually. The same service would cost £28 for Virgin phone alone and £33 for someone using Virgin phone alone with no direct debit set up. That is for XL phone,line rental,calling features package and Talk08 £2. Virgin Media seriously needs to sort it out.

[greeninferno]

yes i think they realise this though so you have to factor in the bundled Broadband and hence the speeds on offer.

If you want it standalone however , you are right there is no choice to be made.

[m419]

After doing a comparison with Sky for XL TV,XL phone and 30mb broadband it comes to about £63 or £68 no direct debit with Virgin, the same with Sky costs £67.25 with Sky HD and £72 without a direct debit, without HD it would come to £57. This is based on Sky 40mb broadband. There was a time when Cable phone services where always known to be cheaper than BT, but now it is very costly and very uncompetitive. Even with a bundle it is still costly.

[carlwaring]

Indeed. VM's phone pricing is the worst part of their service. I'd dump it if I could but it wouldn't save me anything due to the way they prices their services :(

[slowcoach]

BT phone service is carp, when I had them the calls were so quiet you spent twice as long on the call, both ends saying “Pardon” all the time. I have friends now who still have BT and the call is always so quiet, then the line will drop whilst a recording of a woman keeps repeating “Please hold the line” over and over until you are connected again, seems to go through a phase where it is happening a lot then you don't hear her for a few months.

[m419]

Yeah Virgin TV will go up if you cancel the phone. I've noticed that BT phone lines are quite low in terms of sound quality, when you mention that the line cuts out and says please hold the line, that happens when you press R or Recall on your telephone, it could also be an interference from other equipment on your line such as a Sky box or a fax machine. And that woman is Eleanor Bron, an actress who did all those recordings for BT's telephone services in the 80's when they tried to modernise BT after privatisation. The voice is famous on things like 1471 and when you dial an incorrect number.

[slowcoach]

Another Lynda Bellingham Lol, they pop up in the most unexpected places. :D

[thegrail]

I've got Virgin TiVo M+ together with an O2 telephone line (with anytime calls) and O2 broadband (about 10 Mbps unlimited) with £5 discount for having an O2 mobile and paying 1/2 price for broadband for 12 months for being a mobile customer with them over 2 years.

I looked at all of the costs in moving my phone/broadband to Virgin and it was (for me) too expensive - especially with the excessive call costs that Virgin charge.

I'd recommend anyone should do a full cost analysis to see what the best deal is. Virgin offered me a special price to switch, but it was still too expensive.

It's also worth looking to see what deals the cashback sites are offering (i.e. topcashback and quidco).

Perhaps I am lucky and I have no problems with telephone call quality.

[BenJSmyth]

Yes the Virgin phone service is not good value at all. They are making it slightly better with their VIP Collection having the Talk 08 included but if you go for the line on it's own then it is dreadfully expensive. I'm sure they don't really too much because their business is not about landline phones. They just offer it to have that service to offer in their bundles to prevent you going elsewhere.

[mark1234]

What's annoying is that not only is the phone expensive, but because of the way they bundle things together it's usually even more expensive to get rid of it.

I like the look of Vonage's VOIP service and priced up switching over earlier in the year. But once you drop the phone, VM ramp up the price of the BB/TV meaning it would actually cost quite a bit more.

Oh, and another thing... They make you pay for Caller ID! Really? Doesn't every other phone provider in the country now have that included as standard?

[m419]

What's annoying is that not only is the phone expensive, but because of the way they bundle things together it's usually even more expensive to get rid of it.

I like the look of Vonage's VOIP service and priced up switching over earlier in the year. But once you drop the phone, VM ramp up the price of the BB/TV meaning it would actually cost quite a bit more.

Oh, and another thing... They make you pay for Caller ID! Really? Doesn't every other phone provider in the country now have that included as standard?
I don't pay for it, they gave it to me for free

[mark1234]

Lucky you. I tried and failed.

[m419]

Lucky you. I tried and failed.
Speak to retentions, but it was an indian call centre that offered it to me, they said as I was a loyal customer they would stop the charge for it. Also i've also heard that Caller Display is now available in the Videotron franchise which means they might offer it free as a retentional deal to stop people leaving.