Worth changing from Virgin to another broadband provider?

[staffordjas]

Been with Virgin Media since 2007 and at the moment getting a decent broadband connection. But with this months bill suddenly leaping up in price was wondering whether to stick with them or think about looking for alternative providers.

Any recommendations for alternative providers or advice on which ones to avoid please ? Or would you just stick with what I've got while it's plodding away ok and accept the hike in price ?

(After the ongoing fiasco/cock-up with my mobile phone contract with them, and now this higher line rental charge , I am rapidly going off everything to do with Virgin! )

 

[number9]

depends on your needs.
you could always cancel, and make sure you cancel, then the retentions team will contact you in your months notice and offer you a better deal. if you take it, be aware you might be contracted for another 12 months even if they say you aren't, so makesure the reduction suits you.

I only have broadband with virgin. I get my tv elsewhere, and don't need a phone. virgin suits my needs.

 

[sarsaparilla]

Been with Virgin Media since 2007 and at the moment getting a decent broadband connection. But with this months bill suddenly leaping up in price was wondering whether to stick with them or think about looking for alternative providers.

Any recommendations for alternative providers or advice on which ones to avoid please ? Or would you just stick with what I've got while it's plodding away ok and accept the hike in price ?

(After the ongoing fiasco/cock-up with my mobile phone contract with them, and now this higher line rental charge , I am rapidly going off everything to do with Virgin! )

The only reason I stay with Virgin on the ridiculous is because I think they are the only providers with You tube and I like a lot of the old stuff .. also they reduced my monthly subscription by £20 to stay for another 12 months. They are not a patch on Sky otherwise in my opinion and, from what I remember, you only have to go as far as Scotland to communicate with them ...

 

[Glam]

Just looked at my most recent bill. £73. Thats for 100 mega doodahwotsits. Phone and the XL telly package.
Half the telly is repeats, only use the phone when I have no credit on the mobile, but we do use the tinternet an awful lot.

 

[sarsaparilla]

That sounds very expensive. I would ring them to see if u can get a better deal ... if u can bear going through all the menus ... and listening to screeching gorillas while u wait for one of their team to answer. Tell them you are thinking of going to Sky. I did and got a reduction. Like u say, it's all repeats anyway.

 

[staffordjas]

We don't use the Virgin TV (except the occassional catch-up on Corrie) as all the channels I've got are on freeview anyway. We only use the phone to ring them for free with problems. The inclusive calls to 0845 numbers is useless nowadays as everyone seems to have changed to 0345 instead ! But the package they offered for us to stay with them last time was cheaper if we kept the phone and TV on than if we just had the broadband.

I got an 18 month £4 'loyalty reduction' until June 2016 when I last rang to cancel it in Dec 2014 , as well as reduced price for the same package when their retention team stepped in to convince us to stay with them. Ended up staying with them for another minimum 12 month contract (so that's up now) but no mention on the paperwork for the contract of a price hike after 12 months.

Googling has brought up a line rental rise due in February , but they have for some reason whacked my December bill up (received an email today). And of course I went to look at my on-line account....'service unavailable at the moment'.

Leaving the phoning to hubby on this one, I've wasted most of christmas tearing my hair out on the phone to Virgin Mobile and it's still not bloody sorted. Thinking maybe some nasty little person in that team has had a hand in this price increase because I've cancelled the 2 mobile contracts when they came up for renewal (or at least tried many times to cancel, but they keep creating new unwanted ones ) I forecast more fun and games in January if they come to take money out of all these new direct debits they've been busy setting up and I've been busy cancelling as they appear on my bank account...

 

[tek-monkey]

What do you need? I pay 24 quid for top end fibre bb but I don't watch TV, can find deals on most things if I know what you need.

 

[sarsaparilla]

That is very useful to know thanks! Happy New Year!

 

[sarsaparilla]

We don't use the Virgin TV (except the occassional catch-up on Corrie) as all the channels I've got are on freeview anyway. We only use the phone to ring them for free with problems. The inclusive calls to 0845 numbers is useless nowadays as everyone seems to have changed to 0345 instead ! But the package they offered for us to stay with them last time was cheaper if we kept the phone and TV on than if we just had the broadband.

I got an 18 month £4 'loyalty reduction' until June 2016 when I last rang to cancel it in Dec 2014 , as well as reduced price for the same package when their retention team stepped in to convince us to stay with them. Ended up staying with them for another minimum 12 month contract (so that's up now) but no mention on the paperwork for the contract of a price hike after 12 months.

Googling has brought up a line rental rise due in February , but they have for some reason whacked my December bill up (received an email today). And of course I went to look at my on-line account....'service unavailable at the moment'.

Leaving the phoning to hubby on this one, I've wasted most of christmas tearing my hair out on the phone to Virgin Mobile and it's still not bloody sorted. Thinking maybe some nasty little person in that team has had a hand in this price increase because I've cancelled the 2 mobile contracts when they came up for renewal (or at least tried many times to cancel, but they keep creating new unwanted ones ) I forecast more fun and games in January if they come to take money out of all these new direct debits they've been busy setting up and I've been busy cancelling each one as they appear on my bank account...

Men are very useful for that kind if thing I must say.

 

[staffordjas]

What do you need? I pay 24 quid for top end fibre bb but I don't watch TV, can find deals on most things if I know what you need.

We don't need the TV or landline. I only use the laptop for Stafford Forum and a few other forums, checking bank balance, booking holidays etc for and hubby only looks at his facebook occassionally and footie forum. Don't really know how many Megabytes I'd need for all that . (Oh and hubby gets the odd footie matches )

Son uses his desktop a lot when he comes home though , so not got the foggiest how much he'd be using .

I noticed BT had packages for either so many megabytes, or unlimited useage. Kept wanting me to put my phone number in though to find a suitable package, and no way do I want my new phone numbers being bombarded with calls .

 

[markpa12003]

I'm with BT; phone, TV and Internet. My current monthly bill is £47. Over the past 2 years it has continually increased to the point now where by I am considering going elsewhere.

 

[bpelectric]

The recent communication i had from Virgin tells me my BB is going from 20 meg to 70 meg in march free of charge

 

[tek-monkey]

We don't need the TV or landline. I only use the laptop for Stafford Forum and a few other forums, checking bank balance, booking holidays etc for and hubby only looks at his facebook occassionally and footie forum. Don't really know how many Megabytes I'd need for all that . (Oh and hubby gets the odd footie matches )

Son uses his desktop a lot when he comes home though , so not got the foggiest how much he'd be using .

I noticed BT had packages for either so many megabytes, or unlimited useage. Kept wanting me to put my phone number in though to find a suitable package, and no way do I want my new phone numbers being bombarded with calls .

Just done a quick check for a mate. Best options I can see right now are:

SSE
Fibre + weekend calls
Free for first 6 months, £33.50 after that (18 month contract)
£100 quidco cashback

Talktalk
Fibre + line rental
17.70 a month for 12 months then 27.70 for the last 6
£110 quidco cashback

For both I have assumed the 38Mb fibre on an unlimited package.

 

[staffordjas]

Just done a quick check for a mate. Best options I can see right now are:

SSE
Fibre + weekend calls
Free for first 6 months, £33.50 after that (18 month contract)
£100 quidco cashback

Talktalk
Fibre + line rental
17.70 a month for 12 months then 27.70 for the last 6
£110 quidco cashback

For both I have assumed the 38Mb fibre on an unlimited package.

Do you need a BT line to have Talk Talk ?

 

[tek-monkey]

Do you need a BT line to have Talk Talk ?

Yeah, but iirc installation was only £25.

 

[staffordjas]

Yeah, but iirc installation was only £25.

Thanks , will have a look into that.

 

[Perrier]

Im on 200 meg fibre from virgin , medium tivo tv package with another box in the kids room.
Phone is included but never use it.
I pay £55 monthly at the moment as i got a welcome offer , should be around £70.
Having come from a rural village where the top speed was around 4 meg and paying for sky and having to have a phone line because broadband could only be provided through the line , i would say the package im on now is deffo good value.

 

[tek-monkey]

Thanks , will have a look into that.

Don't forget quidco, brings it down to about £16 per month on average.

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

I'm with Sky and pay £17 a month for unlimited internet, I have a phone line but don't use it and just normal freeview telly!

Cheap as chips!

 

[db]

We don't need the TV or landline.

and therein lies my beef with every ISP other than virgin.. the only people who have landlines these days are businesses, and old people.. until i moved into this new house (not a virgin area) i hadn't had a landline for over 10 years.. they are redundant in this day and age.. but because i can't get virgin, i had to let BT install a landline in my nice, shiny new house, and i am forced to use ADSL.. which means i'm paying £18 a month line rental or whatever it is for a phone i don't and will never have

thankfully, i shall soon be moving to a proper part of stafford, that is properly cabled and i shall be free from copper based ADSL shenanigans once again!