Thinking of ditching BT landline/BB and going Virgin Media, am I mad?

daneccles

From my point of view, Virgin's broadband service is first rate. When they say they'll deliver xxx speed they hit it with a little over, e.g. 54mb/s, 108mb/s etc.
But billing is appalling. Every other month I seem to be calling them because they keep putting the price up. You threaten to leave and they ask why, then when you tell them the price has gone up they go away and put the price down again. This means that even if you wanted to leave you'd have to pay a termination fee that is calculated on how much of your contract is left.
And if you only have the weekend calls, for heavens sake never ever call out in the week as charges are ridiculous.
Oh, and when they offer you a speed upgrade or other little addon, ever wonder why they do that? It's because then your contract starts afresh and they've got you for another year. Despite being with them for years they got me last March with that one, and since then they have really piled on the price rise pressure.
My contract runs out next March and I cannot wait to leave them.

Gregsta

Am getting 37.20mbps with BT, I don't think its that bad  am pretty happy with them speeds.  

My router did die the other day after 8 years worth of use, they had a new one with me within two days.

Am very happy with the service they provide.

Am moving house next week, But am thinking about using sky, because I think with Nowtv films
and entertainment pack plus BT its going to cost about the same.

WhiteHartMart

I've just switched from BT to Virgin 500Mbps service as part of taking up their £99 TV/Phone/BB/Mobile bundle. I've been very happy (and the kids haven't moaned about gaming issues) since joining - adding my own router was a must and running the Superhub in Modem mode but get a solid 500-540Mbps download and 37Mbps upload now.

Plenty of capacity for the whole family now - three of us gaming at the same time and the other two streaming video etc without any issues at all.

I'm sure there will be the odd issue, there was when I was with BT but I'm happy so far.

Our Year

Ohh thats interesting re router
Which did you buy?

mikeysthoughts

Agreed. I got it at 89 but would be satisfied if it was £99. Notwithstanding the relatively poor HD picture image (see my other rants for details), the broadband, SIM and tv channels all add up to making this package very good value indeed.

WhiteHartMart

Asus RT-AC86U

mikeysthoughts

What problems did it solve for you? My Virgin Hub seems to have throughput issues when ethernet cables are plugged in (even when those connections are not active)

rob_brum

I've been with BT for years and constantly get a good 70Mbs download, no issues with two Xbox's and PC's playing at the same time etc.

There will always be people who have a good/bad story of anything..best thing to do is ask your neighbors...they will be the ones connecting to the same exchange as you and so can comment on speeds and any issues at your local exchange.

WhiteHartMart

Wireless range and speed/consistency in particular plus a much better UI for fine tuning my network and attached devices.

drinkturps

Interesting to see this gain some more traction! By way of an update, BT have refunded me over £110 for not meeting the guaranteed speed on my line. OFCOM enforce an £8 a day rebate which was pretty darn dandy.

BT are now in the process of offering me this BT Halo (rebranded Infinity) and guess what, the guaranteed speed is nearly 10Mb lower than what I am getting now!! So now they are offering a poorer guaranteed service for the same price.

Appreciate all the comments and yeah, it does depend on the area you live what your experience will be like.  I think my mind is made up.