Digital TV Cost Cutting Article - Discuss What You've Been Offered

badmanj

I'm thinking of either joining Sky or Virgin - I need a package that will give me unlimited broadband, include national calls all the time and give me hidef TV - though I don't care about movie or sport channels.

As a full package, Sky looks to be better value at the moment but the setup/box costs are high. I'm sure I saw on here somewhere a few weeks back a way of getting £150 of the setup costs reimbursed as part of some cashback scheme - does anyone have a link to that info - I can't find it anywhere.

Also if anyone thinks maybe Virgin IS better, would be interested to hear why.

For the package on Sky it's £46 per month plus £229 setup costs.

If I phone Sky rather than do this online am I able to get a better deal do you think?

Thanks,

Jamie.

BexTech

VM is best for broadband, it is unlimited, though they do throttle the connection for 5 hours if you download too much during the hours of 16:00 - 21:00. See: http://stm.brion.me.uk It still means you can download an awful lot each day / each week / each month however and not a 40GB limit or less like others even when they say unlimited.

For HD then it has to be satellite, cable only has 1 HD channel - BBC HD, satellite has 17 HD channels, though a few of these are Sport and Movies.

VM phone call charges outside the inclusive ones are very expensive, several times the cost of BT and many more than those of cheap call providers. With a BT line you can use other call providers such as Sky Talk and then also use the likes of Call 18185 for other calls so as to get cheaper calls when not calling inclusive destinations. You can use 18185 from a cable line, however it's a long access number and you don't get the same low rates as you would from a BT line.

You will usually get a better deal on Sky by going to an Authorised Sky Agent, Sky HD was £149 from them for the last couple of months or so, without the need of having to take broadband and phone.

badmanj

Thanks for the info. Regarding Sky's 'unlimited' broadband, is it severely throttled at some point in reality then? I know some ISP's say they'll throttle but actually never do. My current monthly download is in the region of about 100gb. If Sky are likely to permit this then I'm gonna sign on the dotted line. If I'm going to run in to difficulties though I might have to do my broadband separately...

Cheers,

Jamie.

badmanj

Oh - one other question - I've seen mention of using Quidco when signing up with Sky but searching for Sky on Quidco yields no results. Anyone have a direct URL to their Sky deal if it still exists? Failing that, is there an alternative?

Cheers,

Jamie.

leezuk1

Just a further note on Virgin - in an email confirming my package offer customer relations wrote:

mob Broadband with this doubling upto 4mb in the summer

so there must be firm intentions to increase the broadband speed otherwise they could not have put it in writing.

In another conversation today - they said that negotiations were open again about getting Sky channels back - less believable - but I'll hold off paying £150 for a Sky+ box just incase!

shays_mum

I just came to the end of the above offer yesterday. I really wanted to keep the movies on for kids half-term, explained i saw sky as a luxury as opposed to a necessity due to raising costs of everything!.
Without a quibble (unusual for sky - your account has no offers currently running!) they extended the same offer for another 3 months
I used the no's freely avaliable from saynoto0870.com to save a few pennies.
HTH

badmanj

Well I just did it! Bought the HD package with telephone and broadband through Comet. Cost £129 including installation - not bad at all.

Turns out Sky has withdrawn from all cashback sites so I think somewhere like Comet is the only way to get a decent discount over and above Sky's own site...

Jamie.

wifeforlife

Have been following this thread for a few weeks and thought at sky+ deals where away.

I cancelled my sky in february due to end tomorrow, I called them last Thursday to stay on my package as I felt that at £21 per month it isnt really expensive in the grand scheme of things

Well I called them today just to be cheeky and said Virgin had made me a good offer and I was determined to cancel and they offered my a sky+ box for £69.

I said I'd think about it and they guy is calling me back tomorrow, I'm going to try get it down a bit more although I'm more than happy to pay the £69

Cate

thereverend_2

Hi all new user so go easy

Thinking about getting sky package of £19 a month but would like sky+
box they've offered it me for £149 installed. Has anybody opted for skys
package recentley and recieved a better deal than this??

thanks to all in advance.

jammin_2

badmanj wrote: »

Turns out Sky has withdrawn from all cashback sites...

Yes, no more Sky at Quidco. Why?