Wait for BT landline or go with Virgin?

delphine22

I have recently moved into a new flat in London and have been waiting for BT to connect my phone line so that I can order my internet. They have been unbelievably slow about this. I placed an order on 23 October, an engineer was supposed to come yesterday - which is a long enough wait already - and surprise surprise, he didn't show up. I rang BT about it and they admitted it was their fault and my order had somehow been cancelled by mistake (?!). So I placed a new order with them, and a very apathetic member of their sales team told me that someone would be in touch within 2 days to arrange a new appointment and take more details. Having already waited nearly 3 weeks, I almost lost it right then and asked the lady if she couldn't possibly rush it for me. She gave a very noncommital reply, then hung up. At this point I emailed the CEO Ian Livingston for help, and received a reply shortly after saying that they would look into the matter immediately and contact me. This was earlier this morning.

My question is, should I even bother continuing to wait for BT to connect me, or give up on it all and go with Virgin Cable? I don't particularly need a land line - I just want it for the internet (I was intending to get O2 broadband). Virgin will be cheaper too. The problem is I've heard SO many bad things about Virgin Media that I'm loath to take my chances with them unless driven into a corner. I suspect I'm nearing that proverbial corner now. Also, BT were completely unable to tell me if I need to pay their sodding £124.99 reconnection charge, even though I explained to them that I do have a BT socket in my flat, the previous tenant had a phone line, and there is a dial tone when I plug my phone in. Does anyone here know if I have to pay the charge?

Thanks!

superjaggybunnet

I have never had a problem with Virgin and I have been with them for years.

Go with Virgin!

syko29793

if you have a dial tone then there is no charge to connect if BT say different then you should argue because a dial tone =stopped line. There are some cases where a stopped line is raising connection charges with BT due to the new system BT are using so ask the advisor to send off line to get you connected. If you have a dial tone then it should be free to connect

superjaggybunnet

Can someone translate that?

delphine22

Thank you for the advice both on Virgin and the BT connection charge

I had a call from BT yesterday to say that my line should be connected by the 14th and they are trying to bump up my connection date - so I'll hang on till then, but if they take any longer I'm going with Virgin. And if they try to bill me £124.99 I will definitely be kicking up a fuss!

minxtress

Hi I was with Virgin for all 3 services for 3 years in which time the cost went up and up and up and the service went down and down and down. You can never speak to an english person, they have decreased the upload speeds on thier broadband during heavy flow times, ie evenings and weekends, which is no good. They will conform this to anyone who calls them.
I switched to Bt two weeks ago, and have had much better service, although what they didnt tell me is theVision box for the tv uses 1.6mb of th broadband speed so Im back to square one as I need a fast internet speed as I work from home and my phone works using the internet.
I am basically back to square one but dont regret leaving Virgin for a second
Also you have the BT socket there, you wont need to pay to have it connected. You can do it yourself, they may howver charge you as they have sent an engineer out. Tell them you dont need one.

natters_2

I'm just about to switch to BT after being with Virgin for the last 5 years - Virgin broadband is terrible - at least once a month it goes down and can take days to sort out.

Funnily enough I got a call today from virgin promising me that I would be switched to the "brand new customers only" line which is guaranteed never to break down - when I asked why I wasn't already getting this service I was told I obviously wasn't talking to the right person, but now I was, so would I cancel the BT contract and stay.

So go with virgin if you must - but be prepared for a shoddy broadband service and useless customer service.

Mind you after jumping through loads of hoops to switch to BT and then being told I have to wait 48 hours after being connected before I can order broadband I'm not 100% sure BT is going to be any better! (I don't have a bt line at all i.e no cables, which is wht I have to wait apparently)

fayraz

I have been with Virgin for about 9 years now and have never had a problem with their broadband service. I recently upgraded to the 10MB service and the lowest speed I get is about 8MB. With ADSL I would probably get lower because I live quite far away from the nearest exchange but I am tempted to try Be Internet but need to get my BT line reconnected as I am with Virgin for phone aswell.

windra

To set things straight...Virgin ADSL is awful, virgin lose money on it and BT are really bad with them.

HOWEVER virgin cable is fantastic, their network is running waaay below capacity and the service has always been very good. Instilation for me was free when i took the broadband tv and phone package. I have never had any problems with my cable broadband, and although the cable TV does go down every so often, it's usually fairly good.

The horror stories would have been from ADSL users, i see alot of people complaining about 'virgin' but the difference between ADSL and Cable are huge, and they are completly different services, run by different departments.

Also, shortly after instilation i had a problem on my line and an engineer came out the same day and it was a weekend. I was quite impressed by this.

superjaggybunnet

I would have to repeat that I have been with Virgin for years and have never had any problems.

I think it would be very difficult to choose which to go with based on what a dozen people say based on their experiences.

Quentin

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