Is Virgin Broadband and phone any good?

brianben

I posted a message re Tiscali.
I had many replies and thank you to all.
I think the consensus of opinion was don't touch Tiscali!!

I can get cable where I live and Virgin offer a Broadband and phone package which is not as cheap as Tiscali but cheaper than I am paying now.
I am not a heavy user - don't download music etc.

Same question.
Has anyone had good or bad experiences with Virgin?
Many Thanks.

biglad

well i have just gone from tiscali to virgin

we had decent service from tiscali and not many probs, decent enough really

however just moved to virgin and speeds are now near 10mbps instead of 3.2 on tiscali and tv is a lot better

also call centres are in england

very pleased with virgin so far

DCFC79

Im currently with virgin media, we have all 3 with them; tv, phone and broadband (cable), we have had the broadband from when it was telewest about 8 years ago with no problems, the phone we got when telewest became virgin media with no problems at all but the thing my mum has noticed is that on the L phone package you dont get free calls on bank holidays and so the calls are charged at the normal day rate, the tv we have is the XL package and we have the V+ box which is good, we have no problems with any of the services we get,

i know biglad said all call centres are in the uk i think there may be one abroad, possibly the technical support,

smcaul

I moved to Virgin in the early summer. First had just BB and Phone, but also added the TV a few weeks ago. The products are good, but the customer service can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you will get a really good agent and other times you will get a carp one!!!

But over all I am not unhappy with them! (better then BT anyway)

jordylass

I moved to them in February only because I'm too far from the exchange for decent speeds with Talk Talk (who I was with).

Cable is much better than any broad band I could get, CS is very hit and miss and I find their packages pretty confusing.

Call costs are very expensive 7p connection I use an Orchid override but this is still more expensive for calls than on a BT service. I don’t use the house phone much so it's not a problem for me but something you might want to consider.

SailorSam

I have been with Virgin just over a year, only have the basic package to cover all three: tv, internet, and phone, Very happy always helpful

Zapp_from_Planet_Zogg

Been with NTL then Virgin for about 9 years in total.

Customer service wise, NTL were great for me, Virgin are hopeless. Tech support front line and billing front line is in India and they are utter garbage.

In terms of physical service, my cable broadband is reliable and hits its published speeds. However, the bandwidth throttling is very severe and reduces your connection by 75% for 5 hours. They are considering replacing the bandwidth throttling with application throttling which should improve things for 'legitimate' net users, but is still likely to cripple those that use the likes of 4on demand or iPlayer (as the application throttling will target P2P software).

Phone service is fairly expensive for calls (but then again I tend to use my mobile).

TV service is OK - range of channels is reasonable and the big bonus is free iPlayer access through your set top box.

Unless you get a good package deal, they are more expensive than the best priced Sky/BT combination.

Overall, would reccomend for service reliability. Would advise to stay away for customer service and broadband restrictions.

If you do move to them, be aware that after a while your old BT line will be automatically deactivated. Once this happens, you will have to pay an extortionate fee to BT to reconnect (if you decide to leave Virgin)

slummymummyof3

Check out the cash back sites before signing up to virgin as there are often good rates: cashbackkings.co.uk, quidco.com or topcashback.co.uk.

The service is great unless you have a problem and then the customer service isn't that great. However, when it works, it is good.

Look at getting a call over ride as phonecalls are expensive (particularly overseas!)

billsavings

Virgin Media Cable Phone Users can cut the cost of their chargeable landline, mobile, intl and non geographical calls by using
http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php via their 0808 Freephone Number.(Access Number Free to call from VM). Cheaper connection 4p instead of 7p, and cheaper calls.

Compare 18185 prices to VM exorbitant chargeable call prices to see the savings.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/...pdf?december08

ianian99

never had a problem in with cable