Virginmedia Alternative ?

shahpur

hi , can anyone help me , i currently am with Virginmedia and get charged around £30 for their phone and broadband service .

I phoned for a better deal , they will not discount the price but said they could add a TV package for free (which i do not want ) but want to sign me up for 12 months.

I was with BT but the line was cut by mistake in the house by a decorater ( around 7 years ago ) , i was wondering if

1- If there is any other broadband providers which use the Telewest line
2 - If i was to reconnect the wire to the old BT line will i be able to sign up to a cheaper service or would i have to contact BT to " TURN it On"
any help would be appreciated
shahpur

Coops025

Hi,

Well i have Phone and BB (2Meg) with Virgin that costs me £15.50 per month which is cheap and works great for me.

I'm not sure why you are paying so much but think about this, if you go back to BT they will charge you to have your line re-connected and its not cheap!!! This is one of the main reasons i choose Virgin.

Didnt bother with the TV package as there are not much more channels than freeview also the prices couls not be justified for some more junk channels IMO.

I seem to find that if your an exsisting customer with most comms companys they wont give you discount unless........ You cancel and say "hey im a new customer give me a deal" Check there website for deals and grab them, thats what i did.

spiro

The current offering for the Large bundle of BB & phone (excluding sign on discount) is £25 per month (£11 phone and £14 for 10Mb BB). Phone includes unlimited weekend UK landline calls. Ask them why you cant go on this tariff.

BT_company_representative

Hello shahpur,

As the BT line has been inactive for 7 years (and was damaged by the decorator) you will probably have to pay a connection fee if you choose to go with BT for your landline service, and this costs £ 122.33 incl. VAT.

The actual service charges will vary depending on what package you choose - BT broadband and landline packages have 3 different options each that you can choose from, so if you choose BT you'll need to see which one benefits you most.

If you want more details they can be found on our website:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/

Cheers

Stephanie
BT Support

Quentin

shahpur wrote: »

If i was to reconnect the wire to the old BT line will i be able to sign up to a cheaper service or would i have to contact BT to " TURN it On" any help would be appreciated

You don't have to use BT. If you do they will tie you to a minimum 12 to 18 month contract, and if the quoted figure above of £122.33 is correct then they aren't competitive.

Other companies can install a bt line for you at cheaper cost.

eg. Post Office will do it for £107.66, and have no minimum term contract.

macman

Get the BT line fixed yourself (the internal wiring beyond the master socket is your responsibility, not BT's)-any local electrician or handyman can do this for you if you can't fix it yourself.
If the line is then physically in good order and has a working master socket, then BT will only have to reconnect at the exchange and may not charge you the full £122+.
You can't get any other broadband down the Virgin cable, all other ISP's require a BT line because they use the ADSL service.

Quentin

It makes no difference whether they are able to restart a stopped line or do an installation, if you get BT to do it, then you have to enter a minimum 12 month contract.

If a line is just stopped, then the other companies doing installations can do this too, though without the long term contract.

jhp

BT will connect you for £29.99 if you take a 18 month contract.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=19607959&postcount=1200

mazza111

IF you are out of contract with Virgin Media call them up and get a better deal. You would get the free tv package with them too. So your not really saving anything with them. If you are not out of your 12 month contract then beware that you will still need to pay some money to get out of this. Again, as I've stated many times b4, if you are out of contract with VM, call them up and ask to disconnect, even better if you mention sky and BT. They will try and find the best deal for you.

Quentin

jhp wrote: »

BT will connect you for £29.99 if you take a 18 month contract.

Pity the rep from BT couldn't have said that when answering the query in her post above!

Her sig says she is allowed to post here to "help" solve queries!!

MORPH3US

Its disgusting that BT charge so much to flip a switch AND then tie you into a long contract just to add insult to injury....