Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

bullfrog_2

Scots wrote: »

I'd like to move to another provider but I am worried that the VM 10mb will still be faster then anything anyone has to offer.
Can anyone who is in a position to give a comparison please tell us if ADSL is just as good as Cable ?

alzy wrote: »

I don't really care if the ADSL speed I'm going to get is slower than Virgin's fibre. I am not a heavy user that needs super high speed and unlimited downloads. Anyway, I'll share later on my new experience with getting back on ADSL after the new line is active.

Hi folks,

In relation to ADSL speed the short answer is "It depends" :-)

Your speed is dependent upon the distance between your house and the green junction box, the distance between that and your local exchange, and the quality and type of cabling used throughout.

The Primus service offers "up to" 24Mbps but few people get the maximum throughput. I've done some research and my local exchange appears to be fully upgraded so I believe that I'm likely to get 18Mbps or more - almost twice as fast as the service I have from Virgin at the moment.

If you're having a new line installed it's worth asking the engineer to assess the existing drop cable and to string a new one to the telegraph pole if the existing one looks obsolete or damaged. The BT wiring entering my house doesn't look like it's been touched in at least 30 years so I'll be asking for a new drop cable - I'll let you know if the broadband throughput I get is as much as I expect (and hope!).


Regards,

Bullfrog

alzy_3

bullfrog wrote: »

If you're having a new line installed it's worth asking the engineer to assess the existing drop cable and to string a new one to the telegraph pole if the existing one looks obsolete or damaged. The BT wiring entering my house doesn't look like it's been touched in at least 30 years so I'll be asking for a new drop cable - I'll let you know if the broadband throughput I get is as much as I expect (and hope!).

The distance from my house to the green box is about 15 m (not miles!)

then from the green box to the local exchange is about 500 m.

Regarding the drop cable, that's only for overground cable, isn't it? Mine is underground cable. Is it also called drop cable by chance?

3del

Scots wrote: »

Good work Bullfrog :T. Your right if more people gave VM two fingers and left their prices would plummet.

It's beena few months since I ditched their tv and landline. Not missing them at all. I kept the broadband albeit reduced to 10mb which costs me £21 a month.

I'd like to move to another provider but I am worried that the VM 10mb will still be faster then anything anyone has to offer.

Can anyone who is in a position to give a comparison please tell us if ADSL is just as good as Cable ?

I was with virgin for over 15 years, they then messed me around with a pricing rip off, i gave them every opportunity to resolve. This never happened and i went to sky phone and broadband and tv, best thing i did, in fact i find the broadband adsl better than virgins service (which they now strangle) sky much more consistant and pretty quick to, you will not notice slower (depending on your location) they suggested i would get 3meg i get more like 7 or 8 and its fine. Also much cheaper than rip off virgin, i will never return to them.

change if i was you also go through Topcash back site to sign up, get cashback deal on top of better pricing.

bullfrog_2

alzy wrote: »

The distance from my house to the green box is about 15 m (not miles!)

then from the green box to the local exchange is about 500 m.

Regarding the drop cable, that's only for overground cable, isn't it? Mine is underground cable. Is it also called drop cable by chance?

That's a nice short run. It is called a drop cable whether it is underground or overground. If you've got an underground cable then you're less likely to get a replacement but also less likely to need one as the existing cable won't have been exposed to the elements for 20 or 30 years.

alzy_3

bullfrog wrote: »

That's a nice short run. It is called a drop cable whether it is underground or overground. If you've got an underground cable then you're less likely to get a replacement but also less likely to need one as the existing cable won't have been exposed to the elements for 20 or 30 years.

I think it should be less than that as my house was built in 1995

Nicky321

With Virgin on package

M TV (not to be mistaken for M+)
L Broadband
XL Phone

Cost £35.99/month

After giving VM 30 days notice and retentions ringing back, haggling between VM and Sky, I have decided to stay with VM.

New Package offered for 12 month contract

XL TV
L Broadband
XL Phone
Free V+HD Box
New Phone Number

Cost £37.99/month

Also VM are going to ring me next week to see if they can offer me a better package with upgrade on Broadband.

Cost

DEBTMONKEY1A

Hello all,

Have been with VM for 1 1/2 yrs. Have 10mbps bb, phone with free weekend calls, XL TV & 1 (80hr) hd+ box & 2 (old boxes-no v+) upstairs.

Costs £65 PCM (inc £2-£3 calls). Hardly ever use l/line-G/F rings France twice a week (we use an override number) & also first telecom cablesaver. Seriously considering VOIP as calls free to France. 'L' tv is fine as we don't really use XL.

I work from home & the 10mps is so slow 6pm + for confirming holidays (I'm a Travel Agent) that I figure Plusnet at 20mps is better & cheaper.

Called up to disconnect-NO offer given (just said to downgrade by losing packages on tv & taking away other boxes!)....how long will it be before I get a call & am I likely to get any sort of deal??

If the do disconnect can get an aerial upgrade & have 2 freeview hd boxes anyway.

Any ideas people? Bugs me that new customers get 30mps & £100 cashback!

DealChaser_2

bullfrog wrote: »

Hi folks,

In relation to ADSL speed the short answer is "It depends" :-)

Your speed is dependent upon the distance between your house and the green junction box, the distance between that and your local exchange, and the quality and type of cabling used throughout.

The Primus service offers "up to" 24Mbps but few people get the maximum throughput. I've done some research and my local exchange appears to be fully upgraded so I believe that I'm likely to get 18Mbps or more - almost twice as fast as the service I have from Virgin at the moment.

If you're having a new line installed it's worth asking the engineer to assess the existing drop cable and to string a new one to the telegraph pole if the existing one looks obsolete or damaged. The BT wiring entering my house doesn't look like it's been touched in at least 30 years so I'll be asking for a new drop cable - I'll let you know if the broadband throughput I get is as much as I expect (and hope!).


Regards,

Bullfrog

Yes, I'd heard that the download speed over a BT line is strongly dependent on the distance from the exchange to your house. Basically this is the main factor for determining average bandwidth speed.

My own situation is that I have partially moved away from VM and as it turns out I happened to go with Sky for TV (free Sky+ HD box is great), and I want the phone with them too. The shift was driven by same story about poor VM customer service and, the tipping point for me, repeated inconsistency in offering a deal and seeing what I was charged!

Anyway, back to broadband, I spoke with a technical guy at Sky about 18 mohts ago and he was honest enough to confirm that where I live I could expect only a 1.5 mps speed over the BT line they would use. Basically as bad as it gets! So I'm still on VM for delivering 10 mps (they actually do provide this bandwidth consistently to their credit) until the BT guys adopt their optical network to match VM's performance and reliability. In the meantime, I am still outraged with the VM price. After all, my mum is with Plusnet across town and getting a respectable 3 mps which she is happy with for £7 per month (plus line rental). Now that's less than a third of the cost of my VM BB Large package at £26 per month (stand alone).

Hmm, maybe I need to call Sky again and see if they can do better nowadays....

i_like_shoes

Well i've just bitten the bullet and have gone down the cancel route. . I have seen my bill gradually go up and up over the last 12 months.

The guy on the phone did do a very good job of all the pitfalls of leaving Virgin ..... apart from the world ending and i'll be swallowed up in a Black hole there was not much else he could have said really :-/

Anyway lets see if it works............ if it doesn't then i'll be broadband, tv and phone free for the first time in 13 yrs !!!!! and that is a very scary thought ha haa

NMKY

Not sure if anyone has posted this tip yet; If you ask Virgin to match BT's upfront payment deal for line rental (effectively reducing your line rental to £10 a month) they will do it. You get the whole 'I'll have to ask my manager' spiel but it comes back as a yes.

I've just finished on the phone with them and after a bit of to'ing and fro'ing I've saved a tenner a month on my current outgoings by reducing my TV and getting rid of channels I wasn't watching, I've had the E+W calls thrown in as well (£4 per month saved)

I'm happy with my broadband from them (10meg speed and unlimted downloads) and have no real reason to swap over. I'll be using override providers for any outgoing calls from the phone line.