House refurb - chance to change Virgin. Advice?

Manx_Cat

Hi - a part techie, part moneysaving question

I've been with Virgin some time, but hardly use tv (watch the news on main channels only), hardly use home phone and, while I use the Internet a lot, it's for email and browsing news, watching iPlayer, not downloading games, music or films.

Despite this, Virgin keep charging me £50 to £70 a month :mad:. I could threaten to quit and batter down the cost, but I'm wondering if there's a better option...

We're refurbishing the house completely :eek:, so could recable any way we want. I've read about the BBC Canvas project that will allow you to stream stuff from the Internet to a tv and that's due to come online this year.

So what do I do? Can I get rid of Virgin, get a cheap phone line and a good ISP and use Freeview plus Internet to watch telly while waiting for Canvas?

Any advice (the more the merrier) welcome!:beer:

Pip, pip

[Deleted User]

First, I suppose you are not still on contract with Virgin? I know you have been with them for a while, but they might have offered you a better deal to go with a new contract at some point.

You could reduce the price with Virgin significantly! For £70, I imagine that you are on an expensive TV package and an expensive internet package. There is no need for more than Virgin's cheapest internet package and free TV package for what you use.
As an existing customer, they might still be charging you prices from a long time ago. If you are only on their most basic packages, they you could phone up and complain (and threaten to leave). They should reduce the price. Basic TV, internet, and phone are available for only £29/month to new customers (not including the cost of any phone calls made during the week).

If they don't offer you a discount (or even if they do), there is no particular reason to stay with them unless you live far from a telephone exchange. Use the telephone line checker at:
http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

This should give you an indication of the internet speed that you might get with a different ISP (it would be very similar for any of the others, as they all use the same technology). If it is very low, then you are better off staying with Virgin. Otherwise there is no reason not to switch.

There is a good guide on the main moneysavingexpert website about the best internet packages to go for. Do check that these are available in your area before stopping your service with Virgin - some of the best value deals rely on LLU, which is Local Loop Unbundling (this means that other ISPs can install their equipment in BT exchanges) and every ISP does not offer this at every exchange. You can check on LLU using the exchange checker at www.samknows.com

Manx_Cat

Thanks tentonine. Really helpful