Sky or Virgin media???

hotcookie101

Hi everyone.

We currently have virgin, with a V+ box and XL package, 10mb BB basic phone. I love the on demand service-and use it to watch a fair few programmes (not everyday, but regularly)

OH just signed up to sky from a door salemans-HD box, 20mb BB, phone, one entertainment pack (and I presume line rental but not sure-OH says free for 9mo, then £11) £35.50 per month (and free install of phone line)

Does Sky have an equivalent to the on demand-I have looked online and it looks like anytime is just a few sky programmes-is it as varied as on demand with virgin?

I am really torn-cannot decide whether we should cancel-the pros are sky is unlimited 20mb BB, whereas at moment we have 10mb cable but get limited occasionally due to downloading a fair bit.

Can anyone sum up the pros and cons of the 2 (or point me towards somewhere that does?) as my head hurts trying to think about it

daniel.thomas4

well i work for sky and can tell you our anytime tv is not close to that of VOD from virgin

But we dont say that anytime tv is ment to be like VOD...why?

we hope to bring are own VOD showing later this year.
and with 3D tv set for aurgust I think we have the better of the 2,
yes we charge for HD and virgin have free HD but you having just signed up will also get free HD box with a few free channels but if you go for the HD mix there will be 50 channels to choose from by the end of the year :T

spike7451

First off,you may not get anywhere near the 20Mb Sky have sold you,you need to check what your line can handle on the link below:

http://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/Broadband_Community/Coverage/ADSL_Availibility_Checker.html#

(As you dont have a BT phone number you'll have to use the postcode checker)

Speed of your line is dependent on how far you are from the exchange & the age/condition of the phone line from the exchange to the BT Master socket.

As for the Anytime,it's nowhere near as good as the VM on-Demand.I've just had a look at mine & half the programmes on there I cannot watch because I dont subscribe to the channels & only a very small percentage on there I'd be interested in.
And as you've only got for 1 pack,then you'll only be able to view a small handfull of programmes.
Plus in the 4 months I've had HD,I've never used it!!

Sky HD is better in some ways that VM but not in others,and being an ex NTL/VM Engineer & then a Sky Engineer,I've seen both the services working.

HTH,
Spike

ti1980

Hey guys, what is Anytime?
Any tips on how I can get an offer on Sky Sports? I've seen lots of stories on here about people getting Sky Sports for £3 per month for 3 months during the summer but when I phoned up today for my mum, they just said that if I put through the cancellation today then I had to wait 31 days so it would be off on the 4th July!
Also I asked about getting a Sky + box but they said they only do Sky+ HD now. My mum hasn't got a HD tv so would only benefit from the recording facility.
Should I try phoning up again and asking for the £3 per month for 3 months or should I try a different tactic? My mum would be so chuffed to get any kind of discount on her bill even for 3 months.

spike7451

ti1980 wrote: »

Hey guys, what is Anytime?
Any tips on how I can get an offer on Sky Sports? I've seen lots of stories on here about people getting Sky Sports for £3 per month for 3 months during the summer but when I phoned up today for my mum, they just said that if I put through the cancellation today then I had to wait 31 days so it would be off on the 4th July!
Also I asked about getting a Sky + box but they said they only do Sky+ HD now. My mum hasn't got a HD tv so would only benefit from the recording facility.
Should I try phoning up again and asking for the £3 per month for 3 months or should I try a different tactic? My mum would be so chuffed to get any kind of discount on her bill even for 3 months.

You can get the HD box without the HD sucscription,normaly for £49 one off but they often have offers on.
The are other benifits apart from the recording,like being able to tape up to two channels at the same time while watching a programme you previously recorded.That's how I use mine.
Anytime is a selection (sic) of chosen programmes previously shown that week that are not scheduled to be reshown on the original channel it was broadcast on.
Have a look on Sky's website...

Scroll down to the bit 'Not HD Ready'

http://www.sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-hd-box/

chudleyette

I've been with Sky for about 5 years and have also got Sky Protect to cover the dish/Sky+ box in case of faults. I usually have most of the channels and sky sports, sometimes movies too, but have cancelled the sports as the football season is over and also got rid of movies and lots of the channels I don't watch much to save some money. My bill will go down to £23 next month, but I'll get sports back in August. I also pay Talk Talk £21.49 a month for phone/broadband (wireless). So all in I am paying around £53 per month inc the Sky Protect.

I've been completely bombarded with Virgin Media advertising in the last few weeks and am seriously thinking of switching, as far as I can make out I'd get the same telly plus phone and internet for about £30 per month, plus then whatever sky sports are when I want them back, but I wouldn't have to pay for insurance as it says all servicing and repairs are free. I've rung Sky and Talk Talk a few times over the years and usually managed to get a reduction for a few months when I've threatened to switch/cancel, but reckon I'm running out of luck as the last couple of times I've tried this I've not been offered anything.

Has anyone recently made the switch to Virgin? If so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on:

Customer service - do they have only 0870 numbers? is it easy to get through? are they uk-based or off-shore call centres? when you have a problem do they give a !!!!!!??

Broadband - is the fibre optic noticeably better than phone lines?

V+ box - is it as good as Sky+? i can't live without my Sky+! find it really easy and foolproof and rarely seems to go wrong, so would be really upset if switched to V+ and it was rubbish! also, they only seem to do HD boxes, but I don't have an HD TV, is this a problem?

Sky sports - what does Virgin charge for this? Would want SS1 and SS2, not bothered about any others.

Thanks in advance for your help!

spike7451

I'm not a VM customer but an ex Service Tech.The broadband is only fibre up to a point,mainly the Mux Exchange/DA (you'll see one in the streets near you,it's a big green box with a smaller one next to it) & from there to the street cabinet & then your home,it's copper.That said,VM's broadband goes over your TV service & not the phoneline.
As to the TV,as you dont own any of the TV bexes (you have to return them when you leave VM or you'l be billed for them) if the is a fault or upgrade,unlike Sky,VM wont charge for Service Calls.
If it's set up correctly by a competent installer,you wont have any bother with it.

Hippychick

We switched to virgin from sky a few years ago and have never looked back.

I can count on less than one hand the times our services have ever had a problem, it is free to call customer services etc if you have virgin phone. OK some of the call centres are in India but that doesn't bother me really because I never have to ring them.

As above because you don't own the equipment you don't have to pay for any repairs, replacements etc. Our broadband is also v fast and whenever I have done a speedtest it is pretty much the speed I am paying for (upto 10mb)

The V+ Box is a bit clunky and not as 'pretty' as the sky one but it has the same features, virgin on demand is also excellent. Because everything is cable it is all buried underground, when we had sky, if it snowed or the wind was particularly bad then our service would drop and we would lose channels, we have none of that with virgin.

No I don't work for virgin either

xbrenx

I've been thinking about changing over too but my sister was not happy with VM when she swapped.

With Sky+ if I record something (Corrie for instance) I then watch it the same night but at around 11pm or similar. My sister said this wasn't possible and I would have to wait till Virgin chose to show it at a later date.

Is this true? I too would miss the Sky+ capabilities with series linking etc.

seaniboy

Virgin+ records, ON DEMAND is what she is waiting for ?

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/tv/vplus-hd-box.html?buspart=google&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=virgin+&utm_campaign=14%20-%20Product%20-%20TV&gclid=CMWJucuOsKICFROElAod5ggdRA

Broadband is better than Sky tenfold.

Virgin products are tenfold better than Sky.

Dad is on L TV & L BB for life at £20 (was M BB), as he had been with them about 15 years through all 6/7 buy outs of what was started as a local cable company upto VM taking control. LOYALTY sometimes does reward....