Virgin Media vs Sky and PO Broadband NI

Indo77

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with Virgin Media and their Broadband/Cable service. The situation is we are currently paying out £18 a month for Sky and £26 for Post Office Broadband and Phone. This comes to roughly £42 a month. Today some junkmail came in the post from Virgin Media stating you can get all these services (Sky, Broadband and Phone) for £18 a month. It further stated this service was now available in our area (it wasn't for years). We don't really care about the extra subscription channels Sky provides and would opt for a basic service. I am also aware that Virgin provide the HD service as part of the deal unlike Sky who charge an extra tenner a month. Does anyone have any experience of Virgin Media? Is it a better deal than what we have now?

ballyblack

Don't know about Virgin


Why not get the cheap/free broadband from Sky and still use the Post Office for the line rental about £11 a month?

ormeaubloke

I would definitely recommend Virgin Media if the cable service is now available in your area.

I have had it for 3 years since I moved back to Belfast and the broadband is reliable with no d/load limits (my family on other internet services are regularly charged extra for exceeding their monthly 20gb limit).

And mine costs £26 a month for 10mb internet, TV (basic service - same as freeview, all that I need really) and line rental (with free landline calls at the weekend).

(BTW I can get you £30 credit on Virgin if I recommend you as a new customer, on top of all the other offers you can get - 2 months free etc... - send me a private message)

SaveMeTheMoney

I have Sky, broadband and calls with Sky. Think it comes out at about £22 a month, as not on most basic broadband package. Pay £10 a month to BT for the line rental. No problems at all with the Sky. I did have Virgin broadband before and again, no real issues with it, but when I got Sky Tv, I signed up to get all of those utilities from the same provider.

bingo_bango

I suspect that the deal VM are advertising doesn't include line rental @ £11.99 pm.

That said, I've been with them for years and had very few issues. I would certainly recommend, and don't forget that there is a sign up bonus of ~£30 each (applied as a credit) if you are referred by a current customer

BTW, the HD box is £49, but there is no monthly fee for the service.

ballyblack

"Virgin Media says, like with the upcoming Sky policy, you cannot access 18185"

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2010/06/sky-blocks-customers-cheap-calls-option-

corbyboy

£18 is the price you pay if you take their line rental at £11.99 per month.

So for broadband up to 10Mb, basic TV package and line rental unlimited weekend calls you pay £29.99 per month. The internet is unlimited which is a bonus. For the first 2 months you only pay the line rental too.

You can get the HD channels for free, but you need to pay £49 for the box. Be careful that you don't get the V+HD which is an extra £5 per month.

You can also self-install which is another good thing.

I am a Virgin Media customer and I am very happy and would recommend them.

budfly

I have had virgin in the past and found it to be a great service.if you can get it you should.i now live outside a virgin area and use o2 broadband>it costs 7.50 per month but does not include line rental.Its excellent and havent had any problems with it.

Whatever you decide to go for dont forget to get cashback from signing up to quidco or something similar.They have some great deals for virgin and o2.

x12yhp

A LOT depends upon whether you are stuck on Sky's 'Connect' package. This is a low speed service which is massively oversold. If you are right beside the exchange then it might be OK but in Holywood, the speed frequently is such that pages wont even load fully. If you call them, they will direct you do a bunch of stats which actually tell you nothing about the service you are actually receiving and, worst of all, they have been taught otherwise and are utterly unable or unwilling to accept that there is a problem. Do a search and you will find many confirming reports about sky. As far as BB is concerned, it is very hard to beat VM.