Alternative To Virgin??

PrincessPlaty

I have been in my current property for the past year.

My contract expires with Virgin on the 23rd of October.

I am currently paying £33.94 a month which breaks down to


Telephone Line Rental £11.99
Talk Unlimited £7.95
Phone, Bband & TV M Discount £-11.00
Free Voicemail £0.00
Broadband Size: £25.00
T V Size: M £0.00

I dont use the tv at all, the virgin box isn't plugged in i only have it because of the discount it gives me, so i am looking at phone and broadband only. The broadband is used a lot, though it is mainly just browsing (running 3 computers and nintendo wii). Landline is only used for local calls and 0845/0870 numbers. Use mobile for calls to mobile with my free minutes.

When i rang and spoke to virgin retentions all they could offer me was the same as what i am getting plus increasing the tv to large (which i dont want) and adding free 0870/0845 numbers (roughly spend approx £7 a month ringing them and use saynoto0870 where i can). for £46.50 a month. I had them adamantly telling me that i wouldn't get the same speeds with anyone else that i am with them (6MB) and that I would be worse off going with anyone else, but im quite sure this was just to get me to stay with them. I have had lots of problems with virgin from internet going down regularly and slow internet speeds, according to an online speed checker whilst on the phone to them this morning telling me i was getting 6MB it was actually showing at 1.3MB and it is even slower now! So I definately need to look into an alternative.

I have looked at so many different alternatives and to say im confused is an understatement!

Can anyone offer me any help as to who to look at and actually what I am looking at?

Thanks in advance!

Heinz

How far are you from your BT telephone exchange?

Which LLU providers are in that exchange?

Check http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

PrincessPlaty

According to that and google maps exactly 1 mile by road from the exchange obviously in a direct straight line its a lot less and could walk there in about 6minutes.

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Mark_In_Hampshire

PrincessPlaty wrote: »

I have been in my current property for the past year.

My contract expires with Virgin on the 23rd of October.

I am currently paying £33.94 a month which breaks down to


Telephone Line Rental £11.99
Talk Unlimited £7.95
Phone, Bband & TV M Discount £-11.00
Free Voicemail £0.00
Broadband Size: £25.00
T V Size: M £0.00

I dont use the tv at all, the virgin box isn't plugged in i only have it because of the discount it gives me, so i am looking at phone and broadband only. The broadband is used a lot, though it is mainly just browsing (running 3 computers and nintendo wii). Landline is only used for local calls and 0845/0870 numbers. Use mobile for calls to mobile with my free minutes.

When i rang and spoke to virgin retentions all they could offer me was the same as what i am getting plus increasing the tv to large (which i dont want) and adding free 0870/0845 numbers (roughly spend approx £7 a month ringing them and use saynoto0870 where i can). for £46.50 a month. I had them adamantly telling me that i wouldn't get the same speeds with anyone else that i am with them (6MB) and that I would be worse off going with anyone else, but im quite sure this was just to get me to stay with them. I have had lots of problems with virgin from internet going down regularly and slow internet speeds, according to an online speed checker whilst on the phone to them this morning telling me i was getting 6MB it was actually showing at 1.3MB and it is even slower now! So I definately need to look into an alternative.

I have looked at so many different alternatives and to say im confused is an understatement!

Can anyone offer me any help as to who to look at and actually what I am looking at?

Thanks in advance!

For broadband speeds you can't beat cable, unless you live in the phone exchange. Phone lines become useless for speedy broadband when the line is either poor quality (the lines are so ancient, the quality is very variable) of the line length is much more than about 3km.

It's possible to live very near the exchange but have a poor or "long" line depending on how it's routed.

The Samknows.com website can give you an estimate of likely ADSL speeds, though it's not a guarantee.

All that said, if you're only getting the speeds you mention then something is wrong - cable rarely performs that poorly. The 6Mbps on (assumption) a 10Mbps package isn't too bad, but is still below average (8.7Mbps).

It could have a SNR or power level problem (which can also cause outages) which needs technical investigation and if you are only getting 1.3Mbps this needs progressing as an actual fault. 1.3Mbps might not be so bad for ADSL but it's diabolical for cable.

jb66

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

For broadband speeds you can't beat cable, unless you live in the phone exchange. Phone lines become useless for speedy broadband when the line is either poor quality (the lines are so ancient, the quality is very variable) of the line length is much more than about 3km.

It's possible to live very near the exchange but have a poor or "long" line depending on how it's routed.

The Samknows.com website can give you an estimate of likely ADSL speeds, though it's not a guarantee.

All that said, if you're only getting the speeds you mention then something is wrong - cable rarely performs that poorly. The 6Mbps on (assumption) a 10Mbps package isn't too bad, but is still below average (8.7Mbps).

It could have a SNR or power level problem (which can also cause outages) which needs technical investigation and if you are only getting 1.3Mbps this needs progressing as an actual fault. 1.3Mbps might not be so bad for ADSL but it's diabolical for cable.

1.3MB or 1.3Mb???? 1.3MB is what you should be getting from 10mb line