Virgin Broadband packages vs BT line rental:

THENOX

Hi!

It may sound like a stupid question but I've never orered broadband package before:

If I take phoneline and fiberoptic broadband contract with Virgin Media like: Virgin Broadband Size: XL (30Mb) (£9.25 for 6 months, £18.50 after 6 Months + Virgin Phone Line Rental £12.99) do I still need to pay BT for a line? And if yes what would be the lowest possible payment to BT?

Thanks,

THE NOX

penrhyn

No, the Virgin cable network is independent of BT and uses none of BT's infrastructure.

spike7451

Virgin media provides it's cable based broadband over the TV (coax) network & NOT the phoneline & as Penrhyn stated,the Virgin services connect to their own street cabinets & network equipment so does not connect to a BT exchange until it reaches the Headend,which can be many many miles away from your home.Because a VM phoneline works differently than a BT based service,you cannot have DSL broadband on a cable phoneline.
Also,the VM broadband is Fibre up to the Mux/DP & from there to the street cabinets & onto your home it is standard copper cable.You don't need a BT line to have cable services.

THENOX

Big thanks spike7451 for explaining how it works on more of an infrustructure level which leads to pricing between these two companies!:)

spike7451

No dramas,if you decide to get VM & have questions about the install,feel free to pm me.I started as an installer for NTL/VM before moving to Service.

THENOX

BTW: I understand if fibre-optic broadband comes to my area (BT) March 2011 this does not mean that Virgin Media will be able to use this infrastructure?

spike7451

THENOX wrote: »

BTW: I understand if fibre-optic broadband comes to my area (BT) March 2011 this does not mean that Virgin Media will be able to use this infrastructure?

BT's fibre optic broadband does not use the VM infrastructure so VM wont be affected & will carry on as is.BT's sub contractors are running their own fibre to the BT's own cabs from their BT exchanges.

THENOX

So simply put: BT engineers are comming to lay fibre to my area March 2011 therefore infinity service will be available from then on. -This however doesn't mean that VM will be able to use this cable to offer it's own cable services and it might take another eons :mad: before they lay down theirs. -Is my understanding correct?

(I am asking as I can not find: VM fibre coming to your area on xxx month statement anywhere on their website or anywhere on the web :mad: [after 20 mins search comparsion sites only ]).

spike7451

THENOX wrote: »

So simply put: BT engineers are comming to lay fibre to my area March 2011 therefore infinity service will be available from then on. -This however doesn't mean that VM will be able to use this cable to offer it's own cable services and it might take another eons :mad: before they lay down theirs. -Is my understanding correct?

(I am asking as I can not find: VM fibre coming to your area on xxx month statement anywhere on their website or anywhere on the web :mad: [after 20 mins search comparsion sites only ]).

Yes,VM cannot run their service thru BT's fibre optic & visa versa.

reduceditem

My experience:

Virgin cable BB.....very good.

Virgin phoneline.....very, very bad.


trouble is, as a new customer it seems like the only good deal is to take a bundle. You could consider BB only.......seems like a bad deal on paper, but the phoneline really costs you money compared with just using extra sims like giffgaff (0800 and freephone) and tesco lite (0845, 0870) combined with your normal free minutes.

dave_dph

THENOX wrote: »

So simply put: BT engineers are comming to lay fibre to my area March 2011 therefore infinity service will be available from then on. -This however doesn't mean that VM will be able to use this cable to offer it's own cable services and it might take another eons :mad: before they lay down theirs. -Is my understanding correct?

(I am asking as I can not find: VM fibre coming to your area on xxx month statement anywhere on their website or anywhere on the web :mad: [after 20 mins search comparsion sites only ]).

Have you checked whether you can receive VM services via cable on their website? Enter your post code here http://shop.virginmedia.com/home.html

Apologies if I have mis-read your post.

If you can receive VM service via cable then this is already fibreoptic. If you take VM cable service you don't have to take a phoneline as well, if required you could use a voip provider over the fibreoptic broadband connection.