Worth changing ?

suelees1

I'm not too au fait with techie things so please bear with me.

I've been with Virgin a while and at the end of my most recent renewed contract so am considering whether to move. I'm on the L package and it costs me something like £32 pcm for my landline with 24/7 (grrr I hate that phrase) calls and for my broadband.

I've now got a smartphone but don't yet want to include mobile internet in a Virgin account until I know I really do want to get into another contract with them so I'm currently using a giffgaff sim with wifi access.

I'm finding accessing my mobile phone email account really frustrating. I'm not alerted to new messages. I always have to manually access it even though it's bookmarked and I have to jump through hoops to get at it...click here, click there, scroll down click twice more blah blah. This frequently happens even when I'm actually in it needing to manually refresh it .

I'm considering changing but can anyone give me any hints about the best way forward - is Virgin faster, is it better to have mobile internet in the package and if so does that mean I don't need to be in a wifi hotspot?

macman

if you are on VM cable service then you don't have any other options until you get a BT line installed to receive ADSL broadband.
The ADSL options will depend on what is available on your exchange, so do an exchange search on https://www.samknows.com.

suelees1

Was originally with BT donkey's years ago so assume they won't have to do much.
According to sam there's all sorts of BT stuff available - Wholesale ADSL, ADSL Max, WBC (21CN) and SDSL whatever all that means
Is that good ?

macman

You'll still need to pay for a reconnection (about £80 upwards) regardless of whether there is still a line physically in place or not-you don't have to reconnect via BT, whose standard charge is £130.
What you are interested in from samknows are the LLU options, these will be the cheapest deals on your exchange.

suelees1

sorry macman what's an LLU option?

Is ASDL as fast as cable ?

johnnyblount

Im sure that plusnet only charge 49.99 for a connection , much less if you already have a physical line

you can do a trial sign up and it will check and give you a full price you dont need to give details on last page to sign up but they can usually take a dormant bt line over after all plusnet is bt anyway , just cheaper install and packages .
If you use the refer link and add a members details you can still get 3 free months till May 3rd , might be worth looking at

http://www.plus.net/refer/

macman

suelees1 wrote: »

sorry macman what's an LLU option?

Is ASDL as fast as cable ?

Local Loop Unbundled.
Look for the samknows data entitled 'LLU Operator Presence'.
Cable will usually be faster. With ADSL it depends on distance from the exchange, and what is available on your exchange.

suelees1

My local exchange is probably less than 1 km away as the crow flies.

macman

But cables don't run as the crow flies unfortunately. They follow streets usually, and it could go 5km round in a loop to reach you.
Any of the ISP line checkers will give you an idea of the likely speed you can expect based on a postcode search.

suelees1

Virgin is coming out of top for speed. Looks like I'll be staying with them after all that but only if they'll give me a Brucey bonus Thanks indeed for all your help