Which bundle for first time customer?

minikarter

Hi, so I'm moving into a new flat in coming months and am budgeting for everything as I'm literally just out of uni, starting a shiny new job and shiny new life (I hope).

Which BB and Phone package would be safest?

I'm looking at Evening and Weekend free calls for the phone.

And then 40GB or more download limit.

I'm looking at bundles. At first I saw TalkTalk and thought they looked great, but after doing some research, the bad press and unhappy customers I've seen stuff from have turned me off them completely.

Next i'm looking at Virgin Media for £16.85 a month, which seems as cheap as I can find (without the TV package) so for now this is my top contender..

Is there anything I should be aware of with using Virgin?

Or do people like them or even have other suggestions?

All comments welcome, I'm finding the concept of Line Rentals, Call packages and broadband all a bit confusing as I want to be absolutely on top of it to make sure I'm getting a good deal and not going to get screwed should I want to move to another place or switch after a year.

Thanks in advance!

Ypaymore

Are we talking about Virgin Cable here. Does the Virgin Package include line rental and E&W calls and broadband

I ask because E&W calls cost £4 a month and line rental is £12.99 a month (increasing to £13.90 from 1st August 2011).

Heinz

Are you sure Virgin cable is even available?

minikarter

It's on the "Build your own bundle". Add the 40GB monthly downloads (broadband package L) plus the Phone package L (talk evenings and weekends) the site says it's a total of £16.85.

Not including any Virgin TV, and is ADSL broadband.

Though I may be getting confused. It doesn't directly say if the line rental is included in this price and it's annoyingly unclear about this fact...

I fear line rental isn't included.. (which changes everything).. would I be right?

Ypaymore

Your talking about Virgin National not Virgin Cable its helpful if you make that clear when posting.:D


See http://www.virgin.net/allyours/bbandphone/bundleBuilder.html

It clearly says

"Monthly Total from £11.50 for the first 3 months £16.85 thereafter

12 month contract*When you take a Virgin phone line for £12.24 a month"

Have you checked http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search to see whats available at your new abode.

macman

VM National is just a resold BT Wholesale product. Little point in going to VM if you can't get a cable service.
As Ypaymore stated, do an exchange search on https://www.samknows.com to see what the LLU options are on your exchange-these will be your best options.
VM telephony is the most expensive around.

minikarter

ok. I didn't understand that there was a difference between cable and adsl.. thanks for helping to clear this up for me, as I said, I'm new to this so am learning from scratch! It's not wise to assume I know everything..if anything at all!

So checked out the local LLU with samknows ...

Basically I have available, AOL, Tiscali, C&W/Bulldog, Orange, O2, Sky and TalkTalk.

From what I've read, Tiscali and TalkTalk seem to be pretty highly complained about.. and Sky seems to be cheap if you get sky tv (which I'm not getting for the time being). AOL... I just despise aol and the software etc.

Basically leaves me with O2 and Orange. Have I made a reasonable decision in my elimination process?

I'm still tempted with TalkTalk as they're so cheap, but that's at the expense of the problems I could be in store for and may not be worth it if I have to spend so long on the phone to them waiting for problems to be sorted.

Heinz

From that LLU selection and its plethora of bad reviews on here, I'd recommend you ignore them all and opt for (BT owned) PlusNet instead.

http://www.plus.net/packages/

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-broadband

minikarter

Ok, it's an idea, though it'd be about £24 pcm as i'd have to get the 60GB limit, since 10GB wouldn't be enough.

What are the opinions of Primus? I've not actually heard much about them before I came onto this site but they look the cheapest at initial glance at £15.78 as 20GB would be enough.

macman

Orange is one of the lowest rated ISP's around. The best LLU options there are O2 (more especially so if you can get the O2 mobile discount) or Sky.

jhp

minikarter wrote: »

Ok, it's an idea, though it'd be about £24 pcm as i'd have to get the 60GB limit, since 10GB wouldn't be enough.

What are the opinions of Primus? I've not actually heard much about them before I came onto this site but they look the cheapest at initial glance at £15.78 as 20GB would be enough.

Not all UK homes can get there lower priced service,s, available in 'low cost' telephone exchange areas. If you don't live in a 'low cost area' then you'll pay a bit more. You see exactly what price you'll pay for broadband and phone by clicking 'check availability'.;)

There cheapest broadband product 10mb £6.49 includes unlimited free downloading between 12 midnight and 8am if thats any help.

I have used them for 2 years and have had no real problems and have found there customer service very good.