Stuck in a Sky contract, wanting to move to Virgin

Nux

Hi,

First of all let me explain the situation...

I have a contract with Sky for Broadband/TV/Phone, I'm paying £71 a month for the package which includes HD & Sky Sports. Our internet is were the problem lies. We are only getting 2-4mb Internet speeds...when we are paying for 20mb. In the small print it does say that our line can only support between 2-4 so we couldn't really complain much. It is however a stupidly slow speed for this day and age.

I am stuck into this 12 month contract until January 2013.

I have been browsing Virgin Media's offers and for a similar price (slightly more) I can get 'up-to'100mb Fibre-Optic internet and the same TV package.

What options do I have here?

Obviously I'm tied into the Sky contract and don't intend trying to get out of it. But is it possible to take advantage of the 1/2 price for 6 months Virgin offer and have Sky reduce my package to the bare minimum so I can pay for both for the same price I pay now? Or I am tied into the £71 package and cannot reduce it?

Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

spike7451

Virgin CABLE broadband comes over the same system as the TV so your Sky services would be totally separate.
As to Sky reducing your package,they might let you drop a TV package,Give them a call & say you've just lost your job & ask what they can do to help.
Incidentally,VM is Fiber ONLY to the main street mux,it's copper from then on to the street cabinets & then the home.

Nux

spike7451 wrote: »

Virgin CABLE broadband comes over the same system as the TV so your Sky services would be totally separate.
As to Sky reducing your package,they might let you drop a TV package,Give them a call & say you've just lost your job & ask what they can do to help.
Incidentally,VM is Fiber ONLY to the main street mux,it's copper from then on to the street cabinets & then the home.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah I know the TV packages would be separate, I suppose it depends how much I can get the Sky Package reduced by because the Virgin Package offers 1/2 price for 6 months so if I can reduce my Sky Package to around the £30 mark I'll be paying the same.

As for VM not giving the set 100mb due to the copper, that's fine but I'd guess it would still be massively better than 2mb.

I'll speak to Sky first and see what they say.

Might be able to get my Sky Sports/HD package removed.

penrhyn

If you are in a cable area then there is the possibility that Sky may be offering their FTTC service either now or in the near future.
I know there is no connection, but if its an urban area then BT is likely to be rolling out Infinity.

macman

You are not 'paying for 20MBps'. You are paying for 'up to 20Mbps', which is indeed what you are getting. You knew that 2-4Mbps was all your line could support, so why did you sign up knowing that if you required faster speeds?
Sky have no control over your line speed. If you want more speed then VM or FTTC is the only option. As above, have you considered upgrading to Sky FTTC if available?

spike7451

Nux wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah I know the TV packages would be separate, I suppose it depends how much I can get the Sky Package reduced by because the Virgin Package offers 1/2 price for 6 months so if I can reduce my Sky Package to around the £30 mark I'll be paying the same.

As for VM not giving the set 100mb due to the copper, that's fine but I'd guess it would still be massively better than 2mb.

I'll speak to Sky first and see what they say.

Might be able to get my Sky Sports/HD package removed.

Doesn't make a difference.When the Fiber is changed over to Copper in the DA (Distribution Amplifier) the signal is boosted to the next main cabinet (DP-Distribution Point) & then again onto the next cabinet,so the signal strength loss is minimal over the distance,the signal is again boosted in the DP where it goes onto the connection banks & then onto the house,so if you sign up to the 30MB package,you will get near as damn it 30MB.