The age old question - Sky or BT?

lucifersangel87

Hi all,

following much confusion, i've decided to ditch virgin media's feeble 'National Services' offer, since my new place can't accept V Fibre.

Emailed the cable-my-street team at Virgin and they came back and said it would be too expensive to offer cable in my property (figures, huh!)

Now I have narrowed down some FTTC operators, to Sky and BT. The speed differential is quite impressive - BT offer 76Mbps and Sky offer 40Mbps - both for the same price, roughly. (As far as I can tell).

So for me, it is now a question of service. I can brave the 40Mbps, so long as their service is near amazing.
However, if BT are worth a shot, then I wouldn't mind the 76Mbps speed they offer.

Any sage advice from veterans of either?

yangptangkipperbang

I have been with BT for 2 months now, after ditching O2. I was quoted 65mbs, am actually getting 74mbs downloads. Uploads not quite so good, averaging out at about 5mbs.
No complaints whatsoever.

macman

Since Sky are reselling BT's FTTC service, the claimed speed difference is highly unlikely.
Sky's CS is much superior, so I'd go for them.
You also have the option of other resellers such as Plusnet, who will be cheaper than BT.

baldelectrician

I would agree with Macman

You are comparing BT (foreign call centres, script reading - known as Bombay Telecom, not British Telecom) to SKY

SKY have the majority of call centres in the UK and I have always found them excellent. Even when things went wrong.

BT, however charged my late mum (whilst she was still fine and dandy) for an engineer visit. This made her cry as she couldn't afford £130
I eventually sorted it out when I asked BT to provide a call recording proving they had contradicted themselves. They gave in

SKY cut my dad off for 3 days- turned out to be a fault at the BT exchange and we were kept updated. Although both had problems SKY came up trumps, both in customer care and communication

brewerdave

Personally I wouldn't worry about the difference in maximum d/load synch speeds - far more important is total allowed GB per month or any FUPs - not much point in having the extra speed if the allowance runs out and your line is restricted to dial up speeds or worse.
Also talking to someone who is fortunate enuf to have a fast FTTC connection, quite a few sites cannot upload info. fast enuf to make use of these ultra fast connection speeds.:)

prowla

We switched from BT to Sky a few years ago and I have never regretted it.
The issues we have had have been down to BT (Sky's service runs over BT infrastructure).
Also, Sky's phone service is better (eg. it includes caller ID) and cheaper.

lucifersangel87

OK, sold on Sky.

I now have a new issue. Virgin Media have pulled the "you're still in contract" card and want to charge me £180 early disconnection fee.

I have quoted that they are in breach of contract because they have made a decision not to offer me the services I signed up for, but i'm not sure how solid that reasoning is.

Any advice?

macman

That won't work. The contract you agreed was for the service you currently have at the current address.
VM do not guarantee service at every other address in the UK, therefore if you move house while in minimum term to an addresss without cable service, the ETC is payable. You can migrate Virgin National to the new address (as long as a BT-based ASDL line is in place), but doing this will start you on a new minimum term.
This issue comes up every week, the answer does not change.

lucifersangel87

Thanks Macman,

I received a letter a few weeks ago informing me of a price rise.

VM Ts and Cs state:

If we and/or Virgin Media Payments:
a) increase our charges under this agreement
b) make significant changes to the services so the services you are entitled to receive in return for the charges you pay are significantly altered or reduced; or
c) make significant changes to the terms and conditions of this agreement (including the other legal stuff),

you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving us and/or Virgin Media Payments (as applicable) at least 30 days' notice.

Would this help me out at all?

macman

Yes, if you reject the increase within the required timescale-how many weeks ago? You may then lose your service before you actually move though.

lucifersangel87

I received the letter two weeks ago. I still have time to get the response off. I will do that today.

We have already moved house, and so the services at the old place have already been disconnected.