help me choose (BT OR Virgin)!!!

Euphoria1z

Hi

I'm really struggling here, cant decide between Bt or virgin...here's my situation.

I'm moving house. currently have BT infinity with unltd calls , free 0845 no's and I pay £46 pm approx.. I get average 30mb download speed and unlimited usage.

new house doesn't have infinity so will have to get normal broadband...estimated speed between 8-18mbps download. will cost £38 per month plus unltd calls and download.

virgin media can give me up to 30mb, with XXl landline, unltd calls, 0845 no's and free mobile calls for £45 per month

I was thinking virgin but BT say I have to pay £30 cancel fee and they say that virgin restrict there broadband speed to up to 75% ? is virgin still worth it? (so it really boils down to broadband, which Is faster and more better for movies and internet surfing regardless of times).

I've got both virgin and bt booked on the same day in 2 weeks...which one do I cancel? I cant even keep my number with both companies as BT say different exchange..


do virgin really restrict speeds by up to 75% during peak hours?

standinman2009

I'd go for Talk Talk get basic package after which they'll offer you fiber just £5 more a month for 39 mb got to be a bargan !

Xplozion

Virgin Media 30 Meg will be a lot faster than BT's standard broadband.

Regarding the £30 cancellation fee, if you go through Quidco to sign up to the Virgin deal, you'll get £76 cash back so it's win-win.

standinman2009 wrote: »

I'd go for Talk Talk get basic package after which they'll offer you fiber just £5 more a month for 39 mb got to be a bargan !

OP cannot get FTTC at new address.

Helix

Virgin media do reduce speeds if you download "too much" at peak times. Not by 75% though, it is currently 40%. Upload speeds can be restricted by 65% on the 30Mb package at peak times if you upload "too much"

Details are on the Virgin site: http://my.virginmedia.com/traffic-management/traffic-management-policy-thresholds.html

If you can't get Infinity then I would say Virgin is better, if you can get Infinity then I would say BT is better. I'm in the process of switching to Infinity at the moment from Virgin.

Euphoria1z

just so that I can understand (coz ive choosen to go with virgin)
from the link above it says

1 hour threshold (from 4 pm till 11pm) 2750mb
1 hour reduced speed 21mbps (-30%)

now does this mean that if between 4pm and 11pm I go over downloading 2750mb , my speed gets reduced from 30 mbps to 21mbps? is that how it works? or between those times if I go over 2750 mbps in one specific hour?

does virgin have a usage monitor that customers can use to see if their approaching their limit?

does watching movies on youtube use lots of mb? like say a standard 1 hour 30 min movie in hd?

Helix

They have made it stupidly complicated I agree. This page explains a bit more: http://my.virginmedia.com/traffic-management/traffic-management-policy-30Mb-or-higher.html

My understanding is if you download 2750mb in an hour during those times your speed will be reduced by 30% for 1 hour. After an hour it will go back up to full speed. However if you continue to download and you reach 3500mb within 2 hours, your speed gets reduced for 2hrs and continues to be reduced until you either stop downloading or up to 2 hours after the traffic management time has passed.

They don't currently have a usage monitor, they have promised one is "coming soon". Which in Virgin Media speak is anything up to 18 months away.

Netflix uses up to 2.8GB an hour for HD - https://support.netflix.com/en/node/87.

kwikbreaks

As you've already booked both I guess it's too late to point out that you should always get your broadband through a cashback site such as TopCashBack or Quidco.

It also seems to me that you are paying an awful lot for your phone - do you really make a load of calls from your landline to mobiles and 0845 etc. ? 30meg cable with no phone costs £22.50 after 6 months at £11.25 and Vonage UK VOIP phone costs £5.99 for basic geographic UK calls.

Assuming you don't get unlucky and land up in an oversubscribed area with VM which you should spot in the 28day money back period then even if constantly throttled it will still be faster than ADSL and most of the time you'll get your headline 30Mbps. If you took 60Mbps instead it would always be faster than your current BT fibre.

Oh yes - if you are quick and get Vonage right now you can port your BT number to them and keep it forever wherever you move to in the UK.

Euphoria1z

kwikbreaks wrote: »

It also seems to me that you are paying an awful lot for your phone - do you really make a load of calls from your landline to mobiles and 0845 etc. ?

Oh yes - if you are quick and get Vonage right now you can port your BT number to them and keep it forever wherever you move to in the UK.

I personally hardly ever use the phone but my wife uses it a lot to call family and friends so it makes sense to get these unlimited call packages...weve tried it without these and it always ends up more costly so having unlimited call times to landline and mobiles is quite good.

both virgin and bt have said I cant keep/port the number .

my only issue now is that virgin haven't included free caller display and are wanting me to pay them over £2 (I think 2.50 or sumthing)a month when I thought it was included in their talk unlimited extra large package but I guess not.

I haven't looked at these other smaller companies like vonage, or talk talk etc as I prefer to stick with the bigger companies...it was always going to be either virgin or bt.

kwikbreaks

Vonage is VOIP so you don't have a phone line to pay for. If you go BT it makes no sense to pick Vonage for calls as you'll have to pay a line rental anyway.

With cable for me Vonage is far cheaper than using VM telephony plus includes things like caller ID and anonymous call blocking. Calls are not unlimited but are 2000 mins per month and you don't get caught out and charged for going over 60 mins on a call.

penguineater

I guess im a bit late here however, did you shop around other providers as well? I just ordered EE from Orange, after cash back (~£100 from topcashback) it works out as £21.50 for fibre + calls (1000 mobile mins, unlimited landland) & line rental (payed anually). Afaik it was one of the best deals at the time of ordering.

Coopdivi

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