Virgin Media - wanting just broadband...

andrewjemima

I have called Virgin Media twice this morning - one to the cancellations team, and the 2nd to retentions team.

Its a ridiculous price paying so much for one service (ie no longer a package), its even a little more than two service package (ie broadband and phone).

Like many people, we no longer use our phone so decided to cancel the service and retain just the broadband.

No difference in price, you would think that paying no phone line rental would be a better offer, but no they insist we pay more for broadband alone. Other services such as BT or PlusNet are cheaper but they have to have a phone line installed!

I'm frustrated because our poor phone is just sitting there not being used, and I increasingly use my mobile to make calls via the Internet. No-one calls us here! They text or email us instead...

So why is Virgin Media so hellbent on making their broadband expensive for what it is, they are losing customers in this way. I want to leave, but their 200MB is one of the best on the market so am reluctant to leave! What a dilemma.... clever Virgin Media! :exclamati

Anyone have this experience and been successful in getting a lower price? ie down to the £30-£35 price mark instead of the £50 we are paying for the package?

Is there a letter from MSE that I can use to complain to Virgin Media?

Many thanks,

Jemima :mad:

JJ_Egan

Complain about what ??
They are free to price as they want .


You pay for the data line/ cable/ fibre one way or the other . Unless you go line free and use networks .
Looks like you think so called line rental is the phone . Its payment for the line that you get your BB over .




BT is circa £19 pm month for the line to receive what services you want over . You do not have to actually use a phone . But require a line and infrastucture to receive BB / TV over .
200 meg try dropping that down to BT 76 meg and see what you pay .

andrewjemima

Thanks JJ Egan

Ah, but Virgin Media can provide BB without the need of a phone line rental (PLR).

Why should I pay the same price for either BB with PLR or BB without PLR - doesn't make business sense to me!

Thanks, Jemima

duchy

It's the same with all providers. If you don't like Virgin's terms look elsewhere.
Better to look at the total cost with different providers rather than the two services. You can get Fibre and line rental combined for £25 at the moment on an 18 month offer with Sky ......for example.

Mister_G

Or read this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5926369/virgin-media-broadband-only

They do seem to offer some better deals than what you are getting.

Bigphil1474

The OP is right. I have VM BB and phone - the BB and phone come through their cable network, not the actual phone line. The phone just plugs into the same box as the BB. Doesn't make sense that it would be cheaper to have both. Fortunately we use our home phone a lot, so it is saving us money, but why they can't just do a BB deal (through cable at least) is a mystery, other than 'clever' pricing. At least when I was with PlusNet and paying line rental, we were actually using a phone line.

JJ_Egan

andrewjemima wrote: »

Thanks JJ Egan

Ah, but Virgin Media can provide BB without the need of a phone line rental (PLR).

Why should I pay the same price for either BB with PLR or BB without PLR - doesn't make business sense to me!

Thanks, Jemima

Are you actually paying for a phone line ??
Or is it line rental .
Even if its bundled or hidden in some way you pay line rental .

[Deleted User]

andrewjemima wrote: »

, you would think that paying no phone line rental would be a better offer, but no they insist we pay more for broadband alone. Other services such as BT or PlusNet are cheaper but they have to have a phone line installed!

You need to understand that package deals undercut the cost of paying for several services individually, so that does not mean that selecting an individual service will be somehow equally cheap!
BT and Plusnet are only "cheaper" because they offer a far inferior Broadband service.

andrewjemima wrote: »

,Is there a letter from MSE that I can use to complain to Virgin Media?

You don't have a valid "complaint", I'm afraid.

Either pay the price for Virgin Broadband or go to another supplier.

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

Doesn't make sense that it would be cheaper to have both.

It makes perfect business sense that Virgin subsidise the cost of broadband and line rental combined in the hope and expectation that you'll pay call charges and therefore enhance their profits...

olbas_oil

Don't ring retentions - let them ring you. It is a bit of a game of chicken. They need to know you are not bluffing.

I was on about £45 for fibre, phone and calls last Summer. Previously they had always been able to call my bluff because they know that my area has not got fibre broadband, and any of the other providers would be capped at 19Mbps. So I explored 4G as an alternative. I got a good 4g modem from Ebay, and an IP phone and found that my speeds were good enough with EE. I could also transfer my number.

So I wasn't bluffing, and fully expected to be moving when I got a reentions call about a week before the end of contract. They offered me a loyalty discount that brought it down to £29. The discount will run out next Summer, but I hope I'll be able to renew it. Otherwise out comes the 4G!

JJ_Egan

Problem is .
Phone line i dont use the phone and dont see why i should pay .
Its not a PHONE line its the line or cable or fibre that users pay line rental for .

iniltous

andrewjemima wrote: »

Thanks JJ Egan

Ah, but Virgin Media can provide BB without the need of a phone line rental (PLR).

Why should I pay the same price for either BB with PLR or BB without PLR - doesn't make business sense to me!

Thanks, Jemima

Depending on how you look at it , it does make perfect ( business) sense , if you don't take a phone service , VM save a small amount in their costs , by not using up telephony equipment on your account, but they also lose potential revenue , if you had a phone line , you may use it to make calls , making calls makes VM money, by offering broadband only , they lose the potential to make profit from you making calls, to alleviate this loss of revenue they price standalone broadband to compensate for this.
If VM didn't take this revenue loss into account, they could pass on the 'saving' of not providing a telephone service but it would be a very small amount , as the costs to VM would be similar for both.
As already stated, VM are free to set whatever price they like, unlike BT they are not regulated in what they can or cannot charge , it's a case that the market will decide, if they get too greedy , people will leave them.
If you can get a broadband and phone for the same price (or less) that broadband on its own, think of it as getting the phone part for free, you don't have to plug a phone in if you don't want to....but expecting to save anything much, or anything at all, by not taking the VM phone service is never going to happen, you may as well have it and not use it