Anybody Happy with BT Internet and TV? (or any other option apart from Virgin Media)

Swanlady

I have been with Virgin Media since the cables were first laid (apart from a brief unhappy experiment with Sky some 6/7 years back when they told us our poor tv reception was caused by windy weather).  I am now forced to change to another provider but am struggling to work out what sort of package I should get and which provider might give a decent service.

My Virgin tv boxes cannot be relied upon to show pictures. Much of the time all we get is a screenful of flickering colours and intermittent sound.  This has been going on for over 7 months and I don't think there is going to be a cure any time soon.  Virgin customer service has been awful. When I eventually filed a formal complaint, they dismissed it on the grounds that they are aware of an "outage in my area" and have been working on it.

Recently I managed to get a response from a staff member via a VM forum who arranged to send an engineer out.  I thought my problems would be solved but it all got worse. The engineer said the problem is down to the cabling having a finite capacity for carrying the signal.  As so many more people in London have joined VM over the years, the signal has been spread out to the point where it is too weak to provide a decent signal to individual TV boxes. All he could do was check that each TV box is getting a share of the signal coming through to my house.  Seems like a problem that can only get worse, so Virgin Media has to go.

I have Broadband and landline phone with BT and have had no problems.  However when I looked online at reviews, BT's were about as bad as the ones for Virgin and Sky.  Is it best to be guided by customer service ratings or just go for the package that seems most suitable?

matelodave

in the end it depends what you want. BT is no better or worse than Sky or Virgin, they all offer summat slightly different and deliver it in a different way. Depending where you live, one may be better or worse than another and TBH asking someone in Scunthorpe what sort of service they get if you live in Cornwall or the Highlands & Islands really is a waste of time.

The service you'll get depends on where you live and possibly even which house in the street .You don't really know how the service gets delivered. Even BT might deliver it direct from the exchange or from a different cabinet to the bloke next door which would affect the speeds that you get.

Sky is probably the most consistent as long as there isn't anything in line between you and the satellite. However, even then a ginormous tower block might get built or even a small tree might grow a lot taller or bushier and end up in the way so you might have to try it out.

stuartp2000

I’m with BT for both internet and TV taking these in isolation I would say
BT Internet - As matelodave says it does depend on quite a few factors, I am lucky as I have FTTP and get 130 mbps on a regular basis and 100 mbps guaranteed, not cheap but on claim for not hitting the levels in 2 years (was new build and BT only option at the time).
BT TV I have this and I hate it, the youview box is one of the slowest most unresponsive boxes I have ever used, depending on packages required it is also not cheap (I have sky sports via now tv which is dearer than sky or VM sports).
I have had a few boxes from BT and all seem very slow so not a faulty box, just poor.
With regards to the signal I am in an area of poor reception and have a booster on the main aerial but last year bought a digital aerial and that has not caused any issues (albeit needs a place to hide near tv).
This is also really good whatever the weather unlike a sky dish that can freeze in windy conditions.

I am not allowed a dish on the house as just something the local area has in the leasehold contracts but if I could move to sky I would as was with them before I moved.

Chino

matelodave said:

they all offer summat slightly different

Do you have an English to Mockney translator installed on your browser?

littleboo

I have the 4K BT TV box and find it's ok, does what it needs to

MalMonroe

Chino said:

matelodave said:

they all offer summat slightly different

Do you have an English to Mockney translator installed on your browser?

That's Yorkshire, though, surely???

MalMonroe

I've had BT TV, landline and internet since I moved to my current property 15 years ago. I've had new hubs and TV boxes as they've been updated throughout that time and can honestly say that my daughter and I are still pleased with BT altogether. We're both self-employed and use our computers for long periods daily, even at weekends and we've had no trouble. Except once when there was a powercut but that affected everyone else in our area. 

I pay £46 pcm for telephone and internet and a BT TV box with real time TV pause and rewind; recording and the usual channels. We love it.  Every time my contract comes up for renewal I phone and negotiate a deal that suits me. Neither internet nor TV are slow or troublesome and we live in a rural location. 

When we moved here we were with Virgin but we were apparently so far out in the sticks that they couldn't continue to supply us. I wanted to go with Sky but they came out for a consultation and said that because our property backs onto a wood with so many trees we wouldn't be able to get a signal (!) yet six months later new neighbours moved next door and had Sky installed without incident.

So in summary, we have BT for everything and we love it and it isn't slow. Even though we're rural. Or, in other words, highly recommended.

JJ_Egan

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Anybody Happy with BT Internet and TV?

Yes  but current is only BT Sport UHD .BT has changed in the last year or so as most TV packages are via the Now TV platform for Sky products .

Not sure i would want other channels on BT these days with a multiple of other services online .

roddydogs

Having a friend with BT youview, its hopeless, be aware if you haven't got a decent free view aerial, it won't work. Yes, I know most have,!