Virgin Fibre - alternatives? Pricing?

oz0707

I am considering virgin fibre for my current address. I do not have a BT/openreach connection to this address and do not particularly want one, will result in unsightly post outside my house.

Virgin has fibre in the street and I have put a duct up to the front driveway for them to connect to.

I had a price of virgin through my company and i'm basically looking at 27 PCM ex vat on a 24 month deal. That includes a discount for taking my sim only phone contract to them which I am happy to do. Do we think this is a good deal? I was quite happy to take it but the 24 months puts me off. It's likely I will move before then and while my previous provider (vodafone) cancelled my contract penalty free when I moved house last time Virgin don't offer the same deal. It's basically 648 exc vat for 2 years internet access, use it of lose it. I'm not entirely confident I would have availability to virgin fibre if I moved house.

Do any other providers share virgins infrastructure? Do any other providers offer fibre sky etc?

I'm currently paying around 40 PCM inc vat for a sim only phone deal and a mobile WIFI broadband with vodafone. It's 4g and the speed isn't always great. 5G coverage looks patchy at best in my area I was hoping it would have improved by now, 1 year after taking vodafone contract out.

matelodave

Only Virgin use Virgin infrastructure, they dont share it with anyone else.

Virtually all other providers (including Vodafone, SKY, TalkTalk and ost of the other obscure ones from A&A right down to Zen) use the OpenReach infrastructure, except in odd places where other companies have laid their own fibre/infrastructure.

These are pretty few and far between so you really have to do a search on your address to see if anyone else has been putting stuff in or move to somewhere which can provide a service which meets your needs. Some suplliers will allow shorter contracts, 18 months, 12 months or sometimes even less but you generally have to pay more or even charge an up-front installation or connection charge,especially if they have to install infrastructure to serve you. It's the only way they can get the cost of their investment back. 

The other alternative is 4G/5G if you are in an area where you can get a decent reliable signal with the sort of speeds that you are looking for but wireless is not everso reliable and can be affected by weather or network congestion especially at certain times of the day.

JJ_Egan

Why would Openreach put a post outside your house ?

oz0707

To get a line to me. It's a new build on a street without existing poles. 

prowla

Beware that if things go wrong it can be a bit fraught trying to get Virgin to fix issues and some of their operatives will tell you anything they feel like to close the call...

littleboo

oz0707 said:

To get a line to me. It's a new build on a street without existing poles. 

Are you sure the OR don't have underground plant serving the properties?

JJ_Egan

oz0707 said:

To get a line to me. It's a new build on a street without existing poles. 

In that case its VM only .

Company ??  does this mean its an offer or a business service as you say ex vat .

oz0707

littleboo said:

oz0707 said:

To get a line to me. It's a new build on a street without existing poles. 

Are you sure the OR don't have underground plant serving the properties?

Yes, I built the place. Had OR round at time to arrange an install. Was told they would process it when I put an order in with a supplier and they posted a couple of notices up. I'd rather not have the pole right in front of my house hence the mobile wifi option at present.

JJ_Egan said:

oz0707 said:

To get a line to me. It's a new build on a street without existing poles. 

In that case its VM only .

Company ??  does this mean its an offer or a business service as you say ex vat .

I can arrange it either through my personal name or through business.

So ill probably wait till the virgin rep calls me back and ask if there's anything he can do on contract length although I get the impression they have no flexibility on deals

iniltous

So is this a new build but not part of a larger development ( a vacant plot or a building demolished and a new building put on the same site ) ?
If you have provided your own ‘duct’ to the curtilage of the plot , have VM surveyed and agreed to link up your duct to their network or are you assuming they will ?

J_B

matelodave said:

The other alternative is 4G/5G .................

Or maybe a WISP service?

oz0707

iniltous said:

So is this a new build but not part of a larger development ( a vacant plot or a building demolished and a new building put on the same site ) ?
If you have provided your own ‘duct’ to the curtilage of the plot , have VM surveyed and agreed to link up your duct to their network or are you assuming they will ?

Yes a one off. Had them out when building and they were happy with duct location and installation but they need to you to place an order before they will connect. Talking to the rep on the phone this week they cover the first 1200 quids worth of work, bit like OR think they cover around 2000 quid per plot worth of work.

J_B said:

matelodave said:

The other alternative is 4G/5G .................

Or maybe a WISP service?

I will google this cheers