Virgin Media, contract up, no copper-based fibre in area. How to negotiate?

DeadlyOokster

Hello folks,

I'm not very good at this sort of thing. I took Virgin Media when I moved into this property for ~£25 a month, broadband and landline only, no TV.

The honeymoon period is over and the bill has been over £40 for a while now. Just got a letter saying it's going up by another 3 quid a month.

If I had a decent fibre alternative I'd go for negotiation or switching, but there's no other type of fibre in the area, apart from VM cable. And they are the only cable provider, too.

There is basic copper on the phone lines, but a maximum laughable 2mbps.

So, all this being true, what are my tactics when I ring VM and tell them I want it cheaper? I don't feel I have a strong bargaining position.

Thanks for any replies .

DeadlyOokster

I should have said that I'm a single parent, in case that's something I can play on. I'm used to going without, but 2mbps is just ruinous.

Aylesbury_Duck

All you can do is try.  I was well advised on here to cancel my service and await the inevitable call from retentions, where you should get a better deal than you'll get from ringing them.  Cancellation starts a 30 day notice period, so if you don't get a call after a while and are getting jumpy, you just call and reverse the cancellation.

You've just got to hope they don't know about the lack of alternatives, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

victor2

What service are you paying for?

I thought Virgin ditched supplying broadband over standard phone lines years ago?

Just look what is available in your street using something like https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/broadband-coverage

Then get some prices and use that to negotiate with VM, if you want to stay with them.

DeadlyOokster

victor2 said:

What service are you paying for?

I thought Virgin ditched supplying broadband over standard phone lines years ago?

Nono - I have fibre-speed cable (M50 deal, taken a couple years ago), sold at 54mbps, but in the street that's the only fibre-speed available. Everything else is copper wire with no fibre speed, so it's either fibre cable at whatever they want to charge me now, or switch to 2mbps over copper phone line with any of the other providers.

So if they are wise to my lack of alternatives, I might not get any help from them.

victor2

DeadlyOokster said:

victor2 said:

What service are you paying for?

I thought Virgin ditched supplying broadband over standard phone lines years ago?

Nono - I have fibre-speed cable (M50 deal, taken a couple years ago), sold at 54mbps, but in the street that's the only fibre-speed available. Everything else is copper wire with no fibre speed, so it's either fibre cable at whatever they want to charge me now, or switch to 2mbps over copper phone line with any of the other providers.

So if they are wise to my lack of alternatives, I might not get any help from them.

Apologies, I misunderstood. Still find out what is advertised as available from the likes of BT, and quote that to VM. They might respond with a reasonable price to stay with them. If BT say you can get "up to" 10 Mbps, tell VM you'd live with that to save money. Nothing to lose.

iniltous

It’s quite unusual for an area with access to VM , ( 20 to 30 years ago they only targeted areas that were densely populated ) and Openreach only offering 2Mb ,it wouldn’t be unusual in a sparsely populated area, but VM tend not to be in those areas anyway , are you sure 2Mb is all you would get from an Openreach based provider ?, in my case OR only offered 3Mb up until about 8 years ago , now I get 80Mb from OR FTTC.
Use this checker site , it won’t recognise a VM phone number , so use your address , and post the results , to confirm what speeds you could get from an Openreach based provider 


https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

DeadlyOokster

iniltous said:

It’s quite unusual for an area with access to VM , ( 20 to 30 years ago they only targeted areas that were densely populated ) and Openreach only offering 2Mb ,it wouldn’t be unusual in a sparsely populated area, but VM tend not to be in those areas anyway , are you sure 2Mb is all you would get from an Openreach based provider ?, in my case OR only offered 3Mb up until about 8 years ago , now I get 80Mb from OR FTTC.
Use this checker site , it won’t recognise a VM phone number , so use your address , and post the results , to confirm what speeds you could get from an Openreach based provider 

Yup, as I suspected - it's not good, look at this . They've basically decided we aren't worth the bother here:

WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 1	--	1 to 3	Available
ADSL Max	Up to 0.75	--	0.75 to 2.5	Available
WBC Fixed Rate	0.5	--	--	Available
Fixed Rate	0.5	--	--	Available

Other Offerings	Availability Date
ADSL Multicast	Available

Exchange Product Restrictions	Status
FTTP Priority Exchange	N
WLR Withdrawal	N
SOADSL Restriction	Y

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

FTTP is not available.

VDSL FTTC and SOGEA is currently not available on this cabinet due to following reasons:- We are unable to complete this cabinet to fibre broadband and is now removed from the schedule

A_Lert

Is there reasonable 4G or 5G signal from any of the mobile networks? That would be the competition - check the prices for a plan with unlimited data that permits tethering/hotspotting. (Of course now that VM and O2 merged, there's less competition.)

DeadlyOokster

A_Lert said:

Is there reasonable 4G or 5G signal from any of the mobile networks? That would be the competition - check the prices for a plan with unlimited data that permits tethering/hotspotting. (Of course now that VM and O2 merged, there's less competition.)

No, that's the other fun thing about where I live that I didn't mention. The mobile phone signal around here is basically non-existent. We are basically in a blind spot, despite there being masts around. I have to piggy back on my broadband to use my mobile when I am at home (my Samsung and O2 have a feature that allows you to make GMS calls and SMS texts via t'internet).

It's mad really, a suburban area just outside Nottingham. It's true that it's a sort of small nodule of suburban popped out on its own, but it's fairly built up and the more built up areas are only a couple miles away. They just can;t be arsed to lay a couple of miles of cable/update cabinets/whatever for what is about three hundred households in our former mining village.

victor2

Sounds like VM have got you over a barrel then. Still worth a call and telling them you can get a half decent service from BT and the like. No idea if the numskulls you tend to get on the phone actually see what services your postcode can get when you talk to them. I know from experience they do see previous notes on your "file" though.