Totally stuck for a broadband and (possibly) TV solution

J_B

sterling30 said:

400ixl said:

What else do you need 250Mbps for?

running my business.

So, have you looked at business contracts?

If domestic contracts 'break' they aren't in a big hurry to fix them, whereas with business, they are!

sterling30

sterling30 said:

EdwardB said:

Thanks for any advice.

Hey Sterling

£106 !! That is an eye watering monthly payment.

If you want to retain the services then you tell Virgin you are leaving but do not set £106 as your benchmark, more like £30 and also what is this VAT nonsense, companies are supposed to quote VAT inclusive pricing for consumers and net VAT prices for businesses. When companies treat customers like idiots that is a reason to leave them.

The first thing I would advise is to lose your dependency on these tivo boxes, you can replace them with a streaming stick so then you are left with broadband.  There are deals for 65mb broadband for £17.43 a month on MSE this week (with Shell) and similar at regular intervals.
Thank you - that was my intention.

The replacement kit is a Roku stick which connects via wifi and costs from around £30 for the 4k version (still works on low res)  if you buy when on offer at Argos or a bit more at other times.  You would need one for each TV, you can use different ROKU accounts for each device and have a different set of channels (or the same ones) in each account.  You can pick these up on ebay for too, I have been using for years, even taken abroad and used them there.
I have had the Roku 4k for 2 weeks now and it's great. Cheapest price was £40 from Curry's.

Roku has apps for each provider and there are loads of them, some like Netflix have one "channel" others show many, e.g. Plex who are consolidators, where you can mix your own content with free and subscribed channels. I think Plex have the best UI in the industry, can be customised to be minimal and yet is feature rich.

You do not need a TV license unless you watch TV live as it is being broadcast, e.g. live coverage of sports events but mostly there is no requirement.  I do not install channels that routinely show live content, for example I would not install NowTV app or BBC iPlayer, it is best to delete all apps when you buy or when you install say you are in Afghanistan so it does not choose a bunch of UK apps for you.
Do I need a TV licence to watch GBNews live via Roku streamstick? Imagine no TV licence -  it seems way to easy to accidentally click on a live broadcast 'by mistake'. What then? How would 'they' possibly know?

You can install the catchup apps like More4 if you can tolerate the ads, you can also install YouTube and AppleTV, Disney and the like.  I have AppleTV through a family bundle but I can't stand the interface and have only watched about 5 to 10 programmes on it.

With the money you save from dumping Virgin Media save you will be able to afford Netflix and more, but I would then be very selective about the apps you install on the Roku.

Do not install your TV's digital tuner (if you have one ) as it has channels that are broadcast live; they are mostly absolute garbage.  Same goes for Freeview, Freesat and all that old tech. Freeview requires and Aerial, Freesat requires a satellite dish, they are both drivel and both require a TV License because they are solely live tv. Remove those cables if you have them.
Yes I've decided not to use the TV tuner for anything. Apart from anything I don't have an ariel and can't be doing with getting one.

In terms of hardware I think Virgin have a junction box on the wall and a cable router for the wifi, these would be replaced with a socket where a BT line is presented in the property and a wireless Router with 2 to 4 lan ports, so pretty much the same. Unlike Tivo you will not need cables for an HDMI stick unless you need power (I power mine from USB port on TV).  Personally I am not keen on Amazon firestick, I had two for a while but I do not like the hurdles they put between you and your content, as a Prime user you might prefer Amazon but you can get Prime app on Roku.

Also Amazon is all about grabbing your data, there are youtube videos about how to disable it recording your voice, it is the same with Alexa and Ring Doorbells.  With Alexa you have to lock it down from over listening and sharing to improve blah blah blah, but the teardown's on YouTube show the most powerful chip in an Alexa is not about AI (which is all cloud based) but a comms chip to build their Mesh network which we have no user control over. 

So using Roku is a no brainer, I recently had a hand me down of a smart TV but I prefer Roku, the "Smart" part of TV has not been connected to Internet.  I still have my own content but these days just use the streaming content, even YouTube is far more usable on a Roku than a laptop.  I register a dedicated YouTube account for each device and tailor totally different content for each device. This reduces clutter you can also flip between YouTube channels for you GF with mobile.  Also for your GF there are about a million free movie channels on Roku and even more on Plex.  I would avoid installing all and sundry, install one at a time, if you see another, ask yourself if you are prepared to replace the other.  Some of these apps show live TV when you load them so should be avoided, e.g. Pluto, as explained here:

Agreed about Roku v Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=353jnfE5htM

One thing I would check is your TV's energy usage, I saw a post online where someone was saving £20 a month from moving to a second hand smart tv from an old TV (early flat screen).  So as I had recently got given one I checked and sure enough I was able to reduce my kwh by changing the settings, not by £20 a month but at between 1 and 1.5 kwh a day.  At 35p a day a saving of 1kwh is around £10 a month saving. For my new (old) tv all I had to do was turn on an eco setting but on some you can choose standard rather than dynamic to get a dramatic drop in power usage. 

To answer your other questions

Philips 37PFL9604H does have a Freeview tuner but don't use it, don't connect an aerial to it, if you have done so remove the aerial and run factory reset setup so no channels are installed. Your TV max power is 166kwh, but you could save power by tweaking the settings (mine is max 127kwh but using just over 40kwh, others have sub 30kwh). 

I seriously doubt you need 250MB broadband minimum, I stream and sometimes rely on hotspots providing under 5mb and still get FULL HD, most of the time I have between 12mb and 23mb. Members of my family have 4k TV with Amazon 4k Firestick and still only have basic 35mb broadband.  Netflix and Prime seriously do not require more than 10mb, but get 30mb and you will be fine or 65mb if there is a deal (Sky last week £19.99, Shell this

Interesting data

Shell Energy: equiv £17.42/month

Cheapest fast fibre. Via this Broadband Genie Shell Energy* link, you'll pay £5.57 upfront, then £23.99/month, but you'll get one month free via a £23.99 bill credit, plus you can claim a £100 Amazon voucher within four months. If you'd have spent there anyway, factor it in and it's equivalent to £17.42/month over the 18-month contract.

Ends 11.59pm Sun 12 Feb.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/cheap-broadband/

When choosing a service make sure there are no inflation increases, the Shell 18 month deal above says

"Your monthly charges may increase each year from 2024 on or after 1 April by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus up to 3%. For example, if you’re paying £20 per month, and the January CPI figure is 2%, we may apply an increase of up to 5%. At 5%, your monthly price would increase to £21 after 1 April. If, however, the January CPI figure is -2%, we may apply an increase of up to 3%. At 3%, your monthly price would increase to £20.60 after 1 April. For details see our Terms and Conditions

https://www.shellenergy.co.uk/info/broadband/promotion/terms

With CPI at 10.5% it would be 14% increase, so £23.99 would be raised by £3.36 so £27.35 for the last 3 months of the contract.

However, if you are a Shell Energy customer then they beat that deal by giving 6 months free 65mb (paid as account credit after 3 months) on the same 18 month contract with no inflation increase this year.  It works out at £15.99 over the term of the contract. £23.99 x 18 = £431.82 - (£23.99 x 6 = £143.94) = £287.88 /18 = £15.99 (Router is £5 odd).

Hard to imagine you are on benefits if paying £106 a month to Virgin Media but for sake of others it seems Vodafone Essentials at £12 a month is the best (for 38mb fibre).

Thanks I'm keeping an eye on all the deals.

Thanks again for your input.

I've added comments where applicable in bold after each sentence.