Help Please

santamed

Just got my latest bill from Virgin/NTL for £109 which includes TV,Telephone and Broadband package. Ok so I can switch my TV to freeview and I was hoping to follow the advice on this site and switch my broadband/telephone to talk/talk. Just checked their site and it is telling me I cannot switch because I do not have a BT landline. ( due to being a cable customer?)
Now presumably it is going to cost me mega bucks to re connect my BT landline which will I guess include a 12 month contract, which will then cost me more money to cancel and switch to talktalk.
Is there a cheap way of switching and not paying a small fortune in costs and also not being without broadband and telephone for a long period whilst the switch takes place.

BexTech

As you have a cable phone line, you can't have ADSL broadband as it's not run over cable lines.

Cable broadband also is not run over cable phone lines, it comes via the same co-ax the TV service does.

For other broadband providers, you need ADSL, this means a BT landline or one provided by a re-seller (like TalkTalk or Sky), they just pay BT to use the line and then bill you.

BT are offering connection for £30 on an 18 month contract for line rental, you could then choose from many other ISPs, though if you went with one that also wanted to take over the phone line too, then BT would charge you the full installation costs and then a charge for leaving before contract end.

This is one of the problems of not having a BT line and not staying with BT, when you want to move about you are screwed, that's why it's best to have a BT line and keep line rental with BT, doesn't mean you have to use BT for broadband or for calls.

However give Virgin Media a call, select the options that you want to leave, don't tell them you may consider freeview, not unless you are getting offered a deal you are happy with.

If you tell them you can get Sky TV for £21 (6 mixes), Line Rental for £10, Sky 8Mbit broadband for £5, Sky Talk for nothing, which gives you evening or weekend calls (or £5 for 24/7 calls if you want them) and free caller display.

You should be offered Line rental + evening and weekend calls, XL TV package, and L broadband (4Mbit being upgraded to 10Mbit) and possibly caller display if you get the right person for around £35 (up to £40 with 24/7 calls) on a Sky price match offering.

Note these don't include movies and sports.

Matt_h_6

Hi, I'm in the same boat as Santamed - I'm very keen to jump ship from Virgin media Phone service, but I've found it really difficult to get an accurate picture of the costs from BT. Ideally, I'd like to go straight to someone like talk talk, but BT like to ensure they get their cut in the process.
I've got a physical line but need to get this reconnected, however even their support teams don't seem to know all the land line packages they offer. When I ask what the costs are to get out of a contract once I've reactivated the line, they seem a tad confused....
If I'm stuck with a BT land line for 1 year + can anyone recommend a provider who has a fairly reliable service - Speed isn't that important, I guess I should also think long and hard about BT and Talk Talk as they're involved in the Phorm debacle which is another driver for getting off Virgin - and probably another thread!

many thanks for any advice!

Heinz

Matt_h wrote: »

I'd like to go straight to someone like talk talk, but BT like to ensure they get their cut in the process.

Welcome to the MSE forums Matt_h.

You're wrong there. Any of the many line rental providers now in the market (including Talk Talk) can get a line connected/reconnected by simply employing Openreach to do so. The truth though is that many refuse to do so either because they don't want to set up the necessary administration procedures within their own organisations or (more likely) because they don't want to pay up front and prefer to pretend 'only BT can do it' or 'you have to have a BT line first' so that their potential customer has to pay.

Like Talk Talk, BT charges £70 for breach or contract.

In any case, regardless of Martin's recommendation of Talk Talk on cost grounds, many on here recommend keeping line rental with BT because 'all options are open' then. Certainly, much cheaper voice telephony is possible with a BT line (using CPS and/or indirect access providers for most calls - see the HERE link in my signature below) and the choice of any ADSL broadband provider is possible with a BT line.

Matt_h_6

Thanks Heinz,
I've been looking in at the site for years, just taken my first steps as a poster!
So, I guess that means £100 to escape Virgin's clutches (if I want to go to another land line provider) or £30 if I want to stick with BT. Seem a price worth paying as my virgin costs are going up whilst quality is dropping - mind you rather do it for free if I can

Probably a very stupid question, Can I just activate the line initially for broadband or do I need to transfer my phone number at the time? I like the idea of getting one thing up and running before I cancel the lot.

I've just started looking at your suggestions - thanks, they look very useful. One general query with VoIP, I often work from home and our company uses Skype a lot for internal calls (we have people all over the world). Do I need to be wary regarding broadband suppliers blocking VoIP?

Thank!

Heinz

You have to have a standard BT line to 'hang' the broadband on. BT has a special £29.99 offer for line installation at the moment so that may your way in.

I have a BT Broadband Talk 'second line' (with a standard geographical number) but others on here are far more au fait with VOIP - one will be along shortly I'm sure. I'm not aware of any broadband suppliers blocking VOIP though.

nomoneytoday

I call Virgin/Telewwest once a year and ask for a better deal. My bill was £52, and is now £30.50 a month

Matt_h_6

nomoneytoday wrote: »

I call Virgin/Telewwest once a year and ask for a better deal. My bill was £52, and is now £30.50 a month

Well done! I've been doing the same for the last few years. However my Broadband quality has come down so much in the last 3-6 months, and my monthly call costs have gone up so I think it's time for me to move.

For the techies out there, the delay on a ping to major web sites like google or bbc has gone from the 15 - 20 ms range up to 1250-1300 ms range in the last few months.


If you want to call their broadband support, go through Virgins customer service dept. I complained that I shouldn't have to pay to let them know they had a problem - they were happy to pass me through to their Tech support for free.