Sky v Virgin Media

loobie

Not sure if this is in the right place, but has anyone ever gone from Sky to Virgin Media?

If so, were they better / worse? What was the customer service like?

We need to save pennies wherever we can, and this is one way of doing it.

TIA

L x

dld2s

I went from Sky to Virgin Media as when we got bad weather the picture was forever breaking up with sky, picture is fine with Virgin media, only problem I have had was getting signed up and my 20mb broadband, if it's tv & telephone your after I would say I get a better picture with VM and have had no problems with the telephone, if it's Broadband, I never used sky broadband but used bulldog before VM and I have to say I had less problems with Bulldog but it is improving. I have found customer services to be a bit hit and miss, some of the staff are brilliant and some are as thick as a plank of wood.

klane

We switched and I find them comparable.. actually, I think the TV is better, and the phone cheaper. Broadband has occasional moments of slowness which are a little annoying, but generally it's good. Definitely better price-wise for us than Sky.

wen3

We changed to VM from Sky. We have had no problems at all and it is cheaper.

Badger_Lady

I went from Sky to Virgin Media and made the following comparisons:

Advantages of Virgin Media
- Much "neater" solution, with guaranteed reception and hidden cables
- V+ Box has more storage and can record 2 programs whilst watching a third
- Far cheaper - I got a package deal with phone and broadband that costs me a total of £20 a month. I had been paying £16 a month for just Sky TV!
- Volume control. A silly detail, but I really appreciate not having to use two seperate remotes :rotfl:
- Continue watching telly while you've got the Guide up. Another silly detail, but I used to hate having the flow interrupted from switching on the "TV Guide" button with sky :rolleyes:
- On Demand. Pure genius. I understand you can also get this with Sky now, but that it's more difficult for existing customers..? Switch to Virgin and you get it automatically - I watch more programs On Demand than live now.

Disadvantages of Virgin Media
- No Sky One, so no new series of Lost or the recent Colour of Magic. I watch these on the Internet anyway, but telly would be better.
- Customer Service is about comparable - they tend to answer the phone much more quickly, but don't always do what they promise (e.g. arrange a cable guy to come over)
- Annoying detail, when you bring up the TV Guide, it remembers where you were instead of starting from the beginning. So you have to scroll all the way back to BBC 1 again.

Overall, I'm extremely happy that I made the right move

Millionaire

Badger_Lady wrote: »

V+ Box can record 2 programs whilst watching a third

So can Sky+

Volume control. A silly detail, but I really appreciate not having to use two seperate remotes :rotfl:

You can control this with Sky+ remote. I only use 1 Remote.

On Demand. Pure genius. I understand you can also get this with Sky now, but that it's more difficult for existing customers..?
-

Yes, you can get it with New Sky+ boxes. Not on some of the older ones.

youngandreckless

I have vm, some family have sky. I personally have no issues with vm and now get tv, phone and bband for £15 a month, which is a bargain although I got it through work related promo (I don't work for them though).
I say go with what is cheaper, neither are perfect, but I find VM really good

Badger_Lady

Millionaire wrote: »

You can control this with Sky+ remote. I only use 1 Remote.

Yes, you can get it with New Sky+ boxes. Not on some of the older ones.

Ah, but you don't need V+ to get the same benefits! The standard "free" Virgin TV comes with it

jem16

Millionaire wrote: »

Originally Posted by Badger_Lady

V+ Box can record 2 programs whilst watching a third

So can Sky+

Only if it's a programme already recorded. The V+ allows you to record two programmes and watch a third live.

Not that I'm advocating Virgin - Sky TV is much better in my opinion.

I have Sky for TV and Virgin for Broadband.

Millionaire

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Ah, but you don't need V+ to get the same benefits! The standard "free" Virgin TV comes with it

You can control Volume on standard sky remotes as well. Regards to the Anytime you most likley right

Millionaire

jem16 wrote: »

Only if it's a programme already recorded. The V+ allows you to record two programmes and watch a third live.

Not that I'm advocating Virgin - Sky TV is much better in my opinion.

I have Sky for TV and Virgin for Broadband.

Ah Right, Thats quite impressive then.

I do personally prefer Sky because I find the menu's easier to navigate and not as sluggish as VM and also because of Sky One.

Also you get to keep the boxes with Sky when you cancel where as Virgin take them back. So you can use them as a freeview box.