Head melting over media options

Mr.Ruairi

This has my head caving in; I currently get Sky tv and have a business phone-line not owned by me (therefore cannot add any 'bundle' offers to it) but want to get broadband. It wouldn't be a big deal if we had to take a phone line in order to get the best deal. Heres the thing; would it be best to install a BT line and do everything through Sky? or ditch the Sky tv we have and go with Virgin. Being in Northern Ireland we don't have all of the same options as the rest of the UK. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

testpie

If you are in a cable area it usually works out much cheaper to just get broadband with Virgin, as you don't have to pay them any line rental or installation charges other than a one off fee of £25, whereas with BT you pay an installation charge of over £120 and £10.50 per month line rental on top of the cost of any broadband ISP you choose.

lauraocal

You could however go with sky for all three services.
Sky TV = ? varies
Sky talk and rental = £10.00
Sky Broadband = Free (upto 2Mb) £5 (2Mb - 8Mb) £10 (8Mb - 16Mb)

testpie

lauraocal wrote: »

You could however go with sky for all three services.
Sky TV = ? varies
Sky talk and rental = £10.00
Sky Broadband = Free (upto 2Mb) £5 (2Mb - 8Mb) £10 (8Mb - 16Mb)

The OP already says he has Sky TV and a business phone line, so he'd still have to pay BT the £120 connection fee just to get a new line and pay the BT monthly rental charge - with Virgin Media, he could get the service installed for a one-off fee of around £30, and for 2 MB broadband, pay just £9 per month.

Let me quickly break down the costs for your options, Mr. Ruairi:

Sky Broadband:

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BT Installation cost: £124
BT line rental (monthly): £10.50

Sky 2 MB broadband: £0.00
OR
Sky 8 MB broadband (monthly): £5.00
Sky 16 MB broadband (monthly): £10.00

In total, after one year of service and including installation and line rental, you will have paid:
Sky 2 MB broadband: £124 + (12 * £10.50) = £250
Sky 8 MB broadband: £124 + (12 * £10.50) + (12 * £5) = £310
Sky 16 MB broadband: £124 + (12 * £10.50) + (12 * £10) = £370

Virgin Media broadband:

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Installation charge: £30
Line rental: £0

Virgin Media 2 MB broadband (monthly): £9
Virgin Media 10 MB broadband (monthly): £16
Virgin Media 20 MB broadband (monthly): £26

In total, after one year of service and including installation and line rental, you will have paid:
Virgin Media 2 MB broadband: £30 + (12 * £9) = £138
Virgin Media 10 MB broadband: £30 + (12 * £16) = £222
Virgin Media 20 MB broadband: £30 + (12 * £26) = £342

Comparison:

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Total yearly cost of each equivalent service:

Sky 2 MB broadband vs Virgin Media 2 MB broadband: Virgin Media are 44.8% cheaper and the same maximum speed
Sky 8 MB broadband vs Virgin Media 10 MB broadband: Virgin Media are 23.4% cheaper and 25% faster
Sky 16 MB broadband vs Virgin Media 20 MB broadband: Virgin Media are 7.6% cheaper and 25% faster

There are a few things to note however:

• Virgin Media is based from a 12 month contract where prices will rise after the initial 12 month period
• BT line rental for a new line is for a minimum of 12 months
• You will need to be in a Virgin Media cabled area to use the services I have mentioned. You can check that using your postcode at http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=2
• Sky use ADSL broadband which means that the speed quoted is the absolute maximum you can expect to receive and depends on your distance from the telephone exchange; Virgin Media use cable broadband where the maximum speed quoted is the speed you will receive

Apologies if I've just managed to make the situation more confusing for you!

rmjowen

If you sign up for Sky, don't they refund the £125 BT connection charge? I'm sure I read that somewhere, maybe someone can confirm it.

testpie

rmjowen wrote: »

If you sign up for Sky, don't they refund the £125 BT connection charge? I'm sure I read that somewhere, maybe someone can confirm it.

He's already signed up with Sky though, so I'm not so sure if they do if you are an existing customer who is in this unique situation.