Moved from sky to virgin

kennysarmy

kennysarmy

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Interested to hear any experiences of anyone who's moved from sky to virgin for their tv, broadband and phone....

Deal dropped through my letterbox a few days ago which looks quite attractive, certainly for the first 9 months it's a big saving and then looks a few quid cheaper after that and I'd get faster broadband and bt sport channels.

Currently I'm on a deal with sky which includes movies, sports, unlimited copper broadband (getting 7,mbps) and free evening and weekend calls and last months bill was £102!
 
Moved from Sky to Virgin 18 months ago, no complaints about broadband, it is faster then Sky, I was getting around 7mbps with Sky, the package I took with Virgin bumped it up to just over 100mbps (now 150mbps), download a movie in couple of minutes. I've since reduced my package and internet speed to 50 mbps which is still plenty fast enough for my needs.
What I would say before you agree on a package is seriously look at what you watch on telly regularly. We made the mistake of jumping in to the Big Kahuna deal, fast internet lots of tv channels and we were stuck with it for 18 months and bills of £80.00 per month (no movie channels), in reality we didn't watch 75% of them, like Sky lots of channels show old programs and repeats even the discovery channels. As soon as my 18 months were up I got the package reduced to a lowest one one. From about £80 per month to £45 per month. Movie channels I couldn't afford, I get mine from elsewhere (cough!) BT Sports will cost extra too. If your looking for the same sort of service your getting from Sky I think your bill will be very similar apart from a faster broadband speed. Decide on what channels you CAN really do without, it might bring your bills down.

Don't let the 3 or 6 month low price fool you into think you got a great deal.
 
I've always been with Virgin (telewest originally)
As above, make sure you get the package that'll suit, we actually raised our BB this year as we were on a ridiculous custom package that we paid over the odds for.

In reality, 20mb broadband is fast enough for anyone, but Virgins slowest is now 50, I pay extra for the increased upload (won't make a difference to lots of people.
 
went from sky (tv, phone, internet/adsl) to virgin (just cable internet) and freesat.

worst bit was spending 2hrs trying to cancel sky.

virgin internet has been faultless and they've just upgraded everyone for free/£1.75 a month (depending on contract), gone from 100mb to 150mb :)
 
I've just renegotiated my Virgin bundle deal (end of contract, signed for Sky & told Virgin I was leaving)

TV XL + 50Mb broadband + line rental....

£34.50 a month :D
 
I have been with Virgin for years (when it was NTL) without any problems,
Customer service is good and I find they are open to negotiation , upgrades to BB, free caller display etc.
Its worth checking out their mobile deals as well as V to V mobile calls are free so depending on what you have now you might save a few bob there.
 
Thanks for all the input...

I do like my movies and sports so usually end up on the most expensive "bundle"....

Even if the costs eventually ends up the same on Virgin - I'll have a 32"TV free, faster broadband, BT Sport channels over and above what I have now....and will have made good savings for the first 9 months of their deal....

Currently the Mrs and two kids and I are all on GIFF-GAFF - but if I switch to VIRGIN it might pay to move us all on to a Virgin SIM .....
 
You don't say if it is VirginMedia cable.
 
We never had the option of going to Virgin as they never bothered taking the cable as far as us. We did have the full sky package for quite a few years but eventually got fed up of paying for hundreds of channels of 20+ year old repeats and so on. When we actually looked at the channels we did watch about 80% of them were the bog standard terrestrial ones anyway, BBC1 and BBC2, ITV and Channel 4. We liked the occasional film and I liked the documentary channels but I was never into the sports channels at all.

About 3 years ago we bought a Humax freesat box with HD and record facilities and it paid for itself in about 3 months. To be fair the user interface isn't as good as Sky and we still have hundreds of 20+ year old repeats too, but it seems that quantity over quality is the common denominator anyway. Effectively the same old crap but on the upside it costs nothing at all. Broadband and phone are with BT infinity 2 and it's ok.

If you can get a good TV / broadband / phone and line rental package then go for it, but it's worth considering just dumping Sky anyway.
 
bindex said:
We never had the option of going to Virgin as they never bothered taking the cable as far as us. We did have the full sky package for quite a few years but eventually got fed up of paying for hundreds of channels of 20+ year old repeats and so on. When we actually looked at the channels we did watch about 80% of them were the bog standard terrestrial ones anyway, BBC1 and BBC2, ITV and Channel 4. We liked the occasional film and I liked the documentary channels but I was never into the sports channels at all.

About 3 years ago we bought a Humax freesat box with HD and record facilities and it paid for itself in about 3 months. To be fair the user interface isn't as good as Sky and we still have hundreds of 20+ year old repeats too, but it seems that quantity over quality is the common denominator anyway. Effectively the same old crap but on the upside it costs nothing at all. Broadband and phone are with BT infinity 2 and it's ok.

If you can get a good TV / broadband / phone and line rental package then go for it, but it's worth considering just dumping Sky anyway.
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Sorry there is no way I can live without my sport :) so dumping is not an option for me !

I don't drink or smoke but one of my few pleasures in life is watching the golf, the football, the cricket, the grand prix, the darts, the snooker etc etc....
 
Oh I can understand that if you're into sport. I think Sky has always been good for that. Luckily I'm not! ;)
 
After 11 years with Sky I swapped over to Virgin in April for TV, broadband & phone. Works out cheaper even after the cost go up following the introductory discount and while Sky tried to tempt me to stay the deal they offered was still working out more a month and didn't include BT Sport which I get from Virgin as part of my deal :)
 
bindex said:
We never had the option of going to Virgin as they never bothered taking the cable as far as us. We did have the full sky package for quite a few years but eventually got fed up of paying for hundreds of channels of 20+ year old repeats and so on. When we actually looked at the channels we did watch about 80% of them were the bog standard terrestrial ones anyway, BBC1 and BBC2, ITV and Channel 4. We liked the occasional film and I liked the documentary channels but I was never into the sports channels at all.

About 3 years ago we bought a Humax freesat box with HD and record facilities and it paid for itself in about 3 months. To be fair the user interface isn't as good as Sky and we still have hundreds of 20+ year old repeats too, but it seems that quantity over quality is the common denominator anyway. Effectively the same old crap but on the upside it costs nothing at all.
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Exactly the same for us.

I wish they had brought cable to our area, but it stops about 4 miles short. (Lancs/yorks. bandit country :cautious: )
 
OldCarlos said:
Exactly the same for us.

I wish they had brought cable to our area, but it stops about 4 miles short. (Lancs/yorks. bandit country :cautious: )
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We're about 4 miles from Colne. We were in Yorkshire (hence the avatar) but they moved us into black pudding county some years back. So the same Lancs /yorks banditry here too :)
 
We're on virgin BB. The wife wants things like Sky Movies. I'm trying to work out whether it's better to go with Sky and have to have a phone line installed (well activated) or stick with Virgin and pay the extra cost for Sky Movies with a TV package. We don't need phone as we use our mobile phones.
 
omens said:
We're on virgin BB. The wife wants things like Sky Movies. I'm trying to work out whether it's better to go with Sky and have to have a phone line installed (well activated) or stick with Virgin and pay the extra cost for Sky Movies with a TV package. We don't need phone as we use our mobile phones.
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Contractuly Sky needs (or at least always used to) to be connected to a phone line for the first 12 months. Plus you won't get sky internet without a phone line and its rental charge.
 
omens said:
We're on virgin BB. The wife wants things like Sky Movies. I'm trying to work out whether it's better to go with Sky and have to have a phone line installed (well activated) or stick with Virgin and pay the extra cost for Sky Movies with a TV package. We don't need phone as we use our mobile phones.
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Why don't you get a Roku or NowTV box and get the Sky movies . You buy a month at a time so can skip months when there isn't anything you fancy :)

Clicky Linky
 
bindex said:
We're about 4 miles from Colne. We were in Yorkshire (hence the avatar) but they moved us into black pudding county some years back. So the same Lancs /yorks banditry here too :)
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Ahhh, probably the same place then ;) (B........... or E.... ?)
 
Just had a free speed increase !
4745197247_zpsm9zxsglq.png
 
We moved to Virgin from sky about 18 months ago and the service is excellent.

2 points I would make are that if you prepay your landline with Virgin you can save around £40 PA and secondly, I still don't 100% understand hoe to use the TiVo menu system as sky had become 2nd nature.

Having said that BT sport for free makes up for it :)
 
What's wrong with 20yo repeats? Better than modern stuff generally. Can't beat a bit of minder, professionals (actually itv 4).

No sky no for 10 days and getting fed up with them not giving me an offer! Trouble is sky are great at what they do, the interface, sky go and sky plus... More channels too. Sports are a big thing for me, movies too especially for the kids, but then I am tempted by bt as son and I are big fans of bundesliga.
 
Gsrai said:
We moved to Virgin from sky about 18 months ago and the service is excellent.

2 points I would make are that if you prepay your landline with Virgin you can save around £40 PA and secondly, I still don't 100% understand hoe to use the TiVo menu system as sky had become 2nd nature.

Having said that BT sport for free makes up for it :)
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Thanks - I'm watching the Forest Green match on Saturday at a neighbours who already has the TiVO/Virgin box so I'm going to go early and get him to show me how it all works. If it looks OK then I'll take all my documentation in to the Virgin shop and see if I can sqeeze the deal even more, such as paying for the line rental in advance....

Cheers
 
On top of everything else with virgin, you also get the sky remote, so can watch SkySports on phone, ipad etc through the app. Connect your tivo box to your network and watch programs off it. Without you can sue the app to set the tivo to record if you're out and missing something.
 
I only have Virgin Broadband and phoneline.....Only issue I have with them is their upload speed........ :(

Don't usually have to upload a lot, but recently signed up for cloud storage, and trying to upload 1.6TB of data is no joke! :(

Apart from that, service wise they've been pretty good....

I just can't get myself away from the Sky UI.....Its very easy and seamless......I just cannot get used to the Virgin one :(
 
Y15HAL said:
I only have Virgin Broadband and phoneline.....Only issue I have with them is their upload speed........ :(

Don't usually have to upload a lot, but recently signed up for cloud storage, and trying to upload 1.6TB of data is no joke! :(

Apart from that, service wise they've been pretty good....

I just can't get myself away from the Sky UI.....Its very easy and seamless......I just cannot get used to the Virgin one :(
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Yep, and the virgin remote is pish! But far better deal here than I could get with Sky.
 
Break your virgin remote, ring them up and get another one.
Interface is ok once you get used to it. Just different.

Upload speeds could be better. 162Mb download but 12Mb upload is at times limiting for photographers.
 
I had the top tier BB from Virgin (>150Mb) for many years and had very good service. We have since moved and the area doesn't have cable :(
We are now with BT and the fastest possible about 40Mb, the speed difference is very noticeable and we really miss it.
 
Have been with them for over 10 years on broadband over cable, have to say its excellent and has allways been good, very few outages, top speed.

I did however ditch all there TV and now have a box under the telly that uses the broadband for all my TV :)
 
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