Sky Vs Virgin Vs BT

[jay12329]

I'm soon to be moving house so will need to setup phone line, internet and TV pretty quickly.

At them moment I'm liking Sky+, £40quid a month for TV, 20mb unlimited internet and free evening and weekend phone calls. This includes phone line rental too.
But I've read some really bad reviews about the internet service, has this improved or is it sill really really bad?

For a similar virgin package with +box is £49.45 a month. I had virgin in my last place and the internet was so slow at peak times there was no point in even trying.

The BT package is about £44 but the TV seams that you are paying a lot for a freeview DVR box with no more channels. I don’t get it! My 'rents have BT internet have done for years and its fine 95% of the time.

So guys, advise experience and opinions please.

Ta
J

[Chriss]

I have BT vision, I pay £0 per month, have a 80GB hard drive recorder thing. For £0 I get all the freeview TV channels.

If I choose to upgrade and pay something (no idea how much it is), I can then get "on demand" (through your broadband and all) TV. Think of it as a service like BBC iPlayer/4OD that you pay for. You just browse through the programs and select the ones you want. It's definatly the way forward for TV, but not charged for. You can also pay per view. but it's about a pound per view.

Oh, my opinion, it's free, so good value for money. Downside is you need BT broadband, which is bad value for money.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[chris-red]

Virgin will always get my vote, far superior to BT. I have a 20mb connection and at speed tests usually get between 16-20. The support is better than BT by miles and in about 2/3years it has only dropped twice called them up spoke to customer service at Virgin who told me it was due to maintaince and will be sorted in 45mins.

Where I am apparantly I can only get 2mb ADSL.
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[Speedy3]

We just moved to Virgin, have V+ Medium TV, 50mb cable, and 400mins any network/anytime phone included and we are paying £41 per month, can't complain really as speed tests are showing 49681kb/s d/l and 4281kb/s u/l
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[Chriss]

Just to add, if I could have cabled Virgin, I'd go for it every time. Only problem is often one side of a road will have cable and the other side won't.

Wish Virgin would cable everywhere and make BT go bust
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[Gti]

[instigator]

Have had Sky Internet in 3 different addresses and found the speeds to be, in the words of my old head master, appalling.

The only time I get above 10% of the "up to 8mb" internet speed is on a Sunday afternoon. It's usually a 6-8hr window where I have to rape the internet connection to get my weeks worth of downloads.

[iooi]

I take it that you have checked that you can get 20 meg at your new location..... Via the exchange.

Pop over to Quidco and have a look at what cash back you can get...
£95 for the whole BT vision package.
Can't quite work out what you get with Sky as its split package wise.
Virgin media is coming soon.

If you are thinking of Virgin, ask others in the street if they have it and how it is. As it can vary depending on how many heavy users there are in the area.

Personally i'm using 02 for adsl. Get a good solid service via them.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[ashley_46]

I've got no complaints at all with sky. minimum i've had is 11mb broadband and unlike virgin they haven't restricted me at all. Virgin was good for about 30mins then throttled down to 2mb which was shit.

[G]

My virgin connection has always been speedy, including at peak times.

[Oz.]

[JonB]

Sky broadband. Possibly the worst broadband provider out there. My parents line can get 6mb after midnight, but between midday and then it seems to be permanently locked at 2mb and a shit ping.
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[Dom_]

I have Virgin internet, its not bad, but its not the best.

Cheaper to get just the internet, no need for a phone line, I just use my mobile anyway.

Then get a chipped virgin box, all the channels, no monthly fee. Why pay?

[iooi]

[Oz.]

[Dom_]

What about eurovoxes and the like?

They've been shutting down chipped boxes for years and years, they say the same thing every year.

[Oz.]

[Dragonfly]

Cant speak for virgin it dosnt work here.

Bt numourous probs with them, always on the phone. Stupid prices on bill most of which they couldnt explain why it was so high.Then taking bills out of my account twice in one month,. Disconnectng several times a day. Parents keep getting limited use messages and cant use more than one lap top at a time everything disconnects and slows down. I ended up getting over a years worth of money back off them once as my net was so bad and they wouldnt fix it even though they investigated.

Switched to sky last December and not a problem,. my nets fine. I have never rang them for any net prob. I know how much my bill is every month where as I was having heart failure at BTs which was always over £130! I get my tv,landline and phone out of I say £60 a month. And thats with calls in my bill. And I pay more as we dont get the free net or anything with our exchange.

I hate BT and am so glad I finially got away from them.
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Muzza on Binge:
He's too busy beating the everloving shit out of Lizzie to notice this thread has taken a turn down Drama Avenue and stopped off at the popcorn shop.

[tofu-wtf]

don't be drawn in by the numbers. If all you are doing is 'browsing' then a 2mb connection is plenty. If you are 'gaming' you will need 5mb+. If you are going to become a torrent whore you need 20mb+

The numbers attached to internet connections are utter b%x created by marketing departments for people that must have the biggest, newest or fastest.

If I were getting a new ISP I would find the CHEAPEST that meets my needs, the fact that people buy 20mb and get 8mb says it all. The fact that your connection was unreliable at your old property is probably nothing to do with your ISP as in most cases your ISP does not own the lines or the equipment providing the service.
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