regular_john Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Hoping some of my fellow VTers might be able to help out with some media package advice. I'm moving into a new place next week and need to decide which supplier to get our internet and TV through. The packages and prices are all basically the same, so I'm mostly looking for info on user experience and reliability. £45-50 a month gets us TV and fibre broadband with SKY (40 mbps), Virgin (60 mbps) and BT (76 mbps). Assuming the television experience is roughly equal, it seems that BT offer the best deal. Another option is to sack off the TV and go for broadband only, which makes Virgin the standout as they offer 100 mbps. So, what do I do? I'm not overly fussed on having TV as I've gotten through the last two years without one, so I'm tempted to go with broadband only but I've heard that Virgin's traffic management is so strict you typically get around half of the stated internet speed. Alternatively, does anyone know of any kickass providers outside the big three? Thoughts? Opinions? Experiences? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 I'd like to know this too - I'm moving at the end of August. TalkTalk had a pretty cheap deal for unlimited broadband I saw recently, no idea how good the product actually is though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 19, 2013 Administrator Share Posted July 19, 2013 My advice on talktalk is "just say no". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 (edited) Not sure if This offer is still on? Edited July 22, 2013 by Tamuff_Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I'd like to know this too - I'm moving at the end of August. TalkTalk had a pretty cheap deal for unlimited broadband I saw recently, no idea how good the product actually is though. Go and Google the reviews of TalkTalk. There are reasons why they're cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Just go BT. Network is currently excellent with no traffic management. I don't have the streaming box so can't comment on how good that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted July 22, 2013 Moderator Share Posted July 22, 2013 Just had another letter from Sky putting the price up. Sick of it. So looking at options myself, anyone got any views on Virgin media for internet, phone and TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 22, 2013 Administrator Share Posted July 22, 2013 Just go BT. Network is currently excellent with no traffic management. I don't have the streaming box so can't comment on how good that is. "No traffic management" except for whatever IWF don't like (in secret) and soon anything that another unaccountable quango doesn't like (in secret). If you want no traffic management, go to one of the small ISPs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 (edited) Just had another letter from Sky putting the price up. Sick of it. So looking at options myself, anyone got any views on Virgin media for internet, phone and TV I don't have phone or TV, but a couple of things to note about their internet is that they 'traffic shape' your p2p traffic down to about 2 kbps, and if you heavily use your traffic during peak hours (laughably, their peak hours are 12 hours a day during weekends...) they significantly cut your speed for an hour, then 2 hours if you keep going. Traffic sodomy policy. My service has been incredibly stable, it's cheap, and the p2p traffic shaping is easily circumventable so I don't mind too much, but it's something to keep in mind. Edited July 22, 2013 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 (edited) great how much has it just gone up with them tv? i just moved address with them am going to be very annoyed if they ahve bumped it up again think i might just switch to virgin and listen to limpid about talktalk i use to work there and they suck Edited July 22, 2013 by Demitri_C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 22, 2013 Administrator Share Posted July 22, 2013 and listen to limpid about talktalk i use to work there and they suck I turned down a job there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 (edited) your lucky you did mate i have never seen such a place. placing bars on peoples phones for no reason, and them not having a phone for up to 48hrs. in addition out-sourcing all their calls centres in south africa and india who never pick up their phones and if you did get through you got some goof who had no idea what they were doing. absolutely disgraceful company talktalk is. Carphone warehouse must have lost a fortune from them and the disaster known as best buy Edited July 22, 2013 by Demitri_C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted July 22, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted July 22, 2013 I would probably join BT but they can't match what I pay for Sky at the moment, when I get Fibre with Sky I'd be paying about £60 with Sports & Entertainment, whereas BT would be around £77 Is there any discounts I might be able to get out of them? What's BT's tv player like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I would probably join BT but they can't match what I pay for Sky at the moment, when I get Fibre with Sky I'd be paying about £60 with Sports & Entertainment, whereas BT would be around £77 Is there any discounts I might be able to get out of them? What's BT's tv player like? Absolutely no idea. But I know that I can have Netflix going on the PS3 on 1080 super HD, Netflix going on the Wii in 480, a laptop playing YouTube videos at 1080p, downloading Steam updates, and general browsing on a couple of phones or Chromebook all simultaneously at 8pm and experience no problems at any time. My Steam updates come down at 10MB / s My relative has just had Sky fibre installed and it's very hit and miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regular_john Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Anyone have any experience of plusnet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 (edited) Just signed up with Sky a few weeks back: Broadband, phone, line rental, multiroom, sky sports, sky movies, hd package for sports and movies, entertainment+. Also got two free wireless adapters for the multiroom boxes. Paying just under £60 a month (for the whole 12 month contract) and there were no installation charges etc. Did a very good job with the install too I have to say. Virgin provide great internet speeds, but their customer service is awful and I've had no end of problems with the TV and internet just cutting out for days with no reason given. Best bet with Sky is to go onto their website and click their online store, a box will pop up asking if you'd like to talk to a representative via web chat. I just kept telling them it was too expensive until I got it as low as possible. Whatever you do, don't just sign up willy nilly, make sure you talk to somebody first and you'll get some massive savings. I've basically saved about £500 for the year and I didn't even have Sports or Movies with Virgin. Edited July 23, 2013 by samjp26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted July 23, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted July 23, 2013 Virgin are doing their VIP collection half price for 12 months, pretty good offer to be fair. I've heard their trafficking on their BB is really bad though. http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles/our-collections.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted July 23, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted July 23, 2013 Virgin are doing their VIP collection half price for 12 months, pretty good offer to be fair. I've heard their trafficking on their BB is really bad though. http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles/our-collections.html EDIT: It's an 18 month contract, there's always a catch isn't there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Virgin are doing their VIP collection half price for 12 months, pretty good offer to be fair. I've heard their trafficking on their BB is really bad though. http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles/our-collections.html EDIT: It's an 18 month contract, there's always a catch isn't there? Virgin's number 1 problem is their contract length in my opinion. Be warned that if you upgrade your package it will begin a new 18 month contract for that package or specific service too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 (edited) Try Utility Warehouse. Gas, Electric, Phone, Ultd BB and Mrs E's mobile phone contract all for under £175 a month. (We live in a 4 bed house) We get our TV from Virgin so have their XL TiVO package for £33 a month on top. The UW broadband craps all over Virgins as well FWIW. Edited July 26, 2013 by Eames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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