my virginmedia contract ends shortly

[devonwoody]

I have been on broadband fibre for years and I cannot fathom what internet would be like signing up to new supplier.
we dont watch film videos or download music, watch you tube and iplayer
virgin fibre telephone landline we also use.
Cannot find another fibre supplier in TQ3 area, so whats it like going back to a telephone lead to my PC these days?

 

[billw]

If you don't download or stream anything you'll be fine with any old broadband. The internet I have is terrible, must be as far from an exchange as you can get but I can still stream live TV most of the time and it's the basic Talk Talk package.

 

[Jester129]

Have searched on google? I was being charged around £47 for broadband and phone line from BT. When I eventually cleared their 12 month contract on everything, I phoned to tell them I was leaving, they suddenly offered me the same for £29! On principle I refused and have gone with Plusnet with unlimited broadband (we have superfast broadband around here) for £26.
HTH

 

[RogerS]

Are there any other fibre supplies than Virgin ?

dw...you still have a landline ? Then sign up to Zen. I recommended them to you several years ago and still do so.

 

[Rorschach]

We have Virgin fibre and Post office non-fibre. Aside from the Post office service being terrible, the speeds are perfectly adequate for most needs.

 

[donwatson]

A word of caution here, if you have an email connection with Virgin Media it suddenly comes to an end 3 months (I think) after you leave Virgin. I was with Virgin and went to Sky and one day my emails stopped working and it was too late to swap over to the new provider. It was horrendous sorting out the mess.
Don W

 

[billw]

Have searched on google? I was being charged around £47 for broadband and phone line from BT. When I eventually cleared their 12 month contract on everything, I phoned to tell them I was leaving, they suddenly offered me the same for £29! On principle I refused and have gone with Plusnet with unlimited broadband (we have superfast broadband around here) for £26.
HTH

It's good to be principled although given Plusnet is a subsidiary of BT you've not *quite* managed a full protest vote.

 

[AJB Temple]

We have just moved to Virgin Media having previously had BT. My wife had been paying £72 per month for BT (various services). They put up significant resistance and hurdles to cancellation, eventually reduced the price by Virgin was still cheaper. At least in our house the new Virgin Media routers give superior coverage to BT,m ver with BT extenders. We now pay £23 for broadband and landline.

I would negotiate with Virgin Media Devon to get the best deal, and would only chance the disruption of changing (especially is you use a VM email server) if you are saving significant money. That said, we found the changeover quick and painless.

 

[Garno]

A word of caution here, if you have an email connection with Virgin Media it suddenly comes to an end 3 months (I think) after you leave Virgin. I was with Virgin and went to Sky and one day my emails stopped working and it was too late to swap over to the new provider. It was horrendous sorting out the mess.
Don W

Absolutely right, I am sure it was less time than that and they have not long increased it to 3 months but I would not swear to that as I only use Gmail.

 

[NikNak]

Same as you we were with Virgin for years and years.... started off 'cheap' (when we switched from Sky) but the price slowly crept up and up.

Nothing wrong with the service just the cost.

I think we were around £67 when i eventually said enough is enough... 100mb b/b and no fancy channels just basic stuff.

Used several of the switching websites, bit the bullet and went with Vodafone when they were doing their Superfast2 for the same price as Superfast1

£23 per month fixed for 2yrs but unfortunately it will go up at the end of those two years... by 3 quid..!!

Cost includes Superfast Broadband2 advertised as 63mb(?) and we're regularly getting 75mb AND line rental but no inclusive calls... so what we use our mobiles... just like everyone else does these days.

PLUS... on top of the 'deal' i got a choice of £100 voucher (from the switching website) from either John Lewis, M&S, Currys or Amazon, we opted for the M&S one and used it just the other day actually.

PLUS... at the time Vodafone we also doing a 'deal'... "sign up by xyz date and we'll send you a voucher for an Amazon Echo Dot" happy days..!!!

Virgin can be a bit of a pain to deal with when you try and cancel, but stick to your guns. They will (eventually) offer you an 'amazing deal' to stay.... I told them they could offer it to me for free and i still wouldn't stay i was that pineappled off by then..!!

No... we no longer have a Tivo box that lets you records god knows how many channels and never watch.

No... we cant instantly rewind live tv to see if they really said that.

Do we regret it.? not one little bit..!!

One year down the line. We're about to decorate the lounge so will see about getting a Humax box or similar at the same time.

Do some searches as i like you thought we couldn't get Superfast Braodband, how wrong was i


Nick

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks all for that advice above, last year virgin did reduce me back to £34 per month for broadband and talk anytime telephone and loyalty discount.
If they do not do the same in March21 how do I get on giving up the landline and go mobile with someone. I have not got a mobile and never had one.

 

[diyphil]

Mobile phones are easy for simple people like me that only want to make calls, send texts and see emails. Buy a cheap sim free phone from Argos - I have a Motorola G7 Play for £90 and then get a cheap sim from someone like GiffGaff for £8/month - Bobs your uncle.

 

[diyphil]

I have been with Virgin cable for at least 20 years - when they started out as Telewest. Every few years I give them a call and ask if they can help me reducing the cost of my account as I need to cut down on my day to day expenses. Usually they knock a bit of money off especially if you can quote a better competitors offer.

 

[diyphil]

Another thought - If you cannot get a better offer then ask to speak to the disconnections department to "find out the procedure required for leaving the company" even if you do not actually want to leave. Internally the disconnections department is known as the retentions department and they can be a little more amenable to offering you a better deal than the general call staff that you initially speak to. If they cannot give you a better deal, and you do not want to leave, then do not let them terminate your account. Say you will be back in touch after you have discussed it with your wife etc or say you want time to change all your bank account emails from the virgin one to a new google one before the account is terminated. - any excuse to end the call without them finishing your contract. Then just try to speak to them again in a couple of months time. A lot depends on who you talk to and whether they are having a good or bad day!

 

[Sideways]

Bear in mind that most "fibre" broadband is installed, serviced and maintained by Openreach whoever you contract with.
Just today I switched because at the end of my last 12mth contract with Sky, they increased the monthly fee from under £30 to over £40.
It was the second time I've been caught by them like this so I've opted for Zen internet. I'll pay maybe £1-2 a month above the cheapest market rates but they guarantee never to raise the monthly fee at the end of your contract and as long as you stay with them. No brainer.
Also, use one of the postcode checkers to see your maximum line speed. Don't waste money buying one of these fast 50 or 60 Mbit/s services on a line that will never be able to deliver more than 30Mbit/s. Providers will happily take your money as speeds are rarely guaranteed.

PS. The going rate for upto 30Mbit/s fibre including line rental, phone calls possible but charged extra, is under £30 / month
PPS. Wasn't PlusNet bought up by BT ?

 

[billw]

Definitely use a postcode checker - Despite my broadband being advertised at something like 9Mb/s, the postcode checker said more like 5 or 6, and the reality is under 3.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

A word of caution here, if you have an email connection with Virgin Media it suddenly comes to an end 3 months (I think) after you leave Virgin. I was with Virgin and went to Sky and one day my emails stopped working and it was too late to swap over to the new provider. It was horrendous sorting out the mess.
Don W

What ever you do for email, NEVER, use the accounts supplied by your internet provider. I learned that lesson about 25 years ago now I have my own domain names so my email addresses will never change unless I stop paying. If you want to be the product you can use Gmail etc.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

What ever you do for email, NEVER, use the accounts supplied by your internet provider

+1. You will end up with a huge task to switch. Or e.g., paying TalkTalk £50 per year to keep them. Also ... e-mail security is a nightmare. Imagine you give up an e-mail address; either from an ISP, or by allowing your own domain name to lapse. You had better have changed all your e-mail addresses for any important online account. Otherwise a new user can register that domain / e-mail address, and will then receive your mail. Go to any site login page, I forgot my password - link sent to the newly acquired email address, and they're in.

I just moved to Virgin media (350Mb/s for £40 PCM) , to escape OpenReach wiring limitations. Interestingly, round here a least, all these "Fibre" services are only fibre to cabinet, it still arrives by BT twisted pair or Virgin Co-ax. I was hoping for fibre to door, so it works properly even after a few years, even when it is raining

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Imagine you give up an e-mail address; either from an ISP, or by allowing your own domain name to lapse.

That is why I pay for my domains 10 years

 

[Jester129]

It's good to be principled although given Plusnet is a subsidiary of BT you've not *quite* managed a full protest vote.

Bill, yes you are quite right on that, but I'm saving several squids nonetheless and I don't see the damned BT logo when I log on.