Virgin Media

[bigcumba]

I know Virgin / NTL have had a lot of stick over the years, but I've never had a problem with them at all, and this week had yet another example of them doing things right... I've been on the basic 1Mb broadband for the last few years, and as I do more and more downloading from Usenet I needed a faster connection. Called them Tuesday to see what they could offer... 20Mb, new cable modem, free router, 50p a month more than I currently pay. The gear arrived as arranged today, took 20 minutes to set up, a quick call to a very friendly helpline bloke to register the modem, and 5 minutes later I'm up and running. Perfect.... and try getting that from BT!

[Linfield]

I've been with virgin as well for about 4 years now and have no complaints.
I did ring them about a year ago to complain about the sports service that they lost, can't remember which one (Stella moment) and they knocked my payments down from £44 per month to £32.

Probably go tits up tomorrow now.

Tony

[bigcumba]

Probably go tits up tomorrow now.

Yeah, that would be typical of my luck.... I also use them for my mobile - as I'm not a heavy user they had a plan perfect for me... 100 mins, 100 texts for a tenner a month, and a half decent Samsung phone for free... plus the option to change phone every 12 months for nothing. Not bad at all.

[scoobydoo]

I have to agree with you bigc, they have been good to me as well over the years. I am moving on August 1st and Im in a contract with Virgin, when I said I was leaving they said that if I didnt go back with them, I would owe them £140 for remaining 7 months of my contract....fair enough you might say. So Ive decided to go back with them, though this time it has to be on ADSL as their digital services are not available. I was on £20 a month for 2MB broadband and phone rental, with all my calls free as well. They are giving me the same, for £20 a month, up to 8MB ADSL broadband (more like 1 here in the sticks!!) and all my phone calls free (not 0870, 0845 mind ) plus free wireless router and a free, freeview box for good measure! My only problem is that I have to pay BT for a line so it will be costing me a tenner more but I had no choice really being in this contract, Ill be in much better position this time next year when speaking to Virgin! :) I know that the ADSL is not going to be as good as cable broadband though...it really has been great for me here and its very rarely off....Ill miss it for sure.

[bigcumba]

I just had a look at what I downloaded overnight.... averaged about 1.8Gb an hour :D

[Win2Win]

(more like 1 here in the sticks!!)

I live up a mountain in rural Wales and get 7mbps+ hitting my router. That's with BT or PlusNet (two lines for backup).

[mathare]

I too have been with Virgin (Telewest) for years and have no complaints. We have phone, all the TV channels and broadband and never really had any issues. Last summer I think it was, our digi-boxes basically overheated and went wrong. An engineer came out, looked at them and basically said "yep, they do this from time to time as the fans aren't really good enough in them" and shoved new boxes in without really batting an eyelid, which was nice.

The TV on demand stuff is really good on Virgin too, both the catch-up TV from the last 7 days and the massive archive of stuff from Channel 4 etc too. I probably watch as much of that as I do live TV

[markwales]

Virgin have improved NTHell no end....

Had to call Virgin out for the first time about 6 weeks ago due to internet running like a dog, he fixed it (signal issue in the street not just me) and my PC was still only running at 10mb instead of 20mb, he immediately took the modem out, and 'un-screwed' a device that NTL engineers had been instructured to put on the back of modems that restricted their output to 50% Was a blocker cube or something, you'll know if you've got one, it sits between the modem and the cable connection. The cable goes into the back of the blocker, which is screwed into the modem... if you find you have one, just uncsrew and plug cable straight into modem.

[TheOldhamWhisper]

It's well worth contacting Virgin (especially when getting close to the end of your initial contract) and asking them about their latest offers/prices. Tell them you are looking for faster broadband speeds in particular and ask what's available. I was on XL TV package with the bog standard 1mb broadband and was paying around £60 a month. After a short phone call, a new modem arrived the following day and in less than 10 minutes I was on my new 4mb connection (due for free upgrade to 10mb later this year) along with my XL TV package - which has both my racing channels and Setanta included; all 'music on demand' is free as well, with optional pay per view for films. Phone calls to other Virgin landlines are free, as are weekend calls to landlines. And the cost for this upgrade? £35 a month for the first 3 months and then £50 a month thereafter.

I've been with them since they were Cable and Wireless, before they became NTL (around 14 years) and have been offline for no more than a couple of days total in all that time (and 36 hours of that was when vandals set fire to the outside comms box and they had to wait for BT to replace the box).

I guess that puts me in the 'satisfied customer' bracket.

[Win2Win]

I got a £65 contract of my parents with Virgin down to £35/mth, Internet, TV all channels, and free phone calls. :)

[bigcumba]

I've been with them since they were Cable and Wireless, before they became NTL (around 14 years) and have been offline for no more than a couple of days total in all that time

I guess that puts me in the 'satisfied customer' bracket.

Same here, had C+W analogue telly (pre Telewest) and dial up in Scotland from 1996 for the year before I moved down, then got the same here followed by bradband, and I reckon it's only ever been down for a total of about 12 hours over all that time. I've always got lucky with their customer support folk, always helpful and friendly, and always sorted out any problems first time out.

[scoobydoo]

I just had a look at what I downloaded overnight.... averaged about 1.8Gb an hour :D

Are still keeping up to these figures bigc and if so, do they bring in the traffic management or don't you notice? I am going on the 20Mb package soon and just wondered how you fare with it? Do you get about 20Mb at anytime or have you not checked?

[bigcumba]

I think that rather than them slowing my connection at certain times I'm getting an average speed of around 13-14Mb, and that's constant over 24 hours because the stuff I download from Usenet - movies particularly - are split into rar'd chunks of around 50Mb a time and it takes the same amount of time to download no matter what time of day or night. I'm quite happy with that, though I know I could easily make good use of the fastest 50Mb service - can't really justify that extra cost to the wife though!

I've just got myself a V+ box for the telly as my DVD recorder has packed in... only £49 installation, and an extra fiver a month. Very useful for recording 2 different channels at the same time as you're watching a third! Also got another ordinary set top box upstairs, so that's 1 V+ and 2 ordinary boxes... I think they like customers like us!

[scoobydoo]

I think that rather than them slowing my connection at certain times I'm getting an average speed of around 13-14Mb, and that's constant over 24 hours because the stuff I download from Usenet - movies particularly - are split into rar'd chunks of around 50Mb a time and it takes the same amount of time to download no matter what time of day or night. I'm quite happy with that, though I know I could easily make good use of the fastest 50Mb service - can't really justify that extra cost to the wife though!

I've just got myself a V+ box for the telly as my DVD recorder has packed in... only £49 installation, and an extra fiver a month. Very useful for recording 2 different channels at the same time as you're watching a third! Also got another ordinary set top box upstairs, so that's 1 V+ and 2 ordinary boxes... I think they like customers like us!

That seems pretty fair to me, I wonder if you don't go over the limts then? I know it is about 7gig in daytime and about 3.5 gig at night....I would think you do though eh? :) Anyway, I would be happy if that was my speed the whole time. I must admit I am tempted to go for the 50Mb but I just don't know if I need it, I know there doesn't seem to be any fair usage policy with 50Mb at the moment. I , too, don't know if I can justify it.

Just seen the V+ box ad on Virgin, how would you say it compares against sky+, if you know? I know it has the advantage of being able to record 2 channels and watch another. Is it good quality? I know with sky, you buy the box and then after your 12 months is up, if it goes wrong, they charge you to come and fix it. Is it same with Virgin do you know or would that do that service for free?

[bigcumba]

As far as I'm aware I have no download limit at all... I'm still doing over 20Gigs a day pretty much every day. The 50 Mb package - I'm not too sure about any limits on that, given it's quite a bit more expensive I'd expect to get the full whack all day!

I've never compared the Sky+ box to Virgin's effort, but I know if anything goes wrong with mine they will fix it or replace it - it's a rental agreement rather than an outright purchase, so the box always belongs to them. Picture quality is as good as you'll get, and can also do HD if you want it. I'm impressed with it - very easy to use as well, and I love being able to pause live tv!

[scoobydoo]

As far as I'm aware I have no download limit at all... I'm still doing over 20Gigs a day pretty much every day. The 50 Mb package - I'm not too sure about any limits on that, given it's quite a bit more expensive I'd expect to get the full whack all day!

No I dont think there are any download limits with Virgin are there...they just knock your speed down a bit...well they do on Virgin National..which is truly awful btw.

I've never compared the Sky+ box to Virgin's effort, but I know if anything goes wrong with mine they will fix it or replace it - it's a rental agreement rather than an outright purchase, so the box always belongs to them. Picture quality is as good as you'll get, and can also do HD if you want it. I'm impressed with it - very easy to use as well, and I love being able to pause live tv!

That is a much better way of doing things as they can go wrong and Sky charge £65 out of your guarantee I believe. Glad you're pleased with it mate....thanks for info.

[scoobydoo]

The TV on demand stuff is really good on Virgin too, both the catch-up TV from the last 7 days and the massive archive of stuff from Channel 4 etc too. I probably watch as much of that as I do live TV

How large is the selection from their On Demand service Mat, it is all free as long as you are on the XL TV package isnt it? Can you give me an idea of what they have on there for example at all? I just wondered what the difference was between their 7 day catch up and the On Demand service. Do you watch BBCi player on Virgin...is it exactly the same as online version?

I am thinking of ordering their TV after looking at the V+ box online and what bigc has said about it, it looks a good offer to me.

Thanks mate. :)

[TheOldhamWhisper]

The On Demand service alone could keep most TV addicts occupied for months! There is the usual 'Catch-up' TV consisting of:

BBC iPlayer
ITV Net Player
4 on Demand
Living
Virgin1
Bravo
Virgin Central
Book Zone TV
Theatreland TV
Baby TV
The Baby Channel
Teachers TV
Current TV
New You

Add on to that Music on Demand - this has a massive selection for just about any taste in music.

My personal favourite is TV choice on Demand which consists of a stack of those shows that you either never got around to watching, or have only just discovered! Most are 'full series' - I spent the whole of yesterday afternoon watching all 13 episodes of the first series of 'The Big Band Theory' (and if you have never seen this show, you need to!).

I thoroughly recommend it as an 'all-round' package, mainly because even with the XL TV package, the very nature of digital TV often means that there isn't a single original program on! Being able to pick a series and watch it from the very first episode is brilliant!

[scoobydoo]

Thanks for that TOW, it does look very good value for money, especially when you take broadband and phone off them as well. I think I am going to go for it.

[mathare]

They have a lot of 4OD stuff on there, lots of old C4 drama and comedy. Less from the main channels (BBC, ITV etc) but plenty from the traditional cable channels.

I caught up on all the previous series of Peep Show and things like that that way, plus watching old Adam and Joe shows. It's older stuff than was just on this week (the 7 day catch up service).

I have watched BBC stuff on demand on catch up TV and as far as I can tell it is the same as the online iPlayer, yeah

[scoobydoo]

Thank you Mat.

[scoobydoo]

Just to say got it sorted today, got XL TV with V+ box, XL (20Mb) broadband and XL phone for just over £50 for 6 months, goes up another £8 after that I think. I didnt think that was too bad really? Thanks fellas for all your help anyway.

[mathare]

I ought to phone them sometime and tell them I am moving to Sky unless they want to reduce my monthly price. We currently pay nearly £100 a month for a phone line we hardly use, L broadband, XL TV plus the movies and sports. We don't have (or really need) a V+ box as we have a separate HDD recorder.

Might do that tonight

[scoobydoo]

I ought to phone them sometime and tell them I am moving to Sky unless they want to reduce my monthly price. We currently pay nearly £100 a month for a phone line we hardly use, L broadband, XL TV plus the movies and sports. We don't have (or really need) a V+ box as we have a separate HDD recorder.

Might do that tonight

You should certainly get that down a bit Mat I would think as they'll want to keep a customer like you. The only difference will be you will be put on a 12 month deal , but who cares about that if you're happy with what they offer you. Based on mine, you should get something for about £80 a month I would think and that should be with 20Mb broadband and 24/7 calls to landlines. Let us know how you get on?

[mathare]

Just phoned them and they have knocked off over 15% a month :)

[scoobydoo]

Just phoned them and they have knocked off over 15% a month :)

Well done Mat, better in your pocket than theirs eh?

[profit-maker]

Maybe you guys should consider getting yourself a Dreambox ;)

Not that I consent to using them of course!!

[lowe1]

Just ordered full package with virgin managed to get the v+ box for free and free installation full xxl package for £55 a month :D:D

plus a free netbook

[profit-maker]

Just ordered full package with virgin managed to get the v+ box for free and free installation full xxl package for £55 a month :D:D

plus a free netbook

£55 a month!!

My mates dreambox cost him £70, and he gets every channel (including the late-night ones, and sky box office events) for £0 a month.

[bigcumba]

My mates dreambox cost him £70, and he gets every channel (including the late-night ones, and sky box office events) for £0 a month.

At least he should be able to save up for the inevitable £2000 fine when they catch up with him!