Comparing My Virgin Services with Sky & BT

deans6571deans6571 Posts: 6,137
Forum Member
I've just done a like for like comparison on the VM services which I currently receive:

Broadband: M (up to 20MB)

TV: XL (179 channels without any of the movie channels with V+HD Box)

Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line rental: £13.90)

Total which I pay per month = £56.65


Checking the same or as close to as services with Sky:

TV: Sky Ebtertainment Extra HD Pack

Phone: Talk Weekends + eves(Line Rental £14.50)

Broadband: Up to 40mb o

Total: £61.25


And again, the same services or equivalent with BT:

TV: Unlimted

Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line Rental £10.75)

Broadband: BT Infinity (checked coverage and I can get this) Up to 76 Mb

Total : £38.50

Now £38.50 is a BIG difference compared to the £56.65 I currently pay with Virgin seeing that I only get 20mb with VM and BT offer up to 76mn with Infinity.

Has anyone had any experience with what BT offer and their equipment (YouView box and BT Homehub) - are they any good..?!!!!

Comments

  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
    Forum Member
    deans6571 wrote: »
    I've just done a like for like comparison on the VM services which I currently receive:

    Broadband: M (up to 20MB)

    TV: XL (179 channels without any of the movie channels with V+HD Box)

    Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line rental: £13.90)

    Total which I pay per month = £56.65


    Checking the same or as close to as services with Sky:

    TV: Sky Ebtertainment Extra HD Pack

    Phone: Talk Weekends + eves(Line Rental £14.50)

    Broadband: Up to 40mb o

    Total: £61.25


    And again, the same services or equivalent with BT:

    TV: Unlimted

    Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line Rental £10.75)

    Broadband: BT Infinity (checked coverage and I can get this) Up to 76 Mb

    Total : £38.50

    Now £38.50 is a BIG difference compared to the £56.65 I currently pay with Virgin seeing that I only get 20mb with VM and BT offer up to 76mn with Infinity.

    Has anyone had any experience with what BT offer and their equipment (YouView box and BT Homehub) - are they any good..?!!!!

    I have the Youview box and it is a very good box, if you buy it yourself you can have one with the 1TB HDD inside, if you buy it from Richer Sounds you will have the 5 year Warranty on it as well, then you could use it with the BT service
    Plus the Youview box has the App as well for your phone, but I do not think you can watch Live and/or recorded programmes on it though
  • deans6571deans6571 Posts: 6,137
    Forum Member
    I have the Youview box and it is a very good box, if you buy it yourself you can have one with the 1TB HDD inside, if you buy it from Richer Sounds you will have the 5 year Warranty on it as well, then you could use it with the BT service
    Plus the Youview box has the App as well for your phone, but I do not think you can watch Live and/or recorded programmes on it though

    Are you with BT then - which package have you opted for?
  • stafsstafs Posts: 1,540
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    BT do not offer anywhere near the same TV service as Sky or Virgin Media so it really is no wonder it is significantly cheaper. If you only want Freeview and a limited on demand service then fair enough but you should then be comparing it with the equivalent cheaper cable and satellite packages.
  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
    Forum Member
    deans6571 wrote: »
    Are you with BT then - which package have you opted for?

    I am not with BT, I bought the box from a Retailer
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
    Forum Member
    deans6571 wrote: »
    And again, the same services or equivalent with BT:

    TV: Unlimted

    Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line Rental £10.75)

    Broadband: BT Infinity (checked coverage and I can get this) Up to 76 Mb

    Total : £38.50

    Now £38.50 is a BIG difference compared to the £56.65 I currently pay with Virgin seeing that I only get 20mb with VM and BT offer up to 76mn with Infinity.

    Not the same TV service - that's probably just Freeview and a little 'catch-up', nothing approaching the VM or Sky offerings. It doesn't sound like that price covers Infinity either?.
  • ianredianred Posts: 91
    Forum Member
    I'd call Virgin see if they can give you better. I've got ITB Tivo and on M+ with M phone and 30Mb internet and it comes to about £38.00, No installation charge on Tivo neither, worth trying because as said I think BT Vision is only Freeview channels.
  • deans6571deans6571 Posts: 6,137
    Forum Member
    ianred wrote: »
    I'd call Virgin see if they can give you better. I've got ITB Tivo and on M+ with M phone and 30Mb internet and it comes to about £38.00, No installation charge on Tivo neither, worth trying because as said I think BT Vision is only Freeview channels.


    How did you get a 'no installation charge on TiVo'?!?! :eek:Everytime I've called up, they say its around £49.99 to install...?!:confused:
  • deans6571deans6571 Posts: 6,137
    Forum Member
    Not the same TV service - that's probably just Freeview and a little 'catch-up', nothing approaching the VM or Sky offerings. It doesn't sound like that price covers Infinity either?.

    I think £38.50 does cover Infinity. I copied and pasted whats on offer for this price:

    TV Unlimited + Unlimited Broadband and Evening & Weekend Calls with superfast
    BT Infinity broadband
    TV Unlimited + Unlimited Broadband and Calls with superfast BT Infinity broadband

    YouView Features
    Superfast BT Infinity
    FREE unlimited wi-fi
    Advanced security
    BT Home Hub
    See more features
    18 month Broadband & Calls contract, 12 month TV contract



    Up to
    76Mb
    download speed

    Up to 19Mb upload speed


    Unlimited usage
    Exclusions apply


    Evening & Weekend
    Calls included


    Add
    Unlimited Anytime Calls?



    Sainsbury's £50 Gift Card

    Connection
    included


    Online Exclusive
    £38.50 £32.50 for first 3 monthsº

    Cost breakdown

    + Line rental from £10.75
    + One off activation fee £49



  • ianredianred Posts: 91
    Forum Member
    deans6571 wrote: »
    How did you get a 'no installation charge on TiVo'?!?! :eek:Everytime I've called up, they say its around £49.99 to install...?!:confused:

    They called me and offered it, also got the 1tb box, it may have been a push on Tivo's was back in July last year.
  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
    Forum Member
    ianred wrote: »
    They called me and offered it, also got the 1tb box, it may have been a push on Tivo's was back in July last year.

    Same here, I got the 1TB TiVo box for free in May last year when there was a push to offload the boxes as they had too many, if I did not have the offer it would of cost me £49.95 for the box and another £49.95 for the Installation

    Total Saved £99.90
  • Tavis75Tavis75 Posts: 593
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    As has been mentioned, the big difference with the BT service is that the TV is basically just Freeview with some catch-up\on-demand services, which are mostly free on the internet, so for a fair comparison you really need to be comparing it to a Sky or VM package without TV.
  • deans6571deans6571 Posts: 6,137
    Forum Member
    Ok - cheers guys - thanks for the clarifications! :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,954
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    The premier collection is £63 a month ish and you can get triple the broadband speed you are getting now but no unlimited evening calls

    http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles/our-collections.html
  • 1andrew11andrew1 Posts: 4,088
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    deans6571 wrote: »
    Online Exclusive
    £38.50 £32.50 for first 3 monthsº

    Cost breakdown
    + Line rental from £10.75
    + One off activation fee £49
    So monthly cost of £49.25 v £56.65 for VM. You can also get VM's line rental down to £10pm by paying in advance making its monthly cost £52.75.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 78
    Forum Member
    deans6571 wrote: »
    And again, the same services or equivalent with BT:

    TV: Unlimted

    Phone: Talk Weekends +eves (Line Rental £10.75)

    Broadband: BT Infinity (checked coverage and I can get this) Up to 76 Mb

    Total : £38.50

    Now £38.50 is a BIG difference compared to the £56.65 I currently pay with Virgin

    Check the line rental i think you are comparing monthly line rental fee with VM and Sky against the annual rental cost with BT. Comparing like with like, current line rental monthly is:

    BT = £15.45
    Sky = £14.50
    VM = £14.99
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