i have had sky plus since it came out and ntl/virgin for years as well . i recently cancelled sky as box had problems and they wanted 65 quid to send engineer out . i never cancelled until now as the virgin set top boxes were very poor . however a couple of months ago they did a major software update and it works much better now . they also have agreat selection of on demand stuff so i dont feel need for pvr so i didnt go for v + plus . the other thing to bear in mind is our weather . when it rains bye bye sky . i paid to have dish alignment checked a nd lnb checked but still whenever it rained picture would pixelate or stop entirely . i live in northampton on a hill with no big buildings in way of signal so go figure ! ntls internet has been superb and phone fine as well . virgin customer service was until very recently appalling but i only ever called them to change package and at least the call is free . sky charge between 10 p amin and 13p amin and can take 10 to 15 mins to get through so it costs 1 pound 50 to complain !!!!!!
we decided to go for virgin in the end. got a gd price in the end, for bout 60 quid a month get xl tv, phone, broadband, skysports, v plus box for 120, plus 10 credit a month to go towards paying for star plus but i was thinking of not going for that to make my v plus box free in effect.
we decided to go for virgin in the end. got a gd price in the end, for bout 60 quid a month get xl tv, phone, broadband, skysports, v plus box for 120, plus 10 credit a month to go towards paying for star plus but i was thinking of not going for that to make my v plus box free in effect.
Well for internet I'm with Virgin, excellent service and very fast. I've not been with Sky before but frankly I cannot abide everything going through a BT phone line which costs.
For TV however I'm with Sky. Yes Setanta might be "free" with the top VM package but you lose out on interactive football services, the vast majority of champions league matches, the Football First interactive match selection thing from 10pm on Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports News and SkyOne. The Virgin EPG thingie is also frustratingly slow and glitchy.
So internet - Virgin
Television - Sky
Problem with this (as I'm discovering myself) is that if you want a SKY + box you still need the BT line. So that means you have to Pay sky, BT and Virgin
Problem with this (as I'm discovering myself) is that if you want a SKY + box you still need the BT line. So that means you have to Pay sky, BT and Virgin
I thought you could use any provider's phone for Sky services?
I think it depends on which phoneline you have already. I have Virgin phoneline and no BT socket. When I had Sky I missed out on the cheap BT phone deals from SKY. I think I am better off with 3 for £30 (inc TV XL). I am not too concerned with phone call charges as I make about 10 calls per week.
Virgin Broadband has been rock solid for me, I have had it for about 6 years now. 2 meg is fast enough. Now that we have Setanta I can catch the odd footie match.
The only thing I miss from Sky is the excellent epg and reliable TV picture. Sometimes Virgin goes blocky, Sky never did even in bad weather. Never watched Sky onc (sic) too many adverts.
I was in a similar position. Do i take cable to my new house or go with sky. I knew i wanted BB from cable because i have seen an awful lot of problems with ADSL and i am about 4 miles from the exchange so would never get the 8mb downloads.
When i looked at the packages the only tempting move for Sky was 24 and the Simpsons. I would say nip /tuck but that is now on FX.
The other problem was i had big arguments with Sky customer service over my mums system and customer service was appalling worse than anything i have had from cable.
The only decision on cable was I was moving from a telewest area to an ntl one and that was a worry.
On a whole I have found the V+ system great it works just as quick as my mums sky + system so no complaints from me.
From my point of view the package that VM offered me compared to sky was saving me £30 off my previous cable bill and £15 a month compared to Sky.
Hey people we have got a bit of a dilemma we use to have sky and have got both sky and virgin media booked in for wednesday! we are not sure which one to go for.
On sky we can get sky + for £49, 2 mix with skysports for £34 (10% off for 3 months). Plus we may get the midi broadband for £5 per month.
Or we can get tv xl with sky sports, phone xl, broadband xl for £61.50. We can get v+ for £150. Apparently its only another £10 for another box,not sure if that includes the other channels. Obviously we will get setanta as well with virgin.
One of the main concerns we have with sky is its broadband service tho, would appreciate your vies on virgin media people.
virgin virgin virgin
plus ring up retentions (its free on 150 from a virgin phone) on the end of the 1st months contract tell them you are not happy and they will almost certainly reduce your bill
Will bear that tip in mind, just had virgin media installed today. All in all its quite good (just takes getting use to after 6 years with sky) although as we have v+ ( which i really like) i find the length of time it takes to change channel and that back button a bit irritating.
Problem with this (as I'm discovering myself) is that if you want a SKY + box you still need the BT line. So that means you have to Pay sky, BT and Virgin
You don't need a BT line, yesterday 7th August I had sky put in but I am keeping my Virgin phone and BB, the engineer came and put the Sky box connection into my VM line, checked the connection between the box and Sky via VM phone line and i twas OK. I am on Sky HD. |Cheers
You don't need a BT line, yesterday 7th August I had sky put in but I am keeping my Virgin phone and BB, the engineer came and put the Sky box connection into my VM line, checked the connection between the box and Sky via VM phone line and i twas OK. I am on Sky HD. |Cheers
I think the BT line thing is only needed for SKy Talk and Sky Broadband which is an advantage if you go down th Sky route
Me I am currently with VM and everything has been hunky dory for the last six months so no need to change
I think the BT line thing is only needed for SKy Talk and Sky Broadband which is an advantage if you go down th Sky route
Me I am currently with VM and everything has been hunky dory for the last six months so no need to change
Yes for Sky Talk/BB but I had no problems with Vm until I had to phone Faults dept- called about my V+ box called 5 times had 3 engineers out, was cut of by CS India to report my box was losing TV picture had sound/Guide said I had no problems but last engineer replace box to find out its was the HD wire from the box to TV, but that time I had enough and phoned Sky to get SKy HD for £149, £24 credit, £20 Morrison Vouchers and Vm giving me 2 For £20 for my phone talkunlimited/BB and so far I have no promlems with Sky and seeing more channels - Cheers
i had a a basic skybox with all channels 6 mixes sky sports and movies and setanta for £55. I also had i think its the M bb with virgin media for £18 and a basic phone £11 In total £84.
My sky box went and i was unwilling to pay £65 for someone to fix my box.
So i phoned virgin about tv. They said if i went with them and if then had 3 services they could offer me a good deal. I now have virgin tv with everything i had on sky for £62. I took there hand off £20 a month is a huge saving i can live without interactive for that
make sure you phone them because the offers dont appear on there website!!!
The thing is it is not always about the price sometimes just the service you are offered should be taken into account.
We joined cable in 1993 as soon as it was available in this area. At the time it was Nynex. We had 2 boxes and no problems AT ALL. Nynex were then taken over by Cable and Wireless, this coincided with Digital being introduced.
Again things were ok. We had to have the boxes replaced a couple of times and we lost service for a few hours.
Then joy of joy NTL took over, and this is when things went to hell. Over a course of a year we had 14 replacement boxes and kept losing the service for weeks at a time. The telephone service seemed to go at the same time.
By this point we had both Sky and NTL, Sky for me and NTL for everyone else. When the NTL box was dyng I rang NTL and was told there was nothing that they could do until the box actually dies. This was not acceptable and NTl was cancelled full stop.
We had a Sky+ box installed and we moved to BT for the phone.
The fact is that Virgin is just NTL in disguise and has shown us a crap service. With Sky I have had the same box for 9 years. I have had to call Sky 4 times in all that time, and that was just to change channel packs and Direct Debits.
Virgin Mobile also offered a crap service, with the fact that I bought a new phone (£300) and they were unable to set up things on it. They didn't know what they were talking about and after 20 calls and hours n the phone I gave up.
I now also have Sky Broadband and am happy with it. If Sky ever offer phone lines I will change to them also. Sky kicks Virgin's ass!
I've had cable for 6 years, and had the option of getting sky. I have used sky a fair bit (relatives have it), but never really wanted it. Strangely enough, we've had pretty good service from virgin with the tv. They've always fixed it when it breaks, replaced the box when needed (once, a couple of months ago) and sent us a new remote when the first one broke (last year). The broadband can be annoying technically, but it's very rarely gone down and when it did they brought out a new modem very quickly. The phone has always worked perfectly. All in all, I don't want sky, I'm quite happy on cable in fact.
Thats just the tip of the iceberg as far as cable frustrations go. Within 6 months you'll be back on sky I guarantee it.
You made the mistake of starting this thread in the Cable section of DS, so unfortunately for you they gave you mostly biased opinions.
If the post was put in the satalite there would be plenty of pro sat so again you would not get an unbiased answer.
In my case of continuing with Virgin was not as streight forward of yes I will take my cable with me.
Back when i was living at home i had an old Analogue Sky system and they did not have multiroom for digital, due to my mum having her sky upgraded to digital for me to have Sky digital I would have to pay £300 for the system. Cable offered me all the TV programs i wanted for the same price as sky and gave me free installation.
When I lived in Stevenage i had Sky because the area i was in was not cable and all i had was the basic package for Sky one. I was working for a major computer company auditing Cable and Wireless / ntl. My mum had ntl (well the old CWC consumer devision) for phone and they had messed her bill up and i had to fight to get it sorted. So I know how bad customer service at ntl could be.
When my mum had problems with sky they did not want to help and it took threatening to leave before someone bothered to help. I also know that this is often the case with cable.
My view as someone who has had both Cable and sky is both compannies need to work on customer service as they do treat customers badly, they dont care about you and they just want your money. For internet Cable always win I have had more problems with ADSL over Cable so would always go cable.
Phone I would say both are as bad as each other.
TV the V+ system rocks, yes it is slightly slower than sky + but I do think it is the better system but both could be better. As for channels yes Sky has more but i do think there is more dross on sky. Apart from Sky one all the channels i want is on cable. When i look at sky channels like the Wedding channel, the Audi channel and some of very specialist channels i never watch so they just take more space.
At the end of the day I would say to anyone have a look at both Sky and cable and go for the one that offers you the best of what you want.
Will bear that tip in mind, just had virgin media installed today. All in all its quite good (just takes getting use to after 6 years with sky) although as we have v+ ( which i really like) i find the length of time it takes to change channel and that back button a bit irritating.
You will find thats just the start. Have you tried pressing the red button on Channel 5 or BBC one yet? try it and then go make diner, by the time you come back you may have something on the screen. I tried to access Virgin central from 119 the other day, I gave up after 5 minutes of waiting and just accessed it through the Home button.
We have a problem with ours at the moment, in that at random times it decides it wants to access the Interactive menu on channels, really annoying as if you don't notice it early enough, you end up with a menu for 5 minutes blocking your screen.
I really hope it does all work for you, but for me I think once my deal runs out, I'll be pricing up Sky unless there is a drastic improvement.
The slow channel changing is really annoying when you want to flick through the music channels quickly. Since i've had virgin ive noticed i record programmes pointlessly, so ive made the most of the 2 programme record facility. I notice theres sometimes a minor freeze when you press fast foward sometimes (10 seconds late for example).
The main reason i would stay with virgin would be because i do not really watch anything when it is on now, aprt from live football - so i think i can live with the few niggles. The broadband is speed is incredible as well
The reason why i started this thread in the cable forum is because i had sky for the last 6 years and i knew what i would be getting with them (apart from the broadband) so it was useful finding out information about virgin media.
Sky is the pre-eminent pay television platform in the UK, so any other platform is inevitably going to pale in comparison. So if you go with cable, you will never be sure if the channels you like watching are suddenly going to be withdrawn if Sky and the carrier can't agree carriage - as of course we have seen this year. You can say you don't like Murdoch and not sign up for that reason - but if you want the widest choice of television programmes, there's really only one choice.
Sky is the pre-eminent pay television platform in the UK, so any other platform is inevitably going to pale in comparison. So if you go with cable, you will never be sure if the channels you like watching are suddenly going to be withdrawn if Sky and the carrier can't agree carriage - as of course we have seen this year. You can say you don't like Murdoch and not sign up for that reason - but if you want the widest choice of television programmes, there's really only one choice.
What other channels can Sky 'withdraw'?
Actually, that's a rhetorical question. The answer is:
The slow channel changing is really annoying when you want to flick through the music channels quickly. Since i've had virgin ive noticed i record programmes pointlessly, so ive made the most of the 2 programme record facility. I notice theres sometimes a minor freeze when you press fast foward sometimes (10 seconds late for example).
The main reason i would stay with virgin would be because i do not really watch anything when it is on now, aprt from live football - so i think i can live with the few niggles. The broadband is speed is incredible as well
The reason why i started this thread in the cable forum is because i had sky for the last 6 years and i knew what i would be getting with them (apart from the broadband) so it was useful finding out information about virgin media.
Problem with this (as I'm discovering myself) is that if you want a SKY + box you still need the BT line. So that means you have to Pay sky, BT and Virgin
No you don't our Sky+ box works happily with our VM phone line and I checked thoroughly before we switched for exactly that reason. You only need a BT line for Sky talk and broadband
Comments
Isn't it usually a 12 month minimum contract?
Nice one.;)
Problem with this (as I'm discovering myself) is that if you want a SKY + box you still need the BT line. So that means you have to Pay sky, BT and Virgin
I thought you could use any provider's phone for Sky services?
Virgin Broadband has been rock solid for me, I have had it for about 6 years now. 2 meg is fast enough. Now that we have Setanta I can catch the odd footie match.
The only thing I miss from Sky is the excellent epg and reliable TV picture. Sometimes Virgin goes blocky, Sky never did even in bad weather. Never watched Sky onc (sic) too many adverts.
When i looked at the packages the only tempting move for Sky was 24 and the Simpsons. I would say nip /tuck but that is now on FX.
The other problem was i had big arguments with Sky customer service over my mums system and customer service was appalling worse than anything i have had from cable.
The only decision on cable was I was moving from a telewest area to an ntl one and that was a worry.
On a whole I have found the V+ system great it works just as quick as my mums sky + system so no complaints from me.
From my point of view the package that VM offered me compared to sky was saving me £30 off my previous cable bill and £15 a month compared to Sky.
virgin virgin virgin
plus ring up retentions (its free on 150 from a virgin phone) on the end of the 1st months contract tell them you are not happy and they will almost certainly reduce your bill
You don't need a BT line, yesterday 7th August I had sky put in but I am keeping my Virgin phone and BB, the engineer came and put the Sky box connection into my VM line, checked the connection between the box and Sky via VM phone line and i twas OK. I am on Sky HD. |Cheers
I think the BT line thing is only needed for SKy Talk and Sky Broadband which is an advantage if you go down th Sky route
Me I am currently with VM and everything has been hunky dory for the last six months so no need to change
Yes for Sky Talk/BB but I had no problems with Vm until I had to phone Faults dept- called about my V+ box called 5 times had 3 engineers out, was cut of by CS India to report my box was losing TV picture had sound/Guide said I had no problems but last engineer replace box to find out its was the HD wire from the box to TV, but that time I had enough and phoned Sky to get SKy HD for £149, £24 credit, £20 Morrison Vouchers and Vm giving me 2 For £20 for my phone talkunlimited/BB and so far I have no promlems with Sky and seeing more channels - Cheers
My sky box went and i was unwilling to pay £65 for someone to fix my box.
So i phoned virgin about tv. They said if i went with them and if then had 3 services they could offer me a good deal. I now have virgin tv with everything i had on sky for £62. I took there hand off £20 a month is a huge saving i can live without interactive for that
make sure you phone them because the offers dont appear on there website!!!
You made the mistake of starting this thread in the Cable section of DS, so unfortunately for you they gave you mostly biased opinions.
Where would they have been better posting this type of question (to avoid making mistakes based on biased opinion)?
Unless they have a need for HD (or the Simpsons), why do you think you can 'guarantee' they will be back on Sky in 6 months?
We joined cable in 1993 as soon as it was available in this area. At the time it was Nynex. We had 2 boxes and no problems AT ALL. Nynex were then taken over by Cable and Wireless, this coincided with Digital being introduced.
Again things were ok. We had to have the boxes replaced a couple of times and we lost service for a few hours.
Then joy of joy NTL took over, and this is when things went to hell. Over a course of a year we had 14 replacement boxes and kept losing the service for weeks at a time. The telephone service seemed to go at the same time.
By this point we had both Sky and NTL, Sky for me and NTL for everyone else. When the NTL box was dyng I rang NTL and was told there was nothing that they could do until the box actually dies. This was not acceptable and NTl was cancelled full stop.
We had a Sky+ box installed and we moved to BT for the phone.
The fact is that Virgin is just NTL in disguise and has shown us a crap service. With Sky I have had the same box for 9 years. I have had to call Sky 4 times in all that time, and that was just to change channel packs and Direct Debits.
Virgin Mobile also offered a crap service, with the fact that I bought a new phone (£300) and they were unable to set up things on it. They didn't know what they were talking about and after 20 calls and hours n the phone I gave up.
I now also have Sky Broadband and am happy with it. If Sky ever offer phone lines I will change to them also. Sky kicks Virgin's ass!
If the post was put in the satalite there would be plenty of pro sat so again you would not get an unbiased answer.
In my case of continuing with Virgin was not as streight forward of yes I will take my cable with me.
Back when i was living at home i had an old Analogue Sky system and they did not have multiroom for digital, due to my mum having her sky upgraded to digital for me to have Sky digital I would have to pay £300 for the system. Cable offered me all the TV programs i wanted for the same price as sky and gave me free installation.
When I lived in Stevenage i had Sky because the area i was in was not cable and all i had was the basic package for Sky one. I was working for a major computer company auditing Cable and Wireless / ntl. My mum had ntl (well the old CWC consumer devision) for phone and they had messed her bill up and i had to fight to get it sorted. So I know how bad customer service at ntl could be.
When my mum had problems with sky they did not want to help and it took threatening to leave before someone bothered to help. I also know that this is often the case with cable.
My view as someone who has had both Cable and sky is both compannies need to work on customer service as they do treat customers badly, they dont care about you and they just want your money. For internet Cable always win I have had more problems with ADSL over Cable so would always go cable.
Phone I would say both are as bad as each other.
TV the V+ system rocks, yes it is slightly slower than sky + but I do think it is the better system but both could be better. As for channels yes Sky has more but i do think there is more dross on sky. Apart from Sky one all the channels i want is on cable. When i look at sky channels like the Wedding channel, the Audi channel and some of very specialist channels i never watch so they just take more space.
At the end of the day I would say to anyone have a look at both Sky and cable and go for the one that offers you the best of what you want.
You will find thats just the start. Have you tried pressing the red button on Channel 5 or BBC one yet? try it and then go make diner, by the time you come back you may have something on the screen. I tried to access Virgin central from 119 the other day, I gave up after 5 minutes of waiting and just accessed it through the Home button.
We have a problem with ours at the moment, in that at random times it decides it wants to access the Interactive menu on channels, really annoying as if you don't notice it early enough, you end up with a menu for 5 minutes blocking your screen.
I really hope it does all work for you, but for me I think once my deal runs out, I'll be pricing up Sky unless there is a drastic improvement.
The main reason i would stay with virgin would be because i do not really watch anything when it is on now, aprt from live football - so i think i can live with the few niggles. The broadband is speed is incredible as well
The reason why i started this thread in the cable forum is because i had sky for the last 6 years and i knew what i would be getting with them (apart from the broadband) so it was useful finding out information about virgin media.
What other channels can Sky 'withdraw'?
Actually, that's a rhetorical question. The answer is:
None. That boat has already sailed.
No you don't our Sky+ box works happily with our VM phone line and I checked thoroughly before we switched for exactly that reason. You only need a BT line for Sky talk and broadband