# Virgin media?



## steeve (Jul 8, 2010)

I currently have Sky, with phone and broadband from BT. I'm thinking of changing to Virgin as it looks like I could save a few bob.

Any of you have any comments about Sky versus Virgin?


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

I have the broadband and phone and it's great but I had the telly a while back and it was shocking


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## Devil (Mar 12, 2010)

I had everything with virgin. BB phone and tv. The tv is a friggin nightmare. the v box constantly freezing or lagging when changing channels.

Their 20 mb bb never had a problem with really. i was going to change the whole lot to sky but in the end i kept the broadband and phone with virgin for approx £27 a month and got the sky tv instead of virgin tv for £49 a month with an extra box. so all in its under £80 a month with biggest tv package and 10 mb bb and phone unlimited evening and weekends thing.

whats crazy is. Not 1 of them could give me it all supplied by them for the same money . weird. But i hear skys braodband is cack as its really only dsl through a land line where virgins is through cables. much better

The missus says virgin tv is better as it has catch up tv and i player which sky dosnt have. Sky has anytime tv but you watch only what they want you to from the list. Sky football is better as you have match choice where virgin dosnt have the red button . you can only watch what the main match is.

I was paying £135 a month with virgin it just got out of control. had unlimited phone but still got bills of £25 a month on top of the package price.. crazy.

Under £80 now for basically the same thing does me just fine.

If you can do without the iplayer and catch up tv "just record it" then id say skys tv is better and virgins broadband is better , gawd knows about the phone.

another thing is. I just learned that with sky you can sign in online with your id and watch all your channels online. and even better is the kid can watch it on his xbox FREE OF CHARGE. when normally its £10.50 for an extra box.

How much are you paying now and for what ?


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## Devil (Mar 12, 2010)

I asked simular questions not long ago steve.. Here was the replys

http://www.********.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=229987


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

Virgin bb is cack.....mine continually drops in and out, had engineer 3 times now and still having to reboot modem daily to keep service


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## Devil (Mar 12, 2010)

Gazzer said:


> Virgin bb is cack.....mine continually drops in and out, had engineer 3 times now and still having to reboot modem daily to keep service


Sounds like ur having a nightmare and something isnbt right at all.

I spose at the end of the day theres good and bad in all things. the tv aint gonna be to much dif really. i suspect the phone wont be either. BUT.. without a doubt virgins broadband is better than skys. through the phoneline or through cables cables wins everytime.


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## Guest (Sep 11, 2011)

Been with Virgin since it was Telewest.

The broadband can only be described as perfect imo.

I find the 10Mb fast enough for me..
Here's the current speed;


It never drops in speed at all ever.

If you go mental during peak time, they throttle it back until midnight, but still plenty fast enough to use.

TV is ok, never had any problems.

Don't have phone.

XL TV and 10Mb BB costs me £45 per month all in.


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

Upload is the prob Luke if d,loading as ahem some peeps do


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## SalsredTT (Jan 8, 2011)

Gazzer said:


> Virgin bb is cack.....mine continually drops in and out, had engineer 3 times now and still having to reboot modem daily to keep service


Mines dire too - as is daughters - and the help service? ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGg beyond dreadful.

I actually get better service on my mobile dongle.


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## amiTT (Jul 24, 2007)

Virgin Media Broadband - I have the 50mb and I can't stop singing its praises, along with the right router its nothing but amazing!



Virgin Media TV - On Demand is brilliant, HD picture quality is poor. I am now a Sky subscriber for TV purely for that reason alone.

Virgin Media Telephone - Good, no different to BT, however, I get lots of "automated" calls which is annoying even though I am marked as ex-directory.


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## Guest (Sep 11, 2011)

Gazzer said:


> Upload is the prob Luke if d,loading as ahem some peeps do


How is upload a problem when downloading? :-|


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## Devil (Mar 12, 2010)

Heres mine on virgin bb 10 mb










Tested again to see if any dif


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## Smeds (Oct 28, 2009)

We have everything with Virgin. Pretty happy, never really have any trouble. Threaten to leave every year and get a discount.


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## bluush (Feb 24, 2010)

Had the v+ box for over a year now and its a great piece of av.

Trying to set up a timed recording used to be a PITA with the recorder, cable box, tv etc etc. Now it is just point and click, the wife is even happy setting the recorder for me cos it is so easy.


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## YoungOldUn (Apr 12, 2011)

I'm with BT for my phone, broadband and BT Vision all in £42 per month. Speed is ok for my needs -


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

manphibian said:


> Gazzer said:
> 
> 
> > Upload is the prob Luke if d,loading as ahem some peeps do
> ...


most torrent sites download speed you will get depends on the upload ratio so that is why virgin have 50mb with i think an upload rate of 2 or 4mb. so when grabbing films it takes the ratio into account and throttles back on speeds i should have if upload were better.


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## amiTT (Jul 24, 2007)

I don't use torrents as you never make full use of your bandwidth especially if you are like me on 50mb.

Usenet via Giganews is the way to go, 6.25MB/s as soon as I click download!


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## steeve (Jul 8, 2010)

Many thanks, I appreciate you all taking the time to respond. Much appreciated.

STEVE..............


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## John-JCs (Sep 19, 2011)

I didn't like Virgin after they sold up.
I was with them for a few years, but the connection just seemed to get worse.

Now I use o2 as I have an o2 mobile so get 50% discount 
I called to moan and got my line uncapped and max out too (£7.50/month for 15M/s) 

Sky are very expensive for what you get.


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

amiTT said:


> I don't use torrents as you never make full use of your bandwidth especially if you are like me on 50mb.
> 
> Usenet via Giganews is the way to go, 6.25MB/s as soon as I click download!


isnt that newsgroups and the suchlike? i struggled at the best of times if it is.....prob me being dumb though lol


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## John-JCs (Sep 19, 2011)

Smeds said:


> We have everything with Virgin. Pretty happy, never really have any trouble. Threaten to leave every year and get a discount.


Everyone should do this with every ISP 
I got 50% off my bill, a free router upgrade, and a guarantee of no cap / throttle... just for making a phone call!


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## cdavies360 (Jun 7, 2011)

I worked for them when they were NTL. Back then they were pretty shocking. After spending all their money on laying down fibre cables, everyone complaining about their service, so then they ended up skint and giving all their packages away for free. Since its been taken over by Mr Branson its turned right around. I'm not in a cabled area unfortunately otherwise I'd be with Virgin all the way. Their TV guide isn't as good as Sky but when used to it there are areas that I find better than Sky.

I'd use them for broadband without a doubt, and phone. As for TV I'd get a Starview HD+ Combo box as I've done in the past (for free to air channels only of course :roll: ), but you can flash these boxes with the correct firmware to bypass the Nagra3 encryption and then if you plugged in the Virgin Media cable into the box and then you would get all channels at no cost. Have heard you get all sports, movies, HD channels, box office etc.

My experience with broadband from them has been nothing but fantastic. Like others have said, threaten to leave at the end of the 12 months and then you'll get a big discount applied.


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## techfreak (Aug 13, 2010)

I have Adsl broadband with them, very bad and bad cs, leaving for o2...let's hope they're better


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