Luapno Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I have been with Sky for a very long time and paying a fortune (full package) thinking of changing to Virgin. I am looking for some feedback on Virgin before I take the plunge, as they are doing some good deals at the moment Any info would be welcome Thanks Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8grunt Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I went from Sky to a Humax "Freesat" box, This enables me to get a good selection of channels and also FREE HD, NO MONTHLY OUTLAY! As for football/sport, etc, I just go on line, HaHasport.com usually has what you want to watch. I also subscibe to "Lovefilms" which gets me the latest DVD's and 4 hours free streaming via my Sony Playstation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubajess Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I had a Virgin Media package for years and never had any problems. First class broadband, choice of TV packages, customer service is good and any engineer call outs are free as is relacement equipment. Unfortunately I've recently moved and it's not available in the area I've moved too but my son is now renting my house and has negotiated an excellent deal with Virgin Media to take over the existing services as a new customer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Been with Virgin for a long time - here comes the experiences and humble opinions: The Good: > Their TiVo service is WAY better than Sky with regards to ease of use and and availability of catch-up facilities - I mean MILES better. Even Virgin's standard recording box is better than Sky > TiVo also has iPhone / iPad app for remote recording > Land line works - what else do you want? > Broadband speed is excellent - I've got the XL package and my download speed today is 21 Mbps, upload 1.9 Mbps - plus I'm getting a new hub (combined router / wireless modem) from them for free on Monday as they're rolling out high speeds soon (up to 60 Mbps, although please note that "up to" clearly includes the number "nought") > Internet connection is up 99.9% of the time IME > Not pressing money into Murdoch's hand (/personal bias over) > Bad weather doesn't affect signal > Where Sky will charge you if your box goes bad after a year, Virgin replaces faulty equipment for free The Bad: > Fewer HD and no 3D channels (but quality is still excellent) > No Sky Atlantic channel > No Sky Go > Call centre is in India and they only employ people with indistinguishable accents (although they do resolve your problems well) Just MHO, your mileage may vary, your house is at risk if you set fire to it, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Virgin cable used them for last 4 years at two different addresses and had no probs with service of performance and as above, if equipment goes faulty they just replace it no questions asked. When I moved and they arranged to start my service up at the new house they said 'there is a better version of the box available now (I didn't have TiVo until recently) so don't bother to use your existing box, the engineer will install a new one when he comes to connect you up'. I used to use a Topfield PVR on Freeview for recording but TiVo is so much easier and not that expensive so I use that now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I've got the XL package :o Waaaay too much information Captain Modesty 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 :o Waaaay too much information Captain Modesty PMSL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammy Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I have Virgin and the TV/internet service is great. Like all other providers customer services is not so good -pretty awful actually, but dont let that put you off. ( e.g recently lost internet and TV - called up, could not make them understand that I thought the serivce had gone, so had to have an Engineer sent out for the TV and another for the Internet ... later they called back to say the service had gone down -cost me over an hour on the phone). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I have Virgin and the TV/internet service is great. Like all other providers customer services is not so good -pretty awful actually, but dont let that put you off. ( e.g recently lost internet and TV - called up, could not make them understand that I thought the serivce had gone, so had to have an Engineer sent out for the TV and another for the Internet ... later they called back to say the service had gone down -cost me over an hour on the phone). Just for future reference, if you dial 151 on a Virgin landline, you can get a service update with any areas that are down - assuming the phone's not down, of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibby Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 They're both as aweful as each other TBH. The previous people in our house have left their old Sky dish behind, so on F1 weekends with the help of the home computer with a satellite card I get these £1 for 24 hours of all channels unlocked. Great I thought, 2 hours of F1 followed by 22 hours of amazing channels like Eden, Discovery, all the HD stuff, films, the lot! I was happy as a dog with 2 cocks ... for 5 minutes when I foudn the Eden channel was full of 20 year old re-runs the chimps/ lions/ sharks/ you name it standard 80s nature programs, and Discovery was full of stunning footage of Tommy Walsh building decking in Nempnett Thrubwell. Parents have Virgin and that's full of the same crap, we can sit there for hours flicking through thousands of channels of nothing. If you're not a football fan, there is more than enough on Freeview for what I want. Wouldn't touch the broadband packages with a barge pole, ok they have blazing fast speeds but far too full of T&Cs, usage policies, caps, throttles of certain protocols. It's ok for people that do a bit of facebook and email but that's about it. If it's my money, I'd rather spend it on another meal out once a month with the wife rather than pay for a billion channels full of crap and a worthless internet package because the flashy adverts made it look all zhozzhy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 can say as ive had a problem with them, brad band is fast reliable. my friend aslo has it and uses it for all sorts of downloads etc. dont think there is any limit on my usage but its only me so there is only so much stuff i can download. ive had no problem torrenting stuff and all the usual bits but then again its just me and i dont do a whole loads of stuff like gaming etc. the up speed is pretty good too. there are lots of channels of crap but what do you expect with channels like the food one etc. for me its much better than freeview. tbh i dont watch the bbc all that much and i like the crappy american sitcoms and shows on scifi and commedy central etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibby Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them for torrenting, as soon as the guy on the other end wants a name behind an IP address, the big players are the first to roll over and what with them blocking the pirate bay (I know nobody uses it any more) and newsbin, I don't like the way things are going one bit. Torrenting is on its way out and I don't think either Sky or Virgin provide access to binary newsgroups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8grunt Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) Dombanks, you say "my friend aslo has it" Is he Swedish? ;) Edited June 22, 2012 by V8grunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Wouldn't touch the broadband packages with a barge pole, ok they have blazing fast speeds but far too full of T&Cs, usage policies, caps, throttles of certain protocols. It's ok for people that do a bit of facebook and email but that's about it. wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them for torrenting, as soon as the guy on the other end wants a name behind an IP address, the big players are the first to roll over and what with them blocking the pirate bay (I know nobody uses it any more) and newsbin, I don't like the way things are going one bit. Torrenting is on its way out and I don't think either Sky or Virgin provide access to binary newsgroups. By the sound of those two quotes I suspect your usage of t'interweb is rather different to quite a few of us... I have a fairly basic TV package (snigger) with my TiVo but it gives me Eurosport and Eurosport2 which allows me to watch MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3, World Superbikes and British Superbikes amongst others, I have setup the channels I want as favourites and when I display the EPG it shows only them so I don't have to wade through hundreds of channels of dross. I benefit from a reliable very fast BB service that allows me to use email, access several car forums and buy/sell on eBay, I have never hit a limit or cap and never been affected by their Ts & Cs as far as I'm aware. It also allows me to access my photos via Picasa and display them on my smart TV. I have no need for torrenting and wouldn't know w binary newsgroup if it smacked me in the face. When F1 leaves the BBC, as it surely will, I won't really miss it and definitely won't be giving Murdoch any of my limited cash in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordbenny Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Vigin is great, we have XL TV with Sky Sports (Includes F1 Channel) 2 landlines with special deal on calls to Europe, Standard broadband which is quick and doesn't rely on BT lines and how far from the BT exchange you are. What we really like is the on demand movies, (we dont watch enough movies to get the Sky movie package) basically its done blockbusters out of business, any new DVD release is on there and you can choose between standard and HD and the digital sound is good too. We also access You Tube regularly and all the 'terrestrial' channels catch-up services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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