Help Cannot Decide On Virgin Or Sky
Discussion
Currently got Sky everything on tv at £90, Virgin broadband and phone at £60 and BT sport at £20 = £170 a month
Sky Q and phone and broadband is £237 set up and £137 a month plus £20 BT
Virgin megadeal as below is £85 a month for 12 months then £120 and £15 set up
BUT no Sky atlantic (thats ok) and I get the feeling its old tech not like sky Q
Can I have thoughts and experiences please - I would save nearly £1k going with Virgin
Full House TV + Sports
and Movies
All the Sky Sports channels in HD
All the BT Sport channels in HD
All the Sky Cinema channels in HD
Players, Catch Up and Virgin TV Box Sets
Watch Netflix on TV (subscription required)
Pause, rewind and record TV
1TB TiVo box and 500GB TiVo box
245+ channels
VIVID 200
Up to 200 Mbps fibre broadband
Over 2x as fast as BT and Sky’s fastest speedsº
For busy households with 10+ devices
Stream HD, watch 4K and more, all at once
Unlimited downloads
The UK’s fastest widely available WiFi
+ Talk More Anytime – Inclusive unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles, plus calls to 0845 and 0870 numbersϪ
Sky Q and phone and broadband is £237 set up and £137 a month plus £20 BT
Virgin megadeal as below is £85 a month for 12 months then £120 and £15 set up
BUT no Sky atlantic (thats ok) and I get the feeling its old tech not like sky Q
Can I have thoughts and experiences please - I would save nearly £1k going with Virgin
Full House TV + Sports
and Movies
All the Sky Sports channels in HD
All the BT Sport channels in HD
All the Sky Cinema channels in HD
Players, Catch Up and Virgin TV Box Sets
Watch Netflix on TV (subscription required)
Pause, rewind and record TV
1TB TiVo box and 500GB TiVo box
245+ channels
VIVID 200
Up to 200 Mbps fibre broadband
Over 2x as fast as BT and Sky’s fastest speedsº
For busy households with 10+ devices
Stream HD, watch 4K and more, all at once
Unlimited downloads
The UK’s fastest widely available WiFi
+ Talk More Anytime – Inclusive unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles, plus calls to 0845 and 0870 numbersϪ
TV:
The picture on a sky Q box is miles better than my virgin Tivo (3 years old). My Tivo maxes at 720p.
The Tivo UI is slow, sometimes very slow.
Sky Q interface is nicer but the default remote is too small for my fat fingers.
Broadband:
Virgin broadband is faster and you're more likely to get the speed that you pay for.
The virgin smart hub has pathetic range and crashes often. I've had to attach another router to get decent coverage.
My kit is a few years old so it's possible that Virgin has upped its game.
The picture on a sky Q box is miles better than my virgin Tivo (3 years old). My Tivo maxes at 720p.
The Tivo UI is slow, sometimes very slow.
Sky Q interface is nicer but the default remote is too small for my fat fingers.
Broadband:
Virgin broadband is faster and you're more likely to get the speed that you pay for.
The virgin smart hub has pathetic range and crashes often. I've had to attach another router to get decent coverage.
My kit is a few years old so it's possible that Virgin has upped its game.
Picture on my Tivo is fine, but I binned the Virgin Superhub thing after a few days as it just wouldn't hold a connection. Apple Airport Extreme now and no issues with it.
Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
smn159 said:
Picture on my Tivo is fine, but I binned the Virgin Superhub thing after a few days as it just wouldn't hold a connection. Apple Airport Extreme now and no issues with it.
Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
I couldnt handle broken movies as when I want to watch then I want to watch! how old is your box ? Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
hairyben said:
Personally think any cost saving you make with virgin not worth the abysmal customer services. Did a little dance when we moved out of the (conservation area) flat and could have a dish.
Sky are crap as well - I have had three quotes on the same thing today each different and all expensiveDSLiverpool said:
Sky are crap as well - I have had three quotes on the same thing today each different and all expensive
Sky are far from perfect and theres plenty of stories of such, but how the virgin company manage to hold it together enough to continue to trade is an enigma, they are monumentally incompetent.DSLiverpool said:
smn159 said:
Picture on my Tivo is fine, but I binned the Virgin Superhub thing after a few days as it just wouldn't hold a connection. Apple Airport Extreme now and no issues with it.
Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
I couldnt handle broken movies as when I want to watch then I want to watch! how old is your box ? Yes, the Tivo interface can be slow, but it is useable. I seem to have regular issues with on demand movies, and they don't work as I write. VM Broadband is excellent - no issues.
I'm with virgin because they have their version of FTTC. I only have broadband from them. No line rental, no phone (who uses a land line these days), no TV etc etc.
The service is good and customer service in my area is fine. I ring up each year threatening to leave and so I pay about the same as I did a few years back
The thought of spending £2000 a year to be entertained just doesn't compute.
The service is good and customer service in my area is fine. I ring up each year threatening to leave and so I pay about the same as I did a few years back
The thought of spending £2000 a year to be entertained just doesn't compute.
Went from Sky to Virgin when we rented for a while.
Never dealt with such incompetence or poor customer service. I wouldn't have their 'service' foc.
Took them eight days and six visits from their 'engineers', replacing everything from the superhub back to the cabinet to get broadband to work. It then dropped out so often that I kept a log of downtime. It amounted to over 450 hours in the calendar year.
Had to go through the CA script every time before escalating to next level, who were never available and never came through with the promised call back. Utter shower, never again.
Back to Sky when we bought again and no problems in 3 years.
Never dealt with such incompetence or poor customer service. I wouldn't have their 'service' foc.
Took them eight days and six visits from their 'engineers', replacing everything from the superhub back to the cabinet to get broadband to work. It then dropped out so often that I kept a log of downtime. It amounted to over 450 hours in the calendar year.
Had to go through the CA script every time before escalating to next level, who were never available and never came through with the promised call back. Utter shower, never again.
Back to Sky when we bought again and no problems in 3 years.
xjay1337 said:
I have full Sky Q inc Movies / Cinema / Boxsets / Sports (HD)
Sky Fibremax 80/20
Paying just under £70 a month.
Installation was spot on, I've had zero issues so far. Very impressed with the customer service.
How do you get that price ? Did you move onto it as I'm an existing customer Sky Fibremax 80/20
Paying just under £70 a month.
Installation was spot on, I've had zero issues so far. Very impressed with the customer service.
DSLiverpool said:
How do you get that price ? Did you move onto it as I'm an existing customer
I got the same offer 2 months ago.Rang them and told them I'd had enough of Virgin, never had Sky before, so what could they do for me? And that was their offer.
Very very pleased with the product. The hardware is small, quiet and looks good. The TV Interface is great and the picture lots better than Virgin. Broadband is not quite there yet. I was spoilt with Virgin 200mb, which NEVER dropped out in 5 years. My Sky Broadband is a little more buggy, but not enough to whinge.
xjay1337 said:
Silly isn't it?
RE Virgin BB speeds...sure...but when is for example 80Mb not enough?
It's plenty - for one person. But if you've got a family of four all using the internet at the same time - and possibly on more than one device each at the same time - you start to get capacity constraints. That's why a fat pipe is great. RE Virgin BB speeds...sure...but when is for example 80Mb not enough?
You'll have those issues anyway.
Assuming wireless.
Most devices (smart tvs and laptops) only connect to 2.4Ghz and at 150mpbs best. (N)
That means the device can only recieve about 85/90Mbps at best assuming noone else is on the network.
If you add another equally fast device then that CAN lower.
Eventually you end up with 5 or 6 devices on your Wifi meaning the actual bandwidth available is somewhat less so maybe 100Mbps is the most realistic amount of get at a max.
Anything more is just showing off if you realise how much data netflix takes....
You are better off getting a proper router and setting up QOS for each device.
Assuming wireless.
Most devices (smart tvs and laptops) only connect to 2.4Ghz and at 150mpbs best. (N)
That means the device can only recieve about 85/90Mbps at best assuming noone else is on the network.
If you add another equally fast device then that CAN lower.
Eventually you end up with 5 or 6 devices on your Wifi meaning the actual bandwidth available is somewhat less so maybe 100Mbps is the most realistic amount of get at a max.
Anything more is just showing off if you realise how much data netflix takes....
You are better off getting a proper router and setting up QOS for each device.
I'm with sky so no newbie offers apply but if I have to leave for a year I will do after obviously telling them first.
I've been with sky for 28 years most of that on the full hit !
I'll put up with a year of virgin, I'll update how I go and on broadband 4 people use it at once less than 100 isn't an option.
I've been with sky for 28 years most of that on the full hit !
I'll put up with a year of virgin, I'll update how I go and on broadband 4 people use it at once less than 100 isn't an option.
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