Paid TV and Broadband

[Prohibiting]

What do you perceive to be the better brand if you were to pay for TV AND broadband?

Sky
Virgin Media
Talk Talk
BT

I know it's a really open topic but I'm curious. Sky as the premium brand for paid TV? Virgin for better than average broadband and TV? BT a very good middle ground and Talk Talk for those on a budget?

[mr_spock]

Depends what you want. For sports, I believe BT is the best combined deal. For movies and US TV, probably Sky or VIrgin. For me, none of them.

[soad]

Should have made this a poll.

[Jag_NE]

i think sky is a great all rounder. the sport is top notch, good range of movies and tv plus the best interface. if you dont watch sport id propose freeview and netflix/prime. virgins broadband is easily the best in my experience.

[stevensdrs]

They are all the spawn of the Devil but you have to have Broadband so must go with one of them. I just signed up for another year of BT on the Black Friday deal. Would have had Virgin but their deal isn't good enough.

[B'stard Child]

Can't get Virgin where I live so it's Sky or BT

So Sky because BT were so bloody awful when I last used them on dial up and home phone I just cannot bear use them ever again

I stopped Movies and Sport recently because we just weren't using either enough to justify the charge

[alorotom]

We get both from NOWTV ... very cheap and the benefits of sky movies

[Contract Killer]

Virgin is more flexible, as you can add sky sports on a monthly basis, rather than commiting to a 12 month with sky.

[hairyben]

BT I wouldn't use as they spent 6 years harassing me to sign up for a nasty little scam they were running (BT customer street), pretty much illegally.

Virgin media, okay if it works, any issue forget it.

Sky okay and CS better. but moved the phone and BB to punish them after they decided to charge me for a service I didn't ask for, based on a "survey" of people who aren't me.

talktalk (carphone warehouse) sold me a phone that stopped working and basically refused to fix it while trying to tell me I had no option but to pay for the contract.

Still want to watch the F1 though, which means ultimately you have to deal with one or other of the shysters that'll undersell or try to pick your pocket somehow, rather than see you as a longer term investment.

[northwest monkey]

BT Infinity Broadband & Sky Q customer here. The broadband just works & the time it didn't, BT came & put in a new cable from the box to our house & a brand new master socket (it had an intermittent fault they couldn't trace). Sky Q again because it just works - we do have movies but no sport & will probably consider dumping movies after Christmas as we just don't watch very many (we enjoy "boxset" tv). The Sky Q system itself though is fantastic & is definitely a "once you've had it you wouldn't get rid of it" sort of thing.

Probably not the cheapest way of doing it, but I've seen BT TV and didn't like it & I know people with Sky broadband that struggle to get issues resolved. I wouldn't consider cable.

Son has a NOW TV box in his room - mainly for YouTube and SpongeBob - and it seems pretty good but I wouldn't want it to be my only source of TV.

[Falsey]

In my completely unbiased opinion and not because Im an employee... Virgin gets my vote. For me broadband is more important than TV, which I hardly watch, and the 220Mb/s is pretty cool for the cash.

A friend of mine has the Sky Q thing and it does look very nice, but its a lot of money.

I have no idea why anyone would be possessed to go for BT.

TalkTalk was beyond awful, had it in my current house when I moved it. Dire quality, dire customer service, crap reliability.

[anonymous-user]

Virgin B.B. for me, as it means U don’t have to pay for a landline that I never use
SkyQ Tv.

[Smitters]

Sky broadband currently as BT were so God-awful I was pleased to be rid of them. Pay £32/month, inc. line rental for fibre with no d/l limit. In practice, this gives us about 20mbps which equates to fairly swift downloading of stuff and occasional pixelation and buffering on TV.

TV wise is Amazon Prime plus various devices cast/connected to the TV using apps like iPlayer, All4 etc. Thought I'd miss being able to record things, but the only downside has been losing F1 from Sky. Upside is we save £60 per month now. Plenty of movies and box sets to choose from on Prime and if we simply must see Game of Thrones or similar, I imagine I'll get a NowTV box and a pass for the duration.

Once my broadband deal ends, I'll be looking hard at how to do away with the line rental, as that forms 50-60% of the bill. We only have it to facilitate broadband, we don't have a phone plugged in.

[HarryFlatters]

Falsey said:

Virgin gets my vote.

Just make sure that you get the new V6 box. The original TiVo is a piece of st.

[Falsey]

Agreed, the new box is revelatory.

[Kenty]

I'm into sky for everything, home phone, mobile x2, Sky Q tv and broadband. It's tv is excellent, customer service good. A bit pricy but for a one stop with good products it is well worth it. Friends with BT and Virgin always seem to pulling their hair out when it comes to any customer service call.
What I don't like is the mobile signal where we live is crap (they use O2 network) and the way some sports Yoyo between BT sport and Sky, like cricket and football.

[p4pedro]

I have no need for any more tv channels, freeveiw is enough for me -( bt gives me sport tv as part of broadband package).I use BT for broadband, , gives me - 66.19 Mbps download - in a rural area, we have no cable or fibre optic so if I changed supplier I would still need a BT land line and pay monthly fee for it as well as paying for broadband from a different provider

[Chrisgr31]

Just looking at this as have had an email from BT telling me the price is going up by £2.50 a month and it is a chance to change.

Am currently paying £61 a month and wondering what in all reality I get.

According to the bill it is

BT Answer 1571 £2.50 a month
BT Caller Display £1.75 a month
Broadband Infinity 2 £45.99 a month (includes line rental)
Unlimited calls anytime £6.99 a month
Entertainment Pack TV £5 a month

I am not sure what the Entertainment Pack TV offers against Freeview. I know I get BT Sport free but never watched it.

[Prohibiting]

That's very expensive! You're better off switching to a new provider and you'll get a cracking 12/18 month deal.