Bloody Virgin Media, putting up my costs again!
Discussion
My new increase was going to send my bil to around £100 per month so thought had enough of this.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
Decided to stay with them and downgrade to one Tivo box, basic tv package ( as most times am on local channels anyhow) ,100mbps internet and phone for £44 per month.
They wanted £37 a month for phone and 50 mbps and no TV package so it was a no brainer just for £7 extra as need 2 boxes of some sort anyhow.
Tivo is being used as a secondary box in another room and for main TV have bought a Panasonic Freeview Plus recorder.
Do a couple of international phone calls weekly to europe so have got a skype package for about £2.50 a month for unlimited calls.
In theory should be saving a few quid however have to watch out for the local phone calls as now the price has rocketed as am not on any sort of special phone deal.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
Decided to stay with them and downgrade to one Tivo box, basic tv package ( as most times am on local channels anyhow) ,100mbps internet and phone for £44 per month.
They wanted £37 a month for phone and 50 mbps and no TV package so it was a no brainer just for £7 extra as need 2 boxes of some sort anyhow.
Tivo is being used as a secondary box in another room and for main TV have bought a Panasonic Freeview Plus recorder.
Do a couple of international phone calls weekly to europe so have got a skype package for about £2.50 a month for unlimited calls.
In theory should be saving a few quid however have to watch out for the local phone calls as now the price has rocketed as am not on any sort of special phone deal.
Their pricing is a little odd. I have some kind of phone deal - free evening and weekend calls I think - and when looking at the retention deals, the Virgin guy checked and said I hadn't used the phone for months, so that was something I didn't need. But strangely, the deals he could offer me were better if I kept that phone benefit than if it was taken away.
davek_964 said:
Their pricing is a little odd. I have some kind of phone deal - free evening and weekend calls I think - and when looking at the retention deals, the Virgin guy checked and said I hadn't used the phone for months, so that was something I didn't need. But strangely, the deals he could offer me were better if I kept that phone benefit than if it was taken away.
It's £19 per month for telephone line rental, it is where they make most of the profits as they know most people just use their mobile phone nowadaysTX1 said:
My new increase was going to send my bil to around £100 per month so thought had enough of this.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
Decided to stay with them and downgrade to one Tivo box, basic tv package ( as most times am on local channels anyhow) ,100mbps internet and phone for £44 per month.
They wanted £37 a month for phone and 50 mbps and no TV package so it was a no brainer just for £7 extra as need 2 boxes of some sort anyhow.
Tivo is being used as a secondary box in another room and for main TV have bought a Panasonic Freeview Plus recorder.
Do a couple of international phone calls weekly to europe so have got a skype package for about £2.50 a month for unlimited calls.
In theory should be saving a few quid however have to watch out for the local phone calls as now the price has rocketed as am not on any sort of special phone deal.
£100 a month?! Jesus that would kill me (not financially, just in general)Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
Decided to stay with them and downgrade to one Tivo box, basic tv package ( as most times am on local channels anyhow) ,100mbps internet and phone for £44 per month.
They wanted £37 a month for phone and 50 mbps and no TV package so it was a no brainer just for £7 extra as need 2 boxes of some sort anyhow.
Tivo is being used as a secondary box in another room and for main TV have bought a Panasonic Freeview Plus recorder.
Do a couple of international phone calls weekly to europe so have got a skype package for about £2.50 a month for unlimited calls.
In theory should be saving a few quid however have to watch out for the local phone calls as now the price has rocketed as am not on any sort of special phone deal.
FYI I have 200mbs with no phone or tv package from them....
Saleen836 said:
davek_964 said:
Their pricing is a little odd. I have some kind of phone deal - free evening and weekend calls I think - and when looking at the retention deals, the Virgin guy checked and said I hadn't used the phone for months, so that was something I didn't need. But strangely, the deals he could offer me were better if I kept that phone benefit than if it was taken away.
It's £19 per month for telephone line rental, it is where they make most of the profits as they know most people just use their mobile phone nowadaysSaleen836 said:
It's £19 per month for telephone line rental, it is where they make most of the profits as they know most people just use their mobile phone nowadays
Its a bit of an anachronism in reality. "Phone Line rental" dates from the days of the GPO and early BT when you couldn't actually buy the equipment, but it was always actually the infrastructure charge. As we've moved away from landlines they should have renamed it access fee, standing charge or infrastructure charge as its really the contribution to the running & upgrade of the delivery system ie wiring to your house, cabinets, distribution centres etc. Whether you choose phone, tv or broadband, they all rely on the same infrastructure so they can't do away with a charge for it just because you don't need a landline. Same as standing/variable charges on gas and electricity. BT has the same and whilst Sky is a bit different in terms of no street infrastructure, they've got massive fixed costs in the business with things like exclusive access rights for Sports. What all of these providers don't want you to do is cherry pick just the bits you personally need. The pricing models demand a huge inflow of money to overcome the fixed costs. Whatever you call it doesn't really matter, same as with "free calls" and "free handsets" on mobile contracts that cost you £40 a month for 2 years, they just need £960 to deliver the overall service at the margin their shareholders want.
Yer pays yer money and makes yer choice from a very limited market. The only leverage you've got is negotiating on the back of threats to abandon.
TX1 said:
My new increase was going to send my bil to around £100 per month so thought had enough of this.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
As has been said, this isn't true. I have 100mbps broadband and phone without TV.Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
nmd87 said:
TX1 said:
My new increase was going to send my bil to around £100 per month so thought had enough of this.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
As has been said, this isn't true. I have 100mbps broadband and phone without TV.Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
davek_964 said:
nmd87 said:
TX1 said:
My new increase was going to send my bil to around £100 per month so thought had enough of this.
Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
As has been said, this isn't true. I have 100mbps broadband and phone without TV.Wanted just internet and phone however they only offer 100mbps or above if you take a tv package.
Out of interest how much are you paying for 100mbps + phone ?
Spoke to someone on the phone and they said they could only do me a deal to avoid the price increase if I changed package. Said no thanks.
Spoke to someone on the live chat and they have just signed me up for a new 12 month contract for the same package (200mb broadband only) for the new customer price of £43/mo with no price rise.
Spoke to someone on the live chat and they have just signed me up for a new 12 month contract for the same package (200mb broadband only) for the new customer price of £43/mo with no price rise.
My Missus agreed a renewal deal of £55pm for 200mb b/b, landline with free evening & w/e calls that we never use & small or medium (can't remember which) TV with new (much faster!) Tivo box. That's apparently guaranteed for 12mths, I'm not convinced personally but apparently she has it in writing.
She has spoken to 2-3 mates who are with Sky & they are all paying similar & Sky b/b is not as good as I understand it?
She has spoken to 2-3 mates who are with Sky & they are all paying similar & Sky b/b is not as good as I understand it?
I will be submitting in writing (email) my cancellation notice 30 days prior to contract expiry because my £35 package will be going up to £52+. No, I do not think so. Especially as I'm on the basic TV package, hardly watch the TV channels, am not keen on the Tivo offering, and have issues with Virgin wi-fi not working with my laptop.
I'll switch to Vodafone unlimited fibre 38MB deal £20.00 p/m, and continue with Netflix (total c£28 p/m).
I'll switch to Vodafone unlimited fibre 38MB deal £20.00 p/m, and continue with Netflix (total c£28 p/m).
We seem to have 2 Virgin media threads that overlap:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Virgin know a lot of people won't change, and those that do ring up they will cancel the increase for 12 months or so to minimise cancellations.
Personally speaking, it has prompted me to leave and join one of the Openreach ISPs. With Openreach rolling out FTTP (Fiber to the Premises), future looks bright.
One interesting thing I have noticed shopping around today is that Virgin upload speeds are lower than the competition.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Virgin know a lot of people won't change, and those that do ring up they will cancel the increase for 12 months or so to minimise cancellations.
Personally speaking, it has prompted me to leave and join one of the Openreach ISPs. With Openreach rolling out FTTP (Fiber to the Premises), future looks bright.
One interesting thing I have noticed shopping around today is that Virgin upload speeds are lower than the competition.
I got another increase last month. The one before was 10 months previous. In the two years I've lived here, I've jumped from £75ish per month to over £100 per month. Coincidentally last week I went into town to sort some other stuff out and bumped into a TalkTalk salesman - as I was planning on s
tcanning Virgin anyway, I signed up with TalkTalk, on the proviso that I would get their "guaranteed" 42 Mbps rate. I was on 200Mb with Virgin but never really needed the speed - and I only bought the Sports package to watch the F1, which has been lacklustre this season. Happy to watch it on freeview catchup or NowTV/a pub for the big races.
I am now paying £22.50 instead of £103.60. That's a fking big difference and I cannot believe it's just down to a basic TV package, Sky Sports, and originally what was 100Mb internet.
tcanning Virgin anyway, I signed up with TalkTalk, on the proviso that I would get their "guaranteed" 42 Mbps rate. I was on 200Mb with Virgin but never really needed the speed - and I only bought the Sports package to watch the F1, which has been lacklustre this season. Happy to watch it on freeview catchup or NowTV/a pub for the big races.I am now paying £22.50 instead of £103.60. That's a f
king big difference and I cannot believe it's just down to a basic TV package, Sky Sports, and originally what was 100Mb internet.TX1 said:
From my experiance it seems that one advisor's deal is different to the next advisor you talk to.
Out of interest how much are you paying for 100mbps + phone ?
I've just got off the live chat with 100mbps + phone and basic Tivo (which will remain in the box) for £34pm. I was paying £36pm for 200mps + phone which was going up to £39. How they work this crap out is beyond me.Out of interest how much are you paying for 100mbps + phone ?
Just cancelled VM after the best part of 15 years.
They're cheerfully advertising the same package as I have on the web for about £40 a month less & then they cheerfully tell me I'd have to pay £10 more than that because I'm not a new customer.
I'm thinking its off to BT & maybe a now TV box to pick up the odd bits & pieces on Sky sports as needed. A lot of the sport I want to watch (moto GPO & champions league etc is on BT anyway).
Any other bright ideas? Talk Talk looks cheap but Its never looked like a great idea.....!
They're cheerfully advertising the same package as I have on the web for about £40 a month less & then they cheerfully tell me I'd have to pay £10 more than that because I'm not a new customer.
I'm thinking its off to BT & maybe a now TV box to pick up the odd bits & pieces on Sky sports as needed. A lot of the sport I want to watch (moto GPO & champions league etc is on BT anyway).
Any other bright ideas? Talk Talk looks cheap but Its never looked like a great idea.....!
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