Broadband rip off

[chunder27]

it had to be.

Good old ripoff Virgin broadband.

All I have in my flat is broadband, no phone, no tv, nothing. No phone line, or line rental, should be cheap right?

Its decent speed fibre, 70mb Old cost was about 35 quid a month.

They put the price up as they now seem to every single year for EVERY damn customer, so I said I was leaving, usual story, ring up get better deal, dropped to 26.

Got the expected letter today, is going up by the maximum amount, 4.50. Meaning for nothing they get an extra 56 quid a year, for absolutely nothing, I have a 4 year old router, no better service, but for some reason it's OK to whack the price up by a massive amount for a service that offers me nothing extra.

I don't get why they are allowed to do this.

I cannot get the same service with any other provider, which I'm sure they know, without paying out almost 100 quid on installations and charges, so you are utterly bound to this thing that now increases by 2 or 5 quid a year EVERY fkING YEAR out of nowhere.

When did broadband become a bill that just increases year on year like AA cover? Especially when you can't get like for like coverage or products as you can with say recovery, gas, electric, car insurance.

I just don't get why these companies can do this when they are all selling different products at different prices and installation costs.

Is it me or is this another utterly unregulated industry exploiting anyone they can? Surely not.

Obviously I will ring and cancel and see what they do.

[chunder27]

Can anyone tell me why Virgin charge SO much for broadband on its own?

Why on earth would you penalise people who do not NEED the other stuff.

or is it simply that the more you have the ore you pay them the more they will accept you

[chunder27]

Very true, I worked out if I had not renegotiated a couple of times I would now be paying well over 45 quid a month JUST for broadband.

it is now just another crappy thing, like gas, leccy, car/house insurance, recovery, etc etc that you have to look into every year as every damn year they will utterly rape you if you do not.

Quite how this is legal is beyond me, but I guess this is the new world we live in, utter exploitation.

[chunder27]

I simply recall for many years my broadband with the same supplier did not increase in price, it stayed the same for many years as I was using the same service.

Even before that with normal modem internet, the price was the price. For years on end.

I could understand it if there was more offered, but everything is the same, yet they increase by a few quid a month every year now, not even when your contract is up.

It just seems to be a new way of extracting more from consumers from nowhere, as it is now treated like a utility bill I suppose.

But it goes up like train tickets, by the max it seems every year.

I will just ring, try and get them down and quit, it is likely I am moving anyway, so my 5 old router (another bum deal,) gets binned

[chunder27]

It (govt)simply needs to put as much pressure on the companies offering it as has been allegedly put on energy companies doing the same.

It now seems de rigeur to have 18 month contracts, obviously so this can encompass a yearly price rise and the subsequent need to pay up the rest of the contract as an earlier poser says if you choose ot leave. I think I had to agree to a new 12 month deal last time I got a cheaper deal after saying I was leaving.

In the past I have received speed upgrades that I can see with speedtest, that is offering a better service.

This time, nothing, just backslapping themselves and telling me I have to pay them 56 quid a year for nothing new.