Thinking of leaving sky for virgin, bit worried

[admin_exported]

Hey

Sky have been great, and any problems, they were quick to sort out, but I dont feel I am getting value for money, I have the full tv pack besides the movies and sports, as now using netflix.

Unlimited calls.

And I get UNCAPPED 13mb Broadband.

I just did a quote on virgin, and for an extra 10.00. I can have 100mb broadband, alll the channels besides movies and sports and a 1TB box.

Couple questions, as I am sure if I call the sales will lower it slightly.

Is the 100MB uncapped and not traffic shaped? I can download as much and when I want.

Also is the tivo box like the original virign HD box, Unpresponisve, you press the channel button and it thinks about it, then it changes? as sky is instant.

Also last Time I was with virgin, their customer services was dire!

Thanks and any thoughts ?

 

[jolls]

Tell Sky what sort of deal you have been offered. I'm sure they will come back with something favourable. When I complained to them about my Thomson HD box lasting only 18 months and was thinking of leaving they provided a new one free of charge and installed a new dish as well. I have previous experience of terrible customer service with Ntl before they were eventually taken over by Virgin. However I do use Virgin Mobile and have found the customer service excellent.

 

[Andy Clough]

In reply to the OP, I don't have the 100Mb service so can't comment on that, but the 30Mb I'm on is good and speed is pretty consistent with no download limits. TiVo box works well. But Virgin customer service isn't great, judging by some of the feedback we've had on here.

 

[markyd]

I have always found sky to be much like M+S, the product is generally good but you will be charged the absolute maximum you would ever be prepared to pay.

As far as Virgin goes, cable is IMO by far the best medium for getting good consistent broadband speeds as it is an independent network. Everyone else must lease lines from BT, with varing contention ratios (number of others you share your bandwidth with) and generally more congestion at peak times. I am assuming you must be able to get the direct cable, as they would not be able to offer you the same speeds on ADSL, which is basically what everyone else is stuck with.

If you are happy with sky then stick with them - but as a consumer thinking of switching, assuming you are not locked into a contract - you are in a strong negotiating position to play them off each other for you hard earned schekles...

If I could get propper cable, I would have it in a heartbeat. I would on the other hand NEVER purchace a SKY subscription. EVER.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

I recently had to change to Virgin from Sky due to moving house. The only thing that I miss is Sky Atlantic HD. Otherwise I'm pleased with the service. We had the local exchange go down one day and they had it fixed within a couple of hours.

 

[Anonymous]

Just did some more digging, and they traffic shape on torrent sites, which makes this a no go.

Wow you pay 40.00 just for the 100mb Broadband yet they still throttle during after work times.

 

[laserman16]

I do find that Virgin Broadband can sometimes get throttled back during busy periods, but thats a minor niggle really.

 

[laserman16]

To late again. :wall:

 

[SpiceWeasel]

I think you will find that most ISP's use traffic shaping. We have 50mb virgin cable and in the last 3 years it has only gone down twice, first time it was down for about 30mins and the next was about 4 hours. Fastest and most reliable internet we have ever had, they are upgrading their network over the next year and a half ish so will be getting a free upgrade too 100mb soon and then 120mb a few months after.

 

[Feral]

I've been with Virgin for 5 years now (cable), previously with ADSL via BT. I had no end of issues on ADSL with many interruptions on service. Only twice have we had a problem with Virgin which was quickly rectified.

Speed test has shown regular 51-52mb download with 4-5.5mb uploads, also run speed test in windows safe mode as the your pc can easily knock 10-20mb with AV and firewall issues. i hear complaints about customer services from all quarters so i would focus on reliability where you don't need to talk to them

I still use SKY for tv though as i want the better HD content atm.

 

[Anonymous]

Whilst Virgin do traffic shape for bittorrent traffic, they are up front about it on their website. And even if you are a heavy user and your speed is being throttled, the speeds are still on average much higher than anything you can achieve over a copper cable, unless you live very close to an exchange.

Virgin publish the results of the SamKnows speed tests on their website, updated monthly:

http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadband/about-virgin-broadband/speed-matters.html

These speeds are a 24hr period average, not just off-peak speeds, and are on average far higher than what you can pull down over copper wire.

Virgin's traffic management and throlling policy is also available to view here:

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=389465&CURRENT_CMD=SEARCH&CONFIGURATION=1029&PARTITION_ID=1&USERTYPE=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTY=us&VM_CUSTOMER_TYPE=Cable

This includes details of what constitutes a 'heavy user, and detailed breakdowns of their traffic management policy based on each speed package.

On balance the restrictions seem fair, and the traffic management is only going to affect a small number of users. If these restrictions bother you you can of course opt for a BT line or equivilant, but you might find you're then stuck with slower speeds all of the time