Davegtst
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 10:06 PM |
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SKY vs Virgin media
Has anyone swapped from SKY to Virgin? I've been with SKY for 3 years now and Virgin have just offered me the V+hd box, installation, broadband
and phone line for less that i pay Sky now for just a sky+ box, broadband and phone line.
What is the internet like? Is the fibre optic much better? Are there any channels that Virgin don't do that you miss?
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hearbear
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 10:14 PM |
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Never looked back.
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Davegtst
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 10:29 PM |
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Oh good. Rang sky earlier to see if they could match the offer but they didn't really seem interested, look like they may be losing out on my
hard earned every month.
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RichardK
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 10:29 PM |
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I've just done the exact same swap although my service with virgin doesn't start until feb, but the deal was good.
Cheers
Rich
Gallery updated 11/01/2011
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keith777
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 11:25 PM |
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Virgin all the way,sky more intersted in getting new customers than looking after old ones.
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MikeR
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 11:31 PM |
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g/f really wants sky (its what she's got at her place now). I've got NTL already installed so upgrading to NTL HD service should just be a
change of box.
What is the difference, the sky interface seems really slick, is NTL's HD interface as slick? I think the current (box must be 10 years old)
interface is clunky and slow.
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dhutch
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 11:37 PM |
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Ive never had sky but i was impressed with the VM service in our student house last year.
- We just had the basic entry level tv package but the range was good, bbc iplayer and 4od set-top was nice. Internet was blindingly faster than
anything else in loughborough. Its not firbreoptic usally but old 60's co-ax but its stonking good non the less.
Daniel
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MikeR
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| posted on 13/1/10 at 11:51 PM |
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its fibre to the box at the end of the street, they then run coax from the box to your house.
Downside is everyone in the street shares that one fibre (i believe - not part of ntl / virgin to know for sure) but it should still be pretty fast
and reliable.
I've had virgin for over 12 years. When things work its fab, when it goes wrong you get hassle trying to get support - but i've only had
two issues in 12 years.
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splitrivet
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 12:08 AM |
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As Mike says its fibre to the Cab, the geen box in the street then Co-ax to your house.
Got regular BB at home (I live in a private road and theres no Virgin connection) Virgin at work and there is no comparison.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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contaminated
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 09:44 AM |
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Interesting. I'm with Virgin and thinking of going with Sky. Virgin just will not have a discussion with me about a better deal, even if I tell
them what Sky will offer me as a new customer. Bad as each other really.
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D Beddows
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 10:19 AM |
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There isn't actually that much difference in price even with the 'new user' bonuses. A SKY salesman knocked on the door last month
and after speaking to him for a bit we worked out between us I would be perhaps £7 a month better off with SKY for a comparable service to what we
currently have with Virgin ..... and even he eventually admitted there wasn't much point swapping over 
The secret I think is going through what you are paying for with whoever you are with and cancelling the things you don't use - SKY movies for
example is expensive and given the cr*p selection of films they rotate endlessly ........ yes customer service is always dodgy with either but to
Virgins credit whenever I've had a broadband problem I've been put through to someone who actually knew what they were talking about!
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ashg
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 11:05 AM |
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i have got virgin for the internet and phone and sky hd for the telly. prob pay over the odds but the sky hd is much better.
the reasoning behind net and phone is that i didnt want anything bt in my house because they are a bunch of wankers.
[Edited on 14/1/10 by ashg]
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
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splitrivet
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 04:28 PM |
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Dont forget you will only get the best deal with Sky BB if they have their own equipment in your local exchange if not its dearer and the BB wont be
any better than what you get at the moment.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 05:46 PM |
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The only thing that puts me of switching to cable is you have to have some monkey drilling holes in your house and generally making a pigs ear of the
installation (as proved by several other houses in my street!)
At least you can do it yourself with a Sky dish and ADSL.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 05:49 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ashg
the reasoning behind net and phone is that i didnt want anything bt in my house because they are a bunch of wankers.
This is true. I've had them ring me constantly about changing to a different tariff and I'm simply not interested and have told them stop
ringing me but they refuse to take the hint. The last time they rang I pretended there was a fault on a line and couldn't hear them
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 14/1/10 at 05:53 PM |
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I have Virgin too which in the whole is generally trouble free though it does tend to go slow around 8pm and occasionally it stops working and when
this happens just forget it. You only end up talking to someone in Mumbai who in fairness is just doing their job as they're told but they know
nowt about compuetrs or internet and the accent barrier on top of the line quality (ironic!) is beyond rubbish. The only way to speak to someone in
England is to ring up and threaten to end your contract. By far the worst customer service around!
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woodster
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:19 AM |
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this is good site for all cable and sky stuff .......... if your thinking of virgin the eurovox section may be of interest 
http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/
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Jasper
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:19 AM |
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Or go with FreeSat and never pay anything again! And you can get a decent FreeSat PVR too.
I love tell Sky to p*ss off everytime they call and try to get me back.
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:34 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Or go with FreeSat and never pay anything again! And you can get a decent FreeSat PVR too.
But you do miss out on some good channels and no broadband.
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woodster
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:37 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Or go with FreeSat and never pay anything again! And you can get a decent FreeSat PVR too.
I love tell Sky to p*ss off everytime they call and try to get me back.
eurovox now that IS freesat
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Jasper
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 12:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Or go with FreeSat and never pay anything again! And you can get a decent FreeSat PVR too.
But you do miss out on some good channels and no broadband.
Yes, but I also have a 20Mg Virgin cable broadband so can download pretty much anything almost instantly, AND there is already so much on all the
FreeSat channels I really wouldn't have time to watch anything else. So no Sky 1 or Discovery type channels, but Dave is on Freeview (so can
pick that up with my TV).
And the Humax PVR FreeSat box is an absolute joy to use compared to Sky+, And you get BBC HD and ITV HD when it's on.
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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Davegtst
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:49 PM |
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Just phoned sky and Virgin. Sky were no help and didn't seem at all bothered about me leaving, this is the second time i have asked them.
Virgin were a nightmare, the first 2 calls the indians on the other end didn't even know what the special offer was and kept asking for my
account number. I eventually got through to an American who was quite helpful but the leaflet i was sent seems to be a bit misleading. If i swap i
will end up paying about £7 more than i currently pay sky but i will get a few HD channels, an extra box for the bedroom and hopefully faster
broadband. Little bit worried about the Indians if i get a problem though, they were truly worse than useless and didn't even know the phonetic
alphabet.
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JoelP
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| posted on 15/1/10 at 10:58 PM |
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i left virgin for sky. I got worse than indians at virgin, i ended up speaking to a scottish woman  Who i must say, was a total c**t. So
outrageously rude i vowed never to have owt to do with virgin again.
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 16/1/10 at 09:26 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by ashg
the reasoning behind net and phone is that i didnt want anything bt in my house because they are a bunch of wankers.
This is true. I've had them ring me constantly about changing to a different tariff and I'm simply not interested and have told them stop
ringing me but they refuse to take the hint. The last time they rang I pretended there was a fault on a line and couldn't hear them
When they ask for you say "Hold on I'll just get him/her" put the phone on the table and leave them waiting until they hang up.
Done exactly the same, Sky couldn't give two turds about it after Missus has been with them for something like 14 years.
Good points:
Iplayer etc. built in
One button to record series instead of the messing about sky has.
Afaik if a series stops and then picks up again it'll start recording it again.
Record two things at the same time.
They have pretty much the same HD channels (apart from the films I think)
Broadband's fast, and been much more reliable.
Bad points:
Black on yellow text makes me squint at night when I'm tired.
Remote is flimsier, I nearly bent the first one in half!
It's more of a faff deleting recordings, but no biggie really.
Our box has this habit of not responding to the buttons being pressed until you've done about 75, and then it'll do everything at once. So
you want to change channel and because you then start pressing buttons at randome (because nothing's happening) it flicks through 30 channels,
brings up the menu, goes onto Iplayer then switches off.
It does need re-booting more often than my laptop
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martyn_16v
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| posted on 16/1/10 at 08:58 PM |
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I guess I've been lucky in that I've never had a problem with Virgin, so can't comment on pap customer service. To be fair, pretty
much anyone supplying tv/internet/phone/leccy/gas etc seems to be crap once they've got your cash, so you may as well just go for the
cheapest.
I've recently gone from sky TV and virgin internet to virgin everything and am quite happy with it all. The V+ box menus take a couple of days
to get used to if you've been using sky for a while, but once you've got the hang of it it's no worse. From what I've seen of
the recent Sky HD box update Sky have tried to implement a few features that are already in the V+ box anyway.
V+ box does hand for a few seconds every now and then, but then my sky+ box used to decide it had no signal quite regularly which was probably more
annoying.
Virgin internet kicks ADSL all over the room. Unless you're unlucky enough to live in a road full of virgin subscribers with teenage kids then
even the 'slowdown' at busy times is faster than 95% of houses will ever see on ADSL.
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