Sky, Virgin or.......

[lavrentis]

First Row Sports do a good package.

[sphericalfox]

how very dare you !!

Don't worry I'm one tv pack short of the full bundle myself

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Virgin fibre optic broadband for £22 per month, it never drops out and is pretty quick. Just recently got Now TV which is ideal if you want some paid TV but wouldn't use it often enough to justify the contract prices.

 

Would have Sky Sports if I could afford it but I can make do with the free stuff (which gets slimmer by the year - god knows what will be available in 5 years)

[Webbo]

Just recently got Now TV which is ideal if you want some paid TV but wouldn't use it often enough to justify the contract prices.

 

Is that any good and how much do you pay, if you don't mind me asking?

[Saxondale]

I'm with Virgin and they're having my pants down on price.

 

I tried to get a better deal the other day but I ended up speaking to the salesy-type people, who won't give you a good deal, rather than the cancellationsy-type people who will. I will ring up again why have a spare three hours to go through all the automated options.

 

If I intended staying in this house for much longer I'd get Freesat.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Webbo - the initial cost is absolute bargain - £10 for the box (including postage and HDMI cable) then to activate it you buy a month package. Entertainment is £4.99 (Sky 1, Discovery, Comedy Central and a few others), films is £8.99 or a Sky Sports day pass for £9.99. The months packages do cost more after the initial month but there's a lot of discounts available

 

Aside from the live TV, you get the catch-up while your paid package is still active, and there's a growing library of free stuff - BBC iPlayer, 5 on Demand, Spotify, Tunein Radio, Facebook, internet TV, etc. The box itself is pretty responsive and the picture (720p HD) is crystal clear all the time, providing you have good wi-fi. Can't run off a cable though.

 

I'd definitely recommend giving it a go if you're unsure as it's only £15 for the box with 1 month's entertainment package so you can't really lose. It's obviously the budget option for watching paid TV though, and doesn't really turn a bog standard TV into a smart one. Just access to some better channels and catch-up for minimal charge

[Webbo]

I've a got a youview box through Talktalk atm and I pay £5 a month for Sky 1 & 2, Skyarts 1 &2, SSn and Skyliving most of which I never watch. The channels look a bit better on Nowtv so I might switch. How much is it after the first month and can you get the Sky channels on catch up?

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

I think I got it wrong - not only do the prices NOT go up (as far as I can tell), you can now get a month's free movie package with any other package. Also forgot to mention the entertainment package includes Sky Atlantic, which has some good stuff

 

So 10 entertainment channels are £4.99 per month, movies package £8.99 per month or sports day pass for £9.99

 

The Sky shows are mostly available as catch-up with a few exceptions. Only found out earlier than for legal reasons you can't watch The Simpsons live or catch-up, pissed me off slightly but it's not a deal breaker. Karl Pilkington's new show was worth the cost of the box alone, love it

 

I'm afraid I can't really compare it to any other services as I've never had Sky, Virgin, Netflix, Lovefilm or Youview but I'll happily pay £4.99 a month for the basic channels

[Guest Col city fan]

I've done exactly this recently DG.

Having had SKY (TV) and BT (phone and broadband) for years, I've switched over to a Virgin package.

I must say I've not regretted it.

I've got the Virgin VIP package, their best one, half price for 6 mths. For this I get a lot more channels than I did with SKY (although, interestingly, NOT Sky Sports News HD?), multi-room, unlimited phone calls, unlimited broadband.

The major benefits:

I find the Virgin TV bit more interactive than I did SKY. More features, easier to learn etc.

The broadband really flies. I'm downloading some Apple Apps, for example, literally in seconds.

The set-top boxes are one terabyte each... You can record and store TONS of stuff compared to the SKY HD box. (Although SKY are bringing out a new box, or it's out already).

I'm happy I switched. If you can live with more cables going around your house.

Hope that helps.

[hairy]

Davies, you say Freeview was slow, how do you mean? Usually its the hardware that's at fault.

 

We are on BT for phone, IDNet for broadband (best customer services) and FreeSAT. We don't watch that much telly.

[davieG]

Davies, you say Freeview was slow, how do you mean? Usually its the hardware that's at fault.

 

We are on BT for phone, IDNet for broadband (best customer services) and FreeSAT. We don't watch that much telly.

Viewing the menu and changing channels, it's slower than my broadband

[Alexikokopops]

I've done exactly this recently DG.

Having had SKY (TV) and BT (phone and broadband) for years, I've switched over to a Virgin package.

I must say I've not regretted it.

I've got the Virgin VIP package, their best one, half price for 6 mths. For this I get a lot more channels than I did with SKY (although, interestingly, NOT Sky Sports News HD?), multi-room, unlimited phone calls, unlimited broadband.

The major benefits:

I find the Virgin TV bit more interactive than I did SKY. More features, easier to learn etc.

The broadband really flies. I'm downloading some Apple Apps, for example, literally in seconds.

The set-top boxes are one terabyte each... You can record and store TONS of stuff compared to the SKY HD box. (Although SKY are bringing out a new box, or it's out already).

I'm happy I switched. If you can live with more cables going around your house.

Hope that helps.

 

It's because the deal Sky have with Virgin Media for the HD sports channels is only for Sky Sports 1 & 2 (largely because Sky don't want to let Virgin Media use all their HD channels). That's why you can't get Sky Sports 3, 4, News and F1 in HD.

[Uncle Albert]

I pay Sky £82 a month for all the channels, HD, Phone and Broadband.

[Strokes]

I pay Sky £82 a month for all the channels, HD, Phone and Broadband.

, why?

[separator]

I have a PC connected to my TV. The PC runs as a media centre and has a freeview HD card inside. All TV, blu ray, dvd, music, web streaming, downloaded videos, photos etc through 1 box and 1 remote. I've got BT broadband but Infinity goes live in this part of Leicester (Beaumont telephone exchange) within the month (allegedly) so will upgrade to that then.

[indierich06]

http://www.wowcher.co.uk/deals/london-north/deal-106110-detail/9-sky-50-12-month-sky-hd-original-family-movies/deal.html

Good deal for anyone looking to switch to Sky, half price for a year!

[separator]

Virgin Media price increase from february

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24911042

[Alexikokopops]

Virgin Media price increase from february

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24911042

 

 

And Sky, BT, Talk Talk et al. will follow suit soon.

[Webbo]

And Sky, BT, Talk Talk et al. will follow suit soon.

 Corporate shill.

[Alexikokopops]

 Corporate shill.

 

  

 

Don't worry, I could say lots of negative things, just not on a public forum  

[davieG]

In the end I settled for Sky Tv and BT Broadband/Phone but I'm still getting great money saving offers from Virgin although I couldn't move until March 2016 anyway.

 

I'm not that impressed with the BT Broadband even though I have their top Infinity package. When I stream the away LCFC games from the NBC Live Extra site it continually pauses and I end up 5+ minutes behind. Could this be down to too many people streaming it or is it more likely to be my broadband.

 

I using wifi but also have a TP link connected to my laptop.

 

Has anyone changed there views as I've heard negative stories re Virgin customer services.

[Strokes]

In the end I settled for Sky Tv and BT Broadband/Phone but I'm still getting great money saving offers from Virgin although I couldn't move until March 2016 anyway.

I'm not that impressed with the BT Broadband even though I have their top Infinity package. When I stream the away LCFC games from the NBC Live Extra site it continually pauses and I end up 5+ minutes behind. Could this be down to too many people streaming it or is it more likely to be my broadband.

I using wifi but also have a TP link connected to my laptop.

Has anyone changed there views as I've heard negative stories re Virgin customer services.

Check your fire wall sttings.

[RobHawk]

In the end I settled for Sky Tv and BT Broadband/Phone but I'm still getting great money saving offers from Virgin although I couldn't move until March 2016 anyway.

 

I'm not that impressed with the BT Broadband even though I have their top Infinity package. When I stream the away LCFC games from the NBC Live Extra site it continually pauses and I end up 5+ minutes behind. Could this be down to too many people streaming it or is it more likely to be my broadband.

 

I using wifi but also have a TP link connected to my laptop.

 

Has anyone changed there views as I've heard negative stories re Virgin customer services.

I'm on Virgin and overall impressed. Much better than ?BT who i was with previously. Our broadband seemed to go down all the time on Bt for no real reason. No issues with Virgin!

[davieG]

Check your fire wall sttings.

Would that cause it I thought firewalls were either go or no go?

[enmac]

I'm with Virgin and they're having my pants down on price.

I tried to get a better deal the other day but I ended up speaking to the salesy-type people, who won't give you a good deal, rather than the cancellationsy-type people who will. I will ring up again why have a spare three hours to go through all the automated options.

If I intended staying in this house for much longer I'd get Freesat.

Hate Virgin. Prices seemed to rise 10% p.a., constant phone calls for "new" deals, so that the contract is lengthened. Also had real problems trying to "escape" from them- sent a letter by registered post to cancel and they denied receiving it!

Wouldn't touch Sky on principle. Currently with Plusnet- no phone calls and relatively cheap.

You can find plenty of sport for free if you look hard enough!