Forum Topic

Broadband

Seems Virgin Media are increasing their prices in March, I also note my discounted price has come to an end (?) result immediate steep increase from 28 per month to 50.Anybody have any recommendations.(not sure about u switch )

John Southey ● 2118d25 Comments

I’ve been asking around because of problems with VM. Lots of people suggest PlusNet and Zen I’d never heard of Zen but will be looking into it as soon as I can get out of my contract

Maggie Dodge ● 2118d

Zen are very good especially on customer service, a department in which Virgin should be ashamed of themselves. I too am really annoyed at yet another price increase, unfortunately I don't have a BT line which appears to have been lost in a previous refurbishment. At this rate though it may be worth me paying to get a new one installed. Virgin are now charging me over £60 per month for phone and broadband which is a lot.

Bruce Hammal ● 2118d

Yes they know how to suck you in with special prices and then the increases appear ! Sorry but really cannot recommend them.

John Southey ● 2118d

I was with Virgin for a few years until I decided their charges were becoming exorbitant. I'm with EE now, paying about half the amount I would have been paying with Virgin.

Colin Jordan ● 2118d

Plusnet good, used Zen too, can’t recall why I changed over.

Russell Pearson ● 2118d

Check the contract and renewMost are saying x amount for 12 or 18 months and then its x amount.That is then for you to take another contract which is what they want you to do hence the jump in price after contract. Its to keep you as a customer and lock you in with them for another contract. When its jumps from say £30 to £50 it normally means your contract has ended and you take another contract at around the lower amount for another 18 months.(whats on offer without for new customers in t&cs Apart from ADSL basic fibre is around the same price given a few pounds. I think they are all pretty much the same, the question is customer service and then if you need customer service that's most likely because of your having issues. You as an individual can have problems but not for all. Not saying go with them, but I've BT and I've had one little issue in 7 years without no drop-outs. So I've never had to contact customer services and so the idea of customer service being bad should never be a factor unless you are unlucky. Of course, some will say BT is bad when I was with them, that can be said for all of them. Words and google will give you that answer regardlessof broadband comparisons and satisfaction websites and articles. Google zen and PlusNet and you will find the bad as well as the good.Don't forget to look at what you actually need rather than just the price first

Julian Pavey ● 2118d

Part of my point,7 years of sattisfaction while john obviously did not and im sure others on here had said the same for virgin and possibly others isps over time within threads. Not that john has an issue with service but price which allways looks good until it stops. But that is normally when your contract has ended and you need to ring and take a new contract rather than a monthly rolling price out of conractTopic: Re:Re:Re:BT internet issue Posted by: John SoutheyDate/Time: 15/07/16 07:11:00BT are terrible, am in the process of moving toVirgin

Julian Pavey ● 2118d

I've been with talk talk for years and definitely recommend. Hardly any issues at all and no price hikes.

Donna Fraser ● 2118d

Might be good if one states who they are with,what they have which is crucial and how much they pay for that service and the good and bad for cross ref A difference if your on adsl against a budget fibre package in terms of service,reliabliity and certainly price. Most lower end fibre packages are the same price as ADSL so you need to think about what you have and the price comparrison and the speed your loosing out on

Julian Pavey ● 2118d

Call Virgin to terminate your contract and I suspect you will be offered a substantial discount. What you end up paying can depend on how much you are prepared to hassle. They may ask who you intend to switch to and how much they are charging. On my last contract I gave them the theoretical price of the switch after checking with U-Switch and was offered a reduction on my current rate. There are no guarantees here as it depends who you end up talking to, but if you want to stay with Virgin this approach is worth a try.

John Connelly ● 2118d

Not going back to BT. Anybody use Talk Talk ?

John Southey ● 2118d

HowItUsedToBe.com will offer you a dial up 56kb service. You buy your own modem (realistically you will get 38kb actaul at peak ) and it's 2 pound per month , data capped at 10Mb.  You get to listen to the modem and actually hear the data coming through :-)

Andrew Craig ● 2118d

Thats not bad if you just want to check emails and some websites even if its a bit slow loading. Mind you,your need a morgage to watch tv content

Julian Pavey ● 2118d

We have everything with Virgin and have done since able started. Haven't really had any complaints but the price now is exorbitant,l when I look at what they charge and then the TV licence I really appreciate the BBC! Would really like to change but have not found comparison sites helpful as far as broadband,'phone, TV and boxes (3) are concerned.

Vanessa Smith ● 2118d

If you phone them they usually drop the price for an 18 month contract extension. I just did that but the wait on the phone is long. If you have a phone line Zen are constantly good. Plusnet are good as well with decent prices. Bon chance

Basil Finnis ● 2118d

Vanessa, we were in the same boat and called up last week with a vague threat to leave. We were pretty quickly able to knock £20 off our monthly bill, so worth doing.Pretty much all providers are making hefty price rises at the moment so the OP may be better off trying this first

Chris Jenkins ● 2118d

John.  If like me you have a land line connection, not fibre, with 7 - 10 Mb line speed, perfectly OK if you don't play games or want to download films.  I swapped from Talk Talk to NOW TV after I finally got fed up with Talk Talk's substantial price increases and total lack of Customer Service. Almost impossible to get to speak with anyone and when you do it's usually with someone who can barely speak English and can't resolve whatever query you have. They have ripped off my son in law for the whole duration of his contract (plus over 12 months afterwards when it expired and he wasn't notified) by promising a minimum speed and then failing to get anywhere near it as they didn't have any fibre connection in his street. I have never used Plus Net but I have noticed they offer a reasonable deal to start with then raise it quite a lot when the initial contract expires. Also, most suppliers seem to add about 3% plus inflation in March / April automatically as well despite the promise of no price increase on your contract. Read the (very) small print. My new supplier provide Broadband and mainly free landline calls for £18 a month and have just told me they are keeping the same price for the next twelve months when my contract expires at the end of this month. Very happy with that and the service since I signed up.

Derek Hill ● 2118d

I would be very careful changing broadband currently during Covid.What should have been a standard change of phoneline and broadband  from Shell to Plusnet turned into a total nightmare. I was without broadband for 8 weeks- total incompetence by plusnet and Openreach. Nobody managed the transfer or cared.

Robert Glen ● 2118d

We did it! The final straw being the letter that said the bill was going up £4 per month in March. we had a look at what channels we usually watch and looked at the various bundles and more or less settled on one. You are however correct, be prepared for a long, long wait on the 'phone and some haggling, eventually got put through to 'customer relations' who seem to have the authority to 'box and cox' the packages. We now have 18 months at £82 per month rather than around the usual £120 odd!

Vanessa Smith ● 2105d

"£82 per month rather than around the usual £120 odd!" Fliiping eck,what you got for £82 a month

Julian Pavey ● 2105d

Followed above advice and spoke to Virgin and told them I was leaving, ended up with an 18 month contract at the old price including evening and weekend phone £28. Per month.Started to go to talk talk and realised I had been with them before and willNEVER go back. Tried four times to cancel the new contract, eventually managed it, Thanks for advice

John Southey ● 2105d

£120 PM seems somewhat outlandish to me, and £82 almost an arm and a leg. What exactly is it you get for this sort of money, and does it come with a butler to change channels for you?

Gordon McDonald ● 2105d

Im paying Virgin 60 quid a month for a phone I dont use or need, a sort of glorified Freeview and Broadband. Thats 720 quid a year. ( and we moan about 150 quid BBC licence fee? ) Keep on telling myself to move but get put off by other companies introductory low deals which end up in same sort of prices as Virgin. Also the wiring mallarky changing from cable to aerial. Surely broadband should be much cheaper than this by now? and we shouldnt have to be looking to change provider every few years. Where's Jeremy Corbyn when you need him?

Stephen Gould ● 2105d

What pushed ours up was that we had three Tivo boxes, we've got rid of one of those plus gone for a different'bundle' but kept the higher broadband speed which has brought the price down somewhat, plus got rid of the landline deal which incorporated unlimited calls which we never used. Never let anyone moan about the TV licence, brilliant value for money.

Vanessa Smith ● 2105d

"150 quid BBC licence fee"Its not a case of value be that good or bad,its a case that you have to have one if watching live TV and dont happen to watch the BBC. Its going to have to cut back again as the numbers buying it is falling. The latest is a drop of 250k. They wont last another 10 years on the same model,it will change.

Julian Pavey ● 2105d