E=Mc2 Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I'm talking TV...........................................................................................Virgin TV. My heid is splitting trying to understand the cost of the alternatives to Virgin TV. I use their broadband 200MB. Although it's not anywhere near as fast as they claim. I have a 15GB per month 4G dongle with 3 which I use for business when I'm away from home. Would that be enough for me to use as my home broadband? I have a phone line, but I don't answer it, and don't use it for outgoing calls. I have a 1GB Tivo box in one room and a standard Virgin+ box in the other. I have their XL package which entitles me to everything apart from Sky Sports and Movies. The XL package includes the BT Sport channels. I am about to come to the end of an 18 month contract so I can consider my options. They have been giving me an £8 loyalty discount for the 18 months as I have been with them for 15 years. My bills from May will be £72 per month. The channels I watch tend to be the BBC, ITV, C4, Dave, and the BT Sport. Although as I go St. Mirren games I tend to miss parts of games either Saturday lunchtime or the 5.30pm kick offs. Any help would be useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 (edited) I'm talking TV...........................................................................................Virgin TV. My heid is splitting trying to understand the cost of the alternatives to Virgin TV. I use their broadband 200MB. Although it's not anywhere near as fast as they claim. I have a 15GB per month 4G dongle with 3 which I use for business when I'm away from home. Would that be enough for me to use as my home broadband? I have a phone line, but I don't answer it, and don't use it for outgoing calls. I have a 1GB Tivo box in one room and a standard Virgin+ box in the other. I have their XL package which entitles me to everything apart from Sky Sports and Movies. The XL package includes the BT Sport channels. I am about to come to the end of an 18 month contract so I can consider my options. They have been giving me an £8 loyalty discount for the 18 months as I have been with them for 15 years. My bills from May will be £72 per month. The channels I watch tend to be the BBC, ITV, C4, Dave, and the BT Sport. Although as I go St. Mirren games I tend to miss parts of games either Saturday lunchtime or the 5.30pm kick offs. Any help would be useful. So much to answer so I'll keep it to the bits I have some knowledge of............... It looks like you don't utilise the vast majority of the channels/services so you could dump Virgin and go to BT for their sports package, which, stand alone is £24 a month. I get BT Sport through my Sky box, can't say that you would get it through the Tivo or Virgin box. Apart from that, good luck. PS The 15GB question depends entirely on what you do at home. If you don't download "stuff" it could well do you for the month. *Stuff could be music or movies. Edited April 26, 2016 by faraway saint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanarkshireBuddie Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 there are few different options these days I wouldn't pay the money for sky or bt I get mine free or my 'special' box as well as all the boxing etc on box office Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 there are few different options these days I wouldn't pay the money for sky or bt I get mine free or my 'special' box as well as all the boxing etc on box office Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Tell them you are leaving and they'll drop the price. That said, my bill last month was almost £100! That's nuts, given how little TV I watch these days. The Internet is generally reliable and takes a pounding in our house, so I can live with paying a bit for that. Phone cost is limited, though. Like you, I seldom use it but the auld dears still call us on the landline, so I'm reluctant to get rid altogether. I think we now convince ourselves we need access to everything whenever we want it, and as quickly as possible. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, but would like to think it is something I could change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Tell them you are leaving and they'll drop the price. That said, my bill last month was almost £100! That's nuts, given how little TV I watch these days. The Internet is generally reliable and takes a pounding in our house, so I can live with paying a bit for that. Phone cost is limited, though. Like you, I seldom use it but the auld dears still call us on the landline, so I'm reluctant to get rid altogether. I think we now convince ourselves we need access to everything whenever we want it, and as quickly as possible. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, but would like to think it is something I could change. Key selling point for lots of companies. Mostly unnecessary but costly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Key selling point for lots of companies. Mostly unnecessary but costly. Absolutely. Sadly, I allow myself to be sucked in as much as anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I "binned" Sky last summer, was costing me £75 a month and, like most people, was hardly using the vast majority of the services. They offered me the basic package, costing £20 a month for £6 which allowed me to use the Sky box to it's potential. (Without any Sky services the box is nothing more than a Freeview box, can't record etc) I also got Sky broadband free for a year with £100 worth of freebies. I've always found Sky quite good to deal with, unlike BT. Many moons ago I had BT Unlimited broadband...................then they contacted me saying I was using it too much............I queried the term "unlimited".............they tried to change the goalposts and were not for moving, told them to shove it and would be loath to go to them again for phone/broadband services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendo Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I "binned" Sky last summer, was costing me £75 a month and, like most people, was hardly using the vast majority of the services. They offered me the basic package, costing £20 a month for £6 which allowed me to use the Sky box to it's potential. (Without any Sky services the box is nothing more than a Freeview box, can't record etc) I also got Sky broadband free for a year with £100 worth of freebies. I've always found Sky quite good to deal with, unlike BT. Many moons ago I had BT Unlimited broadband...................then they contacted me saying I was using it too much............I queried the term "unlimited".............they tried to change the goalposts and were not for moving, told them to shove it and would be loath to go to them again for phone/broadband services. Shocker, who would have believed that you were using the internet too much? Sorry but I'm with BT on this one, they couldn't have anticipated a customer like you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Shocker, who would have believed that you were using the internet too much? Sorry but I'm with BT on this one, they couldn't have anticipated a customer like you. At that time it was "dial up"....................I was downloading songs, taking 20 minutes for each track so I'd select a "few" and let it chunder away all night. Anyway, FU and BT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaksoft Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 My head is spinning with the fact that there are people out there willing to pay £70 to £100 for TV whether they use it or not. No wonder these companies are so successful. My total outgoing is about £28 combined for broadband and line rental which is way too much and £15 for a mobile phone which I could easily drop to £5 as I have no friends. I pay zero for TV because I don't use it although my wife just signed up to Netflix to save us a fortune on DVDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Arthur Blair Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Keep the broadband, cancel your tv package, get an android box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 My head is spinning with the fact that there are people out there willing to pay £70 to £100 for TV whether they use it or not. No wonder these companies are so successful. My total outgoing is about £28 combined for broadband and line rental which is way too much and £15 for a mobile phone which I could easily drop to £5 as I have no friends. I pay zero for TV because I don't use it although my wife just signed up to Netflix to save us a fortune on DVDs. You could say the same for any service. It's all down to the persons choice. The fact you're a weirdo isn't important, that's your choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendo Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 My head is spinning with the fact that there are people out there willing to pay £70 to £100 for TV whether they use it or not. No wonder these companies are so successful. My total outgoing is about £28 combined for broadband and line rental which is way too much and £15 for a mobile phone which I could easily drop to £5 as I have no friends. I pay zero for TV because I don't use it although my wife just signed up to Netflix to save us a fortune on DVDs. Imagine the fans buy out was looking for that kind of money, apart from you and shull who would sign up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FS Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I'm on the XL package too but with 70mb broadband, no phone line and about £65 a month. Similarly I suspect I will go broadband only and get a freeview HD box and/or a Chromecast or Amazon Prime stick or such like. Most of what I watch is on free to air tv or catch up services and can defo live without BT Sport. Then again there's now proper BT fibre broadband in my area which would come with BT Sports bundled...choices choices... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapsalmon Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 (edited) I have exactly the same Virgin package as the OP and have it knocked down to 54 pounds a month. Every time my 18 months has been up if phoned the retentions depth and asked them to make it cheaper. Edited April 26, 2016 by slapsalmon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougJamie Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 And here was me thinking this was a completely different thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I'm on Sky. Sky Fibre, HD with Sky Sports but no movies, documentaries, music or childrens channels. I ditched multi room last month as well. Somehow I've retained Sky Go Extra for free which means we can stream Sky on 4 devices - my laptop, both my kids laptops and one which my mate uses in exchange for his BT Sport password which allows me to watch BT Sports content on the rare occasion I want to. The laptops all connect, either using an HMDI lead, or wirelessly to all of the TV's around the house. In total that costs me £52 per month. I also have an Amazon Fire Stick with Kodi set up on it although I hardly ever use it as I get pissed off having to update it every time I want to use it. I had to negotiate with someone from Sky to get the price I got and it's due to go up again in 12 months time however I am not tied to any contract and can still cancel at any time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pozbaird Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Dickie Pickle can fcuk off. Basturts spent three weeks digging up our estate and made a rip-roaring Neil Doncaster of re-instating the pavements. Think the two guys digging the trenches were Andrea Bocelli and Stevie Wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingscot Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I'm on BT, which is £45 per month. Covers the line rental, broadband, BT Sports and telephone. Customer service is atrocious, but now it all works it is fine. Sky is always too expensive and Virgin don't serve our street despite having CableTel boxes and ducts in the street, apparently they ran out of cash and never installed the cables in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintnextlifetime Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I think £72 for tv is way too much . That is my personal opinion . I got rid of a full Sky package last November . Don't miss it as most of it is a serious pile of pish . There is no way the younger generations would pay that kind of money for telly as there are so many ways of getting what you want on the telly without paying those rip off barstewards . I would never deal with BT either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 (edited) I've just called Virgin, querying my bill. I'm getting charged £25 for a landline I seldom use, £43 for broadband (currently upgradeable to 200mps), and the rest is for hundreds of TV channels that show mindless drivel. So, in summary....I'm a f**king mug! Their best offer was to give us the lowest rate TV package, downgrade the phone line, and keep broadband as is for £64. I'm tempted to bag the TV and phone altogether, and try get cheaper broadband somewhere. I'm not tied in presently but apparently have to give 30 days notice to leave? Edited April 26, 2016 by Drew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraway saint Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 I've just called Virgin, querying my bill. I'm getting charged £25 for a landline I seldom use, £43 for broadband (currently upgradeable to 200mps), and the rest is for hundreds of TV channels that show mindless drivel. So, in summary....I'm a f**king mug! Their best offer was to give us the lowest rate TV package, downgrade the phone line, and keep broadband as is for £64. I'm tempted to bag the TV and phone altogether, and try get cheaper broadband somewhere. I'm not tied in presently but apparently have to give 30 days notice to leave? ooft, £43 for broadband? Get much cheaper, and suitable speed, from many other providers. Look at Sky, I got free for a year and decent goodies thrown in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Can I ask what the advantages are of having an android box? I wouldn't want to be relying on a potentially dodgy wifi connection when I do watch TV. Is that how it works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shull Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 £42 a month for everything with BT. Contented Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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