TV/Phone/Boradband packages

[Vulcan]

Hi all,

I'm moving from Bradford to sunny Seaton in East Devon for work in a few weeks. I have my flat and all the essentials sorted out, but one thing that remains to be sorted out is my TV, Landline phone and Internet.
I was thinking about one of these packages offered by companies such as Sky, Virgin and BT that offer all three for a monthy fee, But I have no idea if any of them are any good.

I know this isn't railway-related in the slightest, but I was hoping someone on here would have some experience of this kind of thing and could offer some suggestions of what to go for or avoid.

PS, I'm keen on the Sky+ box type thing, means I can record the Simpsons every night

Ta in advance.

 

[Dai.]

I'll give you a low-down on what I know -

Virgin Media - Fast but terrible, constant down times and the routers aren't the best, they constantly disconnect and only support can fix them, the TV isn't any better either, the boxes are slow, the picture and sound are alright but it can cut out at any given moment, they also break a lot.

Sky - Brilliant and fast internet, the routers are pretty good and there are no cutting out and the TV is of course also brilliant.

BT - Don't run an actual tv service its more "pay per view" in the sense you pay for what you watch per programme, or that was the story when I was searching. The internet - Got to be careful how you set up the router and essentials, because the phone can sometimes make the home hub cut out.

 

[CarterUSM]

Hi all,

I'm moving from Bradford to sunny Seaton in East Devon for work in a few weeks. I have my flat and all the essentials sorted out, but one thing that remains to be sorted out is my TV, Landline phone and Internet.
I was thinking about one of these packages offered by companies such as Sky, Virgin and BT that offer all three for a monthy fee, But I have no idea if any of them are any good.

I know this isn't railway-related in the slightest, but I was hoping someone on here would have some experience of this kind of thing and could offer some suggestions of what to go for or avoid.

PS, I'm keen on the Sky+ box type thing, means I can record the Simpsons every night

Ta in advance.

Virgin also do a sky plus sort of package, I think it is called V plus, or something similar. I've got virgin, but only because they will give you broadband without a landline as I had no interest in one. They are also currently the only provider who will give you 50mb broadband if you want it. I'm sure someone else better informed could give you the pros and cons of them all though.

 

[Vulcan]

From my facebook research, one friend said the same as you about Virgin Media. Yet another one said that Sky is terrible and Virgin is better .

 

[CarterUSM]

From my facebook research, one friend said the same as you about Virgin Media. Yet another one said that Sky is terrible and Virgin is better .

With the exception of the dispute virgin had with sky a year or two ago you'll get everything that sky has with virgin. I believe they consider their broadband the best out there, and I must say I have never had any bother with it, don't have their telly, though I used to, and it was more than adequate also. Don't have time to be watching telly anymore so I got shot of it!

 

[90019]

The internet - Got to be careful how you set up the router and essentials, because the phone can sometimes make the home hub cut out.

IIRC the home hubs are still technically illegal, because of some of the frequencies they interfere with. Yet they continue to sell them without fixing it.

 

[EM2]

Completely disagree with Dai about Virgin.
I have their V+ service which includes all three, I have only had two outages of TV (both less than 30min each) in three years, one on phone and one on broadband.
V+ means you can record two things and watch a third. You can pause and rewind live TV.

Are you going to work for Peco?

 

[Mojo]

Virgin (cable) is definately superior to Sky and BT. Far better customer service, more space on your V+ box and you can record 2 shows whilst watching a 3rd. Internet is more reliable and tends to be faster and you're not dealing with multiple companies.

In some cases Sky may promise to provide internet and TV but it later transpires that they do not have any more network capacity (or so they told me) so you have to find another company.

 

[Vulcan]

Thanks everyone for your help with this, at the moment I'm thinking Virgin might need some further looking into.

Are you going to work for Peco?

As it happens, ...Yes, and greatly looking forward to it aswell.

 

[bnm]

Have checked the options for you in Seaton, Devon.

There is no Virgin Media cable, so that option is out. There are no Local Loop Unbundled operators or ADSL2+ in the Seaton exchange so the up to 20Mbps offerings from the likes of Sky or BT are also out. Living next to the exchange in Fore Street, Seaton will likely get you 6.5Mbps, the average for Seaton is around 2Mbps.

Better speeds maybe obtainable with mobile broadband - again dependent on closeness to a mobile mast. Checking Ofcom's mast sitefinder it appears that only 3 Mobile and Orange have 3G masts likely to cover Seaton and these are to the the north of the town on the main A road.

So, as far as landline broadband goes you are stuck with the up to 8Mbps from your landline provider.

TV offerings are standard terrestrial aerial, BT Vision (requires standard terrestrial aerial) freeview (through aerial), freesat (freeview through satelite dish) or Sky. Which of these you choose is down to your budget and what sort of offering you want (movies, sport etc).

If it's Sky you want for The Simpsons then the current cost including line rental with free evening and weekend calls and unlimited broadband (described as 'truly' unlimited) is £25.50. This is a special offer including free Sky+ box and free installation. Offer valid until 1st September 2010.

Nearest equivalent BT package (including BT Vision but no Simpson except Ch4 repeats!!) with broadband limit of 40GB per month is £17.99 plus £11.54 line rental and £60 one off payment for the BT Vision+ box. This bundle only offers free weekend calls however.

BT: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/
Sky: http://www.sky.com/shop/index.html
Freesat: http://www.freesat.co.uk/

Telephone exchange information from Samknows at: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WWSEAT

Mobile mast information from Ofcom at: http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

EDIT: BTW Orange also have a 3G mast in Beer, worth bearing in mind if you are working at Peco.

 

[Vulcan]

Thankyou, thats brilliant! I'll have a further look into that tomorrow.

 

[bnm]

To anyone contemplating moving home and wanting broadband and mobile coverage info, I cannot recommend these two sites highly enough:

SamKnows: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_availability

Ofcom Sitefinder: http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

More and more estate and letting agents are including broadband provision in the property details but checking yourself is often the best way. Avoid the broadband speed information supplied by the service providers - they are in the business of attracting customers so are unlikely to give you an accurate potential speed. Nearly all broadband providers estimate speed for new customers based on distance from the exchange as the crow flies. Phone lines tend to follow the streets so can be considerably longer. I have a friend who lives less than 500m from his exchange but the particular line that serves his property goes all round the small town before arriving at his house - BT told him is line was 4km long!! The best bet is to ask a neighbour what sort of speed and service they get.

 

[Donny Dave]

For internet, I recommend Virgin as well. While they are not perfect, they do strive towards perfection. A couple of times, I've submitted tickets saying I'm sufferering a loss of service, both times I've had a reply within 1 hour.

First time, it was an exchange issue, which was fixed within another 3 hours, and the second time, the email said "We've remotely tested your connection and modem, and found that your modem is faulty. We have ordered a new 1 for you." It arrived 2 days later.

TV and phone lines I've had no problem with either.

Avoid the broadband speed information supplied by the service providers - they are in the business of attracting customers so are unlikely to give you an accurate potential speed. Nearly all broadband providers estimate speed for new customers based on distance from the exchange as the crow flies. Phone lines tend to follow the streets so can be considerably longer. I have a friend who lives less than 500m from his exchange but the particular line that serves his property goes all round the small town before arriving at his house - BT told him is line was 4km long!! The best bet is to ask a neighbour what sort of speed and service they get.

Not quite true for Virgin Internet, as they use fiber optic cable, so the speed reduction isn't really a factor.

 

[bnm]

As I said earlier, Virgin Media cable not available in Seaton, Devon. Only offering available from Virgin would be their ADSL Broadband and a phone line - technically no different to BT (in fact just a re-sold BT Wholesale product) - although slightly cheaper.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Not quite true for Virgin Internet, as they use fiber optic cable, so the speed reduction isn't really a factor.

Agreed that fibre optic is largely unnaffected by distance from the node or headend. However, Virgin Media's universal broadband routers (the equipment in these nodes that connects to the wider internet) are very often over subscribed with customers. This high contention ratio is why many VM customers still experience slow downs at peak times and do not hit their advertised maximum speed. Admittedly they do get closer to that top speed than those on copper phone lines. Since taking over Telewest:NTL Virgin Media have gone on a massive marketing drive to attract customers. Unfortunately they have been neglecting the network and upgrading to accomodate all these new customers has slowed to a snails pace. They appear to be concentrating on headline grabbing top speeds in very limited trial areas. 150Mbs sounds very good, doesn't it? Expect to see it rolled out across the VM network in.... ooh about 10 years. Expect to see new areas 'cabled up' on the 10th of never.

Also Virgin Media's Traffic Management Policy sucks. Between 10am and 9pm just one movie download or a couple hours of BBC iPlayer on their 10Mb package and you are throttled to 2.5Mb for 5 hours.

 

[transportphoto]

Hang on - we have BTVision but it is just a basic Freeview+ box with an 'on demand' feature.

Am I missing something?

 

[Geezertronic]

Virgin Media - Fast but terrible, constant down times and the routers aren't the best, they constantly disconnect and only support can fix them, the TV isn't any better either, the boxes are slow, the picture and sound are alright but it can cut out at any given moment, they also break a lot.

I'll disagree with your coments about Virgin Media's Internet. I have had VM Internet for what seems ages now and only had one outage caused by a flood at the local VM exchange. I don't use a VM router, I have a wireless Linksys and it works fine.

TV I will agree with. The set-top boxes (Pace) are shockingly poor, perform like a sack of spuds (taking too long to change channel, freezing etc...) and I got totally fed up with it and I am now with Sky and have had no issues.

I have a VM phone line with no issues either.

As with all Virgin branded services (Virgin Trains included), the Customer Services department is poor but if you only need to contact them once in a blue moon then it's bearable.

 

[devon_metro]

My advice : don't buy into an expensive package offering fast speeds, as knowing the quality of the Devon phone lines, it won't be that fast

 

[starrymarkb]

True - and avoid Eclipse, they used to be pretty good, then were sold to Kingston, have plummeted in service since. I was paying for 24Mb, they gave me 0.5 - Switched to BE and straight away my line is back to 16Mb

 

[Vulcan]

Thanks for your continuing advice, everyone. I knew there would be people on here with a lot more clue about it then me.

 

[EM2]

I'm more interested in this new job! What will you be up to?

 

[Vulcan]

I'm more interested in this new job! What will you be up to?

I'll fully find out later this month when I start, but my title is 'Design Engineer'. As for what I'll be up to, I'll be involved in the resarch, development and testing of new products. As well as occasional model making projects and a bit of writing for Railway Modeller and Continental Modeller. As I say, I'll find out my duties fully once I start. But as you can imagine, I'm looking forward to it quite a lot!

 

[Dai.]

I best start replying! haha.

@90019 wish they would fix it because it's quite annoying.

@Geezertronic I've only gone off my experience with them, virgin routers can be quite unreliable at times but I've not been a customer I've just given advice on a few.

The TVs are as we agreed are terrible, I've seen these in "action" as it were and they were terribly slow, and the virgin media fitter that came round had probably wired the box in wrong or something because it kept cutting out during shows.


PS. I didn't quote the posts because I thought I saw more people commenting on me, may have missed someone tell me if I have.

 

[90019]

@90019 wish they would fix it because it's quite annoying.

It's interesting driving with a CB in the car, because you can tell when you drive past a house with a home hub as it's pretty distinctive interference.