I'm about to swap from Sky TV to Virgin Cable

Well, had installation today. All is well, not quite got used to the red interface yet but apart from the colour its pretty good to use and i like the Youtube integration on the Tivo.

The installation chap was a good bloke and did me a favour of drilling a hole next to the one he did for my ethernet connection, for a HTPC.

Not getting any of the performance problems other people report, its just as responsive as the old sky+.

So, so far so good.
 
Just don't call customer services. They will treat you like a leper.

The best thing I ever did was move to a Freeview HD box...
 
iv recently switched from sky to virgin...installs in 2 weeks.
cost wise i saved £25 going to virgin and thats a lot of cash..the mrs watches living mostly and records a lot! so tivo is ideal for her....i just need espn america which xltv has...would be nice for it in HD but i here its incoming.

will see how i get on , but as long as i can watch the sodding channels it will be an instant improvement on my last sky install with a dodgy box.

as for deals, i think i got £50 off my bill , free box and install plus £67 quidco. so basically 2 months free.
 
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Im surprised at the Tivo hate. Ive had mine 3.5 months and it hasnt crashed once. Seems fine. Actually faster than the Sky HD box I had before. The sky box was dog slow in the end and needed resetting every 2-3 weeks.

The only thing I miss about sky is Sky Atlantic. But the virgin catch up TV and on demand stuff is great and more than makes up for it in my book.
 
don't know if you use sky go (not sure if its just sports), but theres nothing similar on virgin.


physichull said:
For Virgin, I would get:

  • Medium Phone (free weekend calls)
  • Large Internet (10Mb unlimited d/ls)
  • Medium TV, plus sky sports bundle plus the sky sports in HD fee.
All in all, it comes to £49.90 per month with free installation.

I am 90% sure that this includes the line rental (virgin phone line at £13.90 per month) but am unsure as to whether any of the prices rise after 3 months, in particular the internet price. It's all a bit confusing and not as straightforward as I thought. In addition to this, I have no idea what the contract length is either!
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the prices will rise after 3 months, check the website below the current price it has "after 3 months price is ..." or similar.

Large Internet (10Mb unlimited d/ls)

not so, you have limits between certain hrs, again check there website, if you go over the limits then your capped to 25% of your speed iirc.
 
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mrthingyx said:
Just don't call customer services. They will treat you like a leper.

The best thing I ever did was move to a Freeview HD box...
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My experience of Virgin Moron technical (non)support

I phoned them with a very simple issue... Or so I thought...

How can I connect both the new Superhub and the old TV box as there is only a single cable coming in and she is paying for both TV and Internet, and with a single cable you can only have one or the other?

Yes, I have access to the SuperHub... It's on the kitchen worktop as we can't connect it up and have TV and Internet.

I know the computer connects to the Ethernet or the Wifi... but as it's not actually on, there's no point as both TV and Internet are wanted.

There is no point in updating the MAC address in the system as the new super duper box isn't connected to anything as she only has a single cable coming in and is paying for both TV and Internet, and with a single cable you can only have one or the other.

I know you can't see the box now you have updated the mac address, as it has no power as it's not plugged in as she only has a single cable coming in and is paying for both TV and Internet, and with a single cable you can only have one or the other.

No, there isn't a problem with the power, she only has a single cable coming in and is paying for both TV and Internet, and with a single cable you can only have one or the other.

Ok then, I'll connect up the Superduperpooper hub. Happy now? Fine. Now, how can I watch TV? By plugging the TV box into the other cable? Really? And how to I manage that as there is only one cable coming in?

No, really you're not listening. You can't see the new hub on the network as it's not connected to anything at all. Not even the power socket. I'm not wanting to go through the entire setup again with you. I didn't do it all the first time as there is no point. WE. HAVE. TWO. ITEMS. TO. CONNECT. BUT. ONLY. ONE. CABLE. I can't make it any more simple than that.

*and so on for 54 minutes... then a 10 minute hold to get an engineer...*

I suppose I should be thankful that the engineer actually understood english unlike the first moron. Even so, another 20 minutes later and saying that there is only one cable coming in about another 192 times, he finally lets it slip that there is a splitter in the box.

Is there? Are you sure? Of course there isn't otherwise I would have used the damn thing! So how can we get a splitter? We have to send the whole package back? Errr, no. You can come collect it or just send the splitter. You'll send the splitter? Great. And will you include the cable that connects the splitter to the SuperHub otherwise it's just another big waste of time? Great.

Oh, and can we have the old MAC address put back on the system as the old box handles TV and internet just fine and with the new box MAC address in the system we can't get either working... You can't do that... I have to go back through to the other line... Great....

Beardy Branson has a lot to answer for! It's very rare that I get so annoyed that I contemplate starting drinking again - Virgin managed to reach that point we me for the first time in about 6 years.
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And that has stopped me from EVER having Virgin products.
 
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Nothing wrong with Virgins products (except maybe the tv boxes) but thier customer service is an offence under the trades descriptions act and should be taken round the back of the bikesheds and given a damn good kicking.
 
No worse than sky, in fact on average. Got more help of virgin than of sky.
But then virgin do or at least did have dedicated uk call centre for 50mb broadband.

Sky just say they can't do anything.

Virgin always offer to phone you back if they see your on a mobile and try to help you out even when there hands are tied.
 
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Tried Virgin, hated Virgin. Back to sky.

Was always having problem with either tv or net at one time or another and found sky faultless.
 
probably depends what area your in i believe the ex blueyonder areas were better than the ex NTL ones after all NTL had the nickname NTHELL

in the 10 years ive had cable (blueyonder) ive had very few probably
 
We now have Sky Anytime on Virgin aswell :) that is rather nice, We have XL tele, Sky Movies and Sky Sports, so we get (eventually as they're still being uploaded) 500 films to watch, lots of shows from Sky1, Sky Arts, Living, Sky News, and when the sports part launches we get that aswell :) at no extra price
 
mp260767 said:
not so, you have limits between certain hrs, again check there website, if you go over the limits then your capped to 25% of your speed iirc.
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Yeah, on 20MB I used to get limited down to 5MB, 30MB I think its about 8MB. It's a pain if you want to download anything larger than their maximum download at peak times on steam or somthing.

But after 9pm they don't limit you at all, so you could download 100GB in an hour if thats your thing (or however much 30MB internet can download in an hour :P).
 
I've been with virgin for years now, since it was NTL, currently have V+ HD with XL tv, XXL BB and XL phone, i pay £60 / month. I had a bit of trouble with superhub to start with though, slow internet, but played that to my advantage and just got a free tivo with free installation and moving the HD box upstairs, again free, all for being cheeky and asking for it due to my issues with superhub. Can't comment on tivo yet though as it doesn't get installed till 15th November :(
 
I've got the Tivo box installed for the best part of 3 months now and it is quite slow and the UI isn't the most intuitive in the world. The BB has always been excellent and definitely the best on offer where I live. The TV channels seem to chop and change every few months, but as has already been said, the only thing we're missing the Sky Atlantic - which I don't blame Sky for withholding due to it's content being a big attraction for US-Series buffs.

Let's just hope they make up for the disaster that was Virgin 1, with an equally good Sky Atlantic-type channel to show they can compete.
 
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