Virgin cable vs BT Infinity

MrB · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:02

Just thought I'd get the views of the masses regarding my current situation. I've been with Virgin Media for several years on their 20Mbps service and I'm generally pretty satisfied, however they've been slowly putting their price up until it will shortly be nearly £22 per month.

In the meantime I can get BT Infinity to my house now, and I've being told that I'll get 38Mbps speeds and only £18 per month.

On one hand, I'm pretty happy with the Virgin service, but wouldn't mind it being a bit cheaper, but I'm also impressed by the BT numbers - although I appreciate that what they say, and what I get might be entirely different.

I'm thinking of giving Virgin a ring to see if they can do anything about the price, last time I did this they managed to drop the price quite a bit, but thought I'd ask here to see if there's any other pros or cons of the two services and just generally get people's views.

Thanks in advance

bremen1874 · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:06

For Infinity you'll obviously need a BT landline and pay them the necessary line rental on top of the £18.

BluSky · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:18

generally speaking both of them offer similar speeds and reliability at similar prices. BT is cheaper for the internet alone but you also have to pay for a bt landline which near enough negates any savings. Of course if you already have a bt landline anyway then the extra rental is probably not a consideration for you.

darknite · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:20

If you call virgin telling them BT are offering your 38mb for £18 a month I would guess they will offer you 60mbit for the same price. . . Though a lot of people are having issue with virgin streaming at the moment.

BT does have faster upload than virgin.

Actually there is another post here I was reading that BT etc are also going to up their prices after christmas. . .

Personally even if BT offered 160mbit in my area i would stay with Virgin. I love my TiVO and second box in another room. Love 100mbit broadband. No streaming issues. Even have a bit of life time discount. I just prefere the package.

KIA · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:25

Keep Virgin if you're happy.

MrB · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:36

bremen1874 said:
For Infinity you'll obviously need a BT landline and pay them the necessary line rental on top of the £18.

Ah, key bit of information missing from my original post.

I'm currently with BT for phone line, so consequently I am paying them a quarterly charge for line rental.

But thanks, hadn't thought that would be required.

MrB · 3 Dec 2012 at 16:52

darknite said:
If you call virgin telling them BT are offering your 38mb for £18 a month I would guess they will offer you 60mbit for the same price. . . Though a lot of people are having issue with virgin streaming at the moment.
...
Personally even if BT offered 160mbit in my area i would stay with Virgin. I love my TiVO and second box in another room. Love 100mbit broadband. No streaming issues. Even have a bit of life time discount. I just prefere the package.

KIA said:
Keep Virgin if you're happy.

Thanks both, and that's probably what I will end up doing - just wanted to check to see if I was missing anything obvious.

BuZ · 4 Dec 2012 at 14:30

BT Infinity can be a lot more stable and reliable, but Virgin can also be stable and reliable. It all depends on the location and grade of the lines supplying to your home house/networked place.