Changing to Virgin. need advice

Assassin_012 · 24 Nov 2011 at 15:03

hi,

im currently on BT business broadband, up to 20mbps (yeah right... -.- ) and connected using telephone line. (which sucks =/ )

i think my contract is over, so i plan on changing. since its too costly and im only geting speeds up to 250kbps downloads.
its been a year, and im sick of it.

my setup:
so, yes, i am using wireless, connected to my router through a telephone line.
i live upstairs using broadband (non-business use) and downstairs for telephone (business telephone).

what my question is, if i was to change to virgin, could i get residential broadband upstairs (im guessing through cable?). and business telephone downstairs seperately.

and how will they charge me?
e.g. BT charges line rental for telephone and broadband...like..WTF?
and i heard virgin doesn't.

only downside to virgin is upload speeds suck and download throttling.

thanks

Sp00n · 24 Nov 2011 at 15:13

Assassin_012 said:
only downside to virgin is upload speeds suck and download throttling.

And potential over-utilisation, infinity not available in your area?

You won't get charged "line" rental from virgin because it doesn't require a phone line, it's through cable so you will get charged an installation fee.

Currently it sounds like you have 2 phone lines, you could get rid of the one upstairs removing the line rental cost for that and get the cable internet installed up there instead.

Assassin_012 · 24 Nov 2011 at 22:27

Sp00n said:
And potential over-utilisation, infinity not available in your area?

You won't get charged "line" rental from virgin because it doesn't require a phone line, it's through cable so you will get charged an installation fee.

Currently it sounds like you have 2 phone lines, you could get rid of the one upstairs removing the line rental cost for that and get the cable internet installed up there instead.

infinity? googled it, and BT infinity came up. didnt even care to read =/
mind telling me what it is?
or is it like i just said?

i have 1 phoneline, but it still charges me for the internet line rental for some reason.

reason i wanted to change is because my bill add up to about £80 a month =S
messed up eh?
i can understand £40 since its a business broadband. but £80? 0.0?

entail · 25 Nov 2011 at 22:15

BT Infinity is their FTTC service, usually atm get 40d/10u or 40d/2u depending on which service you take and ofc if its available to you.

entail · 25 Nov 2011 at 22:17

and with adsl you are renting the phone line (from exchange to premesis) off BT, and they put the internet down said phone line which is why you get charged. Virgin install a coax cable to your house which doesnt need a phoneline to rent

Assassin_012 · 26 Nov 2011 at 01:06

entail said:
BT Infinity is their FTTC service, usually atm get 40d/10u or 40d/2u depending on which service you take and ofc if its available to you.

i did a check and this is what i get =/
25.9Mb download
10.0Mb upload

so what is the best decision? i should stick with BT? or go join virgin?

SkeeterUK · 26 Nov 2011 at 01:21

bremen1874 · 26 Nov 2011 at 01:34

Are you wanting to move your phone lines to Virgin? If you are then their pricing makes sense. If you aren’t then you’re probably better off with a FTTC connection over the BT copper.

You don’t need to have a Virgin phone line to get their broadband, but they’ll charge you extra if you don’t.

If you decide to go with a FTTC connection make sure you look around at what the other ISPs are offering. You don’t have to get stuck with the retail end of BT.

Assassin_012 · 26 Nov 2011 at 13:42

bremen1874 said:
Are you wanting to move your phone lines to Virgin? If you are then their pricing makes sense. If you aren’t then you’re probably better off with a FTTC connection over the BT copper.

You don’t need to have a Virgin phone line to get their broadband, but they’ll charge you extra if you don’t.

If you decide to go with a FTTC connection make sure you look around at what the other ISPs are offering. You don’t have to get stuck with the retail end of BT.

BT phone line? yes, i think il stick with that.

but could i seperate the broadband and telephone?
broadband (non-business/home use) (i assume through cable, installed only for upstairs home use only)
telephone (business use) (through my telephone line downstairs)

because all i see is packages only =/

how comes all of you want me to go BT?
all my friends said virgin is better.
and judging from my experience, BT does suck. =/
im quite clueless right now =/

bremen1874 · 26 Nov 2011 at 14:41

People’s experience with Virgin broadband largely depends on their location. There are areas of the country where the service is verging on the unusable at certain times of the day. If you have friends nearby that have had good experience with Virgin then there’s a fair chance it’ll be fine.

There’s nothing to stop you getting broadband only from Virgin. The headline figure for their 30Mb service is £18.50/month, but this assumes that you also pay them £13.90/month for a phone line. The 30Mb service on its own is £28.50/month.

j_walsh · 26 Nov 2011 at 15:21

Had virgin 10mb wouldnt go back if you paid me

Just have a look at virgin media support forums to see the problems and the fix dates that dont happen!

SkeeterUK · 26 Nov 2011 at 19:15

Virgin broadband only if you wanted it, theres 2 options on the site, the cheaper price means you are required to take their home phone option which is £13 a month. Without a phone its more but it more or less same as the phone one its just with the phone option you can use the phone where as the broadband only option is net only so no phone line rental.

So you could get virgin broadband only and get a phone from bt or elsewhere.

For virgin cable a phone line is NOT required.

Why ppl say go to BT infinity is because its probably a lot better and less overcrowded on their fibre network as its still quite new. Plus that 10mb upload is a sweet deal which i duno why virgin dont have that as it should certainly be capable.

Me well im going virgin soon because i wana try cable after been sick of adsl llu as only getting up to 4mb sync down and random disconnections tho sometimes it can be solid for months then turn really bad with disconnects all day for a week or more then back to normal then disconnects again. So i figure it will cost about the same as im paying for my bt line rental and Bethere internet and calls compared to virgins 30mb deal and i have 20 quid to use for a mobile if i can manage light user use, a month. 12 months contract which is fine as my area isnt schedules for bt infinity till end of next year apparently, the sunderland area even tho we are apparently telling everyone in the news we will be the first city in the uk to be fully fibre.