What are my options here? - broadband, tv, phone etc.

Soldato
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Moving into a new house in a couple of days but some limitations on what I can get, so wanted to know my options. I'm currently with BT for phone, zen for internet, and sky for tv.

The new house however, doesn't currently have sky and installation means the dish has to go on to the back of the house and a wire running into the place which doesn't come on the front of the building. Given that it's a rented place with other flats as well, this may either be just too much hassle, or not even viable. The previous tenants had virgin, so I can get that easily enough. Now comes up the question of costs, where i'm hoping you guys can tell me the cheapest option.

Virgin, if I don't take their phone line or broadband, give only their most exp. package which is 27 a month. If I want sky movies (which would be nice) it's an extra 19 a month.

If I keep that with a bt line and zen, it works out to another 11 a month, + 35 a month. A total of almost 90 :S which is quite a bit. Can you guys suggest a combination of a cheaper package?

I hate the idea of a fair usage policy so would much prefer something without it. Just wondering what exactly my options were in this case? Go with virgin for all 3 and deal with a fair usage thing, or virgin for phone and tv and someone else for broadband. etc etc.? (if I did do this, who are my options? who gives broadband without a bt line?)
 
£19 a month for the movies? Really isn't worth it I think!

You can get (£40 for first 3 months then) £47/month for 50mb broadband, XL TV and Unlimited anytime UK landline calls.

I'd save the £19/month on the movie channels and get a lovefilm subscription where you can pick better films!
 
Yea, it seems so. I like having the movies, but they aren't something regularly watched. Just something nice to have if i'm in the mood. 20 a month for that seems a bit silly.
For the deal you're talking about, its 57 a month after :) not too bad still, but I don't really need a 50mb connection, lol. I'm quite happy with my current 2 mb :p and would love to keep it if I didn't have to go to virgin for tv. It's the old zen one with unlimited stuff :)

In any case, some questions regarding virgin. How bad is their traffic management and their fair usage policy? I hate the fact that they have one, but may have to go with them because if I get the tv, I seem to also have to get a phone line. and without a bt line, my net options are quite limited.

How have you found using them generally? Any downtime with regards to broadband? decent hardware they provide?
 
If you're used to a quality ISP like Zen moving to someone like VM could be very disappointing as their quality of service falls well below what Zen deliver to their customers.

Edit -

FWIW I'm also going though the same dilemma at the moment, moving house in 2-3 months into a place that currently has VM installed for phone/net/tv and the whole lot costs less than I pay Zen+Bt at the moment per month, I also have a line from Be that I use for general downloading which I will also miss as whilst its not the most consistent and has its problems the throughput is always amazing.

As I work from home a lot over a VPN and also rely on a VoIP phone for my office I think I will bite the bullet and pay to have a BT line installed and get Zen put on it.
 
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