Broadband, what are my options?

[fossyant]

BT Infinity here at 76mb copes with the kids gaming, streaming music and movies at the same time. Not the cheapest though.

 

[13 rider]

Check with your mobile provider they often do laneline and broadband aswell . A complete package mobile , landline and broadband works out cheaper. Any other provider other than virgin is going to use the openreach ( bt) network and for the quickest speed you need fibre to the cab (fttc) . All company's have offers on at different times so the internet is your friend . Personally I am on bt fibre to the cab and can't fault it

 

[cardiac case]

A while back I moved my land line and internet from BT & Merula ( Huntingdon ) to Zen

I now pay half the money for ten times the service, and if I do have to phone them I get the answer in a nice Yorkshire accent.

Paul G

 

[ufkacbln]

We had a fault a few years ago

Came home and no phone or internet. Then neighbour came round with same issue

So phoned BT who informed us there was no fault on the line so it was our problem.

Pointed out that there were several of us, so they eventually agreed to send an engineer round the following day..... but unless he found a fault with their system we would be liable for a call out fee

Then had a call on the mobile, apparently someone had nicked several hundred yards of cable, posing as engineers

So phoned BT and was told that that would explain why the cable was not showing a fault!

4 days later got everything back, but started getting unusual calls.... on investigation we were connected to the wrong number. This was rectified, but they insisted we would be responsible for calls made on our number

After some "discussion" we were refunded the line rental for those days and an assurance that we would not be expected to pay for calls between the theft and our line being restored

 

[steve50]

My virgin media service is down and they have said it will take a week to get someone to look at it so im looking at my options. Im happy to get rid of the tv and home phone as i have freeview on the tv and only use my mobile.
Ive never bothered looking into this before but the last few days of using a tablet has me wanting to use my home pc plus id like to be using zwift for the turbo trainer.
So any tips for a tech numptie on what to do?

i have been with virgin media for more than ten years now, downtime has been negligible in that time and any downtime I have suffered resulted in a credit to my account by way of compensation. Currently I have a steady download speed of 106mbps which is in the process of being upgraded to 150mbps.
I have at any given time three computers running in my house one of which is my lads as he does a lot of online gaming, streaming etc.
I have found that when my contract comes to an end all i have to do is pick up the phone, call VM on their free phone number and renegotiate the next eighteen months contract which is currently £38.00 per month for broadband, tv and free 24/7 telephone calls (excluding 0845 etc).
For the speed and the services i get I consider the cost to be one of the lowest around .

 

[slowmotion]

I've been with Talk Talk for over a year now,no problems ever.Speed consistant. No outages.Customer service has always been spot on......for me.

I must have been unlucky. The last straw was when their technical department said that my problem had nothing to do with Talktalk, and that it was obviously a problem with Microsoft Windows.......despite me pointing out that both XP and Windows 7 exhibited the same pathology. They were way too keen to try and shift the blame for their screw-ups on your own hardware. Anyway, they are toast round here.

 

[Cuchilo]

i have been with virgin media for more than ten years now, downtime has been negligible in that time and any downtime I have suffered resulted in a credit to my account by way of compensation. Currently I have a steady download speed of 106mbps which is in the process of being upgraded to 150mbps.
I have at any given time three computers running in my house one of which is my lads as he does a lot of online gaming, streaming etc.
I have found that when my contract comes to an end all i have to do is pick up the phone, call VM on their free phone number and renegotiate the next eighteen months contract which is currently £38.00 per month for broadband, tv and free 24/7 telephone calls (excluding 0845 etc).
For the speed and the services i get I consider the cost to be one of the lowest around .

Is that plus vat? I have been with them about the same amount of time and cant get them below £50 per month.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've been with Plusnet for 2 or 3 years now and it just works, I had one problem just after I signed up and that was sorted very quickly and thats been it.

 

[steve50]

Is that plus vat? I have been with them about the same amount of time and cant get them below £50 per month.

That is all inclusive, give them a ring , tell them you want to terminate your contract because you have found a better deal.......they will go out of their way to keep a customer including offering you a "one off" deal for twelve months.

 

[John the Monkey]

So phoned BT who informed us there was no fault on the line so it was our problem.

Pointed out that there were several of us, so they eventually agreed to send an engineer round the following day..... but unless he found a fault with their system we would be liable for a call out fee

That's essentially why we got rid of their TV service. I quite liked it, but when the box developed a fault with its tuner, they refused to replace it (despite us having been customers pretty much from the introduction of the service, and so having quite an elderly unit) without sending an engineer to check. The customer service was ok in that the people I spoke to were invariably polite & eager to help, but their hands seemed tied by BTs procedures, and by there being too few of them available (I had long waits to speak with anyone).

I told 'em that I couldn't be bothered, cancelled their service and bought a Humax PVR to do 90% of what the BT TV box was doing for us.

OTOH, the Infinity service has (touchwood) always been excellent.

 

[ufkacbln]

We had a faulty HomeHub, and when renewal came up they tried to charge me for an updated one!

Called Engineer round and they fitted the new one free

 

[ufkacbln]

Renewals -

This is wider than just this topic, but I hate "new customer" offers where theree is a lower rate, yet as an established customer I am not entitled. Same with free gifts and magazine subscriptions.

I no longer automatically renew anything. Ask for a new subscription each time, and if they refuse then state you will not be using their services and to cease your account on the renewal date

Amazing how quickly they are able to make offers

 

[Cuchilo]

Just called virgin and got the best price for broadband only at £32.69 all the guy really wanted to do was give me a tevo box and full package for £40.69
They where totally uninterested in giving me a good deal on just broadband and started some crap about how sky damage the house brickwork with the dish blagh blagh.
I might call back later and ask to speak to someone that isnt a twat.

 

[CopperCyclist]

2) I signed my mother up to BT Infinity last July for her place in Cornwall. What's it like? Search me, we're still waiting for it.

When we moved into our new house I went with BT. We were already in a contact with them from my old house. We had about seven (!) missed appointments, and three months wait. Numerous phone calls. Eventually I gave up, told them to shove their contract even though it technically had about 3 more months to run before I could leave, and rang Sky.

They made me an appointment for within that week and kept it.

It was a BT openreach engineer who came out to sort it - which I believe is usual as Sky subcontract them. He told me what I had experienced was normal. BT have contract terms to meet with Sky and other companies and actively lose money if they fail to attend their appointments. BT's own customers don't have the same financial impact, so those are the appointments that get cancelled.

I'm never using them again personally.