Guys,

 

I'm in a state of shock at the moment as we usually pay about £60 - £80 for our monthly sky bill. But this month it has come in at £224 + £11.50 BT line rental.

 

We have Skyplus (basic package with a few extras)

Broadband

free calls to UK.

Multiroom

 

I've not logged in to sky yet to see where all the money has been spent but I'm sure that even £60 a month is probably a lot more than most people pay.

 

I'm looking for options....

 

What do you get for your money and how much are you paying.

 

Thanks

Stuart

I'm with Virgin and I get 20meg broad band, 165+ tv channels with a V+ box hard drive and HD and a 2nd normal V box no hard drive no HD for spare room, and unlimited land line calls

 

this would normal be £58 but I get a staff deal for £32 so its still a good deal without the staff deal

Guys,

 

I'm in a state of shock at the moment as we usually pay about £60 - £80 for our monthly sky bill. But this month it has come in at £224 + £11.50 BT line rental.

 

We have Skyplus (basic package with a few extras)

Broadband

free calls to UK.

Multiroom

 

I've not logged in to sky yet to see where all the money has been spent but I'm sure that even £60 a month is probably a lot more than most people pay.

 

I'm looking for options....

 

What do you get for your money and how much are you paying.

 

Thanks

Stuart

 

think they might have made a slight cockup there then lol

Or it could be excessive use of those 0898 numbers ;)

think they might have made a slight cockup there then lol

 

Unless the wife has made a few more calls to Macedonia than usual.

But then at 5p a minute. We're looking at 61 and a half hours on the phone to Macedonia more than normal !!!

Or it could be excessive use of those 0898 numbers ;)

 

hmm that makes me think. Not that we use any numbers like that, but we do have an 18 month old daughter who likes to pretend to talk on the phone.

 

Gonna have to child lock them if I find this to be the cause.

Not that we use any numbers like that.

 

Ignoring 'naughty' numbers, there are all sorts of other premium rate numbers that can whack up your bill without you noticing. Have you been talking to any computer support lines, like Dell or Tech Team?

 

But I'd bet on the baby,TBH :D

 

Chris

Ignoring 'naughty' numbers, there are all sorts of other premium rate numbers that can whack up your bill without you noticing. Have you been talking to any computer support lines, like Dell or Tech Team?

 

But I'd bet on the baby,TBH :D

 

 

Chris

Nah, don't make any calls other than the usual to friends and family.

Gonna check tonight to see who the little one has been giving crank calls to. They start early these days.

Have got talktalk phone and broadband 10mb, have got free eve+weekend calls, line rental and free international all for £16, great deal!!!

Edited May 19, 200916 yr by TopLess

on o2 with a bt line, BT line £10.50 and O2 BB is £10 for 20 Meg Speed or £7.50 for 8 Meg.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheaper-sky-cheap-cable

I was all over the place with mine………..

 

Virgin fibre optic broadband 20mb - £37 pcm (didn’t want ADSL as my line could only support 0.5 mb- even though BT wholesale reckoned 1MB)

 

BT land line £23 pcm (no idea why it was high)

 

Sky+ around £60 ish per month (basic subscription+ movies+ documentaries).

 

 

I wanted to reduce my bills by switching to one supplier (either sky or virgin) Considering I live in a cable area and had Virgins Cable BB I decided to go online to Virgin.

 

i am now with virgin.

Reduced to 10 meg boradband (virgin tv max channel package). Virgin Large (not extra large) phone package has free uk land line calls in evenings and got a Virgin+ box fitted for £50 (instead of £150) its on a deal so look soon :-) and a new monthly bill of about £40

 

I am much happier and Virgin really is impressive and I have saved 50 – 60 quid pcm ……… but if you are interested in more here is my details on the machine (writing this up in work so apologies for spelling)

 

The technology of sky broadcasting (whilst viable) is getting old and Internet services are the future. Virgin is cheaper to run as its all sent down a wire. Broadcasting costs so much more which is reflected in the price. Sky (APPARENTLY) have been moaning to offcom because they (apparently) want to use virgins cable line. Sky want to pay virgin to use their cable services to deliver sky however virgin have refused. If they eventually make a deal then we could finally be seeing some new machines for sky.

 

 

My Experiences

 

Having been on Virgin for nearly two months and sky+ for a few years prior to that here are my experiences.

 

 

When I received my box they set it up then gave me a HD cable and switched it over to HD mode. The gentleman booted up the machine and waited for it to connect it’s internal modem to the network. Within minutes I was set up and the gentleman was going over the “on demand services” and played “the blue planet” in HD …. As It’s streaming I seriously had concerns that I would get interruptions (like you do on youtube when your bandwidth suffers) however that fibre optic cable seriously is quick even on 10mb and even with HD and its higher amount of data needed per second I never have received interruptions (even to this day)

 

 

When he left I played with the box all night.

 

Movies

 

“On demand Movies are” generally the same price although a lot of movies will show an option for HD for almost £5 (a bit more pricey but I tend to use this on films I REALLY want to watch) considering the whole option works out cheaper than HD box I do actually have a very big grin whilst watching HD on this box.

 

Channels and HD channels

 

There is only one LIVE channel in HD (BBC HD) and most of the “On demand” programs have HD channels (watched quite a lot of documentary’s and comedy programs in HD like gavin and Stacey HD etc… but talks from virgin are that in order to really compete in the HD department they will need more channels, and luckily in the next few months 16 NEW HD channels will be released and if you already have the V+ box (needed for recording aswell) then it will be another 16 Free HD channels to add to the list.

 

Catch up on Demand

 

One problem I had with sky is if I have missed a program and then failed to catch it on channel + (the same channel but plus one hours later) then I have to hack my way through the TV guide to locate when it will next be on…….

 

With virgin a lot of channels are on the “Catch up on Demand” and basically this will enable you to view the TV guide up to one week in the past……. So now if I missed it I simply locate the day it was on and go through the tv guide :-)

 

 

Music

 

I love music and even though you get the usual music channels on Virgin I never use them, The reasons being are:

 

1, I hate having to put a channel on and wait for hours for the song I want (same with sky)

 

2. Sometimes you get people voting what songs they want to play via text…….. always a crappy selection I find

 

Luckily virgin have thought ahead again and made the most out of “on Demand”……. Instead of having to watch music channels Virgin also have “Music On Demand” and there is a library of Thousands of songs that you can search via Artist, Song name or Genre. You can simply find the song you want and EVERY song on there has the music video included…..

 

Other On Demand Services

 

Instead of your provider channels you also have the option to opening up other on demand services straight onto your telly, all of which usually require you to go online via pc. You simply choose the demand service from the list and another tv guide opens showing you lists of programs you can watch straight away.

 

4OD (channel 4 on demand)

BBC Iplayer

Discovery on demand

And loads of others

 

MISC

 

The remote for V+ is different to normal V system. The normal remote is horrid and looks much worse than the sky remote however the V+ remote is a very good looking remote and compared to the sky+ remote.

 

The Virgin box has so many more features that it can be quite hard to get to grips with and I am still finding new ways of browsing better and new features (one feature is that the V+ box can backup all your recorded programs to your pc hard drive is you like)

 

The hard drive itself has double the capacity compared to Sky+ and can record two programs AND watch a third (unlike sky+)

 

Being as it is virgin and they have their own music department (maybe studios too) they get latest access to Virgin festival and other music rights.

 

 

 

Downsides

 

The box for me works better as my units are black (sky box stood out) however I do miss the funky swirling light on the sky + box and the Sky box looks a bit nicer.

 

Virgin box is a bit more confusing to work your way around, ok for techies and peeps into their tech however for the average user it may seem a bit much at first.

 

Movies work out a similar price but can get pricier… (Although virgin do weekly deals so movies often go down to 99p excluding HD)

 

Probably missed some things out but ask me or others for anything else you may need.

Have got talktalk phone and broadband 10mb, have got free eve+weekend calls, line rental and free international all for £16, great deal!!!

 

Ahhh but how much do you get out of that 10MB??? :hyper:

 

They are giving you access to 10MB however that is IF your line reaches it. I personally go on the hunt regarding these claims because there is an increasing amount of companies flogging higher prices for speeds your line is unobtainable.

 

Example… (BT )is the worst at this)….. Bt wholesale team (years ago) tried to sell me a 10MB after explaining I could receive that speed.

 

Being uninformed back then I took it. I never reached that speed and I complained……. The line engineer came round after I requested a line examination and he mentioned that as I am miles from the junction box I won’t ever see more than 1MB max.

After reading into fibre optics and that distance does not effect speeds I tried out Virgin 20MB

 

Providing the site can upload info quick enough I can receive a constant 20mb (on my old line as I have downgraded). This to me is important as I often have 2-3 pc’s online (servers) aswell as playing a PS3 online and my wife on her PSP online.

 

Now…. If you have received 10MB as part of the package (as in you don’t pay any more for it) then that is good enough however if your line can only support 1-5 meg and you are paying extra for 10mb then downsize and save EVEN MORE money 

 

A VERY useful site I use now is http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

 

Input your phone number and it will tell you how much BT will say your line will reach and how much it REALY will reach.

 

My one suggest BT will mention max of 1MB… the test shows it like this

 

2MB - no

 

1.5MB – NO

 

1MB – NO

 

756kb – maybe

 

500kb yes

 

 

Personally my speed on ADSL will never go past 500kb and for the needs it isn’t enough… until BT upgrade their lines (estimated in 2010 or so) then I will stick to cable for my needs.

 

But give the site a try and you can find out what providers you can receive atleast .

 

 

Hope this helps those who ARE unfamiliar regarding internet, the rest of you may know this already :-)

I think I actually do get 10MB, but I am a computing novice!

if you are very near to the junction box then you may well do.

 

if you are then good one :hyper: i wish i was then i could save evn more money :-)

nice info there damien, much appreciated

no worries :-) was a pleasure as i got into my element .

 

i love tech and gizmo's and what not

Just changed all my services to Virgin from Sky.

Had 20meg Virgin broadband and phone for years and it's superb. No limits or restrictions other than slowing down a bit at busy times but nothing like ADSL does.

 

Was very happy with Sky+ but with HD and movies etc it was going to cost a fortune.

Called Virgin and Sky last night and told them I was leaving to see who could give me a better deal.

To do everything through Sky would have meant a BT phone line installing and loads of other hastle just to get a slow internet service and wouldn't be cheap.

In the end I changed to:

10 meg broadband (rarely need the speed of 20meg and got 50meg at work I can abuse all day long!)

XL TV (160 channels)

Sky Movies Collection (I'm not into sport)

Medium phone (Free weekend calls)

V+ HD box (£49 one off charge) can record 2 channels and watch a third (better than Sky+) and twice the storage.

Free HD service (although only 1 BBC HD channel at the mo but 6 more in August I'm told and loads of HD on-demand. Hopefully Offcom will make Sky make their HD channels available soon)

BBC iPlayer etc is on their too which you can't do on Sky.

All for £55 a month.

 

Will save me £40 a month and comes in at £5 less than I was paying Virgin before for broadband and phone anyway.

Also... you can get hacked cable boxes ;)

 

At the moment Virgin are a bit restricted on HD content but sooner or later it will be on there and technically Virgin have the best system for the future as it's all going in the direction of on-demand streaming which Sky just can't really do.

With Sky you are tied in to their Movie or Sport packages for 12 months but on Virgin you can switch them on and off as you like monthly so if you find you're not watching films much in summer you can save some cash.

 

Did you know Virgin are trialling 200meg broadband in the south at the moment?

BT won't be able to compete with that for decades even with their big fibre roll-out that they are starting on.

Edited May 20, 200916 yr by ChrisC

that is correct.... and atleast if you survive a nuclear fallout......... fibre optics are designed to not get interference........ although truth be told if i am in the middle of a fallout.... internet acess would be last thing on my mind :-)

 

 

sounds like you had same problems as me chris......

 

i think once virgin sorts out its HD some more i agree... sky will not match unless they too get on the bandwagon of cable.

 

tooooo many restrictions with broadcasting :-)