Hi all,

Moving into a new pad in the next couple of weeks with SWMBO and we are looking for the best telly, broadband and phoneline provider, we're not really bothered about the telly as we can get a free view box but if it's cheap then that can be added to the bargain.

We're really looking at the phone and broadband, I've been thinking about BT, but what do others think??

Cheers

Davy

Is it a cable area ???

If so use the local provider, possibly Virgin Media

Nother vote for Virgin, failing that, Sky can be quite cheap if you don'y go overboard, I have some offer vouchers for a free Sky plus box if your interested?

I'll have to check to see if a cable area, I was thinking of virgin at first but then I seen that advert from bt with the new home hub.

Davy

if you decide togo for sky, get someone to recommend it for you then split the M&S vouchers

Have a look on the Virgin Media site they have good deals for new subscribers.

Half price for 6 months for the middle package with a free wireless router.

Good service from them in the past, we have broadband and phone through them but television through Sky can't beat Sky+.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, if there is any more keep them coming, heard a lot about virgin and sky being good, so there is a lot of choice.

Has anybody used talk talk?

The manager at my daughter's nursery has had very bad experiences with Talk Talk. The contract was with her partner and even though the payments were coming out of her account they wouldn't deal with her.

She was having connection problems and her partner was away for a couple of weeks on business.

They have now left Talk Talk and have signed up with BT. It appears from what she says that their customer services are terrible.

Thanks for letting me know that.

Virgin are very expensive if you want the same tv channels as sky, but there internet is better. I vote Sky, i was with them for three years while at uni, so when i said i wanted to cancel as i was moving and going with cable they rang and offered me a Sky HD box for free and only £5 p/m instead of £10. The free calls are good too and the £5 p'm internet is more than adequete, you can even get it for free if you dont download a lot.

Just upgraded our virgin package to XL tv,10MB BB and free calls after 6pm/weekends for the phone £36 per month.

£36 thats the sort of price I think we would be paying for the whole package, many thanks for letting me know.

If you want Sky1 then you need to go with Sky direct as Virgin no longer carry that channel.

As far as internet connections go , Virgin is very good in theory but in some areas they are hopelessly oversubscribed so at peak hours (i.e. evenings and weekends) you won't get anywhere near the the quoted speeds.

Also be wary of ADSL broadband providers that have very restrictive monthly caps - not much point having a fast net connection if you reach your limit after 10 days.

Virgin do have restrictions where if you hit the daily limit at peak download hours your speed will get dropped to 1/4 of it's rated level but it resets again after 6 hours which isn't too bad.

Thanks Alex,

I'm not a download person so downloads are no use to me, it would just really be to check my e-mail, brisky and another car club I'm involved in, I'm not into downloading music.

In that case go with the sky can get TV (3 'mixes' music, entertainment, docus, kids etc), Phone (Free Evening and Weekend Calls) and B/B (Free 2mb/s & 2GB d/l i think) for £20/month. Bear in mind you still have to pay BT line rental @ £11/month

Although do check your postcode on their website, we're not in an ADSL+ (ADSL2/ADSL MAX) area so we arent able to get the usual free/£5pm/£10pm BB, we have to pay £17.50pm for connect BB, but we do get 8mb/s for this. We had no other choice as we couldnt get Virgin either, and because of the ADSL issue it was the same with other providers who offer cheap/free fast broadband (O2, Talk Talk etc) They will all default you onto a more expensive package if you are in one of these areas, due to the older ADSL technology at the exhange.

But they do promise in contract to upgrade to one of the modern packages once/if the line gets upgraded.

Assuming you dont need Movies or sports, you should be able to get decent net, TV and phone for less than £30/month.

In-laws have all sky mixes, Sky+ and midi net for £26/month.

Freeview + BT + Be internet?

If you're on O2 mobile you could swap the Be for O2 (same company) and save another £10 a month.

Freeview

He may want too watch more than just QVC after 9 o clock though.:P

He may want too watch more than just QVC after 9 o clock though.:P

:rofl:

Freeview is another thing we were considering as you can get a box for next to nothing now, and I'm used to watching qvc, ideal world, bid up and price drop etc as mother watches it at home!!

Davy

Sky gets my vote.

We have had all three services from them for the past year, been faultless thus far.

More than can be said for NTL/VirginMedia.

I can't be bothered with Sky. The packages are cleverly arranged with the good channels spread across them so you need a big mix for it to be worthwhile. I bought a Humax freeview recorder and set it to record the stuff I want to watch and can skip all the ads:thumbup:.

HUMAX PVR9200 at Richer Sounds - HI-FI Separates, Home Cinema, Speakers, MP3 DVD Portables, Plasma LCD, etc.

I've got so used to watching tv without adverts they really annoy me when I watch Sky somewhere else now!

The broadband comes from o2, moved to them after Tiscali bought Pipex who were good and the customer sevice went from ok to appalling. If you have a mobile with o2 it's £7.50 a month. Very quick and no problems so far.

I just got Sky in my new house.

£17+£3 worth of mixes for TV, ADSL MAX for £10, free wireless router and the Sky+ box was £75.

Free installation too

Keep an eye on the Sky installer if you have them. Standard installation often means the quickest easiest method possible. I had a callout last winter where the Sky installer drilled through from inside to get the aerial cable through and had not checked the other side. They had drilled straight through the gas meter :eek:.

Sky were helpful and promised to pay for the damage, but the chap in the house was quite unimpressed with the installer they sent.

The only problem with Sky is that it's over DSL. You need a good phone line too start with otherwise it can be a nightmare. Same goes for any DSL connection.