Virgin Media -vs- Talk Talk

[Skotch]

Morning Knowledgeable Lemons - I have been a customer of Virgin Media for some 3 years. I have their phone, broadback and basic tv package. I got a good deal originally, and as is the case with a lot of people I suspect, I took my eye off the ballo regarding the monthly bill. Having now been hit with a reality check, I have been looking around for a better deal and Talk Talk appears on the face of it to be a pretty good one that covers all three requirements.

Is there anyone out there who has had good/excellent/bad/awful experience of Talk Talk (and ideally if they have switched from Virgin)?

Many thanks in advance

S

[mc2fool]

Is there anyone out there who has had good/excellent/bad/awful experience of Talk Talk (and ideally if they have switched from Virgin)?

I've been using TT for nine years now (I switched from BT, never used Virgin) and I'm still with them.

A lot (all?) of the complaints I've seen about them are about their telephone support & customer service, and, yes, they're not always great. However, TT also have online forums which are actively followed by TT support & customer service staff, who can do almost anything and everything the telephone call centre staff can do and are very competent and efficient, and that's the way I always go on the rare occasions when there's a need.

One other thing about TT is that you can negotiate with them (dunno how true that is of the other providers, I've not tried). I haggled when I first signed up and each time my contract comes to expiry I call up their "loyalty" dept. and haggle with them for the next one (this is the one thing you can't do online). Last time I got a ~32% discount, and I've managed even better than that before....

[swill453]

Is it Virgin cable you've got? If so then bear in mind if you move to anyone else then there might be a fair bit of wiring etc. involved.

A BT-style telephone socket installed, and possibly a TV aerial on the roof or in the attic if you don't have one already. And you might need to buy a freeview box if you need TV recording facilities etc.

Scott.

[mc2fool]

Morning Knowledgeable Lemons - I have been a customer of Virgin Media for some 3 years. I have their phone, broadback and basic tv package. I got a good deal originally, and as is the case with a lot of people I suspect, I took my eye off the ballo regarding the monthly bill.

BTW, assuming you are happy with the service itself and it's just the cost you don't like, have you tried haggling with Virgin? From a quick google it seems to be a done thing. https://www.google.com/search?q=virgin+media+loyalty+discount

Indeed, according to MSE, "Our most recent poll, conducted September 2018, found 82% of Virgin customers who tried to haggle were successful in negotiating a better deal, showing what's possible." https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/haggle-with-virgin-existing-customer-tips/

[Skotch]

Is it Virgin cable you've got? If so then bear in mind if you move to anyone else then there might be a fair bit of wiring etc. involved.

A BT-style telephone socket installed, and possibly a TV aerial on the roof or in the attic if you don't have one already. And you might need to buy a freeview box if you need TV recording facilities etc.

Scott.

There is already a BT line installed from when my wife ran her business from home but its in another room. Talk Talk mentions fibre broadband - does that mean they can use Virgins cable or will it be BT's?

[kempiejon]

There is already a BT line installed from when my wife ran her business from home but its in another room. Talk Talk mentions fibre broadband - does that mean they can use Virgins cable or will it be BT's?

From my experience only virgin comes down the virgin cable most of the other suppliers use the BT cabling. The fibre quoted usually refers to the infrastructure not the link to the house.

[Infrasonic]

There is already a BT line installed from when my wife ran her business from home but its in another room. Talk Talk mentions fibre broadband - does that mean they can use Virgins cable or will it be BT's?

From my experience only virgin comes down the virgin cable most of the other suppliers use the BT cabling. The fibre quoted usually refers to the infrastructure not the link to the house.

Virgin cable is coax for the last leg.
If you no longer use Virgin leave the cabling in the house though as you can probably run ethernet over it via MoCA boxes, and it's pretty much as good as dedicated ethernet cabling on bandwidth and miles better than wifi.
http://www.mocalliance.org/

[swill453]

There is already a BT line installed from when my wife ran her business from home but its in another room. Talk Talk mentions fibre broadband - does that mean they can use Virgins cable or will it be BT's?

Nobody else will be able to use the Virgin cable coming into the house.

Any other broadband supplier will use, or want to use, the BT line.

Scott.

[UncleEbenezer]

Any other broadband supplier will use, or want to use, the BT line.

Scott.

Not quite true. Mobile 4G broadband is a decent option in some areas. My current broadband is EE, and is the only supplier I've had other than Plusnet who has been generally OK. And that includes dialup providers before we had broadband, though I'm excluding the service I had back in the 1980s which - from distant memory - was not bad for its time.

Virgin - absolute bargepole. And I'd steer clear of talktalk, though that's based on their reputation: I've never used them. Plusnet or EE, competitive prices and a decent service - with caveats about Plusnet's reputation becoming more mixed since BT took them over. Many others: I don't know; would do some research before signing up.

The best-reputed in the business are Zen or A&A. But they do cost a bit more. One day I may bring my server stuff in-house and sign up for a small-biz package with one of those, but not while I'm living in this house.