Cost of Broadband & phones

[Evans Electric]

A neighbour has just called round  ,  I asked if he'd finally got his new TV  which raised the subject of cost .

So he,s on some sort of deal with cable TV   (Virgin) I suppose  . (  The area is wired for it)    Broadband / phone / net flicks for £27. 00  / month  and my costs with BT are twice that . 

So of course he,s saying I must change .    However I looked at Virgin , 27.00  /month   for a year then up to 42.00   .

Is that the norm ?  I ask .  

Actually I wouldn't want Virgin TV   ( Is it different to ordinary TV ? )   I already have about 500 channels I don't watch on Freesat .    

Any thoughts ?    

 

[Sharpend]

It is the case Deke, however a telephone call in the last month will usually get you a new deal. Read cheaper bill. 

 

[ProDave]

I am with BT.  Each renewal I point out to them that Plusnet will do it for £23.99 (or whatever it is today) and they match it.

If one time they won't match it, I will change.

 

[Evans Electric]

I looked at that Dave  when you mentioned it before ,   as you say  , Plusnet is a BT company .   I did notice  the broadband  speed  was advertised   slower than BT  .  Is that something to do with the lower price .  ?      

Do they get a discount for using the BT network  over  other providers?       That wouldn't be fair .  

 

[ProDave]

The BB speed is what you get, dependant on the (lack of) quality of the physical lines, Nobody will deliberately slow it down, just as nobody who claims to offer faster speed can actually do anything to make it go faster.

When we complained at the poor speed, an Open Reach engineer spending a couple of hours re making poor corroded joints in all the joint boxes did improve the speed.

 

[Geoff1946]

Hmm! I need to do some checks, I've been with Virgin for five years now and it's slowly gone up to £60+. (Not a lot of phone calls and no extras for the TV.)  I've no complaints on performance, and have been satisfied with a couple of "repairs" which amounted to a new router.

 

[Blue Duck]

The BB speed is what you get, dependant on the (lack of) quality of the physical lines, Nobody will deliberately slow it down, just as nobody who claims to offer faster speed can actually do anything to make it go faster.

When we complained at the poor speed, an Open Reach engineer spending a couple of hours re making poor corroded joints in all the joint boxes did improve the speed.

Not true....

They will throttle your connection if you are a heavy user or there is a lot of demand in your area at peak times.

(Contention ratio).

Had this with virgin and gave them the boot asap. 

Been with BT for donkeys, I'm probably paying too much but have never ever had any issues.

Also worth noting that with virgin and sky the price can jump whenever they feel their shareholders aren't getting enough unicorn eggs in their sandwiches.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

No good comparing prices unless you are also comparing near identical download speeds IMHO....

Bit like discussing your electric bill with no reference to the No of units you have consumed..

i.e. Cost per unit..

Or Cost per M/bps if comparing broadband,  

you may well be quite happy paying 25% more if you are getting greater than 25% higher speeds than the cheaper option.

(I think you will find all broadband providers including BT have to pay their shareholders as well)

Guinness

 

[Murdoch]

I just renewed our BT agreement , so I could get their new router and disc system .....our wifi is now excellent in every room in the house 

our choice is BT or virgin .....so no real choice