Virgin broadband & phone - any good?

edwarde2Wed 16/04/08 13:20

Following on from my earlier question about whether TalkTalk were any good (the response was an almost unanimous "no"), can you share your experiences of Virgin broadband and phone services please?

Thanks :-)

#35407Wed 16/04/08 13:29

I have Virgin and I cannot fault them so far. I had Virgin broadband over a BT line for years and years (I still have the original account at my parents from about 6 years ago). When I moved to a cable area in December I have had their cable service ever since. One thing I do know, the cable service is by far faster than the telephone line broadband. If you are in a cable area I'd say go for it.

gayrathWed 16/04/08 13:30

Their broadband is incredible. Much faster then any telephone connection you can get.

Their satelite channel is also very good, and On Demand is worth its weight in gold.

hobbesWed 16/04/08 13:39

I have Virgin Cable Broadband and phone (didn't bother with the digital TV)... hard to fault all things considered...

gayrathWed 16/04/08 13:41

Their customer services can be a bit of a nightmare to get to. But they generally manage to sort any problems out pretty effectively

#188023Wed 16/04/08 13:53

I have had cable broadband (L) and phone for six years with TeleWest/Virgin. Generally very pleased with the service and speed most of the time.

In those years I have had a handful of broadband outages that have lasted from a few hours up to a day, and one rumbling fault that they were initially blaming on my computer before they finally admitted it was an area fault. So not too bad.

Do read the small print though. When their special offers end, you can find yourself on much higher rates - and they usually don't make that too clear. Their rates are going up again in June, so be sure to find out what you will be paying then.

#63990Wed 16/04/08 14:13

I have had the service since 2000, when it was Cable London, then Telewest, now Virginmedia. I have the VIP package, and can't fault it, plus the broadband is being upgraded to 50mb by the end of the year at no extra cost for VIP customers. My only gripe is that the tech. support is based in India, and that it costs 25ppm to ring them :(

tenstarWed 16/04/08 15:55

I've been with them for 12 years (I am in a cable area) and the broadband is excellent - I am on the XL package so it is extremely fast and I've never had any connect problems. The phone service seems to be cheaper than BT although their XL package has inclusive calls to landlines and cheap rates to other countries. The TV service is OK - high definition channels are really pants - its the 720p resolution as opposed to 1080 and then only BBC HD when it broadcasts. There are some programmes on HD in the library thingy but I've watched all those that interest me.

I could probably get cheaper (though not faster) broadband elsewhere, as well as getting cheaper telly via Sky (or Freesat in May - I have FreesatfromSky at the moment).

So in summary - the cable version is reliable and fast, the phone ok , the telly ok - but the whole package is not the cheapest on the market.