Virgin bill goes up almost every month

[deelightful3 10]

anyone know best deals around at the moment for Broadband,tv and phone ? only trouble is last time we were with sky the connection to my sons bedroom which is in the attic was awful,anyone know if this has improved over the years ?

[The Joker 10]

you have to threaten to leave Virgin Media and be prepared to do so if you want a discount from them.

 

I’ve been a Virgin customer for nearly 20 years (back when I were a wee lass, and we had Yorkshire Cable who became Telewest) and I’ve been on their most basic package for most of that time (I’m very frugal; some may unfairly call me right).

 

They’ve been slowly increasing the price every year, so the same package that cost £30 five years ago is now nearer £50, although I get 100Mb broadband ‘free’ upgrade from the 10Mb I’m probably paying for.

 

So, a fortnight ago does Santa Claus deliver me a late Christmas gift in the form of a flyer through my letterbox from the accursed tax-dodgers Vodafone who already supply my mobile phone contract and have done so for the same 20 years.

 

Voda offer me 75Mb fibre home broadband and phone line for under £30 a month and £60 installation. I push Voda for a free install and they concede (as I said, I’m very frugal).

 

So I call Virgin to cancel and since their customer retention team can’t match Voda’s offer, the wheels are set in motion, and this train is leaving the station. I’ve got my leaving date from Virgin and a start date from Voda.

 

And Lo! Doth Virgin’s customer loyalty team frantically call me back a couple of days later, dropping their prices to match Voda’s.

 

But it’s too late. I’ve already agreed to move to Voda.

 

Now, I’ll be honest, I take a dim view of these tax-dodging mega-corps that funnel billions overseas while enjoying the benefits of living in a capitalist democracy they avoid paying for. It really sticks in my craw. The only reason I use Voda for my mobile phone is that I can only get a signal with Voda and O2 and since O2 jack their prices up every year with the RPI, I stick with Voda, since Voda at least pass on the savings from the taxes they don’t pay to me, their loyal customer.

 

Except Voda have also started jacking their prices up every year with the RPI so they’re no longer sharing their fruits of their immoral tax-dodging with me.

 

So I decide to cancel my home broadband order with Voda and stick with Virgin.

 

But there’s a problem. I can’t get hold of Virgin’s customer loyalty team who originally made that very good offer.

 

I’m now frantically calling Virgin for them to confirm they’re honouring that <£30 offer and don’t disconnect me on the originally agreed date, else I’ll have no home broadband (that’s a big problem) and no home phone line (that’s not such a problem)

 

So, the moral of this story is threaten to leave and be prepared to do it, if you want a big discount.

 

And when you’ve made a decision to leave, then stick with it

[alchresearch 214]

The way to have good wifi coverage in your house is to put the router (any provider's router) into modem mode and then buy a good third party router, and / or Powerline adapters - such as the TP Link AV600 which has a wireless repeater built in.

[PlayStation 10]

The way to have good wifi coverage in your house is to put the router (any provider's router) into modem mode and then buy a good third party router, and / or Powerline adapters - such as the TP Link AV600 which has a wireless repeater built in.

 

i bought some tp-link av600 home plugs and have them linked to a 5 port wired hub in my bedroom because wifi is poor from virgins superhub. they work a treat.

Edited March 30, 2018 by PlayStation

[zach 234]

They are all as bad. As The Joker said, you have to call their bluff and mean it. I recently had the same with BT. It was amazing how chatty and generous they were when they got the transfer note from Sky. Bill cut from £50 to £28 a month for the same service.

[Ghozer 112]

i bought some tp-link av600 home plugs and have them linked to a 5 port wired hub in my bedroom because wifi is poor from virgins superhub. they work a treat.

 

I wouldn't say Virgins WiFi is poor, I can get mine across the road, and round the corner a little.... it's the best I have seen from an ISP tbh.

 

It's likely the amount of steel in your home causing dead zones and preventing wall penetration by the signal etc...

[mafya 243]

I wouldn't say Virgins WiFi is poor, I can get mine across the road, and round the corner a little.... it's the best I have seen from an ISP tbh.

 

It's likely the amount of steel in your home causing dead zones and preventing wall penetration by the signal etc...

 

I’m on the 200mb package and over WiFi I still get 224mb download and 13.5 upload speeds on my iPad from the new super hub thing...

[Ghozer 112]

I’m on the 200mb package and over WiFi I still get 224mb download and 13.5 upload speeds on my iPad from the new super hub thing...

 

Yea, i'm meant to be on the 300 or 350 and i'm getting about 380 down and 21 up.....

 

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7185280639.png

[swarfendor437 14]

you have to threaten to leave Virgin Media and be prepared to do so if you want a discount from them.

 

I’ve been a Virgin customer for nearly 20 years (back when I were a wee lass, and we had Yorkshire Cable who became Telewest) and I’ve been on their most basic package for most of that time (I’m very frugal; some may unfairly call me right).

 

They’ve been slowly increasing the price every year, so the same package that cost £30 five years ago is now nearer £50, although I get 100Mb broadband ‘free’ upgrade from the 10Mb I’m probably paying for.

 

So, a fortnight ago does Santa Claus deliver me a late Christmas gift in the form of a flyer through my letterbox from the accursed tax-dodgers Vodafone who already supply my mobile phone contract and have done so for the same 20 years.

 

Voda offer me 75Mb fibre home broadband and phone line for under £30 a month and £60 installation. I push Voda for a free install and they concede (as I said, I’m very frugal).

 

So I call Virgin to cancel and since their customer retention team can’t match Voda’s offer, the wheels are set in motion, and this train is leaving the station. I’ve got my leaving date from Virgin and a start date from Voda.

 

And Lo! Doth Virgin’s customer loyalty team frantically call me back a couple of days later, dropping their prices to match Voda’s.

 

But it’s too late. I’ve already agreed to move to Voda.

 

Now, I’ll be honest, I take a dim view of these tax-dodging mega-corps that funnel billions overseas while enjoying the benefits of living in a capitalist democracy they avoid paying for. It really sticks in my craw. The only reason I use Voda for my mobile phone is that I can only get a signal with Voda and O2 and since O2 jack their prices up every year with the RPI, I stick with Voda, since Voda at least pass on the savings from the taxes they don’t pay to me, their loyal customer.

 

Except Voda have also started jacking their prices up every year with the RPI so they’re no longer sharing their fruits of their immoral tax-dodging with me.

 

So I decide to cancel my home broadband order with Voda and stick with Virgin.

 

But there’s a problem. I can’t get hold of Virgin’s customer loyalty team who originally made that very good offer.

 

I’m now frantically calling Virgin for them to confirm they’re honouring that <£30 offer and don’t disconnect me on the originally agreed date, else I’ll have no home broadband (that’s a big problem) and no home phone line (that’s not such a problem)

 

So, the moral of this story is threaten to leave and be prepared to do it, if you want a big discount.

 

And when you’ve made a decision to leave, then stick with it

 

Slightly off-topic but you mentioned O2 - well I use GiffGaff, which like Tesco Mobile, runs off the back of O2, and I don't use that much data on the phone and all I pay is £7.50 a month. I'm with TT with YouView TV box. (In fact GiffGaff advised me that when I was paying £10 a month I was paying too much and suggested I drop to £7.50 goodybag which I have been doing for over a year now - how many mobile providers would advise you to reduce your spending!

As for dead spots, the problem can be using 5 Mbps connections over 2.4 Mbps - whilst 5 is faster it can't compete with 2.4 Mbps for coverage and distance -

 

https://www.speedguide.net/faq/is-5ghz-wireless-better-than-24ghz-340

[AlexAtkin 10]

Speaking of mobile, if you don't use a lot of calls or data then PAYG is a better deal. Three and O2 are dirt cheap for low-use.

 

There is also FreedomPop (runs on Three network) which is completely free if you are willing to use calling over data or pay a small fee per year to use traditional calling. Although I'm not willing to move my number over to them in case they suddenly disappear like other free services have in the past.

 

I actually have my mum on Three, my main number of Three (moving to O2 once I run out of data) and make all calls/data use on FreedomPop (200 mins, 200 megs for free per month). Its a little awkward needing two handsets but well worth the saving as I don't get many incoming calls/SMS anyway.

Edited April 9, 2018 by AlexAtkin

[The Joker 10]

they’re at it again, Virgin want to stiff me another £3 a month starting 1st November, which is a lorra cash for a tight-fisted member of the peasant class like me

 

Hmph, I’ll call ‘em up at the weekend and give ‘em hell.

 

I’ll keep you posted.

[whiteowl 54]

they’re at it again, Virgin want to stiff me another £3 a month starting 1st November, which is a lorra cash for a tight-fisted member of the peasant class like me

 

Hmph, I’ll call ‘em up at the weekend and give ‘em hell.

 

I’ll keep you posted.

 

I got the same letter, time for another call...