VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Many threads on here result in a comparison to a competitors service so here's my views as I've used all three.

Virgin Media

Plus Points , Excellent BB , Good Range of STB , HD On Demand , Advanced TV features with TIVO (Wishlists , Advanced Search , Season passes) , free ESPN with XL , Catchup TV , Remote Record Apps starting to appear , free repair or replacement of equipment.

Negatives , Key HD channels missing , phone packages expensive , OD content not updated regular enough , lack of online content or content on the go.

Sky

Plus Points Great Content range on SD and HD , Sky Go free for watching online or out and about , vast range of mobile apps including Sky+ , Sky news , Sky Go , Sky Sports score centre , cheap Phone packages , mpeg4 compression allowing for more recording hours , decent OD content range , nice clean and intuitive HD epg , dynamic epg , good online services via My Sky , Sky 3D.

Negatives ESPN costs 12.00 or 9.00 for Sky Sports subscribers , BB speeds are dependent on proximity to exchange , Sky's OD service Anytime+ only available to Sky BB subscribers , Sky+HD box only has two tuners , no catchup TV from terrestrial.

BT Vision

Plus Points Great selection of OD Content , some decent phone prices and packages , Sky Sports 1 and 2 cheap , Catchup TV , some HBO content , Good selection of PPV movies now including HD and 3D , some can get BT Infinity fibre BB.

Negatives Basically the linear offering is freeview , a lot of areas BB is still dependent on distance from the exchange , you must use BTs Homehub , no extras like remote record apps , very little HD.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I would object to free ESPN, its included in the £35 fee for tv xl.

Skys top entertainment package is £24 with a lot more channels.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

ESPN is free with XL costing 24.50 if took with a phone line

http://shop.virginmedia.com/digital-tv/tv-size-xl.html

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I would object to free ESPN, its included in the £35 fee for tv xl.

Skys top entertainment package is £24 with a lot more channels.

ITS THIS SIMPLE..

FOR TV-Sky win
FOR BB VM and BTInfinity win
For phone Sky win.

---------- Post added at 19:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:07 ----------

Or without a Virgin phone line

£30.50 a month your kind of right lol.

Its £24 a month if you add a £13.90 phoneline.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Very interesting to read but wheres the poll.;)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Only with a VM phone line £13.90 a month, other wise it's £30.50 if you don't have a phone line.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I agree pretty much with the comparisons above but for me there is no comparison as.................

I live in a flat so no -sky and even if there was i can only get 1.5mb for broadband that leads me onto bt and..............

No BT either as 1.5 mb will not run their vision box or indeed provide me with very much ommph in the broadband department.

So although i agree with muppetman11 in his analysis its kind of hobsons choice as far as any comparisons go for me. Until when BT infinity arrives at least.:( And/or sky can fix a dish to my flat without the bodge up that happened with them at the first attempt that turned into four a few years back.:(

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

no dynamic epg is a huge negative for virgin.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Are there issues with the Homehub ? i have just had BT Total BB installed and up to now have had a rock solid connection of about 4.5 mb

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

If I'm 100% honest I'm not sure on the new Homehub , there were issues with the first white one but to be fair it was rectified with a firmware update.

Theres a review here http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/wifi-.../bt-home-hub-3

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Muppetman you are seen as one of VERY few impartial posters on this site. Keep that in mind when posting, as its easy to lose...................

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Well you are certainly not impartial are you.:rolleyes:

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

well i can confirm that up to now ;) i am getting good wireless signal to 1 pc and 2 laptops with no drop outs

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Ahem......

Noun - pot
Verb - calling
Noun - kettle
Adjective - black

:D

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Well l see you are in your usual mischievous form again well it must be the drinks you are having.:)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

For me there is no comparision

VM can receive it :)
Sky can't receive it unless the tress are cut down
BT too far from the exchange

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Happy Virgin customers will say Virgin is the best, happy SKY customers will say SKY is the best and happy BT customers will say they are the best.

I'm seeing some really strong brand loyalty coming through on this thread, and many others at the moment. I think both SKY and Virgin have us brain washed. I don't ever remember being so passionate about who I paid my hard earned money to in able to receive "premium subscription TV". I think we all need our heads examined :)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Well said M8:D

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

you didnt include virgin player (which is available on mobile) but you included Sky Go

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

So have I, except VM's tivo, although I once had the original version.

You seem to ommit the most major negative for Sky though, that it's a satellite service. Fine when its dry, but when it rains...especially heavy rain, a satellite service is useless.

When BT can actually offer me a BT Infinity/decent fibre service, I'll be buried six feet under, so I won't hold out hope on that one. For those that are lucky enough to live near a BT exchange, perhaps it's possible to get a decent triple service from one supplier only. I don't, so I can't tell.

And despite the recent improvements to vm cable, faster speeds and tivo, there are glowing ommisions that does not make it the "all you can eat" service that cable was first touted as when it launched 20 years ago.

I am still waiting for a company to offer me a half decent tv service, a half decent telephone service and a half decent internet service all under the same roof for a reasonable price.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

To be honest my satellite signal has been lost once in six months with rain and that was only for around a minute or so , I find it has to be torrential rain to knock it off , I take your point though.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

As much of a VM fanboy as I am, the two services aren't even comparable.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

For years, where I live we've had next to no rain, so yes satellite has been great. But in the London area there has been several major downpours over the last few months and it does take the signal away, or at least mine. But not on my 90cm dish though.:cool:

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

You are correct it is a disadvantage to satellite, I must just be lucky weather wise :D , it was knocked off a few weeks ago the one and only time since going back to Sky but to be fair it was a thunderstorm :)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

With me i am not really a fan of one or the other,its just VM is the only game in town for me unless i just go to freeview for tv and am prepared to put up with 1.5mb ADSL broadband,just wish i had a choice with pay tv.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Thankyou for that, I can quote it whenever you're offering someone advice.;) YOU MAKE IT TOO EASY.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Admitting a preference for Virgin Media on a Virgin Media forum by gosh. Its as if I'm a happy VM customer :rolleyes:

You must be looking for http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Hey I used to use that forum a lot its a great community and definitely a site all sky user should go to.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

And yet you decided to try cable. Why would that be?

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

LOL.

It seems there are a lot of Sky customers about now unhappy that cable subscribers are happy.. So there must be a war between the two.

Has Murdoch been tapping your phone lines?

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Agree that brand loyalty seems to be strong, I've never understood why. I hop between both, depending on who gives me best deal. I never view them as friends, they are companies who will screw me if they can get away with it.

On the comparisons, if you relinquish sky sports at summer (even for a day) and add online, they offer ESPN free for first 3 months when taken with sky sports (and £5 off)

And to the rain and satellite point, I lost signal for about 5 minutes once, due to heavy rain (monsoon version). Doesn't happen that often.

My preference at moment is with sky, sky atlantic is my favourite channel. But overall, give me sports and I'm happy bunny, so probably will float between both unless I can't get better deal or one annoys me more than other.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I support Virgin Media simply because it provides me with the best options for me as a customer. I also think that they are closer to their customers than Sky are to theirs.

However, if Sky were to come up with a killer initiative that I wanted and VM appeared not to have a solution, I know which way I would leap!

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

One advantage VM have with the arrival of Tivo is being to offer a basic pay tv package + Tivo for under £10 to existing customers of other services.

Tivo is significant as now the PVR charge has reduced to just £3 as it is already included in the Tivo service. Excellent value IMO as even people who don't want pay tv could just get M+ and Tivo and pay not considerably more than they would have for a far superior STB than most the Freeview+HD junk out there.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

My parents' place has BT broadband with the old white hub and it has pretty shocking WiFi range/signal strength. That's on a variety of devices like a desktop, netbook, laptop, Internet Radio and a couple of WiFi enabled smartphones that I've tried. You only really get reliable reception in the same room as the hub.

It's not like it's some sort of huge mansion with solid stone walls either - just a 3 bed ex-council house.

I think their later models improved considerably on the WiFi though dropped features like the VoIP phone socket, which I thought was useful as it effectively gave you an extra voice line for 'free'.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

The fact I had to watch all of Game of Thrones at my girlfriend's parent's house because it wasn't available on Virgin tells me which is best.

I'm in rented property at the moment so am stuck with Virgin for now, but would change to Sky in a heartbeat - I'd pay a little more each month but it's worth it for the vastly superior TV on offer.

The girlfriend's dad is quite a techy guy and hasn't had any issues regarding broadband from Sky, so VM don't even have that going for them.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I'm not sure that it's desirable to want to tie yourself into a single provider for phone, internet and TV.

I have no interest in telephone land lines (happy with a mobile from any given provider) and would ideally choose VM for cable BB and Sky for telly.

Unfortunately, all those companies try to structure their offerings in such a way as to tie you in on all their services instead of just offering the most competitive packages they can on a service by service basis. They make even some of the more convoluted mobile phone contracts look simple by comparison.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

You don't have to have issues, its just significantly slower for (what seems) the majority of people.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

James I have an XL 30mb connection which for a few weeks was like dialup with F ratings on pingtest.com when I rang I was openly told it was contention and VM were aware of it , to be fair they gave me a fix time and it was ok from then on so I can't fault there openess and honesty, they even gave me a credit which I never asked for. My point is no service is perfect , just look at the 4pm -9pm 10mb traffic management , hit 1.5gb which is easy if say streaming a HD movie and your connection gets throttled. Sky BB Unlimited is 7.50 with no throttling and there are people who can achieve speeds perfectly acceptable , I agree with your point though that there are many who can only receive poor speeds and this is the real Achilles heel with ADSL.

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I'm seeing some really strong brand loyalty coming through on this thread, and many others at the moment. I think both SKY and Virgin have us brain washed. I don't ever remember being so passionate about who I paid my hard earned money to in able to receive "premium subscription TV". I think we all need our heads examined :)[/QUOTE]
:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::c lap::clap:
What else could I possibly add this is so true

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::c lap::clap:
What else could I possibly add this is so true[/QUOTE]

With all those claps your hands must be hurting. and l am not brainwashed by any company either.:);):)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

I'm not overly concerned about having one provider, been there with Virgin and sky. As long as I have a choice to change after 1 year. But i do feel sorry for those who don't have a choice, if I ever moved, and didn't have a choice, I'd be disappointed.

My criteria, as long as I have a reasonable connection to browse and chat on internet, can get sports and occassionally add movies, and at a reasonable price..I'm happy. Note, I'm not bothered about a phone, only take it because I have too (or offer makes it pointless not to add)

Re: VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison
 

Been working on a update for my PVR Document (points at sig), now includes partial details for BT Vision. Should be full details later tonight.