VM , Sky , BT Vision Comparison

[colin25]

Originally Posted by Chad

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

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.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by colin25

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.

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!

[LexDiamond]

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.

[G4v1n]

Originally Posted by martyh

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

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'.

[gcampbell]

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.

[G4v1n]

Originally Posted by Horizon

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.

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.

Originally Posted by gcampbell

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.

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

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

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

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.

[Itshim]

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]
:c lap:
What else could I possibly add this is so true

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Itshim

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

:c lap:
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.

[colin25]

Originally Posted by G4v1n

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.

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)

[HDFootyMan]

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.