Virgin Media - Above Inflation Rises from 1st February

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

I've a suspicion you'll find the majority of landlines now are cordless. Certainly been a decade since I've used a corded landline.

I keep a corded phone near the main telephone socket in case of mains failure.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Taf

I keep a corded phone near the main telephone socket in case of mains failure.

Chances are, if you're in a situation where you have an emergency and all power is down, the emergency services will be at capacity anyway.

Unless you're vulnerable, I don't think a landline is "essential" at all.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Mr K

A landline is essential, even as just a back up. What if you have a 999 emergency and no credit/power/signal on your mobile ? If there is a powercut the landline still works (as long as you don't just have cordless) , most mobile networks go down.

Mobile phones do not require credit to dial 999, or even signal from your operator. As for power... Keep a spare battery? Most DECT phones are battery powered anyway.

And all mobile networks have battery backups on their transmitters.

---------- Post added at 02:40 ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 ----------

Originally Posted by Taf

I keep a corded phone near the main telephone socket in case of mains failure.

I keep a cordless mobile... well I have dozens of them. Not to mention anything with a USB socket (laptop, tablet, portable charger) will power any phone too.

And not to mention in the near future with fibre or IP based voice services you'll be at the mercy of local battery backups on your landline too.

[ccarmock]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Most DECT phones are battery powered anyway.

But the base station requires mains power, so unless there is one with a battery backed base station, I'd say a mobile phone is more likely to help in the event of an emergency during a power failure.

[wildfruit]

I called to moan about price increase. Well not moan, rather a "what can you do for me". I had staved off the last 2,price increases this way.
I was offered to add sky movies and HD pack for less than I'm currently paying for 9 months.

200Mb
Tv XL
1 tivo
1 v+hd
Phone XL
Sky movies
Sky hd pack
£66 inc line rental

Not too shabby
For me personally the speedy bb is essential especially for 4k streaming.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by ccarmock

But the base station requires mains power, so unless there is one with a battery backed base station, I'd say a mobile phone is more likely to help in the event of an emergency during a power failure.

Exactly.

[MalteseFalcon]

Originally Posted by wildfruit

I called to moan about price increase. Well not moan, rather a "what can you do for me". I had staved off the last 2,price increases this way.
I was offered to add sky movies and HD pack for less than I'm currently paying for 9 months.

200Mb
Tv XL
1 tivo
1 v+hd
Phone XL
Sky movies
Sky hd pack
£66 inc line rental

Not too shabby
For me personally the speedy bb is essential especially for 4k streaming.

Roughly what I have, but the line rental is paid for a year upfront and I have Sports as well.

[G4v1n]

I'm fed up of the ever increasing costs too .. In addition to the cable broadband I currently have TV XL with a V+.

Would it be possible to easily downgrade to something like TV S without the V+ capability without Virgin insisting on me renewing for 12 months? Frankly I have no interest in paying for a package of broadcast channels at all - I'm more than happy with even what Freeview offers plus streaming stuff from Amazon Prime and Netflix. And I can get BT Sport on my Chromecast courtesy of the BT broadband and BT TV at my parents place (which I pay for) so I just use that account to log in to their streaming app.

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by G4v1n

Would it be possible to easily downgrade to something like TV S without the V+ capability without Virgin insisting on me renewing for 12 months?

M is the lowest TV pack. Call Customer Services and see what they can do for you.

[Stop It]

Originally Posted by wildfruit

I called to moan about price increase. Well not moan, rather a "what can you do for me". I had staved off the last 2,price increases this way.
I was offered to add sky movies and HD pack for less than I'm currently paying for 9 months.

200Mb
Tv XL
1 tivo
1 v+hd
Phone XL
Sky movies
Sky hd pack
£66 inc line rental

Not too shabby
For me personally the speedy bb is essential especially for 4k streaming.

That's the best policy in my view.

If you talk to retentions (or anyone for that matter) with an attitude, then you will likely not get very far. The guys at the end of the line are people too, and your opinions on evil money grabbing management or whatever isn't really of their concern.

It's a responsibility of the individual to make sure they're getting the best value for them as a customer. If you're too lazy to pick up the phone (Or in the case of energy, insurance etc) and to use comparison sites to save yourself some money but have time to moan about it, then stop using your time so badly.

Even if it took a few hours a year to go through all "fixed" services to negotiate the best deals, it is time well spent.

Edit: Before I get it in the neck...Those who are vulnerable should be able to nominate those able to negiotate in their best interests or failing that, be assessed according to their need and charged fairly, and frankly should be protected from price rise rounds like this. Profiteering from groups like this goes beyond my support of a free market as there are of course people who cannot fight back using their consumer rights as the vast majority of people can.

[Dave_Gosport]

I called VM the other night. I was paying £59.99 a month for XL TV (Without the Sports/movies) 152 BB and M phone as I hardly ever use it.

Now I'm paying £71.24 for the next 9 months and a £40 credit to my account as I now have Sports and movies in HD and they've upped my broadband to 200mg.

Not bad for an extra £11.25 a month seeing as what Sports/movies and HD cost altogether. Then after 9 months I was told to call again to see what they can offer.

[MalteseFalcon]

Same here, improved deal and told to call again after 9 months because effectively they've switched you to a new package so you get the new customer price for those 9 months.

[Dave_Gosport]

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

Same here, improved deal and told to call again after 9 months because effectively they've switched you to a new package so you get the new customer price for those 9 months.

Yes they did say that they've put me on a new customer offer, So I'm now on the Big Kahuna Sports & Movies bundle instead of just the Big Kahuna bundle.

[jungleguy]

Talk Talk doing free unlimited Fibre Broadband for 12 months, then its £10 per month, plus line rental......way way cheaper than Virgin

[Ignitionnet]

If all you care about is cost Virgin Media are the wrong operator.

People piling into TalkTalk is all good; my service runs on TalkTalk Business so won't be affected by any congestion caused

---------- Post added at 19:47 ---------- Previous post was at 19:45 ----------

Originally Posted by Dave_Gosport

I called VM the other night. I was paying £59.99 a month for XL TV (Without the Sports/movies) 152 BB and M phone as I hardly ever use it.

Now I'm paying £71.24 for the next 9 months and a £40 credit to my account as I now have Sports and movies in HD and they've upped my broadband to 200mg.

Not bad for an extra £11.25 a month seeing as what Sports/movies and HD cost altogether. Then after 9 months I was told to call again to see what they can offer.

Reasonable deal that.

Read elsewhere a customer complaining about Virgin Media's lack of loyalty to existing customers as they wouldn't give him 50% off to match Sky's January deal.

Presumably they would only offer him the new customer deal.

How rude of them.