How to get away from Virgin to working internet

[mokien]

Hi,


Virgin Media customer here looking to cancel broadband and hoping this forum can offer some advice. In December 2010 we entered an 18-month contract with Virgin Media for the provision of:


* 10Mb fibre optic cable
* 75 channels TV package
* Virgin phone line (unlimited weekend calls).


I won't go into depth detailing the reasons for wanting to leave, but it boils down to awful broadband service. We've had multiple engineer visits, phantom issues, unresolved technical glitches, etc. Basically we're not getting the broadband we're paying for and wish to move.


We ARE fans of the TV package. The phone line we don't use (we signed up because it was cheaper to get the 3 in a bundle, rather than just broadband and TV). What we would like to do is simply cancel the broadband. If we need to cancel the phone line, too, so that we can use a new broadband supplier, then that is fine.


Our questions for the forum, are:


1. Should we switch to fibre optic cable, or ADSL? If we opt for cable again, does the phone line provider matter? I don't really understand how cable/phone line contracts are linked in this respect. I understand that for ADSL, a lot of companies require a BT phone line. But how are they related in the cable world?


2. Let's say we opt to switch to Plus Net fibre optic cable. What do we need to do?


3. Let's say instead we opt to switch to O2 ADSL. What do we need to do here?


I realize that Virgin will probably require us to pay out the remainder of our contract, and that we may need to get rid of all 3 services in our package in order to move broadband supplier.


Thanks for any advice. We're royally stumped with this!

[thenry]

VM are to increase charges.. have you had a letter stating your montly bill will go up by 'x' amount?

the price increase set for April can get you out of contract.

for broadband go for BT infinity

[qasdfdsaq]

1) Broadband and cable in the cable world are completely unrelated. The cable telephone line isn't required for anything. All DSL services needs a BT line.

2) Plus Net don't do fibre optic cable, they do FTTC DSL. As with all DSL services you need a BT line. Plus Net can arrange one for you if you don't already have one.

3) Exactly the same. All DSL services need a BT phone line, whether directly from BT or through your internet provider.

You don't need to get rid of all 3 services. You can (and should, if you won't be using them) cancel just the telephone and broadband services.

[craigj2k12]

Originally Posted by thenry

the price increase set for April can get you out of contract.

by april he will be out of contract anyway

[thenry]

thought he said December 2011

[mokien]

Thanks for the responses so far.

It looks like BT Infinity is our only other cable option. Does anyone know if it’s possible to get BT Infinity fibre optic broadband without a BT landline account? Looking on the website it only seems to be provided if you have a BT Landline?

Also, we live in a shared building, and engineers are apparently constantly called out from Virgin. We've had 4 different visits for just our flat/connection. Any thoughts on whether this means our infrastructure (outside of the Virgin Media flat specific parts) is just broken, so changing our cable supplier isn't actually going to make any difference?

[qasdfdsaq]

BT Infinity is DSL, not cable. Like all other DSL services it comes through a BT phone line so you need a BT phone line for it like all other DSL services. Unless you're in the tiny proportion of the country that gets 100mb Infinity at which point it's fibre, but you will still need a new BT (fibre) line installed. VM cable is not fibre and BT fibre will not work over a VM cable. But again for the vast majority of people BT Infinity is DSL, not fibre.

There is only one cable provider and only one cable provider in each area and therefore you cannot switch. If you have VM cable, there is only VM cable and no other cable. No other provider uses VM cable infrastructure. If you switch, you use a new line from someone else that has nothing to do with VM.

[mokien]

Thanks again guys. I think we are coming round to moving to BT Infinity ADSL.

In terms of cancelling Virgin, do we need to cancel before we ring BT, or can we leave both services in place, then when we get to 18months, only renew the virgin TV package? Do you envisage any issues on the BT side from having both services running concurrently?

[qasdfdsaq]

You can have both services in place - I have the same right now. The only gripe is you can't have the same phone number on both lines at the same time, so something to consider if you want to port your number.

[craigj2k12]

Originally Posted by mokien

Thanks again guys. I think we are coming round to moving to BT Infinity ADSL.

In terms of cancelling Virgin, do we need to cancel before we ring BT, or can we leave both services in place, then when we get to 18months, only renew the virgin TV package? Do you envisage any issues on the BT side from having both services running concurrently?

Bt Infinity VDSL

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by craigj2k12

Bt Infinity VDSL

BT Infinity VDSL2