OT- Broadband & TV experience

[BG]

As has been said, really depends on where you are what you can get.

If you are after good BB speeds and can get Virgin cable then IMHO it's a no brainer. (Also if you have TV the signal doesn't cut out n bad weather like Sky does)

I've had Virgin BB for as long as I can remember (right back when it was NTL!), and I can probably say that the system has dropped out only a handful of times. I think the worst was losing it for 1 whole day, not bad in about 15 years. I always have whatever the fastest speed is as my son works in gaming and needs decent speeds to do his job.

The only time I've had Virgin fibre (I don't think Virgin now do copper based internet via OpenReach - I think they sold that side of the business to TalkTalk) go down is when they've upgraded the local cabinet.

Like Andermt the fibre cable has been here since NTL (I think TeleWest might have been there before it), occasionally the internal connectors have to be upgraded but considering the fibre to the house is exactly the same as what lies at the bottom of the Atlantic or Pacific (Pac 1, Pac 2 etc) the only restricting factor is the hardware at either end.

[jamestaylor002]

FWIW I have Virgin BB and I'm certain I have fibre coming into the house. I get 100mbps from the router supplied by Virgin (although looking at getting a new router as I'm losing up to 70% of that once I go upstairs).

I have no faults with Virgin, the internet is very solid all over the house. Although I am yet to experience their customer service upon renewal. However, I get the impression for all the providers that they can be a bit hissy.

I'm looking at getting the TV package at some point too.

[InBetweenWasp]

We moved earlier in the year and had previously been all-in on Sky at around £100 per month, before moving to BT and forging Sky Sports using NowTV for the odd International, or F1 Race we would watch.

We’ve since ditched BT and gone with TalkTalk for 73mbps Broadband at around £20/month.  We looked at NowTV but got sent around in circles by them claiming that openreach didn’t have a line to our house - (the previous occupants used Sky Broadband, which uses a BT line effectively and NowTV are owned by.... Yep, Sky).  The house does and TalkTalk had no issues in getting us connected.

Other than rugby (and very occasionally the F1) along a handful of terrestrial TV shows, most of our viewing habits are on-demand.

We have a standard freeview around the house and then subscribe to the BT Sport App (In theory, you need to be a BT Broadband client, we get it via my Mother-in-Law who subscribed for us, we use her credentials and send her the £15/month).  The BT Sport app on our Samsung TV is brilliant.

Our kids tend to watch stuff on-demand, so have a FireStick for them in the playroom which works brilliantly.  We share a Netflix account with my sister and she in turn uses our Prime account for streaming.

For F1 and internationals, we’ll use NowTV (we subscribe to their Entertainment Plan on a discounted rate of £5/month).  We might do a season-long offer for the F1 next season.

The only caveat is that we can’t setup recording for matches, or races via the apps so it’s either live or we have to wait for it to be published.  Bit of a pain, but it’s a minor inconvenience.  If we didn’t have kids, it might be worth the premium (to us) to get in and luxuriate in watching a game back without interruption, or a race from start to finish.

For Broadband and BT Sport via the App plus NowTV Entertainment we’re at around £40 per month now taking into account the cashback deal at the time (which was £50+ or so, I think).  Even if we added NowTV Sports at full whack of £30 we’re still £30 or so less than Sky’s subscription without the constant yearly re-negotiations and the £360 or so we save a year can go towards beers at Wasps games, rather than on boxes to record the odd game we want to re-watch as soon as we’re home.

[InBetweenWasp]

FWIW I have Virgin BB and I'm certain I have fibre coming into the house. I get 100mbps from the router supplied by Virgin (although looking at getting a new router as I'm losing up to 70% of that once I go upstairs).

I have no faults with Virgin, the internet is very solid all over the house. Although I am yet to experience their customer service upon renewal. However, I get the impression for all the providers that they can be a bit hissy.

I'm looking at getting the TV package at some point too.

Not always the Router.  Quite often it’s simply the house blocking signal through the materials used to build.  All works well in big, open-plan style houses, but in the typical UK house with plenty of steel, brick, good insulation, concrete etc... signal often patchy.  A decent router might make a small difference, but better off buying a couple of extenders, or access points that work using power line adapters.

[jamestaylor002]

FWIW I have Virgin BB and I'm certain I have fibre coming into the house. I get 100mbps from the router supplied by Virgin (although looking at getting a new router as I'm losing up to 70% of that once I go upstairs).

I have no faults with Virgin, the internet is very solid all over the house. Although I am yet to experience their customer service upon renewal. However, I get the impression for all the providers that they can be a bit hissy.

I'm looking at getting the TV package at some point too.

Not always the Router.  Quite often it’s simply the house blocking signal through the materials used to build.  All works well in big, open-plan style houses, but in the typical UK house with plenty of steel, brick, good insulation, concrete etc... signal often patchy.  A decent router might make a small difference, but better off buying a couple of extenders, or access points that work using power line adapters.

Thanks for the tip, I was also considering extenders. 

[BG]

FWIW I have Virgin BB and I'm certain I have fibre coming into the house. I get 100mbps from the router supplied by Virgin (although looking at getting a new router as I'm losing up to 70% of that once I go upstairs).

I have no faults with Virgin, the internet is very solid all over the house. Although I am yet to experience their customer service upon renewal. However, I get the impression for all the providers that they can be a bit hissy.

I'm looking at getting the TV package at some point too.

Not always the Router.  Quite often it’s simply the house blocking signal through the materials used to build.  All works well in big, open-plan style houses, but in the typical UK house with plenty of steel, brick, good insulation, concrete etc... signal often patchy.  A decent router might make a small difference, but better off buying a couple of extenders, or access points that work using power line adapters.

Thanks for the tip, I was also considering extenders. 

My Dad lives in a big farmhouse.. very thick walls.. I installed powerline adaptors (TP-Link) to various sections within the house .. the internet signal is routed through the house ring mains so at that point you can either hard wire from the Powerline to another switch or put another WAP at the end. Because the copper in electrical cable is a lot thicker than telephone extension cable there's little or no drop off

[FishingWasp]

Thanks all for taking the time out to reply. Much appreciated.

I will bear your comments and advice in mind when deciding on the provider.