So here's the thing. In a few weeks I will be moving from my current place which has a communal Sky dish and I've been with Sky for the last two years.
The next property I'm moving into already has cable into the property so would be a relatively easy to go with Virgin.
So should I use the opportunity to give Virgin a try or am I better off sticking with Sky? I have fibre broadband with Sky too and I haven't had any reasons to complain on that or any other front so am I better sticking with the devil I know or is there a compelling reason to give Virgin my business?
PLEASE RESPOND.
Sky or Virgin Media?
Only difference I can see is Virgin has no Sky Atlantic, but HD channels are included in XL pack. Plus as all your stuff comes through cable you're not sharing limited capacity with phone calls and other providers. Also you do NOT require a phone line no matter how much you are tried to be sold one. Virgin cust.services are awesome with clear, concise call centre operators both in India as expected and in Scotland too. Only ever had one gripe with them when we lost service for a week due to vandalism, took a while to get it fixed. Otherwise I am a happy VM customer of 5 years standing. Plus you don't need extra sub's for sport if you have multi room.
Sky user here. Apart from Sky Atlantic there are a few channels in HD on Sky but I can't remember off the top of my head. Whilst TiVo has the ability to do three recordings at once compared to two with Sky, it can't cope with padding so if a live broadcast carries on your programme will cut off (so I have been told)
PJ.
PJ.
The newer updates have improved padding however I think the difference is that virgin's epg still isn't dynamic.
TiVo has improved greatly since it first came out, its far faster and better designed for the British way of doing things. The initial release was a bit like mouseboy had coded it "you're wrong, american is better".
The other nice thing with TiVo is it has fab little connected apps, which given how poor Virgin's interactivity used to be from the Telewest / NTL days was a real treat.
Phone is expensive though, and if I didn't have poor mobile reception I'd dump it. You can get some good deals if you argue with retentions but they're not as big pushovers as they used to be sadly.
Broadband keeps getting faster and faster. I paid for 10meg originally in 2007 and it's now 50mb. I could get 150 if I wanted I believe. The only issue is they seem to throttle youtube a bit during 6-8pm but otherwise the broadband is magnificent.
TiVo has improved greatly since it first came out, its far faster and better designed for the British way of doing things. The initial release was a bit like mouseboy had coded it "you're wrong, american is better".
The other nice thing with TiVo is it has fab little connected apps, which given how poor Virgin's interactivity used to be from the Telewest / NTL days was a real treat.
Phone is expensive though, and if I didn't have poor mobile reception I'd dump it. You can get some good deals if you argue with retentions but they're not as big pushovers as they used to be sadly.
Broadband keeps getting faster and faster. I paid for 10meg originally in 2007 and it's now 50mb. I could get 150 if I wanted I believe. The only issue is they seem to throttle youtube a bit during 6-8pm but otherwise the broadband is magnificent.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
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all new Phil
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For TV, you just can't beat Sky I reckon. The latest version of the EPG software is brilliant and feels like a quality product with great on-demand stuff. I always think that Sky feels like iPlayer (it just works perfectly) whereas Virgin feels like STV Player (does the job, but feels a bit cheap).
First things first - if you want to know that you'll be able to get all the new shows and all new channels as they launch, go for Sky. They will presumably at this point have exclusivity of Sky Atlantic for a very long time with its HBO content, and the upcoming ITV Encore channel is also going to be exclusive to the platform. Sky+ is still very well regarded by those that I know who have Sky, with the only problem still being occassional signal dropouts during thunderstorms and other such weather. I can't comment on Sky too much since I've never been a customer but I'd always look into what they're offering first if, to you, content is king. Sky will always have something that its competitors can't match.
If you're not that bothered about the content that Sky owns then look into Virgin Media. Over the past few years they have really come leaps and bounds from the poor, slow TV software that they had used (and still use) since the launch of digital cable. TiVo is not perfect (still no dynamic EPG) but it's still much much better than what came before (series links that actually continue after the current series has finished, who'd have thunk it?). It also has a few useful 'apps' like YouTube and now, surprisingly, Netflix. The TiVo also has three tuners which has proved sometimes to be very useful, surprisingly so, and the amount of storage space (either 500GB or 1TB) means I don't hesitate recording in HD or padding a recording if I think there's going to be a delay.
Again, I can't comment too much on Sky and I will be a bit biased towards Virgin Media since I've only ever dealt with them, but I've hardly had any problems with them. I might be one of the lucky few compared to the amount of complaints you see about Virgin Media on the web, of course.
If you're not that bothered about the content that Sky owns then look into Virgin Media. Over the past few years they have really come leaps and bounds from the poor, slow TV software that they had used (and still use) since the launch of digital cable. TiVo is not perfect (still no dynamic EPG) but it's still much much better than what came before (series links that actually continue after the current series has finished, who'd have thunk it?). It also has a few useful 'apps' like YouTube and now, surprisingly, Netflix. The TiVo also has three tuners which has proved sometimes to be very useful, surprisingly so, and the amount of storage space (either 500GB or 1TB) means I don't hesitate recording in HD or padding a recording if I think there's going to be a delay.
Again, I can't comment too much on Sky and I will be a bit biased towards Virgin Media since I've only ever dealt with them, but I've hardly had any problems with them. I might be one of the lucky few compared to the amount of complaints you see about Virgin Media on the web, of course.
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Gavin Scott
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TiVo says *pock* *gabock* and *plwing* when you press it's buttons. What else do you want?
This sales pitch is OVAH.
This sales pitch is OVAH.
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simonipswich
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I am with Sky, never had an issue with them. Some have mentioned about loss of signal in heavy rain, don't have that problem because I made a nice little rain shelter for the LNB, basically a butter container, painted black with one side cut out of it, attached to the LNB and no loss of signal in heavy rain! Also protects the LNB too... I should go on Dragons Den! LOL!
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robschneider
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If Sky Atlantic is important to you get Sky.
If you're more fussed about a huge VOD library and don't require a landline, Virgin wins. The internet is also bloody fast. Customer service can be a bit shit and the Indian call centre staff don't have a clue, but otherwise I've been very happy with Virgin. When we got a TIVO box downstairs, they kindly let us hand back the standard V Box in the bedroom and re site the original V+ there.
If you're more fussed about a huge VOD library and don't require a landline, Virgin wins. The internet is also bloody fast. Customer service can be a bit shit and the Indian call centre staff don't have a clue, but otherwise I've been very happy with Virgin. When we got a TIVO box downstairs, they kindly let us hand back the standard V Box in the bedroom and re site the original V+ there.
Having been a customer of both services, I can say the following...
If you are TV obsessed and like US shows boxsets and all that, then I would say that Sky is the way to go.
If you're not too bothered about big US shows and want fast broadband, then Virgin is the way to go. TiVo is a neat piece of kit.
I moved last year and if it was up to me I would have had Virgin installed mainly for the broadband but where I live right now isn't a cabled area, so after a year of TalkTalk I dumped them and went to Sky, and so far it's been very good and Sky+HD is class, the only thing I don't like about Sky's On Demand is that you have to start downloading the programme rather than watching it straight away, so yes I know it can stop buffering mid programme which is a good thing but sometimes you can be waiting for ages for your programme.
If you are TV obsessed and like US shows boxsets and all that, then I would say that Sky is the way to go.
If you're not too bothered about big US shows and want fast broadband, then Virgin is the way to go. TiVo is a neat piece of kit.
I moved last year and if it was up to me I would have had Virgin installed mainly for the broadband but where I live right now isn't a cabled area, so after a year of TalkTalk I dumped them and went to Sky, and so far it's been very good and Sky+HD is class, the only thing I don't like about Sky's On Demand is that you have to start downloading the programme rather than watching it straight away, so yes I know it can stop buffering mid programme which is a good thing but sometimes you can be waiting for ages for your programme.
steve
Was with Virgin for 4 years from 2008-2012, they beat Sky on price but I was never that happy with them.
The various TV boxes I had didn't exactly impress, the original Scientific Atlanta standard box was about as responsive and stable as a 1998 OnDigital box, the later V+ box I had was barely any better, and even the Tivo was just about acceptable but didn't seem very 'wow' for a premium product (I remember finding the YouTube app to be appallingly unresponsive) - at the time there were plenty of cheap Freeview PVRs which performed just as well.
The broadband didn't make the earth move for me either - contention ratio where I lived was appalling, the internet started resembling dial-up for most of the day even though I was allegedly running at all the megabits under the sun. Granted, I did live in the centre of Plymouth in an area with high student population, but if Virgin had so many customers in that area you'd have thought that at some point they would improve the infrastructure, but it never happened.
The various TV boxes I had didn't exactly impress, the original Scientific Atlanta standard box was about as responsive and stable as a 1998 OnDigital box, the later V+ box I had was barely any better, and even the Tivo was just about acceptable but didn't seem very 'wow' for a premium product (I remember finding the YouTube app to be appallingly unresponsive) - at the time there were plenty of cheap Freeview PVRs which performed just as well.
The broadband didn't make the earth move for me either - contention ratio where I lived was appalling, the internet started resembling dial-up for most of the day even though I was allegedly running at all the megabits under the sun. Granted, I did live in the centre of Plymouth in an area with high student population, but if Virgin had so many customers in that area you'd have thought that at some point they would improve the infrastructure, but it never happened.