Broadband Price Rise

Does anybody know if broadband only customers will be affected by the February 2014 price rise following the rise in October? I'm still to receive notification.

I negotiated out the BB only rise in return for a discount and new minimum term.

I then received a notification of an increase of 10% by email on 2nd December. No letter.

I've ordered FTTC as I'm sick and tired of VM playing silly beggars with pricing. Install date supposed to be 19th. If it happens I'll cancel then.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/virgin.html

Lists the pricing including the Feb 2014 rise, i.e. added now due to the way that new customers are billed in advance

Yep but Virgin's nominal pricing bears no resemblance to what anybody actually pays. The only people who pay that are brand new customers and people who phone up and threaten to leave unless they get a deal. Otherwise they put up the prices every year to existing customers even when nominal prices stay the same. So the longer you're with them and don't phone up for a deal the more you'll pay. I don't know why websites like this don't call them out on it.

Yeah I'm sorely tempted as well. Trouble is they don't install on weekends and VM is still marginally cheaper for broadband only. Plus switching technology is always a risk, at least I know cable works.

So what price do you pay now then?

My price since the October rise is £30 for 60 Mbit. I only switched to that package in August or so though so my price was 'reset' (to £27.50). When I was on the top tier package my price was £39.50 after two years (£37.50 after year 1). The nominal price when I first took out the package was £35 and by the time I downgraded it was £34.75 (yes 25p less). I'm quite certain I would be on £42 by now had I done nothing even though the new nominal price is only £37.50.

Edited by deleted (Wed 11-Dec-13 21:54:25)

This is an example of how VM pricing in totally non-transparent.

I was paying £26.75 for 60Mbps and they asked for the additional £1.50 BB only so I called in and complained as that would have been two rises in less than a year and way over inflation (it was £25 after an earlier retentions deal). They immediately offered me £22.50 if I took another 12 month minimum term. I jumped at that. Now barely two months on they decide they want another £2.25

Even at £24.75 it would be a pretty decent price and FTTC will be costing me more once line rental is figured in but I'm sick of playing their games. Plus my area is starting to show congestion and past experience shows that they take their own sweet time fixing that.

Edited by kwikbreaks (Wed 11-Dec-13 22:37:48)

To answer my own question. No - broadband only customers will not see a further price increase!

In reply to a post by Sark:

To answer my own question. No - broadband only customers will not see a further price increase!

Not true. It does increase the price. Virgin Media had put up my broadband price from £26 to £28.25 a month from 1st Feb as I am on broadband standalone. However, I had cancel my half way contract 6 months remaining left on my 120/12 service broadband standalone contract because of price rise as virgin media agree to let me go and disconnected on 16th Feb with no penalty fee. I am joining Plusnet FTTC Unlimited next week.

It's all down to playing the game - where you get notification of a price hike and have to call them to 'complain', get passed to retentions team, they look at it and refer to their current notes that have been drawn up for this very reason, where they'll offer you a deal to stay.
My current package is a custom one that evolved through last year's negotiations, I had 10Meg BB, basic weekend calls and line plus TV M. This was increased during the year to 20Meg then 30Meg and TV M+, I agreed to a modest increase in payments to £34.99 a month.
This year I've managed to get moved onto the Essentials package which is virtually the same but now adding a Tivo box. Cost has gone up to £35.99 a month, instead of the £39.50 advised by letter
Speed is going up to 50Meg in a couple of months, so they say, but I don't really need that. 30 is ample. Would be nice to get a hike in upload speed though, but that's Virgin for you.
Yes, price had gone up both times, but not by as much as they were saying and I've ended up with a slightly better package. I'm also being told it's because I've been a very long term customer and get the maximum loyalty discount they can offer, so this may not be valid for everyone.
Oh, and I'll add in that they also gave me the £5 a month additional discount being offered to new customers of 'collections' packages for 6 months, so I'll not be paying the higher price for another 6 months yet.
It's worth noting that you should not start off by yelling and demanding anything, talk to them nice and you may get someone who's happy to keep you as a customer...