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I've been with Virgin Media since the early 2000s (when they were NTL) and have only used one of their cable connections at my current address for almost 18 years, but I think they are fleecing me as I've never gone anywhere else (and nor can I, as I don't have a copper connection like the other providers).
I've heard that if I call their sales line and threaten to leave, they will offer me a deal, and if I reject that too, a better deal. The thing is, I only want broadband, and they will try to foist TV packages on me as well, but I would like at least £10 off the monthly bill mentioned above, which would satisfy me. On the other hand, I don't want them to simply cancel my account and disconnect me when I have nowhere else to go.
What can I do?
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What does https://www.openreach.com/ say you can get at your property?
Even if you have no current line you can easily get a service from an Openreach ISP.
Knowing what you can get there and how much to would cost would give you a good starting point in any negotiation with VM.
Kris
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It would help if you posted what your package is, do you want broadband only with no phone, are you in contract, or out of contract.
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Register (or login) on our website and you will not see this ad.
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1. My package is "M50 Fibre Broadband"
2. I want Broadband ONLY: NO phone, NO TV, NO landline
3. They're saying it's time to renew my contract, I must be out of it at the moment
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I've never dealt with Virgin, but my friend has for his mother, AFAIK they have been perfectly happy for people to go out of contract and pay OTT, and that would seem to apply to you. Point out this contract https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/virgin/packages/... and say "I'd like this please". They will say "that's for new customers only", but if you have checked the link given by Kris you will know what bargaining power you have.
Edited by burble (Thu 30-Nov-23 21:46:25)
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The link by Kris reveals to me that there is no OpenReach connection that I know of at my address. Well, there was a landline decades ago but I don't know if that will be adaptable or usable by OpenReach for any install.
What's the best way of contacting VM? Phone? I'm not even sure what the number is now. Or is there an alternative?
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Do you have another Alternative FTTP network provider in your area like Hyperoptic?
If not, that might explain why Virgin Media are taking advantage of your situation. They then become a monopoly and price hike knowing you have no other option!
I'm surprised that you wouldn't have FTTC available as over 97% of the country has it. But if you are one of the less than 3% once again that might explain why VM are abusing your situation.
This is always something I'm wary of when you have a one provider only you have no other option. For example I have FTTC and Community Fibre. If the Altnet then decides to price hike at the end of the contract I'll simply leave and go back to FTTC. But obviously if I didn't have FTTC I'll have to comply and pay extra for the price hike should it happen.
Do you have another family member with you in the same home? You could try to cancel your service and then make your other member sign up for a new deal then they'll get a cheaper offer as a new customer!
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Having VM available but no Openreach is unlikely.
What wording does the Openreach site use for your address?
Kris
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When I type in my postcode and house number into that OpenReach website, I get options, like:
Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband - Not yet available
Gfast Fibre Broadband - Available now
Superfast Fibre Broadband - Available now
Standard Broadband - Available now
This seems to indicate I have a few options for the line that is there now. But do all broadband providers charge for installation? Plusnet Fibre did (£50) when I started to sign up with them when USwitch said it was free on their site! And I was further scared off by threats of charges of £65+ if I wasn't in the house when the engineer turned up. So as of now, I don't know what to do, as I don't think I could even afford the switch and any extra charges that might entail.
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That looks good.
So whilst you can’t get FTTP (fibre to the premises) you can get fibre to the cabinet or gfast which is faster and relatively rare.
I would suggest checking how much someone like Now TV would cost for install as they’re only about £23 per month.
All of this is really about knowing what your options are so you can be in a better position to renegotiate with VM. Whether you’ll actually leave VM is up to you but I would suggest knowing the options if you are unhappy with what they suggest.
Kris
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But do all broadband providers charge for installation? Plusnet Fibre did (£50) when I started to sign up with them when USwitch said it was free on their site!
I upgraded to FTTP last week. Zero installation cost and £29.99 a month for 24 months. I think it's essential to ring and speak to a CS agent and do a bit of haggling. 99% of the time you'll find the folk at PlusNet very helpful, friendly and what is by far the most important for me is I can understand what is being said. I've experienced the other 1% once in the last 20 odd years and I just rang back the next day  .
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£29.99 a month for 24 months. May be you should have used the word 'initially' before above as it will go up in March but still a good price for a 300/50 service.
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When I type in my postcode and house number into that OpenReach website, I get options, like:
Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband - Not yet available
Gfast Fibre Broadband - Available now
Superfast Fibre Broadband - Available now
Standard Broadband - Available now
There is more technical info, including what speeds you're likely to get, at https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/
If you share a screenshot of this, with your address blanked out, we can advise what sort of service you're likely to get.
You've said G.fast is available; this suggests that you're close to the cabinet, in which case a standard FTTC service is likely to run at the maximum possible 80M down/20M up, or you could buy a marginally cheaper 40M/10M service. Either way will match or beat your current Virgin service.
Do all broadband providers charge for installation?
No. Most of them are free or a nominal charge like £10 "P&P" for the router. But of course, you're often bound into a typical 18-24 month contract, which is how they recoup the setup costs they have.
Some of them give cashback, either in the form of a prepaid Mastercard, or if you signup via a cashback site like Topcashback or Quidco.
I was further scared off by threats of charges of £65+ if I wasn't in the house when the engineer turned up.
It's standard. Normally an engineer visit isn't required for activating a service, but in your case with the line having been unused for "decades", you should definitely go with it. They may put a new master socket and/or faceplate on.
You should get an AM/PM appointment slot, and Openreach are fairly good at keeping to them. I'd take AM if possible, as it's less likely the engineer will have been delayed at another job.
So as of now, I don't know what to do, as I don't think I could even afford the switch and any extra charges that might entail.
I don't understand what you're saying. You could find your monthly charge goes down from £46.50 to around £25, which over 2 years would save you over £500 - so it's more a question of how you can afford *not* to do this.
Also this is a benchmark. Get an online quote from a low-end ISP like Vodafone, go back to Virgin and say "I'm going to Vodafone at £x per month unless you drastically reduce your pricing, at least match what you're offering new customers". The chances are that they'll do so, especially if it means they're getting you to sign a contract with Virgin. But if they don't, it's really not a big deal to switch to an Openreach-based service, and could save you huge money.
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You could mitigate that £46 a month by moving your mobile contract to O2. With both O2 and VirginMedia contracts you get "Volt Benefits". VM move you up to the next speed package and O2 double your data allowance. My O2 contract halved the cost of my mobile and increased my VM speed from 125 Mbps to 250Mbps. This will keep me happy until BRSK completes fibering up my local area.
 A friend surfing in |
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As others have said it looks like you can order broadband from any ISP who uses Openreach, there is one subject not mentioned, and judging by your responses needs to be addressed, if you use virgin email you will need to change that.
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One other thing to consider. If you phone up VM retentions and can't do a deal and leave, you will be a new customer after 3 months. Or, if you have a partner at the same address, you can leave and get your partner to sign up as a new customer. Of course, the price will still increase every March(?) + CPI.
You could also try for SOGEA as you have indicated you can get FTTC if you don't need a phone.
Also burble's point about the email is very valid, and if you are using VM's email, I would suggest moving asap. There is something afoot at VM around emails at the moment, e.g. all accounts now have to have a 3rd party email address, e.g. Gmail etc. Suspicions are that VM could soon be dropping email services or moving it to a 3rd party.?
Edited by Adduxi (Fri 01-Dec-23 14:23:13)
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That looks good.
So whilst you can’t get FTTP (fibre to the premises) you can get fibre to the cabinet or gfast which is faster and relatively rare.
I would suggest checking how much someone like Now TV would cost for install as they’re only about £23 per month.
All of this is really about knowing what your options are so you can be in a better position to renegotiate with VM. Whether you’ll actually leave VM is up to you but I would suggest knowing the options if you are unhappy with what they suggest.
I've got Now Broadband's Super Fibre package ready to select when I talk to Virgin Media, but it doesn't say if it has FTTC or GFast at all, or not that I could see.
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I've got Now Broadband's Super Fibre package ready to select when I talk to Virgin Media, but it doesn't say if it has FTTC or GFast at all, or not that I could see. Do Now Broadband even offer G.fast or FTTP when technically available to the property? I thought they only offered ADSL and FTTC products.
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I don't think Now Broadband offer G.fast. You can see a list of packages here. https://www.thinkbroadband.com/packages/gfast-broadband Usually Superfast is referred to FTTC and Ultrafast is for G.fast and FTTP.
The cheapest G.fast package is £28 for 150Mbps with free setup from TalkTalk. G.fast is faster than FTTC so you are amongst the 5.7% of the country who have G.fast available! You can get between 150-300Mbps using G.fast while with FTTC max is 80/20Mbps.
You can switch to any of these providers or try to haggle with VM. There's a possibility that then VM will try to give you a cheaper offer since they won't want to lose you as customer. But even if they still refuse to give you an offer. You can still switch to G.fast or FTTC for the time being and once your contract is over then you can switch back to VM 12/18/24 months later depending on your contract.
There is also Cerberus https://www.cerberusnetworks.co.uk/connectivity-broa...
Their service is not G.fast but rather SOGFAST for £42 it is actually expensive but you'll get 150Mbps download and 30Mbps upload and is still 3 times faster than your current package with VM while being £4 cheaper a month.
SOGFAST is basically the same thing as G.fast but without analogue phone service. Just as SOGEA is FTTC without phone service.
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I've got Now Broadband's Super Fibre package ready to select when I talk to Virgin Media, but it doesn't say if it has FTTC or GFast at all, or not that I could see. Do Now Broadband even offer G.fast or FTTP when technically available to the property? I thought they only offered ADSL and FTTC products.
Correct. but its a 12 month contract which is good.. Downer is that the service can go blip for a few seconds around midnight!
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I called Virgin Media retentions just now and told them I was going to go over to either Now Broadband or Plusnet, and rejected a few of their offers until I beat them down to:
The same broadband package, for £27 a month for 18 months
They were trying to offer TV, then faster broadband, but I rejected it all, and after searching for a while, the helpful lady offered me the above and I accepted after a few moments' thought.
I think it's quite reasonable, it's about £19.50 saved per month, and I'm quite satisfied with that.
I've got the new contract on my email and the monthly payment has been changed accordingly, and I asked for the date of the bill payment to be changed as well, which took almost as long for some reason, but it's all done now.
Thanks for the helpful advice, everyone! I'm glad we got there in the end!
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Downer is that the service can go blip for a few seconds around midnight! Yes I've seen that happen on the Sky broadband network but it does depend on the routers IP what time of the day it will happen.
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Well done, sounds like a good outcome!
Just set a calendar reminder to repeat this process when your VM price is due to go up again
Kris
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Every time my contract is up I phone up, they give a poor deal, I say stick notice and and then like clockwork a phone call comes through a week or so later from outbound retentions. They actually offer a reasonable price and round and round we go.
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1 - Make sure marketing calls/emails enabled on your account.
2 - Ring up and actually give notice dont play around, make it clear you are prepared to leave by actually giving notice.
3 - They should ring you up at least once before the cutoff date with some kind of offer better than what you will get on a inbound call to them.
--
I see after posting this you got some kind of deal out of them, thats good, but I will keep my post here so you have notes for 18 months time.
Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 04-Dec-23 19:17:10)
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