Contemplating a switch to Virgin Media - advice please

Hello everyone!

I'm contemplating switching from Plusnet to Virgin Media, and would appreciate any advice or experience please.

My current package (monthly cost):
Plusnet Extra (minus £1 for a referral): £10.49
Line rental (non-Plusnet free eve & w/e) + calls averages about £15
TOTAL: about £25.50

What I might switch to (monthly cost):
Virgin Media "Classic Collection": £9 (for the first 6 months) then £18
Line rental: £13.90 or £10 (if pay £120 up front for the first year)
TOTAL: £22.90 (for the first 6 months) then £31.90, OR (if I pay £120 up front for the first year) £19 (for the first 6 months) then £28
Plus one-off £49.95 connection fee (waived if I order online before the end of tomorrow, 31st October)
Plus one-off £75 discount if I order online before the end of tomorrow, 31st October
Best price: £24.58 IF I don't spend any money on calls (ie no daytime calls in the week, and no calls to non-geographical numbers)
(Best price calculated over 24 months by averaging out the different monthly prices for the first 6 months and the second 6 months, and taking the line rental saver for the first year, and averaging out the one-off discounts)

Benefits of switching for me - a TiVo box so I can record TV and watch Catch-Up services on my television, HD channels, faster broadband (I currently get around 6300kbps with Plusnet on 21CN ADSL2, and the buffering part-way through on streaming video (and sometimes streaming audio) is annoying).

Possible downside - poor customer service from Virgin Media.

What do you think? Would you make the switch?

If it was me and I could get cable, would definitely move to virgin. There are good and bad reviews for all ISPs. Unless you try you never know.
Only downside is 12 months contract and movement of line back if dissatisfied.

I've been with Virgin since April, and the only downside so far has been lack of communication from them regarding the double speed upgrades (first it was July, then it was December-March, then changed back to October, and finally done about a week ago).

I came from a long line ADSL connection which could only achieve 6Mb on ADSL2+, and the difference is night and day. You can do so much more with even the base tier (30Mb) connection. The lack of buffering when streaming HD content online, and being able to dowload large files such as new game purchases and updates in minutes rather than hours is worth the change alone.

I would however sign up over at the Virgin Community forums and have a read through the posts there to make sure your local area isn't subject to the blight of the Virgin customer: Over-utilisation. http://community.virginmedia.com/

Also have a read of their Traffic Management policies for the connection tier you're thinking of signing up to, to make sure they fit in with the way you currently use the internet. Pay particular attention to the graphical tables provided on this page: http://help.virginmedia.com/system/viewArticle.jsp?u...

Good luck!

Edited by deleted (Tue 30-Oct-12 18:16:21)

I made the switch, but in reverse!

Cable is very good service, but they kept putting the price up! Customer service was almost non-existent, but most ISPs seem to be the same.

If you are lucky and nothing goes wrong, you'll wonder why you didn't move earlier. If you are unlucky and something goes wrong you'll regret "jumping ship".

Just don't expect them to keep the price low and don't expect them to give a hoot if something goes wrong.

Good luck!