At the moment we have a package with Sky that includes tv, broadband and phone but are looking to change to save money. We don't need a landline anymore as everyone in the house has a mobile. We don't watch a lot of telly and feel that paying for Sky doesn't give us good value. I therefore have questions about two services:
1. Broadband: Can anyone recommend a decent broadband provider that doesn't insist on providing other services like phone or tv? There are up to four of us using internet at any one time, my youngest in particular wants high speeds for gaming. We're quite happy with Sky broadband and will talk to them, but from memory they're only interested in selling bundles. We don't want to go with TalkTalk as we had a previous bad experience and still hold a grudge. There is no Virgin service in our part of Essex.
2. Telly: We're looking to go with Freesat. Anyone got experience of this, is it any good?
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
Stig
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Comments
It's been excellent until recently when for technical reasons the ITV1 HD channel (only) has started to pixelate. ITV blame Panasonic and vice versa. Fortunately I have a TalkTalk box I can switch over to. I understand that it's not a problem with more recent products which rather indicates it is a Panasonic issue.
It's hard to check whether TVs have a tuner built-in or not. I understand some Samsung models have one but don't list it in the spec!
The basic channel selection is fine. If you need to get a box the Humax ones seem to have the best reputation.
Note that you will lose some HD channels, like ITV2, 3 and 4. $ky subsidise ITV's out put on these to make their HD package sound more attractive. Channel 5 has recently left the $ky paywall and is available on Freesat.
More info of channels, etc here joinfreesat.co.uk
Stability of the connection is generally more important than speeds for gaming as gaming is actually low data (most of the computing is done on the console/pc). Fibre solves both problems, but there can still be problems if you have issues with your copper phone line between the cabinet and your house. It also goes wrong a lot less as it is a modern technology design for purpose rather than reversed engineer around an existing infrastructure. Equally most people will need it in 5-10 years as everything moves to digital distribution. Saying all that BT Openreach are being pretty slack about rolling it out nationwide.
I have a Humax Freeview box for my TV needs, One off payment of approx £200 to buy it and that's it.
Re broadband, I think only virgin have no line rental. As others have said, call sky and tell them you want to leave and they will do you a deal.
For the TV, I got a Roku box in the living room (One off £70) and an Apple TV (One off £6)) in the Bedroom with. With Netflix (£7 p/m) and Sky's Now TV (£7p/m) I've got access to just about anything I could ever want, for under £30 a month and working on up to 3 devices.
If there's a special day of football on TV you can even get a day pass via Now TV for Sky Sports.
I'm not on their fibre product so can't say what that's like however as it's using Openreach, it'll be similar to BT Retail. The other good thing about Plusnet is that they are very open and honest with their traffic management system and so you'll be able to see when and how throughput speeds are prioritised depending on what you use. AFAIK gaming is given a high priority but loads of info about speeds etc available at http://support.plus.net
Not trying to sell it to you as I have nothing to gain! I've also just got their basic calls package (weekends I believe) as I don't use my landline either (and if you use the BT infrastructure you'll need a landline connection regardless so this is unavoidable).
In terms of TV, it may not help but I've just got Freeview through my TV. No box or anything. Works for me.
The John Lewis thing is indicated to be a "joint enterprise". I suspect - I could be wrong - that Plusnet, that is BT in reality, are merely paying John Lewis a fee to use their name and run all the actual business operations.
Not saying any of this is bad necessarily, just that you might not get who you think. In the same way that Virgin Media is nothing to do with Richard Branson; it's wholly owned by Liberty Capital which just pays Branson a fee for use of the Virgin brand.
It also often comes top in Which ratings and industry surveys for customer satisfaction while BT comes bottom. It has been one of the most successful parts of the business and has been given autonomy.
Having also been an ex-employee, we were told that John-Lewis outsourced to Plunet due to how highly rated the customer support was. Could of been BS though.
There was a definite correlation to Mac ownership to John Lewis accounts.
Bloke from sky calls up about a week later, willing to go even cheaper, declined that politely as well, told him I am getting
a digi recording box, £250 one off fee.
He did say he could understand that as no monthly outgoings, been with them for 20years plus, time will tell if it is the right decision.
Just hate what sky have become plus we ain't going to be on a lot either.
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It is confusing and unhelpful that Sky decided to brand their product "Freesat from Sky" because I think there are differences between what channels are available.
To back up the John Lewis, before Plusnet took over their customer base (which included Waitrose and Greenbee), their support was based at the BizWorks call centre in Durban, South Africa. They were very well thought of and indeed when I went over to help train them on Plusnet products etc they were great. Anyway, John Lewis customers were naturally worried that the high support would fall, which it didn't, and when the support got moved wholly to Sheffield (circa 2011) it continued to do well.
But yes the reason we got the contract for John Lewis was due to the awards and customer service.
It is a shame they are hamstrung but how crazy the telecommunications system is in this country. Something I believe has it roots in the decision to give BT ownership of the physical line, unlike Network Rail. Unless you are talk talk, Virgin or live in Hull on some level everyone is using and paying for BT.
Anyway, will leave Stig's thread alone now. Glad to have helped.
I can't deal with being suckered in to picking and choosing packages to remove.
It seems to get the price to stay at £55 I have to phone up to cancel, be offered a better deal which I decline, then in the lead up to the expiry date expect a call reducing the price further.
Putting the game-playing BS to one side, given the package price without discounts is £92, what would their likely ballpark best and final price offer be? I have no idea what constitutes rock bottom for them {...£40, £50, £60, £70, £80...} so don't know how far I can push it.
I haven't gone there yet as am happy with my BT sport and broadband.
I can't say how easy it is to get what you want but it doesn't sound all that hard. Can even pay a bit extra for a pre-loaded stick if your IT skills are very basic. I think you probably need to know which is your HDMI socket and maybe be able to follow some you tube instructions if you want to take it as far as you can.
I phoned up Sky and got a decent 12 month deal. I've cut my outgoings from £80pm to <£30pm. I've still got broadband, the landline I didn't want and all the basic tv channels. The box still works fine, though I did lose some of my recordings depending on what channel they were from. I'm pretty happy with this though.
The only channels I've missed to date are Dave and Gold which are both full of old repeats anyway, so it's hardly that much of a miss.
Thanks all!
original offer was £55 said no want to cancel rang me a week later and offered £40
No problems with Freesat at all, just that you don't get Dave or London Live.