@carl_pearce wrote:
@mojo_working wrote:
Well after over 20 years with ntlworld then Virgin I'm finally leaving. After numerous hour long failed attempts to agree a new contract via telesales and chat lines we're nearing the end of the 30 day termination period. I've been emailed a contract by a telesales agent which on scrutiny contained no service details of the broadband/TV/telephone package on; nevertheless the agent said I should accept this because told me all I needed to know over the phone! A 'please stay with us' email contract offer was made some weeks later via a link which could not open the contract details and which suggested I therefore contacted the chatline; said chat line staff said they could not activate the email offer. You could not make it up. As said by many others, customer focus and service is at the bottom of the Virgin Media list of priorities. I suspect VM must be loosing customers at a rate of knots. Will VM still exist in a year's time?
Yes, it will take much longer than that to self distruct based on the current customer count.
It downwards though. Many long standing customers going now due to unfair 18 month contracts with 2 price increases you don't know about the amounts upfront and no escape clauses without huge fees.
VM will probably just try to milk the remaining customer base to survive. I think we are starting to see this happen now.
ALTNETS in a year time and even BT FTTP will be much more aggressive in roll out. Some will die, some will be swallowed because of debt, but likes of Netomnia, Cityfibre and CommunityFibre and a couple of others should still be going and even bigger.
NexFibre and Wholesale access on converted HFC (to FTTP) network is their best bet to survive and they know that. Their wholesale pricing though (even lower than residential pricing direct today) will determine whether BT wholesale or NexFibre/VM wholesale will win the customers and the bigger ALTNET pricing strategy/product offering.
