House Move query

[PhilSt]

Just endured a total waste of 60 minutes on webchat, type something wait 10 minutes, get an irrelevant predefined paragraph that misses the point.

I am paying virgin £180 a month, maxit tv + sky sports/movies, 2 tv360 boxes, M250., It's way too much. I'm out of contract which is good. And in Feb/Mar will be moving house. Good news (!) is the new house is covered by VM right up to the 2GB service. But not TV360. Which is what I found out in the 60 minutes of pain. They would give me a new box (presumably Virgin Stream) "free of charge" (how generous) - looks like its a £30 one off charge anyway.

So if I understand, I can't have TV360 box, can only have VIrgin Stream, but I guess I can take Sky Stream. So I can just kill my current package - which is out of contract - when we move and can take out a new broadband only contract as a new customer (or my wife can). And then either opt for Virgin Stream box, or Sky Stream and subscribe to sky sports/movies/tnt etc. And I could overlap them to have broadband operative in both locations for a short period.

Anything wrong with that logic? Any way I can discuss it with a human being in a real conversation? Alternative is I just leave virgin altogether but i'm happy with broadband, and as a new customer the rates for the first 18 months are attractive.

Any views from anyone at Virgin? There is no point renewing the contract here though their starting bid is £144.

[newapollo · Accepted solution]

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@PhilSt wrote:

I am paying virgin £180 a month, maxit tv + sky sports/movies, 2 tv360 boxes, M250 .And in Feb/Mar will be moving house. Good news (!) is the new house is covered by VM right up to the 2GB service. But not TV360. They would give me a new box (presumably Virgin Stream) "free of charge" (how generous) - looks like its a £30 one off charge anyway.

So if I understand, I can't have TV360 box, can only have VIrgin Stream, but I guess I can take Sky Stream. So I can just kill my current package - which is out of contract - when we move and can take out a new broadband only contract as a new customer (or my wife can). And then either opt for Virgin Stream box, or Sky Stream and subscribe to sky sports/movies/tnt etc.

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It sounds like your new house will be on VM's Full Fibre (XGS-PON) network. Only the Stream (now renamed Flex) TV set top boxes which broadcast over the internet are available because the new network doesn't use the older traditional cable which is needed for the 360 boxes. Neither VM or Sky streaming boxes have hard drives so you would no longer have recording facilities, although most programs will be available via internet based catch up/on demand services.

Pricing does vary but for a new customer in Full Fibre areas VM currently offer the Mega TV + Sky Sports HD & Sky Cinema HD + M500 Full Fibre Broadband for £79.99 a month which is similar to what you already have, although TNT Sports would cost an additional £18 per month as they are now an optional add on (Warner Bros/Discovery no longer allow TNT Sports to be included in packages) You would also need to add on the cost of additional set top boxes, currently £10 a month extra for the first additional box and then £5 extra a month for each subsequent additional box.

You can have up to 6 Stream (Flex) boxes on the Mega TV package.

If just wanting the basic broadband, addingStream (Flex) TV might include a set up fee which is currently £10, although it has been £35 in the past, along with an additional £5 a month for the basic channels. There's a list of the TV channels on the following page 

/virgin-tv-edit/tips-and-tricks/stream-from-virgin-media-channel-guide 

The basic channels are in column 1. The additional Essential Entertainment channels cost £15 a month and they are shown in column 2.

Other optional costs at present:-

Sky Sports SD is £31.75 a month.  If you want to add HD then it's an additional £7 a  month.  Sky Sports Ultra HD (add-on to Sky Sports) an additional £7/month

TNT Sports is an additional £18 a month a month (the channels are all in HD and include TNT Sports Ultimate) 

Sky Cinema HD £21.00 a month

Sky Sports HD + Sky Cinema SD bundle: £39.25/month or HD bundle £46.25 

Premier Sports: £15.99/month

Kids Pick: £5/month

Netflix Standard (HD) plan at £10.99/month or the Premium (4K) plan at £17.99/month. 

Disney+ Premium £10.99 a month

There's a 10% saving which is applied to your monthly bill for any full price addons such as Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and Essential Entertainment that you take and pay through VM.

[PhilSt]

Thanks very much. That makes a lot more sense than the webchat which was 60 minutes of frustration. It looks to me like Sky Stream may be a better option, linked to a new 1Gig or 2Gig Virgin Broadband package as a new customer. Seems a better set of channels albeit maybe slightly more expensive for some of the addons without discounts (but gets Sky Atlantic which has always been a VM frustration!). Since I am out of contract I can presumably just take out the new broadband as a new customer whenever I'm ready in the new property, and cancel the existing package when we move out of this one.

Thanks again, all makes sense now!