Virgin Media broadband packages vs other broadband providers

[jenfamily1]

Hello all & a happy new year,

this is the second post I've posted this evening, the other a more technical issue.

I have a contract which expires in October 2024 for the following:

Telephone line rental £19 per month, talk more anytime £8pmth,3 x V6 boxes either £10 for the first two & £5 for the 3rd one & £50 to have the broadband & TV package ( the old one was called the 'full house' ) 75% of the channels aren't used! I pay £90 per month with some discounts, I don't have any film or Sports packages. I just wonder what with a cost of living / energy crisis how there seems to be other broadband providers offering without TV & phone ( most landlines aren't used by anyone these days ) as little as £17 per month? I used to have Sky but the broadband speed was rubbish as it used a BT copper cable but surely now there must be plenty of providers able to use fibre optic. Why is it so important to Virgin to keep a land line as part of a package in order to allegedly keep prices competitive. What are the advantages to stay with Virgin and not defect to these other much cheaper companies?

[goslow · Accepted solution]

You have (kind of) answered your own question.

VM has been/is a provider of cable TV, landline and broadband. All of those services are now gradually converging, and can be accessed, on a broadband-only connection.

The main advantage VM has had in the past has been that of speed. In many areas, VM is still the fastest provider in town (although that too is rapidly diminishing as fibre optic connections become the norm).

So, in attempt to keep all of its services still running and generating income, VM 'compels' customers to take more than one service by discounting a bundle of services instead of only taking a fast broadband connection. Often a customer takes out broadband and a (unused) landline as the price is cheaper. The customer gets the fastest broadband connection available for their area and VM gets a contribution from the customer to prop up its landline services.

For those customers with no fast alternatives who want the speed from a VM connection, this is how it has always worked and will continue to work until fast connections become the norm, at which point VM's pricing model will collapse!

As for the advantage of staying with VM, for most it is the highest speed available in their particular area. Some people enjoy the TV bundles and the recording features of the TV boxes. VM's telephone landline is a poor offering IMHO and certainly seems to be going through a whole range of teething troubles as connections move from the traditional wall socket to a connection from the back of the VM hub.

As you have already mentioned, with the present cost of living issues, many people are having to make economies and put together their own packages of services for things they actually need/want rather than bundles which VM 'compels' them to have.