if I switch from consumer to business broadband...

[cybmole]

i understand that I get a different router, and that I lose the TIVO. both those things are OK

 The busines offer says that for 42 per month I can have a 350 speed broadband and a phoneline with unlimited calls

 it is not clear whether I can keep my existing  virgin landline number though and how I should go about arranging that.

 it is also unclear if unlimited calls included unlimited calls to UK mobiles ? which is what we have now on our VM phone

 if both those thinks can be sorted I would rather pay 42 than my existing 64, and lose the Tivo which we hardly use.

 i appreciate also the my various old blueyonder etc email addresses will probably die but how long do I get to migrate those ?. or should I work on that first, then do the swap later.

 i have most emails shifted to gmail but a few stragglers sill com in on blue yonder / virgin media addresses

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has done a similar switch, has to how smooth it is.

for the £50 install fee, I assume someone comes and actually swaps out and tests the new router, put is in same upstairs location as the current hub 3, and does not leave until it is working

[-tony-]

why not ring retentions and negotiate a new deal without the tivo or at least try - less hassle if you can get to the £42 or near

dial 150 or 0345 454 1111 and follow the prompts to - 'thinking of leaving us' - then "technical issues" - dont worry about that they do much more - open 8am -10pm 7 days a week - should take you to a UK call centre

[cybmole]

thanks for the reply. That is an option but 2 reasons for not going the route of renegotiating the consumer package

 1. i recall from the last time I considered this that it is difficult to remove 1 item ( the TV) from a package,. We don't watch virgin tv so paying for it ( even at a discount) is a waste). I think it was the case that retentions cannot change you from all of BB + TV + Phone to just 2 out of 3. and the the package deals are structured so there is little or no saving in doing so. I could be wrong about that though.

 2. the business deal has the twin advantages of a) real UK technical phone support, not outsourced to folks with poor english who are technically incompetent .. b) a proper SLA  and priority service if there is a fault?

I am out of my last 18 month renewal period now so there shoudl be no penalty for the sideways move, but what concerns me is stuff falling down the cracks if VM business operate completely separately from VM consumer. I'd need some assurance that we can keep the current landline number and not have that turned off during a switch over. That is why it will be good to get feedback from any other VM customers who have gone this route

[ PS we already have  sky tv upstairs, and because we now have an xbox one in the lounge I could get catch up TV and box set access on that via Sky Go extra, for £5 per month if we want it. [ cheaper than sky multiroom, and we get 4 devices so i could also have it on a tablet ]. We have Amazon fire tV in two rooms already for everything else: Netflix, Amazon Video, Plex, I player, youtube.. plus the Tv itself a smart TV which duplicates most of that. I could alternative get now TV but that has no captions, which  is a show stopper ]. 

[chenks]

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@cybmole wrote:

not outsourced to folks with poor english who are technically incompetent

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plenty of uk based people fall into that category.
let's not turn this into a "nationality" issue!

[cybmole]

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@chenks wrote:

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@cybmole wrote:

not outsourced to folks with poor english who are technically incompetent

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plenty of uk based people fall into that category.
let's not turn this into a "nationality" issue!

ok let me rephrase. 

The folks who answer on 150 ( even in business hours) after VMs automated checks have failed, are very poorly trained.and would probably fail a GCSE level test in basic IT. They cannot answer the simplest question unless it is pre-answered on their crib sheets, and persist with lrrelevant questions such as how my devices are connected to the hub. I try to explain that the hub has only one cable, coming from an 8 way switch, and that my wifi mostly goes via an AP through that same switch, so asking me to check if my  wiifi works is pointless. I may as well be saying that in mandarin. they cannot comprehend it.

 and is seems the script now has them insist that you check the wifi even when windows troubleshooting is clearly reporting "you have LAN only, no internet, check your router."... and a favorite " solution" is still to say "rip the co-ax out of the back of the hub then put it back in again" 

 the additional fact that they cannot speak in understandable English, much of the time, does not help. I suspect but cannot prove that their ability to understand what I an saying, in English, is equally poor.

that last time i called, all that was actually needed was to reboot the hub, but I made the mistake of calling and asking if there was anything they needed to check first, or could they prod it back into life remotely before doing that.... stupid of me to ask and expect an intelligent reply.

 I really don't care where the call centre guys were born or in what country  live. I just want  them to speak and understand English and have some knowledge of how the equipment they "support" is supposed to work. is that too much to ask ?. [ apparently yes it is, if I ask trustpilot for their ratings]

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[Kippies · Accepted solution]

Ah cybmole always with the wildly technical. AP's and switches? 

I mean who in their right mind would expect a technical help line to ...well give you some technical help...

TBF the business lot aren't much better, Ive dealt with both. Fault response IS better, but the rest, especially LAN side support is actually (maybe?) worse. You and I have talked before and I doubt you would have any issues sorting out LAN side with a Hitron, so that likely not a concern for you.

Phone is going to be your issue- VM are migrating to VOIP for new customers so you would need to check if you are getting copper or VOIP and as for migration, its going to be a PITA because porting within a supplier doesn't work terribly well. If keeping the number is mission critical, might be better to port it to a VOIP supplier then BACK to VM if that makes sense?

[cybmole]

VOIP could be a showstopper.
I tried it with our Google home gadget and it lags, compared with copper. The lag put me off using it. Though maybe the GH implementation is poor. The idea of hey Google, phone xxxx z and having a free hands free phone call was attractive though.

Wife now says she likes the TiVo !!!!
So I may wait until they offer me a totally free and no strings attached upgrade to the V6, then hope she does not complain that the TiVo was better! We fortunately have one of the not too slow and not too noisy ones. Can't remember the last time I used it though. It's the adverts that drive me nuts, so I would rather get my shows from " other" sources which are advert free and binge watch once I have a whole season. .
The previous discount I got from retentions has expired, my rate want up £2. Plus some more for the annual price rise. And the loyalty saver on the phone line went away.

Losing our existing phone number would not be good, so maybe I should try a renegotiate.Its the one thing that just works, never needs rebooting, does not go offline for midday firmware forced upgrades... So I like copper!
I will read around to see what if anything VM are doing to get TiVo's out of service in favour of V6 as they have had time to fully debug those now ?. There is a wired connect to the lounge now, via my switches and a very long and cunningly concealed flat cat 6 cable from the upstairs hub , so dropping in a V6 should be trivial

[-tony-]

retentions is the plan i think - drop a few hints that sky is good and you are tempted - does not have to be true - final card to play is 30 days notice and hope outbound ring with an offer you cannot refuse - they are not guaranteed to thats the gamble

[cybmole]

I had a quick look at current packages. There is nothing now like mine . I have basic TV with vivid200.

They now pair basic TV with vivid50, middling TV with vivid100 ....

And I don't thing vivid200 is a thing now. It jumps from 100 to 350. they would probably upsell that to me but really I don't need it. We recently set up an Xbox one that needed some 50gb downloads and TBH they were plenty fast enough  on my "slow" 200 setup.

But I may ring them, play dumb and ask what they can do for me now that my previous loyalty discount has worn off...

And I could not see any swap TiVo for V6 offers. Maybe everyone except me did that long ago ???

[-tony-]

not sure where you are looking - they still do all the options 50 - 100 - 200 - 350 with phone - tv or whatever - basically you can mix and match as you want

its still true that the more you have the bigger the discounts they can apply

talk to retentions - see what they say