Author Topic: U.K. - Internet costs  (Read 12360 times)

webcat86

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U.K. - Internet costs
« on: April 26, 2016, 05:26:34 AM »
I'm currently with Virgin media paying £42 for fibre optic broadband, phone and TV. Unfortunately this is locked in until October and at that point I'd like to really cut this bill, but I'm having some trouble.

Looking around, Virgin themselves have little difference between my current package and only having broadband. I'm happy to move to other providers but again, it seems the big fee is the line rental, so even cheap broadband costs are almost £30

I'd really appreciate advice if anyone has theirs cheaper. Only thing is we do have a number of devices and do lots of streaming so fast connection is important.

Drifterrider

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2016, 05:41:29 AM »
This is the first time I've ever seen anything in the UK cost less than in the US :)

financialfreedom

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2016, 05:44:15 AM »
Plus.net

mohawkbrah

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2016, 05:44:30 AM »
the only way i can see perhaps beating the line rental scam is to go for mobile internet only. like 4g on your phone or on a simcard stuck into an internet dongle for a laptop/pc?

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2016, 05:51:11 AM »
We are on broadband only with Virgin and pay £26 pm, we don't have line rental or TV. (Looking at the website this may now be the Virgin 50 package which is currently £30.25). Always call and say that you want to join/switch away and can they do a better price?

Before I worked from home and needed reliable internet I'd take advantage of a lot of the sign up offers, and then switch every 12-18 months using Topcashback - MSE keeps on top of the decent offers.

Are you in London? If so check out Radish.

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2016, 05:51:36 AM »
This is the first time I've ever seen anything in the UK cost less than in the US :)

You can't have seen our cell phone contracts then! USA ones are outrageous

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2016, 05:53:03 AM »
We are on broadband only with Virgin and pay £26 pm, we don't have line rental or TV. (Looking at the website this may now be the Virgin 50 package which is currently £30.25). Always call and say that you want to join/switch away and can they do a better price?

Before I worked from home and needed reliable internet I'd take advantage of a lot of the sign up offers, and then switch every 12-18 months using Topcashback - MSE keeps on top of the decent offers.

Are you in London? If so check out Radish.

No I'm in Kent, near London.

How do you not pay line rental? They all seem to charge that from what I've seen. I have called but I'm locked in until October so they won't reduce the price.

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2016, 05:57:09 AM »
Plus.net

Special offer of free broadband for 12 months then 9.99 but always 16.99 line rental. But as soon as you go into unlimited download fibre the cost gets comparable - 16.99 line rental, £15 broadband. It's not bad but I feel it's expensive compared to what I have now for not much more money

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2016, 09:21:04 AM »
See http://store.virginmedia.com/broadband/compare-broadband/index.html; there is a red toggle switch between 'Broadband and Phone' and 'Broadband.' The Broadband ones don't require line rental.

I've only seen this from Virgin as they don't use the phone lines.

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2016, 01:29:21 AM »
See http://store.virginmedia.com/broadband/compare-broadband/index.html; there is a red toggle switch between 'Broadband and Phone' and 'Broadband.' The Broadband ones don't require line rental.

I've only seen this from Virgin as they don't use the phone lines.

Cheapest there is £30 though, am I wrong for thinking that's expensive for a single product?

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2016, 03:10:48 AM »
I don't need a phone line and don't need paid TV, so it's irrelevant to me what else comes with the package; £30 for fast internet only is better for me than £31 for fast internet plus anything thing else I don't need.

If you are getting £12 of value from your phone line and TV then that will be different for you.

OTOH: does anyone use a landline any more? I have the old landline number for my house that I use for credit applications but I haven't ever owned a landline phone - even when I had internet that required line rental there was never a phone plugged into it.

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2016, 05:38:02 AM »
I don't need a phone line and don't need paid TV, so it's irrelevant to me what else comes with the package; £30 for fast internet only is better for me than £31 for fast internet plus anything thing else I don't need.

If you are getting £12 of value from your phone line and TV then that will be different for you.

OTOH: does anyone use a landline any more? I have the old landline number for my house that I use for credit applications but I haven't ever owned a landline phone - even when I had internet that required line rental there was never a phone plugged into it.

I probably do get £12 value from it. The issue for me is i feel that the total cost is unnecessary and the money could be better used. The problem is 3/4 of it seems immovable

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2016, 05:50:28 AM »
Do you have a friendly neighbour that you could piggyback off? Could you use your mobile phone as a wifi hotspot?

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2016, 05:57:27 AM »
Do you have a friendly neighbour that you could piggyback off? Could you use your mobile phone as a wifi hotspot?

No not really - we are heavy users and do lots of streaming too so neither option is really viable

undercover

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2016, 06:50:45 AM »
Why does Virgin even require you to have a phone line? That seems silly.

At any rate, your prices are definitely cheaper than the cable in my area. I pay £26 for 12/mo for 60Mbps (no phone or TV), then £40/mo (I'm in the US, just converting for you). So you're still getting a much better deal, either way you look at it. Until Google Fiber is widespread, internet access in the US is still the worst in the world.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2016, 07:07:06 AM »
Virgin don't require you to have a phone line.

webcat86

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #16 on: April 27, 2016, 07:21:09 AM »
Why does Virgin even require you to have a phone line? That seems silly.

At any rate, your prices are definitely cheaper than the cable in my area. I pay £26 for 12/mo for 60Mbps (no phone or TV), then £40/mo (I'm in the US, just converting for you). So you're still getting a much better deal, either way you look at it. Until Google Fiber is widespread, internet access in the US is still the worst in the world.

They don't require you to have a phone line (although most others do) it's just that the cost difference is largely insignificant. Great if you want the TV and phone but impossible to reduce the cost much if you don't.

Drifterrider

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Re: U.K. - Internet costs
« Reply #17 on: April 27, 2016, 10:09:24 AM »
This is the first time I've ever seen anything in the UK cost less than in the US :)

You can't have seen our cell phone contracts then! USA ones are outrageous

I've never seen any cell phone contract :)

I have a TracFone.  $15 phone, I buy minutes and time as I need it.