broadband which provider?

[mandco]

We are currently with virgin - tv & broadband but my contract is coming to an end and the price is set to go up quite a bit.
Not overly bothered about the tv channels as the kids mostly watch netflix & youtube but good broadband is essential

I have seen a deal with sky for basic tv channels & broadband for around £40 a month but not sure if that is really that good a deal

[JanetteP]

I'm with Virgin and I leave every year unless they can give me the same deal as a new customer. Virgin broadband is far superior to Sky. I currently pay £50 a month for XL TV, BB and anytime calls. Black Friday deal from last year. Check the cashback sites or go through to retentions, and never take the first offer.

[JLH]

I left virgin and have just gone back because of their broadband is much better . I have tried sky and BT but virgin wins . I didn’t think BT was too bad but my children that game a lot used to complain .

[400ixl]

Gaming is as much about the connection between the user device and the router as it is the broadband connection. Latency across the BB suppliers these days is much the same unless you are really on a congested exchange where unbundled providers may have an advantage. Virgin are not on the same exchanges, but do also have congestion issues in some locations.

It is best to be on a wired connection for gaming devices. Not always easy with running ethernet cables around the house, so these powerline adaptors can be useful and still work better than wireless.

For non latency applications like streaming that can buffer the content wireless will be fine. If you can maintain 4-6Mbps bandwidth per device then that is sufficient for HD content for Netflix etc. Then have some headroom for other activities.

From a supplier point of view, I would avoid TalkTalk, they are cheap and when it works it works. Have any issues and it is extremely painful and you will wish you had gone elsewhere.

Other than that look at the price that is being offered, with the speed they will be providing, along with anything else that is attached that you may want to take advantage of. Some offer discounts on mobile phones for example, others have included calls. Only you can decide which deal fits you.

Good luck, there are lots of options out there. Just take your time and do a comparison list of features, speed, price etc to help you decide.

[duchy]

We kept Virgin for years as my husband liked it was "faster". With the latency issues in our area I was less convinced.
In the end after yet more issues with them and my dislike of their off shore BB support that was useless (I object to lies) I changed provider and moved from 150 meg to 40 with Sky ... (we've since upgraded again and now get 70) two months later my husband still hadn't noticed any difference ,so I told him we'd moved.
I would say all BB suppliers are not equal , even when using the same infrastructure so should be in theory. It's down to competency and systems for troubleshooting and how proactive they are at providing engineers when needed. I had a friend with a BB problem that to me clearly needed an Openreach engineer (and that's my area of expertise , I know what I'm talking about) and her provider absolutely refused and felt below advertised speeds and constant dropouts with her connection (connection not wifi) was acceptable. I was appalled.

[WhereIBelong]

we are with virgin here and will stay as we are very happy. We are over in Gloucestershire in one of the first Telewest/NTL networks and that infrastructure certainly seems robust.

We have had maybe 3 days worth of outage in that time (20+ years)

I am going to really jinx myself now - but... I nave NEVER had to call about speed issues, in fact have never had to call support at all. Have done the usual annual "what can you do to reduce costs, or do I need to look elsewhere?" call, but over here in the West I have certainly no issues. Neighbours have a mix - Virgin, BT, Sky, no one with Talk-Talk any more, Sky seems to be "second best" but a bit cheaper, BT ok.

they don't seem to have many OpenReach engineers over here, so issues can last a while.

[Tco200]

BT, definitely BT, always BT!

(I may or may not work at a large British Telecom company)

[ClaireNJ]

BT so expensivewe paid £58 a month just for top Broadband & anytime calls, Hubbie always wanted to stay with them & have an email with them too, managed at last to get him to go back to Sky tv, now have cheapest broadband too, Ulitmate on Demand( Netflix)and entertainment package anytime calls £43.80 18 month deal even when ends still better than BT & the Broadband is fine too 🙌🙌

[the_weird_one]

Virgin Media, its the only way I can get a fibre connection.

To use any other connection I'd be limited to 3-7Mb on an ADSL connection and speaking to BT to try to change away from Virgin (cost related not service/speed) there's no plan in upgrading our exchange until 2021!

[mandco]

we stayed with virgin last time as they do the highest bb speeds in my area but honestly the Bb is pretty rubbish .We currently have the 100 but get no where near that and its always dropping out or lagging so a little worried that if I go with someone who has a lower speed anyway its going to be even worse.

I called today to tell them I was thinking of leaving and they have offered me the same tv package but with the BB upgraded to 200 for the same price I am currently paying. Not sure if its really that good a deal but the BB speed would be far superior to the alternatives I can get and it would also save the hassle of changing over. What do you think?