Getting rid of Virgin Media for Freeview recorder box

[FatboyKim]

We've lived in the same house for 8 or 9 years now and have had Virgin Media from day 1 moving in, just because it was all wired in already. We've been out of contract for years now, and I think are paying c.£65/month for 200mb fibre, the Virgin TV box, and home phone.

We can 100% live without the home phone because the only person who calls is my 84 year old grandmother, literally nobody else unless it's someone claiming to be from Amazon, HMRC, the police or Virgin Media themselves. I've had conversations with Virgin regarding removing the home phone from the package in the past but any account changes always seem to trigger going into a new 12 month contract, the lowest price being £68 for just the broadband and TV box, so we are kind of forced to remain out of contract.

We have a digital aerial, so assume are all set up to simply plug a Freeview box in, we can live with a slower speed broadband probably 100mb or so, for £20-25/month. We are in a good area for phone signal, so a dongle or mobile data box used as the broadband isn't out of the question, rather than having a physical line. The current Virgin TV box is on the lowest package (no films, sports etc.) and we don't watch a great deal of broadcast TV -- every channel we watch can be found on Freeview anyway.

Has anybody made similar changes in leaving Virgin in favour for a Freeview recorder box, or am I overlooking or not considering anything?

It will be this 'Manhattan T3' box: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8861715?clickSR=sl...

[Mr Pointy]

Do you have a physical copper phone line to the property? If you do that would give you more options for internet connection. Frankly if everything you watch is on Freeview it's a no brainer to drop Virgin Media & save money.

[FatboyKim]

This has all been triggered by simply wanting to get rid of the home phone anyway. Yes, I think there is a copper cable through the wall.

[jgmadkit]

Give VM a ring or use the chat. I was on the same price, just said cancel and go through with it, don't crack as they will offer you slightly lower prices each time. I got mine down to £24pm with an upgrade to the router and tv box to the latest versions for a one off £35 (old tivo box was dog slow and wifi router had terrible range), much better with the new boxes. Heard people get as low as £18pm.

[jackofall84]

I'm in a similar position to yourself and have thought about dropping Virgin down to internet only and here's what I've found out that can hopefully help you make a more informed decision.

Since you've been with Virgin for so long, it's going to be easiest to stay with them for internet services. If you were to leave for say BT or Talk Talk you would need to pay a re-connection fee to their infrastructure or re-installation, somewhere in the region of £150.

It's likely to be nearly as cheap to have a low grade bundle from Virgin as just having the internet alone from them. It's worth ringing them and threatening to leave, explaining you can get Internet from BT for £40/month. You'll most likely find they can offer you basic TV, basic phone (free calls at weekends) and internet for about £45/month including the TV box.

Internet alone is £44 from Virgin, so the TV package including their box is almost free anyway, and you'll then save on the cost of having to buy a Freeview box and the £150 re-connection fee to an alternative provider.

[LordHaveMurci]

I ditched the TV & phone line about a year ago, downgraded to 50mb b/b & it costs me £40.50 out of contract.

I’m sure I could do better on an 18mth contract but I keep toying with the idea of moving.

Edited by LordHaveMurci on Thursday 1st September 16:30

[megaphone]

You can get Virgin 100MB for £24/m or less. Ditch the home phone, but often it's no cheaper. Ditch the TV box and go Freeview.

[James6112]

I was in the same boat
Canned the landline as never used it
Freeview here now, plus the free catchup apps / prime / family share Netflix
My 200 mbps BB, they wanted £37 as best price. I cancelled it. A few days later they called, now £24 a month

I don’t miss the ability to record, most decent stuff can be watched on the catch up apps / BBC iplayer etc anyway

Plus the power savings of getting rid of the boxes.

Saved a fair bit

[James6112]

LordHaveMurci said:

I ditched the TV & phone line about a year ago, downgraded to 60mb b/b & it costs me £40.50 out of contract.

I’m sure I could do better on an 18mth contract but I keep toying with the idea of moving.

Worth checking, but I believe:-
If youre in contract & move, can carry it over. If no Virgin at new address, no charge to cancel..

“Continue the same contract at the same price or change it up – it’s up to you. There’s a one-off charge of £20 to move your service”

Edited by James6112 on Thursday 1st September 15:31