Sky or Virgin?

Stumped · 25-01-2011, 17:51

I am incensed that the BBC has sold off yet another top program, namely Madmen, to Sky. If there is one program I have considered worth watching over the past four years, then this has been it. The question now arises as to whether we should upgrade from Freeview (which is dominated by adverts and an increasing amount of subscipted blue rubbish) to Sky or Virgin, both of which offer reasonably priced packages. I enjoy my cricket and motor sports, but am not particularly into football and my better half loves to watch tennis, so we would therefore appreciate advice from both camps.

pipinfort · 25-01-2011, 17:55

You would need to check if Virgin is available in your area first, cabled areas only, Sky is available to everyone.

jaysay · 25-01-2011, 18:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stumped

I am incensed that the BBC has sold off yet another top program, namely Madmen, to Sky. If there is one program I have considered worth watching over the past four years, then this has been it. The question now arises as to whether we should upgrade from Freeview (which is dominated by adverts and an increasing amount of subscipted blue rubbish) to Sky or Virgin, both of which offer reasonably priced packages. I enjoy my cricket and motor sports, but am not particularly into football and my better half loves to watch tennis, so we would therefore appreciate advice from both camps.

I've had Sky for twenty years Stumped, but I've always had the full monty, mind you TV is my only entertainment apart from Accy Web

Stumped · 25-01-2011, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by pipinfort

You would need to check if Virgin is available in your area first, cabled areas only, Sky is available to everyone.

Yes, we are cabled, hence my indecision as to which would be the better option.

Lancashire Lassie · 26-01-2011, 08:10

VIRGIN defoooooo & they wil more than likely be in your area....

free installation...

tv 'on demand' (pause record tv etc)

and top factor - EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICES

(and they do sky sports packages for the boys)

Lancashire Lassie · 26-01-2011, 08:11

ps i have found sky are absolutley shocking when it comes to customer services

i once spent 25 mins on hold on a 0870.....

wasnt happy

Mick · 26-01-2011, 08:26

We have been with NTL and then Virgin after the takeover for 9 years now and never had a problem with them.
There response if you do have a problem is very good too,we had the house fronts done up by the council under the regeneration scheme the firm that was doing it cut through my broadband and tv cable i got in touch with virgin and they where there within a few hours and did a good job.
also if you do go with virgin get a friend who has virgin to recommend you to them after its been installed your friend will get £30 off his bill

I have done this 3 times upto now.

jaysay · 26-01-2011, 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lassie

ps i have found sky are absolutley shocking when it comes to customer services

i once spent 25 mins on hold on a 0870.....

wasnt happy

I've been with Sky for 20 years and never had any trouble at all, I also have Sky Protect and their services is second to none

Neil · 26-01-2011, 09:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

I've been with Sky for 20 years and never had any trouble at all, I also have Sky Protect and their services is second to none

What is Sky protect? Sounds like one of those dodgy insurance schemes.

Sky is a good second best for people who cant get Virgin.

You get better services with Virgin like on demand that works and you can watch what you want not what sky want you to watch

entwisi · 26-01-2011, 09:17

If you have HD you now get Anytime+ where you can choose other programming that is downloaded over your Internet connection to the box for watching later...

I've been with SKY for years and like Jaysay never had any issues. I dont have teh option of cable where I live and terrestrial TV is pretty much impossible to get.

Neil · 26-01-2011, 09:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

If you have HD you now get Anytime+ where you can choose other programming that is downloaded over your Internet connection to the box for watching later...

Like I said Sky is a good second best.

We like to sit down together and just watch what we want to and forgot to record. We dont want to have to ask them to download it for later, we want to watch it straight away which you can with Virgin.

The download and watch later will be painful on a slow internet connection I would have thought.

With Virgin they have access to fast broadband so can stream it live.

jaysay · 26-01-2011, 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

What is Sky protect? Sounds like one of those dodgy insurance schemes.

Sky is a good second best for people who cant get Virgin.

You get better services with Virgin like on demand that works and you can watch what you want not what sky want you to watch

Sky protect is their own insurance system against breakdown Neil, Its virtually the next day service, I used them twice late on last year, the first time they replaced the dish because my multi room was playing up, the second time my HD box wasn't recording properly they turned out next day checked it out and replaced it with the latest model, with twice the hard drive of my old one, I can now record about 200 hours of programs

jaysay · 26-01-2011, 09:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Like I said Sky is a good second best.

We like to sit down together and just watch what we want to and forgot to record. We dont want to have to ask them to download it for later, we want to watch it straight away which you can with Virgin.

The download and watch later will be painful on a slow internet connection I would have thought.

With Virgin they have access to fast broadband so can stream it live.

It downloads instantly Niel, I use Sky Anytime on a regulare basis especially for films usually watch one every saturfday night, if you record of mormal programs its easy too, I regually record two programs at once at night when I'm watching TV in my bedroom

Neil · 26-01-2011, 10:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

Sky protect is their own insurance system against breakdown Neil, Its virtually the next day service, ...

I assume you pay for that service. With Virgin you don't own the equipment so they fix/replace if faulty for no extra charge.

I do think that the Sky EPG is the best in the world, I used to be into satellite so have seen a few.

jaysay · 26-01-2011, 10:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

I assume you pay for that service. With Virgin you don't own the equipment so they fix/replace if faulty for no extra charge.

I do think that the Sky EPG is the best in the world, I used to be into satellite so have seen a few.

Kept me happy for 20 years, and when my father was alive he have Cable and they treated him really shoddily, he changed to Sky and was quite happy from then on