Has anyone switched from Virgin to Sky?

[Jiglo]

I'm contemplating making a move as I can (well could) get a better deal with Sky. They're offering a similar package, but for less money and that includes providing the landline, when last time I checked (and was a customer) you needed to have a BT line to use Sky's service.

From what i've read, it isn't always possible to keep the old landline phone number and that might be a deal breaker after having it for so long.

Just wondering how you rate their services compared to Virgin's and if you managed to keep your old number.

 

[reetdad]

i faced that same issue then kicked off with virgin and they upped my package for the less money

 

[Jiglo]

They've upped my internet to 60Mb/s just from making an initial online enquiry and not actually committing to the upgrade.

I do fancy checking out Sky now though after looking into their package a bit more and if 12 months down the line i'm not impressed then I can always move back.

But, I don't want the phone number to change.

 

[Sam]

Hi Jigs. We moved into our house and took out sky. The number hasn't changed. We have sky, broadband, line rental, call plan and tv. Never had any probs.

 

[siman91]

Sky have been great for us although we do pay over £100 per month!! Their Internet is pretty good and I don't think we could cope without the HD tv. Sky also throw in quite a bit including free cinema nights and O2 bar which are worth a go.

S

 

[Jiglo]

Encouraging to know.

As far as I can see, these are the benefits from each of the packages, so i'm going to have a bit more of a think about this.

Pros Virgin (for £61.64 pm):

Faster internet - 60Mb/s (although i'm thinking they're probably going to be asking for a bit more cash next month)
More HD channels (for the price)
Guaranteed to keep the same phone number
No change over hassle
I know (roughly) where all the channels that I watch are

Pros Sky: (for 53.50 pm)

Cheaper package
Bigger HD in the receiver
More channels
Possibly (maybe you guys can answer this) the option to add extra channels from foreign satellites by manual tuning?
Sky Go
Cloud wifi
£100 M&S voucher

 

[Presuming Ed]

I wouldn't hold ya breath on the M&S vouchers. Still waiting on ours about a year after they were promised for recommending a friend. Ed

 

[Jiglo]

Not good mate. You should have kept at them for it :|

I've lost the momentum for making the switch at the moment. Maybe if the next bill goes up then i'll do it then, but I want to find out more about Sky first before making that leap and maybe get my holiday in 9 days time out of the way.

I've got faster broadband for now, but it isn't always faster, so i'll see how it goes and if it's worthwhile.

 

[Jiglo]

Update:

My bill has gone up from £61.64 to £85.04 despite not being contacted by someone from Virgin (as mentioned in the terms when making an enquiry) to discuss this

Rang up customer services and lo and behold i'm put through to a call centre in India (fuck you St Sir Richard Branson for getting rid of British jobs) :|

I informed her that they hadn't followed the correct procedure and she then offered to refund my bill and drop the service down to 30Mb (the lowest they can drop it to apparently) and reset the tariff back to the previous amount. I waited a good few minutes while she sorted that and she then told me she'd now done that and i'll be getting a refund on my next bill. I asked why I wasn't getting it on this bill as they had made the mistake not me and she then informed that she couldn't make 2 changes to the billing procedure. I'll have to be charged at the higher rate and then wait a month. I seemed to be getting fobbed off so i'm not happy, plus I want to make the switch to Sky now, knowing that I probably wont end up getting the refund as i'm unlikely to be a customer next month.

It stinks!