Be Broadband bought by BSkyB

[fabyak]

Figured it affects sufficient people to warrant it's own thread

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21627614

Anyone else get called with offers to tie you to another 12 months?

[spoodie]

Don't give News Corp (Sky) any more money than you have to.

This is a really shortsighted, quick-win move from Telefonica/O2.

[fabyak]

I don't plan to. I was very suspicious of why they were offering me a discount for signing up for another 12 months so I turned it down at the time and thought nothing more of it.

Broadband recommendations plox!

[Joose]

If you can get cable, get Virgin. If not, don't. This is the sum total of my knowledge when it comes to broadband recommendations.

[Wiggy]

I'm using BT Infinity. It's bloody lovely.

[fabyak]

Can't get Virgin cable where I am, BT seem to think that I can get Infinity where I am which could certainly be a goer. Not happy about BT getting my money but they're certainly preferable to Murdock

[ProfHawking]

If you can get infinity, chances are you can use one of the multitude of providers that piggyback on the network. Sure, your line is BT, but you pay someone else for it.

narf i dunno which is worse.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Virgin DSL wasn't too bad when I was on it, but I was paying for the best package.

[Taraniis]

I have Virginmedia, I took the 50Mb connection in 2011 and then they upgraded me to 100Mb a month ago just because I was one of the first in the area to take up the fibre optic connection. I can honestly say that apart from the fact the router picks strange times to update itself the connection is faultless.

I run everything on a wireless network and I never get dropped out from the device to the router - unless of course Virgin release an update and then the router seems to drop everything to go and hunt it down and install it. However there is a way around this if you got to the router's setup page. It also likes to be reset every month or so, otherwise it goes a bit AWOL but I suppose that is to be expected as I have two TiVo boxes and they are permantently online and downloading stuff.

Only thing is you don't get Sky Atlantic if you take the TV package as well and despite what people think about Murdoch, Sky Atlantic is a bloody good channel.

[FatherJack]

Only thing is you don't get Sky Atlantic if you take the TV package as well and despite what people think about Murdoch, Sky Atlantic is a bloody good channel.

The non-availability of Sky Atlantic and Sky F1 (without buying every single sports channel) are my main complaints against Virgin's TV service. I'm not entirely happy with the lack of granularity between packages - I tend to want channel [channel name] and nothing else, but I can't just buy [channel name] but have to choose whichever of the M, L or XL packages include that choice.

I've bitched about it to Virgin, but they withhold that it's not of their doing - Sky will only let them resell certain 'bouquets' which are all-or-nothing deals. Legislative codexes which determine what is anti-competitive, and what are simply Unique Selling Points seem to be interminably slow at providing a resolution to this.

Virgin's OnDemand and iPlayer (etc) implementations are so vastly superior to Sky that I'll stick with them though, and look for alternative solutions for movies and US series. If your tastes are broad enough, there's easily a year's worth of TV to watch at no additional cost through the Virgin box without it even touching your broadband's throughput.

I had a new Virgin modem installed last weekend and my connection speed has tripled, though I feel a bit stupid I didn't ask for it before, as I've been paying the top-level broadband prices since ever, it was just the hassle of having to be in while they fitted it that put me off. CBA strikes again.

[Taraniis]

Well I had the super hub from the start and it has been brilliant, except for the update thing, it is a great piece of kit though because it will decide who gets priority on your connection depending on what each device is doing. So if you're gaming and someone else loads up YouTube, they get shunted down the list - unfortunately any Virgin boxes in the house automatically get priority so if the TiVo box decides it needs an update you better hope its not a big one.

I too have had words with Virgin about their packages and they have said the same thing to me, they are bound by Sky. However you are right, I have so many programs on my TiVo list that I can just about keep up with watching them all. The F1 pisses me off, although it does mean that I get to ramp around the country to various friend's houses so it has made race weekends more of an event now.

[mrbobbins]

Shame, I had no complaints whatever about BE's service, that alone makes it stand out above all other services I've used.
I still have their router on my desk at work, I need to send it back after cancelling and moving out of my old flat. I wonder if it will be like On Digital where I got a letter telling me to return the DTT box, then they went under and I kept the box. Doubt it, Murdoch will probably hunt me down with hounds, I better post it back.

I have virgin fibre installed at my new house now, no idea what it's like yet though as it's just a cable coming out of a box with nowhere to go.
The installers were nice though, I asked them to put the cable in some conduit and leave a bit of slack through the front garden, which they did.

[fabyak]

Shame, I had no complaints whatever about BE's service, that alone makes it stand out above all other services I've used.

I loved the fact that if I called them I could speak to someone who knew what they were doing, not just reading from a script I was with Demon before Be and was very happy with them but they don't seem to do domestic broadband anymore. Bah. Looks like BT will be getting my money then

[friznit]

By far the best thing about BE is that you talk to someone who actually gives a shit and know what they're talking about. Their customer service has been excellent, the few times I've had to use it. Sadly I foresee big corporate "efficiency drives" coming, and since BT are cunts and won't extend fiber another 500m towards my house, I'm stuck with them for a while.

[Jimmington]

Woah there potential Virgin customers. Check very carefully that your area is not one of the ones that is massively Donald -like mine is. Gaming is proving to be impossible for a lot of people in areas that are over utilised. Read their forums to see the areas with issues. As for me, although they won't fix the issue until may and I have been unable to game without lag since mid Jan, according to them it is not reason to cancel mid contract without penalty.

I of course have argued the point and am waiting for it to go to deadlock before going the Ofcom route. Wankers. Should never have left BE, proper stitched up. Did I say wankers?

[Jimmington]

I wish I was not so lazy, because i would be so tempted to get my old modem out of the shed and see how it compares...

[Dog Pants]

I had to compare. I suspect I got lucky with mine though, since I can't remember the last time I streamed a VT show from 4OD without it stopping.

[Jimmington]

Go get a can coke whilst your at it as well.

The jitter is the key really, which explained why my chap was rubberbanding like Michael J Fox everytime I was playing BC2.

[Dog Pants]

Honestly, my connection isn't that good. I suspect they throttle the shit out of it whenever I have the audacity to play a Youtube video or someone with a bigger house on the estate (that's everybody, by the way) is downloading something.

[Jimmington]

The annoying thing is with it is that Virgin cannot seem to compute that there is a large percentage of people out there who don't give a flying frog's bottom about the speed they are getting, it is the stability of the line that is key. First thing I was offered when I was telephoned was an upgrade to 60mb download (which was supposed to happen anyway, dishonest Grumbles) i had to explain to them that I would rather have a solid 5-10mb download than a manic spaced out 30mb connection that was all over the place. It was lost on them though. Wankers.