Virgin Media

After a disastrous episode with BT some years ago I vowed never to use them again. Which left me with satellite or cable; I opted for Telewest-​soon-​to-​become-​Virgin.
There is very little to complain about; the broadband service is by and large excellent, never had any difficulties with the phone line and while there are occasional blips on the tv front it’s nothing that satellite users don’t come across.
For me the winning card is their customer service, it is excellent; polite, efficient and effective. Sometimes things go wrong whichever provider you use, especially where telecommunications are concerned. What counts is how they help you sort it out.
As I write this I am mindful of tempting fate so if you find any typos blame the fact that I have my fingers crossed.

We had to migrate to Telewest when we moved to our present house 5 years ago or so: the previous owners had had cable and the BT engineer couldn’t find where the old BT line came into the house!
We weren’t too impressed with Telewest (the broadband connection wasn’t 100% reliable), but Virgin seem to be a bit better. The ‘bundle’ that they offered (including a mobile phone deal) seems like reasonable value, although if I really looked hard I expect I could do a little better
We haven’t had many dealings with customer service, although the monthly bills are fairly clear.
All in all, not too bad a company with whom to deal in our experience.

Since Virgin took over from Telewest, the service has not been great. We are now moving out of their cabled area and are actually a little relieved we dont have to stay with them.
Saying that though, their cable broadband is usually very good, when it works.
Talk them into a loyalty discount for sticking around. It works

Hmmm how do you go about choosing your broadband provider? Well, I guess cost and efficiency are two good ways to start. When I decided to change my provider I ended-​up opting for Virgin as they offered me a very competitive package combined with TV and ‘phone.
The set-​up went quite smoothly, although it took longer than anticipated and involved more wires than I’d hoped but their staff were very pleasant and efficient. Once set-​up, things worked pretty much as they should. Just over a year on, there have been a few blips with all aspects (TV, broadband and phone) which have been quite irritating but whenever I’ve called them they’ve been helpful, listening to my concerns and attempting to offer solutions.
When I’ve tried to resolve problems or find answers on their website it can be a little onerous to track down the relevant area and detailed summary but I’ve usually got there — eventually. I’ve been impressed with their follow-​up customer service (to my emails) on a couple of occasions — once relating to a phone problem and, on another, to a broadband blip. In summary: not all smooth running; could do better but a viable option if you don’t want to pay a fortune and are prepared to be patient on occasion