Wifi connection prospective new customer

[Mazb66]

Hi all.  We are currently with Virgin for our whole package but as we are 'the loyal mugs' they are taking the micky with renewal prices so we have given notice.  My problem is this..

Sky do a good offer sports/stream 500/ultimate pack but the one thing Virgin wins hands down with is wifi connection.  If we were to go with sky (full fibre is available I've checkedin my area) what if Openreach do all the connection etc  and the WiFi signal is dire? I'm in Brum, doesn't say problems but neighbour did say she had 'no end of probs with Sky, working from home' and went bk to virgin, please help, so want to leave virgin (at last) but connection worries holding me back?  Thank you

[Dazzasky]

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@Mazb66 wrote:

Hi all.  We are currently with Virgin for our whole package but as we are 'the loyal mugs' they are taking the micky with renewal prices so we have given notice.  My problem is this..

Sky do a good offer sports/stream 500/ultimate pack but the one thing Virgin wins hands down with is wifi connection.  If we were to go with sky (full fibre is available I've checkedin my area) what if Openreach do all the connection etc  and the WiFi signal is dire? I'm in Brum, doesn't say problems but neighbour did say she had 'no end of probs with Sky, working from home' and went bk to virgin, please help, so want to leave virgin (at last) but connection worries holding me back?  Thank you

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 No one here can tell you how good the connection to Sky will be. In theory it should be ok but everything depends on your household, how many devices, interference etc. It's pretty much the same for everyone when we take a new connection @Mazb66  The good thing is you have 14 days to cancel penalty free if the connection does not meet what you have signed up for. 

[Sayek]

I am a former Virgin Media customer of 5+ years and switched to Sky Fibre 500 just over 2 weeks ago.

I work from home and have 2 boys that use internet a lot so "internet connection" is very important...I have not used the word "Wi-Fi".

In 2 weeks I found the connection very stable. The Virgin Media had crazy latency yellow spikes during the day also red data.

Sky looks a lot cleaner and no one in family has complained about disconnection.

I have mentioned "internet connection" because its a personal choice to use my own router for Wi-Fi. I am sure there are many happy customers using Sky router for Wi-Fi but I am prepared to invest between £70 to £100  for better hardware. I used my own router with Virgin Media also. There is no point having high speed internet if your Wi-Fi keeps getting cut off.

Just a small point about about being Virgin Media "loyal mugs". It's no secret that every ISP punish loyal customers end the fixed contract. Sky will do the same end the 24m contract so be prepared. With Virgin media I always gave 30 days notice just before end of the promotion period and that will open a new contract negotiation. I always got good deals from Virgin Media with that approach. The last offer they made was £20 for M250, £26 for M350 and £32 for M500, but as Openreach just rolled out FTTP on our street, I wanted a superior FTTP instead of Virgin Media Coaxial.

As you have given Virgin Media the formal notice to leave...have you spoken to retentions team what is the latest offer 😉

[Mazb66]

To be honest they are not interested.  I've Rang three times, each time it got higher.  Only week to go so definitely looks like they won't be calling me.  Heyho, thank you for your very thorough answer, such a pain, the 'negotiation game',  👍 

[Chrisee]

@Mazb66 you appear to be confusing two different things which are the reliability and speed of of the broadband connection to your home and the reliability of the WiFi connection from tge hub/router to your devices.

The former with Sky if your home can get an Openreach full fibre connection is highly likely to be good. My own 500Mb/s service has been totally solid since install over 2 years ago. Ofcom report 6 complaints per hundred thousand customers for Sky against 11 for Virgin Media

the latter is nit something Sky can control but if you have a larger home it is highly likely you will need more than the basic hub Sky provides to get reasonable wifi in every room. That can be by buying Sky's add-on WiFi Max service or using your own home wifi equipment.

Waiting for Sky to call you is pointless either call them yourself or go elsewhere while Sky do occasionally make outbound calls in the main they don't. One last point if  you have given cancellation notice to Virgin it is quite likely you will be without an internet connection as Openreach fibre install times can be far longer than the minimum 14 days. Instead customers should use the Ofcom One Touch switching system where the gaining provider (Sky) sorts out the whole switch including keeping the old service in place until the new one is commissioned. 

[Sayek]

In the past Virgin Media did call but on my last renewal they did not call. But when you do call them, just ask for retentions team.

If you have Openreach FTTP, its a no brainer to cross over. Virgin media use very old HFC that's like FTTC. It's fibre to the cabinet and coaxial to the property. Only new properties have Virgin FTTP and only few lucky ones had their HFC upgraded to fibre.

Just remember that Wi-Fi and internet connection to router are 2 different things  😉

[Mazb66]

Thank-you Sayek.  I was surprised sky better was better than Virgin.  Good to know. 👍 

[Mazb66]

Thank you Chrisee.  Glad I joined forum helped a lot.  My contract with virgin literally finishes Friday night, looks like I'll be without internet etc  for a few weeks  👍