Virgin Media vs Sky

Virgin Media and Sky have had a bit of a spat recently.  Virgin have chosen to drop Sky's basic and free digital channels (including Sky One!) because of the price Sky want to charge them.  Virgin Media are the amalgamation of NTL and Telewest cable services and Virgin Mobile.  As an Edinburgh resident, in a set of flats where really a sky dish isn't allowed my telephone, digital TV and broadband are provided by Virgin (formerly Telewest).

Telewest started off being relatively economic.  £30 a month for all 3, but that was limited to the basic packages but that simply didn't;t meet my needs, and only lasted 6 months anyway.  Now I am paying anything between £50 and £60 a month for a service that we both think is less than what we started with.  TV channels have disappeared from our package, not just the Sky channels but other channels too.  The broadband quality is just shot with download speeds of 17-35kBs when 400kB/s is more realistic for a 4mB/s service!!  To be fair, Virgin are refunding the cost of the broadband for two months but I need a decent service.  The phone is OK with only weekend UK land line calls free.

The loss of the Sky channels on Virgin prompted me to look at what other packages I could get for my money.  It seems Sky are offering a better quality of service for £26 per month with an extra £11 for a BT line rental.  This is some £20 cheaper than my current monthly costs.  While there are downsides such as download limits on the broadband and the requirement for a communal dish (on the block of flats) for the TV, £20 is a lot of money.  Virgin take note.