Saintly Fish Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 This has been touched on before on the pro boards site. But I’m still considering it and need views. My Virgin media contract has come to an end and I’m wanting to move. However, what to do ? I’m thinking of moving to plus net for phone and broadband, max I can get is 24-36mb (still better than virgin). But no TV. Virgin don’t do TV only deals. So, where to get my TV from? I can’t have satellite freeview because of where I live so my choices are stay with virgin or switch to BT, or use TV streaming. what do you use and why ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 We used to have BT TV but didn't bother renewing when I found that all the channels we regularly watched were available on Freeview anyway. So we just use that, plus Netflix and Prime subs now. For internet we use Gigaclear fibre cable and our landline is also internet based now too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 14 minutes ago, Andy135 said: We used to have BT TV but didn't bother renewing when I found that all the channels we regularly watched were available on Freeview anyway. So we just use that, plus Netflix and Prime subs now. For internet we use Gigaclear fibre cable and our landline is also internet based now too. That’s just our issue though, we can’t get freeview because we live at the bottom of a hill surrounded by trees. The signal just flies over the top of our house so can’t pick it up. now considering Sky Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 21 minutes ago, Andy135 said: For internet we use Gigaclear fibre cable Just checked, not available in my area 😩 Typical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said: Just checked, not available in my area 😩 Typical Some form of internet-based TV is probably your best option then. Either that or a really long aerial! Geoff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, Andy135 said: Some form of internet-based TV is probably your best option then. Either that or a really long aerial! Yeah but it’s the internet that’s the biggest problem. It’s shit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 11/1/2020 at 8:47 AM, Saintly Fish said: That’s just our issue though, we can’t get freeview because we live at the bottom of a hill surrounded by trees. The signal just flies over the top of our house so can’t pick it up. now considering Sky Q I have a similar dilemma ......... I live in a private road of 8 houses and bungalows and Virgin never provided CCTV due to the implications of the pavement reinstatement ........ Currently, we get Broadband from Vodafone , and TV from Sky ................ I have been a sky customer for years and find it Ok, but every now and again you need to knock on their door and remind them to stop taking the pricing piss out of loyalty ........... Interestingly, Vodafone couldn't deliver on their promise of 55Mbs minimum, which I knew they wouldn't be able to achieve without the help of BT, and BT don't want to invest in local loop infrastructure ............ so Vodafone have given me 15% discount for the duration on the contract, on top of the 20% discount that I got for being an existing customer ..... however, speed is Ok with a solid 40Mbs ............. Sky Q has a special offer on at the moment ............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, GPSguru said: I have a similar dilemma ......... I live in a private road of 8 houses and bungalows and Virgin never provided CCTV due to the implications of the pavement reinstatement ........ Currently, we get Broadband from Vodafone , and TV from Sky ................ I have been a sky customer for years and find it Ok, but every now and again you need to knock on their door and remind them to stop taking the pricing piss out of loyalty ........... Interestingly, Vodafone couldn't deliver on their promise of 55Mbs minimum, which I knew they wouldn't be able to achieve without the help of BT, and BT don't want to invest in local loop infrastructure ............ so Vodafone have given me 15% discount for the duration on the contract, on top of the 20% discount that I got for being an existing customer ..... however, speed is Ok with a solid 40Mbs ............. Sky Q has a special offer on at the moment ............... I can’t get sky though as I live at the bottom of a wooded hill and the signal flies straight over the top of my house, and not at an angle I can catch it. if I could get 100% guaranteed broadband I’d go with a streaming tv service. But that does not seem to be on the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Saintly Fish said: I can’t get sky though as I live at the bottom of a wooded hill and the signal flies straight over the top of my house, and not at an angle I can catch it. if I could get 100% guaranteed broadband I’d go with a streaming tv service. But that does not seem to be on the table. Ok. I understand it better now. Your existing BB is plenty fast enough for streaming TV. Just like BHP sells cars, but Torque wins races, then BB is the same....... speed sells the BB, but it is the ‘through put’ that decides how effective it us. Generally it is safe to assume your useful ‘through put’ speed is 75 - 85% of the quoted speed. ‘Through put’ is defined as an error free data packet, ie the BER ( Bit Error Rate) in that packet is zero Now the technical bit ........ modern compressed video and efficient CODEC’s allow this service to operate over a very small bandwidths....... the bandwidths required for normal TV is 3mbs and 5mbs for HD TV. I think you can get NowTV, or BT TV on a 30 free trial. My through put is poor due to line noise which BT have chosen to ignore. However, everyday my online business is running the website, Cloud storage, etc, plus films and catchup TV being streamed ...... and the streaming works fine. captin slows old outlaw and Saintly Fish 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 9 minutes ago, GPSguru said: Ok. I understand it better now. Your existing BB is plenty fast enough for streaming TV. Just like BHP sells cars, but Torque wins races, then BB is the same....... speed sells the BB, but it is the ‘through put’ that decides how effective it us. Generally it is safe to assume your useful ‘through put’ speed is 75 - 85% of the quoted speed. ‘Through put’ is defined as an error free data packet, ie the BER ( Bit Error Rate) in that packet is zero Now the technical bit ........ modern compressed video and efficient CODEC’s allow this service to operate over a very small bandwidths....... the bandwidths required for normal TV is 3mbs and 5mbs for HD TV. I think you can get NowTV, or BT TV on a 30 free trial. My through put is poor due to line noise which BT have chosen to ignore. However, everyday my online business is running the website, Cloud storage, etc, plus films and catchup TV being streamed ...... and the streaming works fine. Ok thanks Ian. I’ll consider further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 I thought plusnet is owned by BT and did the same tv packages as bt? maybe not. We're with plusnet but don't have tv with them we use freeview and freesat for tv then amazon prime for other stuff mick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, Maverick said: I thought plusnet is owned by BT and did the same tv packages as bt? maybe not. We're with plusnet but don't have tv with them we use freeview and freesat for tv then amazon prime for other stuff How do you find plusnet Martin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 We've been with them for 4 years now and never had a problem. Speed is adequate for what we need ie browsing, emailing, watching stuff on the box etc. Apparently when the grandchildren come round the gaming also works ok so no complaints from us. mick and Saintly Fish 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captin slows old outlaw Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 just moved to vodaphone a stonger signell then before so i am happy. we youse free vew and disney plus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 15, 2020 Author Share Posted November 15, 2020 I’ve been reading that using the VM router as just a modem and adding a separate WiFi router is a good option to improve WiFi signal. Any recommendations for a good WiFi router? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Saintly Fish said: I’ve been reading that using the VM router as just a modem and adding a separate WiFi router is a good option to improve WiFi signal. Any recommendations for a good WiFi router? We actually use our old BT router as our main Wifi router, and our Gigaclear router as a modem. I'd suggest any standalone wifi router will probably be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 15, 2020 Author Share Posted November 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Andy135 said: We actually use our old BT router as our main Wifi router, and our Gigaclear router as a modem. I'd suggest any standalone wifi router will probably be fine. I want POWER.... is there a rating I should look for ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 25 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said: I want POWER.... is there a rating I should look for ? I can't remember to be honest but as a general rule I'd go for multiple routers/wifi repeaters rather than one big router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 15, 2020 Author Share Posted November 15, 2020 6 minutes ago, Andy135 said: I can't remember to be honest but as a general rule I'd go for multiple routers/wifi repeaters rather than one big router. Ive already got them and it’s still crap. That’s why I want a more powerful router than the VM one (which by all accounts is a crap router) coupled to repeaters for maximum impact. Or not as the case will probably be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 7 hours ago, Saintly Fish said: Ive already got them and it’s still crap. That’s why I want a more powerful router than the VM one (which by all accounts is a crap router) coupled to repeaters for maximum impact. Or not as the case will probably be. Going through a repeater slows your WIFi if you are connected through that repeater, as every extra device adds latency to the system, however, your actual WIFI through put is only ever going to be as fast as your BB connection speed, unless of course you are transferring data between devices ............. When we were on Sky, their router was crap for WIFI but very good as a modem, so I used to use it as the modem and a TP-Link router for the WIFI .......... you do that by creating a DMZ (demilitarized zone) from the modem to the router ............... Now we are on Vodafone, I find their router very, very, good both as a modem and WIFI router .................. For all my important connections, like my PC, the network Xerox printer, and the franking machine, I hard wire these to the router using Cat 7 RJ45 network cables. I only have one repeater in the kitchen, and this is only turned on when I am working right at the bottom of the garden ............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 On 11/1/2020 at 8:47 AM, Saintly Fish said: That’s just our issue though, we can’t get freeview because we live at the bottom of a hill surrounded by trees. The signal just flies over the top of our house so can’t pick it up. now considering Sky Q Just move house you can afford it Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 2 minutes ago, mick said: Just move house you can afford it You can laugh but I’m considering it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzook12 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 33 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said: You can laugh but I’m considering it! Will your old mate still accept you in South Wales now? 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 Just now, suzook12 said: Will your old mate still accept you in South Wales now? 🤣 Yeah I’m sure he still loves me. ❤️ Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzook12 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Maybe not when he finds out it was you that insisted on barring him!!! 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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