Have recently been lured to Virgin Media (VM) by their high speed broadband (100mb).

Here is my account of my experiences so far

BROADBAND (EXCELLENT)

My broadband experience has been extremely positive i.e very good speeds have been attained (90-100mb download/7-9mb upload). This was after I fixed my PC (MTU etc) which is no fault of VM.

Customer service aspects of Virgin Media leaves a lot to be desired.

PHONE LINE (Expensive compared to BT and you are doomed if you have problems)

Their phone billing system for Mobile phone calls has a mind of its own. If you are one who likes to enagage in very lengthy phone calls (albeit it is free via a poorly publicised number 150) to query your billing over very crackly lines to India then their phone line service may be up your street.

If having had the patience and fortune to finally connect to a person on the other end, be prepared to repeat yourself numerous times as you are hindered by the language barrier and the very poor crackly line.

You will then be subjected to the merry go round dance of passing your call from one department to another as their competence to actually understand and deal with your query is exhausted. This will then result in a finale where they 'Hang up' on you as there are no further departments they can transfer you to. Comprehension of your simple billing query or the ability to assure you of any resolution will remain non-existent.

TV

Tivo Hd with 3 channels provides you with an ability to watch a channel and record another TWO (better then SKY).

The much touted FREE repair isnt actually free as you will be charged with £5.00/month for the LEASE of the Tivo box. Hence comparitively poorer then SKYs fixed £60.00 repair charge (if required) offering where you will end up owning the equipment which will have residual second hand value on ebay. After a two year ownership of a SKY HD box it is still functional so this would translate to a saving of £120.00 compared to VM.

Poorly thought out remote control and slightly buggy TV Guide software. Not as intuitive as SKY. Standard definition content appears to be of better quality then SKY whilst HD is comparable.

From my experience with Virgin they are the best in class. All the home services under one roof - offer best value for money. I've been with them for six years and I find their customer service staff very helpful regardless of whether they're Indian, Scottish, American or English, they apply the same quality service. I dealt with a lovely Scottish guy today and he was very empathetic and upgraded my service, threw in a few extras completely FOC. I was pretty pleased overall. Had problems with my broadband a few weeks ago and whilst they couldn't fix it on the phone as it required an engineer & new box, they more than compensated for the inconvenience.

I've also been with Sky previously, customer service wasn't their forte at all; you are place on hold forever and the fault is never there problem, very unhelpful indeed. I would never consider them again!

I have been with Virgin Media for quite a while and my experience has been pretty good. Yes there was a hiccup at one point when I had some technical difficulties and it took a few days to sort out, including dealing with an Indian call centre. But overall, I would rate them as good as any other provider.

Suggest that you register a complaint and see what they can do. It may be that your nearest connection point needs some work doing. VM are in the process of upgrading their network.

Have been a Virign broadband customer for over a year. Do not sign up for a Virign subscription!! Service works poorly, at peak hours it does not work at all, due to lack of capacity. Customer service is non existing, all automated and when you finally find a phone number ques are long and skills are non existing.