The Student Room Group

Student Broadband deals - BT or Virgin

Hi all, I'm about to start my second year at Harper Adams uni in Shropshire, and am renting a house in the local town of Newport with 5 mates. I was looking into broadband deals for students, and the only two contenders are really BT's 'unlimited infinity 2' and Virgins superfast fibre broadband deal.

They are both on 9 month deals and both are superfast, which is important for us as we will have a fairly heavy usage.

However, the issue Is that virgin seem to many negative reviews, with broadband cutting out and failing to get anywhere near the required speeds.

While BT has (slightly) better reviews, they are a more trusted company in my eyes, and the slower speed BT offers of up to 76Mb rather than 150Mb should still be more than enough. But then with BT you do need to pay line rental, which is not ideal for students.

So I was wondering what are other students experiences of both the company's? good? Bad? or stay well clear of them?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by wiltshiredave

However, the issue Is that virgin seem to many negative reviews, with broadband cutting out and failing to get anywhere near the required speeds.


I'm not really sure which reviews you have been reading because generally speaking Virgin Cable outstrips the competition by about double

http://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband-speed-test/

This is because they inherited the old Telewest / NTL cable that was laid in the 90's. BT have been trying to catch up by laying Infinity, but this is usually only to your local exchange. You connect to the exchange via the old copper telephone wire so if you are quite a long way from the exchange, speeds will be average at best.

There are lots of tools online that allow you to see speeds in your area so check them out first. Customer services is hit and miss for both if things go wrong but we have been with Virgin for years without a hitch.

Good luck!
Reply 2
The most important thing when choosing broadband is speed, and reliability. Go with the one that doesn't slow you down as much. There is no point in paying for 100Mps when it's throttled to 10Mbps during peak times.
Reply 3
The first thing you want to do is use a broadband availability checker. A large proportion of the UK, including England, can't actually have Virgin Media installed. In that case you'd have to go with BT or an alternative.

Original post by JoshLL
The most important thing when choosing broadband is speed, and reliability. Go with the one that doesn't slow you down as much.


The most important thing is checking you can actually achieve the speeds advertised, in your local area.
Hoping I can be some use to you all. I've recently been involved with Virgin Media and have become a sales rep. So I'm offering assistance to anyone that needs help with finding broadband/tv for their student accommodation. As a student, it means you will be able to get a discounted price. Just drop me a message and I can help sort you out.

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