Re: Where are Offcom?
"So what are the alternatives for a household like mine who use the internet and the TV? Could go to Sky, but I'm lining Murdoch's pockets then and I have no intention of doing that. Could go to Virgin Media, but I've never known them to provide a good standard of service. The alternative is to ditch the TV - which is glorified Freeview - but the partner likes watching Friends on Comedy Central."
Sky provision over BT lines, how long before they raise prices?
Virgin are excellent in some areas (I've never had a problem with them), but the problem is they are raising prices too.
Friends? Buy a DVD boxset.
I've done without TV for many years in the past. I only watch it now because it's "free" as part of my VM package.
I've not used my landline (also VM) in years. Again, came for free with the Internet connection which is the only bit I actually want.
The Internet lets me put phones on there if I ever really need them (I actually have a router with an analogue phone port capable of SIPing any phone calls it makes). I don't. Mobiles, Skype, WhatsApp.
The problem is that they are upping basic broadband prices. That's unavoidable.
To be honest, however, I can't see why I'd be bothered with anything more than their basic speed packages. Hell, I probably use more data on my phone than I do on my home connection, and I've streamed entire series on both.
I don't get why TV / analogue phones still exist, and I don't get why - if you have Internet that does them all - they come bundled with it. Gimme a cheaper, IP-only connection and lose the extra cost of infrastructure.
To be honest, nowadays, I don't get why I'd even need one of these stupendously-fast connections. Download and watch offline is an option on just about everything (I have Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies, BBC iPlayer, etc.), and with proper QoS you could happily carry on and web-browse while it's downloading.
It's literally only peak-bandwidth that matters, and that's for convenience for your users (family) rather than for actual need.
If it's too much, ditch the phone, the TV and lots of other things and downgrade the connection to some basic number.