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Should I choose a Virgin Media or BT landline?

Our expert says...

Hi Lynne, this is a difficult decision to make - BT (www.bt.com) and Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) are the UK’s two biggest telecoms providers, and both now offer home phone, broadband and digital TV services.

BT and Virgin installation costs

In terms of installation costs, you’re right that Virgin Media is usually the cheaper of the two. However, if you already have a BT line going into your property, you might not have to pay the £29.99 line installation fee. Make sure that you investigate this before making your decision.

Virgin Media is currently offering free installation for customers taking one of its broadband packages with its line rental - saving you £35 on the normal charge. There are other options though; check out the table below:

Free installation		Fastest setup
Call BT now 0800 028 4474	Find out more VirginMedia.com	Call Primus now 0800 036 0170	Call TalkTalk now 0800 049 7834	Call BT now 0800 028 4474
£0 with any Calls & Broadband package	£0 with Calls Broadband + TV £35 otherwise	£69 connection charge	£69.99 connection charge	£29.99 BT connection charge (usually £127.99)
Setup within 4 working days for a connection, and up to 16 working days for new line installations *	Setup usually within 2 weeks. Plus you can normally keep your number. Virgin Media also offers a 28 day money back guarantee *	Setup between 3 and 5 days normally *	Setup within 20 days for new line installations. If you are switching from Virgin Media, you can keep this line until your new one has been installed *	Setup within 4 working days for a connection, and up to 16 working days for new line installations *
Call BT now 0800 028 4474	Find out more VirginMedia.com	Call Primus now 0800 036 0170	Call TalkTalk now 0800 049 7834	Call BT now 0800 028 4474

* All providers allow you to select a convenient appointment on a suitable date when you place your order online. However, line setup times will typically depend on the availability of an engineer, and other factors, such as the number of concurrent line installations in your area.

BT and Virgin line rental

BT line rental costs £12.79 a month if you pay by direct debit.

On the other hand, you have to pay by direct debit with Virgin Media and line rental costs £11.99 a month. However, Virgin Media is now charging customers an additional £1.25 a month unless they switch to online billing.

BT and Virgin call costs

It’s not just line rental costs that you have to take into account when you choose your home phone and broadband provider - call costs are important too.

If you don’t think you’ll use your home phone a lot, you’ll probably be fine using the inclusive calls that come with your line rental - both BT and Virgin Media offer free weekend UK landline calls with their line rental, and BT also offers free weekend calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers.

To add inclusive anytime calls would cost you £4.99 a month with BT or £7.95 a month with Virgin Media, and you can also add on extras such as international calling minutes.

If you don’t take a call plan and just make calls as and when you need to, then you’ll need to know what you’ll be charged. The following table compares out-of-bundle daytime call charges (with prices charged in pence per minute):

BT and Virgin broadband

When it comes to broadband reliability and speeds, Virgin Media comes out top. Using its cable network, Ofcom recently named Virgin Media the UK’s fastest broadband provider, with an average delivered speed of between 8.1Mb and 8.7Mb. The ISP offers the UK’s fastest broadband package at speeds of up to 50Mb, as well as a 20Mb and a 10Mb package.

However, BT is also working on its broadband speeds. It recently gave its customers a free 20Mb broadband boost, and customers who could benefit from the device can get a free Broadband Accelerator - or iPlate - that boosts broadband speeds by an average of 1.5Mb.

Virgin Media and BT digital TV packages

While Virgin Media is better known for its digital TV service than BT, both providers do offer TV packages. If you want a high-end TV package then Virgin Media takes a lot to beat. It offers three packages; Size M+, L and XL, going from 65 channels to 100 to 165.

It is also offers the BBC iPlayer direct to your TV - along with seven days’ catch-up from ITV and Channel 4 as well as a wide range of on-demand movies and TV programmes. You can even record an entire TV series at the touch of a button on its XL TV package.

As well as its standard TV set-top box you can also get the V+ and V+ HD boxes that allow you to rewind, pause and record “live” TV, and access HD channels if you have a HD ready TV.

While the BT Vision service isn’t as advanced as Virgin Media’s TV offerings, it is a good choice for someone on a budget that wants a basic digital TV service with optional add-ons and on-demand. It’s free if you’re a BT Total Broadband customer, though the free service is basically Freeview - much like Virgin Media’s “free” Size M TV.

You can subscribe for more channels though, choosing from four TV packages - PictureBox Film, Sport, Music or Kids - on rolling one-month contracts. A Vision+ box is also now available, allowing you to rewind, pause and record “live” TV and access HD TV.

I hope this helps you make a decision Lynne!

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