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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 Media 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 £130 line installation fee. Make sure that you investigate this before making your decision. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that anyone who signs up to a BT bundle with line rental, calls and broadband will be eligible for discounted installation of just £30.

Virgin Media is currently offering free installation for customers taking one of its broadband packages with its line rental - saving you £40 on the normal charge. There are other options though; check out the table below:

	Free installation	28 Day Guarantee
Call TalkTalk 0800 049 7834 Go	Call BT now 0800 028 4474 Go	Call Virgin Media 0808 189 0508 Go	Call Sky now 0844 241 0582 Go	Call Primus now 0800 036 0170 Go
FREE connection	£0 with any calls & Broadband package	£0 with Calls Broadband + TV £40 otherwise	£10 connection charge	£59 connection charge
Set-up usually within 7 & 10 days for a new line installation. If switching from Virgin, you can keep your line until your new line has been activated *	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 normally between 14 and 28 days for connetion or new line*	Setup between 12 - 14 days normally for a new line installation *
Go Call TalkTalk now 0800 049 7834	Go Call BT now 0800 028 4474	Go Call Virgin Media 0808 189 0508	Go Call Sky now 0844 241 0582	Go Call Primus now 0800 036 0170

* 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 Media line rental

BT line rental costs £14.60 a month if you pay by direct debit, or £15.40 if you choose to pay on receipt of your bill by credit/debit card or cheque.

On the other hand, Virgin Media line rental costs £13.90 a month if you pay by direct debit, or £17.24 if you pay on receipt of your bill by credit/debit card or cheque. Virgin Media also charges customers an additional £1.25 a month unless they switch to online billing.

BT and Virgin Media 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 £5 a month with BT or £8 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 on top. Ofcom recently named Virgin Media, with its superfast fibre network, the UK’s fastest broadband provider, with top "up to" speeds now exceeding 100Mb. It also provides speeds of up to 50Mb, as well as 10Mb, 20Mb and 30Mb packages. Starting in February 2012, Virgin Media will be doubling the speeds of four million of its broadband customers, in a major programme of upgrades expected to compete in mid-2013.

BT is also making progress on superfast broadband . It's currently on track to provide a superfast fibre connection for two-thirds of the UK, a year earlier than originally planned. Around six million households already have access to the faster technologt, but this figure is expected to reach 10 million 2012. The new fibre optic cables support speeds of up to 40Mb and and downloads significantly quicker than with BT's old copper phone lines.

Virgin Media and BT digital TV packages

While Virgin Media's digital TV service is perhaps better known than BT's, both providers now offer a wide range of TV options. If you want a high-end TV package then Virgin Media takes a lot to beat. It offers three packages, ranging from over 50 channels to around 100 or nearer 200.

It 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. And with a Virgin Media Tivo box you can pause, rewind and record "live" TV with a huge number of options to play with.

While the BT Vision service isn’t yet as advanced, it is a good choice for someone on a smaller budget that wants a basic digital package with optional add-ons and on-demand content. It’s free if you’re a BT broadband customer, though the free service is basically just a Freeview equivalent.

A Vision+ box is also now available, allowing you to rewind, pause and record live TV and access HD content.

I hope this helps you make a decision Lynne!

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