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Virgin Media vs BT broadband

Our Broadband Expert says...

BT broadband (www.BT.com) and Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) are two of the UK’s biggest broadband providers and both companies offer a range of broadband packages that can be bundled with home phone and digital TV services, making it hard to choose which provider is right for you.

Broadband availability

The first thing you need to do is run a postcode check to find out exactly what providers and packages are available in your area.

Although Virgin Media does offer copper wire ADSL broadband packages via its National broadband, the reason most people join Virgin Media broadband is for its much faster cable broadband connections and digital TV. This article will focus on Virgin Media’s cable packages rather than its ADSL connections.

While its cable network is available to around 12.5 million people across the UK, it only covers around 51% of the country.

On the other hand, BT is required to offer its broadband to any area within reach of the local telephone exchange, which means that it has much wider coverage and is often the only option for people living in rural areas.

So while you'll almost certainly be able to get broadband from BT, you need to double check that you're in a Virgin Media cable area before choosing your provider.

Broadband speeds

When it comes to download speeds, it’s hard to beat Virgin Media’s cable broadband packages. It not only offers the UK’s fastest, widely available connections in the form of its 100Mb broadband as well as speeds of up to 10Mb, 30Mb and 50Mb broadband, it regularly tops Ofcom speed tests for fastest actual broadband connection speeds.

However, since 2010, BT has also been rolling out its own fibre optic network, offering speeds of up to 40Mb broadband and 100Mb through its BT Infinity packages.

It has also been upgrading its standard ADSL network to ADSL2+ - faster copper broadband - and now offers speeds of up to 16Mb to millions of ADSL customers. BT's up to 16Mb connection will be available to 90% of households by spring 2013. BT's up to 6Mb service will no longer be available in upgraded areas.

Both providers however, have planned upgrades to their fibre network speeds. BT will be doubling all 40Mb connections to 80Mb in 2012, and Virgin Media will be doubling its 10Mb and 30Mb packages, and increasing both 50Mb and 100Mb connections to 120Mb by mid-2013.

As with all broadband packages, you shouldn’t expect to get your top advertised speed. BT’s standard connections are all affected by the distance you are from your local telephone exchange, so the further away you live, the slower your internet connection will be.

Because Virgin Media’s packages and BT Infinity packages use fibre optic cables to deliver your broadband, they aren’t affected by distance from the exchange. While this does mean that you should get a faster connection, a number of other factors including network congestion and traffic management at peak times can still slow you down.

Download allowance

The amount of data that you're allowed to download each month will depend on the broadband package that you choose.

As well as actually downloading things like music, movies and software, your other internet activities will also count towards your download allowance. Every time you send an email, view a web page or stream content from YouTube or the BBC iPlayer, data will be downloaded to your computer.

Each BT broadband package comes with a different download allowance. Option 1, which is designed for light users, comes with a 10GB allowance, Option 2 has a generous 40GB limit and Option 3 offers “unlimited broadband” downloads, subject to a traffic management policy.

Virgin Media offers unlimited downloads on all of its broadband packages but with an acceptable use policy and traffic management applied. However, traffic management is not applied to its 100Mb connection, or downstream on its 50Mb connection.

Virgin Media says that it only applies traffic management in order to maintain speedy downloads for all customers, not just a few, and only the top 5% of downloaders are likely to ever be affected.

Bundles

Both BT and Virgin Media offer broadband bundles that may help you to save on your bills if you want broadband, digital TV and home phone.

BT (www.BT.com) offers three calling plans; the Unlimited Weekend plan, which you can get at no extra cost when you take BT line rental, the Unlimited Evening and Weekend plan that offers inclusive calls between 7pm-7am Mon-Fri and all weekend, or the Unlimited Anytime plan that offers anytime UK landline calls.

It also offers digital TV via its BT Vision service where you can choose from two options: TV Essential or TV Unlimited. You can add a variety of extra channels to your package including five on-demand packs - Unlimited comes with all five included - films, and Sky Sports 1 & 2.

Virgin Media takes bundling to the next level. As well as home phone calling plans and digital TV offering as many as 175 channels, you can also bundle your mobile phone and mobile broadband.

Virgin Media offers the biggest range of on-demand and catch-up TV and even offers the BBC iPlayer direct to your TV, which won’t use up your data allowance. You can also add Sky Sports and Sky Movies for the very best in digital TV.

Call costs

If you are looking to bundle your broadband with home phone calls then you need to think about the cost of any calls you make. Generally, BT’s call charges are cheaper than Virgin Media. Use the table below to compare call costs as part of your bundle.

Line rental

Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) is that only provider that offers broadband without a landline. But while this will save you money if you really don’t want any other services, you'll only end up saving a few pounds a month as Virgin Media offers discounts to customers who also take its phone line at £13.90 a month.

For example, the 30Mb XL Broadband package costs £28.50 a month as standard if you take it as a standalone product. If you agree to bundle it with a phone line you'll pay £18.50 a month for your broadband, plus £13.90 a month for your line rental - giving you a monthly total of £32.40. This means that you’d only save £3.90 a month.

Because BT (www.BT.com) delivers your broadband over ADSL copper telephone wires, you need to have a landline. If you pay by direct debit, this will cost you £14.60 a month on top of your broadband subscription.

You can cut the cost of your BT line rental by paying a full year in advance. Line Rental Saver costs £120 for the year - which works out at just £10 a month.

Superfast broadband

Virgin Media already offers superfast broadband at speeds of up to 100Mb and BT launched its own 100Mb service in 2011 delivering fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) in some new builds and brownfield sites around the UK running fibre optic cables direct to homes and businesses.

BT claims the roll-out of its up to 40Mb service is one of the fastest in the world and will make superfast broadband available to two-thirds of the country by 2014.

Our verdict

The provider and package you need will really depend on two things; where you live and your needs as a user.

There isn’t a huge price difference between the two providers once you've factored in line rental, so you should make your decision based on the kind of speeds that you'll be able to get and the download allowance offered on your chosen package.

Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) regularly tops the broadband speed charts with its cable network so could well offer you the fastest download speeds. But you should speak to each provider before signing up and ask for a speed estimate so that you can accurately compare the options for your specific postcode.

Virgin Media also offers a wider range of digital TV channels, in addition to its vast choice of on-demand and catch-up TV. However, BT (www.BT.com) is definitely the more competitive provider when it comes to call costs - which you have to take into account if you'll be making any calls from your landline.

NB Best buy tables are always current.

Examples in the text of the article are correct at time of publication.

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If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at OurExpert@broadbandchoices.co.uk

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