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Stand-alone Digital TV
The trend for bundling doesn’t seem to be slowing with Virgin Media recently reporting that more than 45 per cent of its customers take out money saving “tripleplay” bundles. However, while you might get a great TV package, the broadband you receive as part of your all inclusive package might not be the best, and the cost of making calls will undoubtedly eat into any savings you’ve made.
Here’s how to rebel and ditch the bundle without sacrificing your favourite digital TV channels.
BT also offers digital TV via BT Vision (www.BTVision.bt.com) where customers can either watch just the free-to-view programmes available in their area for no monthly cost, or they can add pay-per-view movies and programmes when required, or even add a range of subscriptions on a month-by-month basis.
Tiscali TV won’t be included in comparison tables in this article as its availability isn’t yet wide enough.
Why should I go for digital TV on its own?
When you take a money-saving bundle, you’re going to be sacrificing some aspect of the services you get since your provider will always be trying to make a profit. This means that you could end up paying over the odds for your phone calls or getting a slow broadband connection with a low download limit. If you won’t be using all of these services in equal measure then you might not mind, however, if they’re all of equal importance, you might want to consider getting each service from a separate provider that specialises in that area.
Broadband quality
The quality of the broadband that you get as part of a bundle varies depending on who you go with - but it’s not just speeds and download limits that you need to take into account - you need to think about the kind of service, and technical support, that you’ll get from your provider. You also need to look at the download limits you get with each package. For example, although BT’s services are not part of a bundle, the broadband comparable to that of the tripleplay bundles from Sky and Virgin Media is Total Broadband Option 1 (www.BT.com) and offers speeds of up to 8Mb but has a download limit of only 5GB. The broadband from Virgin Media is “unlimited” and subject to a fair usage policy but only runs at up to 2Mb while Sky’s bundle offering is better with up to 8Mb and a decent 40GB download limit.
However, you might want to go for a smaller provider that specialises in broadband and can focus its customer service and technical support for broadband customers. Both Madasafish (www.Madasafish.com) and Eclipse (www.Eclipse.net.uk) offer very good services with excellent customer service. Taking your broadband separately also means you could sign up to a provider like Be (www.BeThere.co.uk) and get super-fast broadband up to 24Mb.
Getting your home phone as part of a bundle means that you’re unlikely to be getting the best value call charges so you should compare prices against the cost of getting you phone line from an independent provider.
See the table below to compare the call costs of BT, Sky and Virgin Media against those offered by home phone providers YourCalls, TalkTalk and Toucan:
Company
Inclusive calls
Calls to Orange mobiles
Calls to landlines, Australia
Extra information
Sky Speak Freetime package Part of See Speak Surf bundle www.Sky.com
Free evening and weekend UK calls (first hour then 0.8p per minute)
12.3p per minute weekdays, 7.6p per minute evenings, 4.3p weekends
22p per minute weekdays, 9p at weekends and evenings
3p connection charge applies to all calls You pay line rental to BT at £11 a month
Free evening and weekend UK calls (first hour then 3p per minute)
15p per minute weekdays, 10p per minute evenings, 5p at weekends
19p per minute at all times
6p connection charge applies to all calls There is no line rental to pay
BT Option 2 package £3.45 a month Comparable to Sky and Virgin Media bundles www.BT.com
Free evening and weekend UK calls (first hour then 3.25p per minute)
12p per minute weekdays, 7p per minute evenings, free at weekends
24p per minute weekdays, 10p per minute evenings and weekends
5.5p connection charge applies to all calls You pay line rental to BT at £11 a month
YourCalls Leisure Time Saver package £1.99 a month Comparable to Sky and Virgin Media bundleswww.YourCalls.net
Free local and national calls at weekends (first hour then 2.4p per minute)
12p per minute weekdays, 9.76p evenings, 5.29p weekends (9.64p weekdays, 7.52p evenings, 5.29p weekends if chosen as ‘golden destination’)
3.4p at all times (1.33p if chosen as ‘golden destination’)
You pay line rental to YourCalls at £9.99 a month You also pick a ‘golden destination’ for discounted calls to either a mobile network or geographical destination
TalkTalk Talk2 package Free for a year then £3.39 afterwards Comparable to Sky and Virgin Media bundleswww.TalkTalk.co.uk
Free local and national calls at weekends (first 70 minutes then 3p per minute)
12p per minute weekdays, 7p per minute evenings and weekends
5p per minute at all times
6p connection charge on all chargeable calls You pay line rental to TalkTalk at £11 a month
Toucan All-you-can Off Peak package £3.75 a month Comparable to Sky and Virgin Media bundleswww.Toucan.com
Free local and national calls at weekends
13p per minute weekdays, 8p evenings, 5p per minute at weekends
3p per minute at all times
3p connection charge on all chargeable calls You pay line rental to Toucan at £8.99 a month
If you decide to go for separate providers to get your digital TV then you won’t have the entire digital TV remit to choose from. Some providers, like BT, Tiscali TV and Virgin Media won’t supply digital TV unless you sign up to other products that they offer.
So that leaves you with either Sky or Freeview (plus its add-ons Top Up TV and Setanta).
Sky
If you go for Sky, you then have to choose how many “mixes” you want. You pay £16 a month for one mix, going up by £1 for each additional mix you add, going up to £21 a month for all six entertainment mixes - and you don’t have to take any other service from them. You also have the option of adding Sky Movies, Sky Sports or even Setanta Sports for an additional cost.
Freeview
Your other option is to take Freeview - which is obviously free - and if you do want more than the basic channels that you’ll get, you can add Top UP TV for £9.99 a month or Setanta Sports (with no subscription) for the same price.
Click here to do a Postcode Search and see what’s available in your area, or click here to read more about each provider.
I do want a bundle
If you have decided that you do want to bundle your digital TV, broadband and home phone, you need to think about your priorities and how you’ll use each service as this will affect the provider that you choose. Click here to read more on Digital Tripleplay Bundles.
