Virgin Media Deal

beauf

bk wrote: »

TP-Link Archer C7v2.

Laptop is a Macbook Air with 5GHz 802.11n support, don't know more then that.

I'd recommend the Archer C8 nowadays, currently cheaper then the C7 on Amazon!!

Lots of info here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057367191

Thanks. The C8 is on my to do list.

lensman

ahh well, the auld lappy is getting on now

rosmoke

I have to mention that every windows computer I have tested, they were all limited to 10-12mb/s because most of them can't see 5ghz wireless networks even the new ones but every macbook I tested they all connect to 5ghz networks even one from 2007.

bk

rosmoke wrote: »

I have to mention that every windows computer I have tested, they were all limited to 10-12mb/s because most of them can't see 5ghz wireless networks even the new ones but every macbook I tested they all connect to 5ghz networks even one from 2007.

I think that is more of a cost thing, rather then a mac versus windows things.

Mac's are expensive premium devices and as such they always come with the best specs available at the time. There is no such thing as a budget Mac.

Windows machines on the other stretch from premium to the super cheap. I think the majority of people (non gamers *) who buy windows machines, buy mostly cheap models. But the cheaper windows machines often have poor specs and only support 2.4GHz 802.11n, etc.

You can absolutely get high end premium windows machines with specs equivalent to macs (802.11ac, etc.), but I find that in general only gamers and a few other people buy those sort of machines.

bk

lensman wrote: »

The port on my laptop is 10/100 Ethernet, I disabled the slower built in wireless use a USB 300n wireless adapter.

That is what I want to get across, I often see people complain that they aren't getting the full performance out of their UPC connection and blaming UPC for that.

But the majority of the time, when you check, it turns out that the UPC connection is in fact delivering the full speed, that the problem lies with the users equipment.

And that is a bit unfair to UPC as they are in fact delivering incredibly fast broadband, at very reasonable prices. Way better then any other ISP in Ireland many times over.

People need to understand that if you want to get the full potential out of such a service, you have to invest a little bit in better equipment to get the most out of it.

It is like buying a Ferrari and then complaining that you can't reach it's maximum speed because you put normal road tires on it and standard petrol in the tank!

Now there is nothing wrong with realising that you laptop isn't good enough and that you can't currently afford to upgrade it and have to wait a few years. That is totally understandable, but people also need to understand this isn't UPC's fault and that with the right gear you can absolutely take advantage of their incredible speeds.

lensman

My daughter has a state of the art gaming desktop a few months old, I'll run the speed test from that maching & see the results;)

rosmoke

bk wrote: »

I think that is more of a cost thing, rather then a mac versus windows things.

Mac's are expensive premium devices and as such they always come with the best specs available at the time. There is no such thing as a budget Mac.

Windows machines on the other stretch from premium to the super cheap. I think the majority of people (non gamers *) who buy windows machines, buy mostly cheap models. But the cheaper windows machines often have poor specs and only support 2.4GHz 802.11n, etc.

You can absolutely get high end premium windows machines with specs equivalent to macs (802.11ac, etc.), but I find that in general only gamers and a few other people buy those sort of machines.

I know but it's hard to understand why a second hand macbook from 2007 which goes for around 100e on Adverts has no problem supporting 5ghz but a 5-600e laptop 2014 doesn't support. And I wasn't complaining about cheap windows computers, 500e is not cheap in my opinion.

bk

rosmoke wrote: »

I know but it's hard to understand why a second hand macbook from 2007 which goes for around 100e on Adverts has no problem supporting 5ghz but a 5-600e laptop 2014 doesn't support. And I wasn't complaining about cheap windows computers, 500e is not cheap in my opinion.

Well €500 is cheap when you consider that Macs start at about €1000 and can go up to €3000! The 2007 Macbook probably cost close to €2000 back in 2007!

The windows manufacturers like to cheap out on areas where they think people aren't technical enough to notice, like wifi, bluetooth, etc. and then stick a massive HD screen on it knowing perfectly well that your average buyer in PC World will only notice the nice screen and not read and understand the detailed specs.

It is an easy way for them to cut corners. As a technically minded person, I can easily see the significant corner cutting on 500e laptops when I walk around PC World.

rosmoke

You can't compare a windows laptop to a mac like that, the brand makes a price difference as well.
It's like you are comparing oneplus two with the latest iphone, or the latest iphone with s6. You can't say that Apple puts hardware worth that much compared to the other competitors. Apple brand costs a lot mainly because of their way of handling customers, so many times I've brought a laptop and they serviced it for free (without having warranty) and they are well known for so many repair programs out of warranty.
Imagine if I would buy an acer laptop with 500e, put the apple logo and I could easily sell it for 1500e, most people won't notice ))

ronano

I'm paying roughly 40.16 euro a month for broadband and phone, think i opted in for online billing while back. I rang the loyalty line and got 6 months half price and tied into a new 12 months contract. It took about 4 minutes all in, i rejected their first offer of 3 months half price. Figure the info be useful 061 272190 was the number

bk

rosmoke wrote: »

You can't compare a windows laptop to a mac like that, the brand makes a price difference as well.

......

Imagine if I would buy an acer laptop with 500e, put the apple logo and I could easily sell it for 1500e, most people won't notice ))

No, that simply isn't true at all!!! Macs aren't simply €500 worth of components with the apple brand on them!

I help many family and friends buy €500 Asus and Acer laptops and while those machines did fine for their relatively light usage, the specs and build quality of these machines comes nowhere close to even a €1000 mac!

A Mac will almost always have high end parts, CPU a high end Intel Core i5 or i7, while the €500 Acer will have a low end pentium or Core i3 CPU.

A mac will have a very fast SSD, while the €500 Acer will have a slow HDD.

Same goes for wireless as you pointed out, RAM, motherboard, etc.

€500 gets you all relatively low end parts and lots of corner cutting. If you look at the actual specs of a Mac and then try and find a windows laptop with the same spec, you will quickly find that you are similar premium €1000+ range windows machines.

For instance go take a look at the specs of a €1600 13" Macbook Pro, now go look for a similar spec of a laptop on Dell. You will find the Dell XPS 13 has give or take the same specs and it costs €1,650

Even looking on the Acer, the closest laptop they have to a Macbook Pro with a similar spec is the Aspire S7 and that costs €1,767 !!!

Macs always have high end specs and PC's with similar specs are equally expensive.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying most people need those high end specs. Many, if not most people get by just fine with €500 laptops for their relatively light needs. But don't kid yourself that you are getting the same specs and build quality from a €500 laptop as a €1500 mac or high end PC.

rosmoke

I don't know where you're buying from but I remember 5 years ago I helped my cousin get a Lenovo i7 brand new with really good specs for 454€. The cheapest i7 15" from Apple 5 years ago was no where near 2000€.
Believe me, I'm an Apple fan as well, I'm using a Macbook for the last 8 years and I believe they are great piece of work but still let's be realistic.
Have another example
This costs 600€
Laptop Asus X555LB-XX026D with procesor Intel® Core™ i7-5500U 2.40GHz, Broadwell™, 15.6", 4GB, 1TB, nVidia GeForce 940M 2GB, Free DOS, Black/Silver

What Macbook 15" i7 with 2gb video board dedicated can you find at 600€?

beauf

You're completely missing the point. AND That laptop doesn't have Wifi AC.

beauf

lensman wrote: »

My daughter has a state of the art gaming desktop a few months old, I'll run the speed test from that maching & see the results;)

Check it has Gigabit Ethernet and/or Wifi AC.

Italiancheese

My 12 month contract is up shortly and I was offered a 12 month contract with 6 months half price €42.49 for 240 broadband, unlimited phone and basic TV package and then it will go back up to €84.99. Has anyone been offered better?? I read back through the thread but can't see if this is good.

jay0109

Italiancheese wrote: »

My 12 month contract is up shortly and I was offered a 12 month contract with 6 months half price €42.49 for 240 broadband, unlimited phone and basic TV package and then it will go back up to €84.99. Has anyone been offered better?? I read back through the thread but can't see if this is good.

Thats exactly what I got last April after much debating with them
Got 2 months free Setanta/BT sports also

Fakman87

Lads I signed up for the €25 a month offer but my first bill was €30. Just wondering is this a mistake from UPC or is this including VAT that isn't listed in the offer? Thanks.

bk

rosmoke wrote: »

This costs 600€
Laptop Asus X555LB-XX026D with procesor Intel® Core™ i7-5500U 2.40GHz, Broadwell™, 15.6", 4GB, 1TB, nVidia GeForce 940M 2GB, Free DOS, Black/Silver

What Macbook 15" i7 with 2gb video board dedicated can you find at 600€?

And where exactly did you find this?

I can't find this available anywhere on the web? The closest I can find is a lower speced model on some relatively dodgy looking Romanian site!!!!

And again, the specs don't actually come anywhere close to a mac. Yes, it does have a nice looking core i7 CPU, but you can see it cutting corners everywhere else:

- Only a pretty low end 1366x768 screen, versus a high end IPS 2560x1600 retina display of a mac.
- 5400 rpm HDD versus SSD in a MAC (this one makes a big difference)
- 4GB of RAM versus 8GB RAM in a mac
- 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM versus 1866MHz LPDDR3 DRAM
- 802.11 b/g/n versus 802.11ac

Basically this is a low end budget laptop that they have stuck a nice CPU and GPU into, but it definitely is cutting corners again. Just this time it is cutting corners on the quality of screen (along with RAM, HDD, etc.), where as most budget laptops put a slightly nicer screen in, but cut the corners on CPU.

Don't get me wrong, it looks like a nice laptop for a gamer on a budget, but it certainly doesn't have the specs to match a mac, nor an alienware.

bk

Fakman87 wrote: »

Lads I signed up for the €25 a month offer but my first bill was €30. Just wondering is this a mistake from UPC or is this including VAT that isn't listed in the offer? Thanks.

Sounds like a mistake, all advertised prices most include VAT.

rosmoke

bk wrote: »

And where exactly did you find this?

I can't find this available anywhere on the web? The closest I can find is a lower speced model on some relatively dodgy looking Romanian site!!!!

And again, the specs don't actually come anywhere close to a mac. Yes, it does have a nice looking core i7 CPU, but you can see it cutting corners everywhere else:

- Only a pretty low end 1366x768 screen, versus a high end IPS 2560x1600 retina display of a mac.
- 5400 rpm HDD versus SSD in a MAC (this one makes a big difference)
- 4GB of RAM versus 8GB RAM in a mac
- 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM versus 1866MHz LPDDR3 DRAM
- 802.11 b/g/n versus 802.11ac

Basically this is a low end budget laptop that they have stuck a nice CPU and GPU into, but it definitely is cutting corners again. Just this time it is cutting corners on the quality of screen (along with RAM, HDD, etc.), where as most budget laptops put a slightly nicer screen in, but cut the corners on CPU.

Don't get me wrong, it looks like a nice laptop for a gamer on a budget, but it certainly doesn't have the specs to match a mac, nor an alienware.

1. Emag is not a dodgy website is the biggest online shop in Central and Eastern Europe available in 4 countries, they just bought Agito.pl (the biggest online retail store in Poland).
2. We just compared a 600e laptop with a 2300e Macbook (cheapest i7 15" on their website) and your argument is that it doesn't have the same amount of ram..

Look with the retina display I agree, but if you take out the 1tb hdd the windows pc has and put a 256gb ssd it should be less than 100e difference, if you swap those 4gb with 8gb it should be less than 70e difference. An 802.11ac card for a laptop is 19e. So with less than 200e you will have almost the same laptop, except the screen and a few other things like thunderbolt, etc.

Have another example One Plus 2 (350e) vs Iphone 6 (700e)
I don't even know why I'm trying to convince you that brand makes the price difference in most of the times, it's a proven fact for so long, I should better stop here.

bk

rosmoke wrote: »

1. Emag is not a dodgy website is the biggest online shop in Central and Eastern Europe available in 4 countries, they just bought Agito.pl (the biggest online retail store in Poland).

And how is that of any use to anyone buying a laptop in Ireland?

rosmoke wrote: »

Look with the retina display I agree, but if you take out the 1tb hdd the windows pc has and put a 256gb ssd it should be less than 100e difference, if you swap those 4gb with 8gb it should be less than 70e difference. An 802.11ac card for a laptop is 19e. So with less than 200e you will have almost the same laptop, except the screen and a few other things like thunderbolt, etc.

And the retina display costs a few hundred extra. Plus the super hiqh quality and robust aluminium case (versus cheap plastic), plus the best trackpad you will ever get, plus a super solid, UNIX based operating system, plus the very convenient mag safe connector, plus vastly superior battery life, etc. etc.

It is like comparing a Ford Fiesta to a BMW 5 series. Sure both will get you from Cork to Dublin. But don't kid yourself, they aren't the same parts with just a different brand.

Yes, being a premium brand, Apple certainly does make more profit margin then most of the cheap Taiwanese companies. But don't kid yourself the they aren't just selling a €500 laptop for €1500 like you claimed!

If you pay €400 for a laptop you will get all budget, low end parts.

If you pay €600, it is still a low end budget machine. Most of the parts will be the same as the €400, but they will usually have to one or two parts that they will put in it for advertising purposes, usually a better screen, but in your example a better CPU/GPU. But all the other parts in the machine are still low end budget parts. Thus your original complaint why all windows PC's only seem to support 2.4GHz only.

You need to spend over €1000, windows or mac to get a laptop that is more balanced and all the components are equally high end.

I already linked you two windows laptops that had roughly the same specs as a 13" Macbook Pro and they actually cost more!

You claimed that you could get the same specs as a €1500 for €500, but you still haven't linked me to any laptop that is even close.

Here is the specs of a 13" Macbook Pro, now go link me to a laptop with the same specs for €500 and preferably in Ireland:

€1500
- 13" 2560x1600 IPS Screen
- 2.7GHz Core i5
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB SSD
- 10 hours Battery
- 802.11ac Wi‑Fi

Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to go buy a high end laptop. They certainly don't, most people will do just fine with a cheaper laptop. But that doesn't mean more expensive laptops don't also have their place.

Silver-Tiger

Just looking for broadband. New home.

Is there no first time buyer deals to be had?

bk

Silver-Tiger wrote: »

Just looking for broadband. New home.

Is there no first time buyer deals to be had?

There doesn't seem to be anything from UPC at the moment. I expect it is just a lull before they rebrand to Virgin Media and launch the new brand with some big deals. But that might not be of any use to you if you need to sign up urgently.

You could always call their sales department and ask. Say you are interested, but Sky is offering a better deal at the moment (Broadband + phone + TV for €50) I'd be surprised if they didn't match it.

Silver-Tiger

NOTHING to be had on Broadband only at the moment.

I almost feel ripped off paying full whack.

Seve OB

Silver-Tiger wrote: »

NOTHING to be had on Broadband only at the moment.

I almost feel ripped off paying full whack.

mine is free
paying for line rental though

tharmor

Fakman87 wrote:

Lads I signed up for the €25 a month offer but my first bill was €30. Just wondering is this a mistake from UPC or is this including VAT that isn't listed in the offer? Thanks.

Keep an eye on second bill also....i got both for 30 and 31...managed to et refund somehow....lets see what the third bill says...

yoshimitsu

Hi all, has anybody tried renegotiating with the "new" Virgin Media since the re-branding? I'm paying €90 a month now, up from €85 on my last UPC bill in Sept. WTF!?
We are heavy broadband user (need speed, low latency and no data caps) and do watch a bit of TV. are there alternatives?

groom

yoshimitsu wrote: »

Hi all, has anybody tried renegotiating with the "new" Virgin Media since the re-branding? I'm paying €90 a month now, up from €85 on my last UPC bill in Sept. WTF!?
We are heavy broadband user (need speed, low latency and no data caps) and do watch a bit of TV. are there alternatives?

Drop the TV portion. I pay €26pm for 120MB with low latency, no data caps and the lower phone option.

Lots of TV options. Sky worked out really cheap for me for a couple of years. Always paid less than €20pm by renegotiating and now I used the Sky box without a sub.

HumpyGossy

Drop the TV portion?

Is this with UPC?

Cheapest I can see for Broadband alone is €40 per month?

scamalert

Hi all, has anybody tried renegotiating with the "new" Virgin Media since the re-branding? I'm paying €90 a month now, up from €85 on my last UPC bill in Sept. WTF!?
We are heavy broadband user (need speed, low latency and no data caps) and do watch a bit of TV. are there alternatives?

call them ask wtf,probably if you speak to right person might get put on some promotion and fork the extra euros off,otherwise ask to cancel since id believe that is a breach of contract to increase price,thus no penalty with going to someone else.there seems a lot of issues appearing since Vm joined and many are unhappy,if it continues that merger soon will go down the drain.
they spend moeny on stupid adds and promoting,and yet instead putting all that cash to better the service,provide better boxes/routers speeds they do opposite :cool:

JohnnyRoyal

yoshimitsu wrote: »

Hi all, has anybody tried renegotiating with the "new" Virgin Media since the re-branding? I'm paying €90 a month now, up from €85 on my last UPC bill in Sept. WTF!?
We are heavy broadband user (need speed, low latency and no data caps) and do watch a bit of TV. are there alternatives?

Hey, FYI my contract was up this month. Was already on combo package (tv broadband and phone) but didn't want to move to Horizon box last time I renewed contract (as wife hated the user interface) but was told I could move in future at no charge if I wanted. Rang Virgin Media (now) and rep said I could now move but 60 eur charge to now get Horizon box even though I was virtually paying for it already. Nothing they could do for me, couldn't waive it or anything. Also didn't then transfer me to customer loyalty as would have done in past after complaining and saying need to look elsewhere. However on here found number for customer loyalty direct. Rang them direct and complained there about the charge for box. That was wiped v easily , then pushed little further about bills , mentioned a competitors name etc and got 5 eur off each service for 6months, hmmm'ed and hawed/rejected that and got 4 months half price, took that (I know others in this thread have got better deals in past but not sure how much they are giving out now) but I think def worth ringing customer loyalty directly if not happy. Still think their broadband TV and phone as service is excellent so happy with outcome. Direct Customer loyalty number is 061272190

groom

HumpyGossy wrote: »

Drop the TV portion?

Is this with UPC?

Cheapest I can see for Broadband alone is €40 per month?

Well I have been with them a while and I think broadband plus phone is cheaper than just broadband.

Point remains that the TV portion seems like the most expensive and the easiest replaced.

Amouar

groom wrote: »

Drop the TV portion. I pay €26pm for 120MB with low latency, no data caps and the lower phone option.

Lots of TV options. Sky worked out really cheap for me for a couple of years. Always paid less than €20pm by renegotiating and now I used the Sky box without a sub.

Are you sure it €26pm ? It used be to be €26pm for me 2 years ago but now it's €29.98pm due to the recent increases.

scamalert

might of jumped a gun, but is price increase is breach of contract in general ?
as thinking rationally it would be,but given all small scripts not guaranteed speed,not responsible etc guess there might be some cover in there to justify their reasons.

Since remember early this year had simillar story with bb going up 5-7 e,but they ran promotion for new members and just mentioning that got almost 10e drop in price.

Fr_Dougal

Amouar wrote: »

Are you sure it €26pm ? It used be to be €26pm for me 2 years ago but now it's €29.98pm due to the recent increases.

I'm paying €35 p/m for 240mb bb and HD TV, years contract.

beauf

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

I'm paying €35 p/m for 240mb bb and HD TV, years contract.

Is that a recent contract and the horrorbox?

Fr_Dougal

beauf wrote: »

Is that a recent contract and the horrorbox?

Yes, signed up during the summer. Had heard bad reviews regarding the Horizon box and was fully prepared to cancel within the 14 day cooling off period, but the box hasn't given me any problems. Interface isn't as good as Sky, but once you get used to it, it's grand.

jay0109

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

I'm paying €35 p/m for 240mb bb and HD TV, years contract.

I got €44 half price for 6 months, €88 full price for 6 months. Last March.
Looks like a terrible deal now

Can't wait for it to finish

groom

Amouar wrote: »

Are you sure it €26pm ? It used be to be €26pm for me 2 years ago but now it's €29.98pm due to the recent increases.

Yeah you're right. sneaky ****ers

Italiancheese

BE WARNED : Virgin Media are impossible to deal with in their new call centre in the Philippines. I got a new contract recently same as last year with half price for 6 months and then I got my Bill and was being charged for mobile calls on my landline which I assumed were included in my package!!! Called them and have wasted so much time being switched between sales and customer loyalty. They claim that I asked to downgrade my package and want me to pay for all the mobile calls.

RainyDay

Italiancheese wrote: »

BE WARNED : Virgin Media are impossible to deal with in their new call centre in the Philippines. I got a new contract recently same as last year with half price for 6 months and then I got my Bill and was being charged for mobile calls on my landline which I assumed were included in my package!!! Called them and have wasted so much time being switched between sales and customer loyalty. They claim that I asked to downgrade my package and want me to pay for all the mobile calls.

I found it very hard to deal with the Filipino folks when I was renewing my contract. I genuinely couldn't understand half of what they were saying, and I'm pretty used to working in multi-cultural environments. After giving my account number five times, I gave up and rang the Irish 061- loyalty team.

Sarn

The service they offer is great, but if something goes wrong they are a nightmare to deal with. I got a special offer during the summer but they unilaterally changed the deal after a month. Trying to explain it to their non-local billing department was an exercise in futility. In the end I was told by their loyalty department that they couldn't give me the deal so had to go with another deal. Three months in a row I've had an incorrect bill with all the related calls and emails. I don't hold out much hope for next month.

Allyall

I tried to cancel 3 months ago. No bill last 2 months.
The last time I spoke to them, I told them I had cancelled and was stopping my direct debit.

Today I received a bill for BB and TV for 3 months.
I don't have/never had TV with them.

They never cut off the broadband, in fairness I used it, so I probably don't have a leg to stand on, on that side of things. But I won't be ringing them to sort it out. They can ring me.

Dempsey

I was thinking of ringing them for a new deal as my contract is up after this month, I'm afraid to now!!

Aidan No1

"I gave up and rang the Irish 061- loyalty team"

Have you got the rest of the numbers that go with 061. I tried ringing the Philippines customer loyalty team and she ended up shouting down the phone at me because I could not understand her. I could not understand her shouting either so I just hung up. The 061 number might be the answer as long as I don't get put through the a call centre in Kerry, if I do I will have to stick with the Philippines

fdevine

Aidan No1 wrote: »

"I gave up and rang the Irish 061- loyalty team"

Have you got the rest of the numbers that go with 061. I tried ringing the Philippines customer loyalty team and she ended up shouting down the phone at me because I could not understand her. I could not understand her shouting either so I just hung up. The 061 number might be the answer as long as I don't get put through the a call centre in Kerry, if I do I will have to stick with the Philippines

Last time I rang the direct dial Customer Loyalty number (061) which was prior to the re-branding I'm certain I was patched through to a foreign call centre.

Similarly I had difficulty understanding the operator, which wasn't helped by the noticeable background chatter from umpteen other reps.

Looks like we are screwed.

Number is 061 272190 if you want to give it a try. Keep us posted

scamalert

Sarn wrote: »

The service they offer is great, but if something goes wrong they are a nightmare to deal with. I got a special offer during the summer but they unilaterally changed the deal after a month. Trying to explain it to their non-local billing department was an exercise in futility. In the end I was told by their loyalty department that they couldn't give me the deal so had to go with another deal. Three months in a row I've had an incorrect bill with all the related calls and emails. I don't hold out much hope for next month.

did you get you bill with one deal and afterwards they changed it or was it done on the phone and you got billed extra when receiving bill.

Since all calls are recorded,i dont see how they would be able to back out,or you refusing to pay afterwards.
So far myself never had any bad experiences only drops in cost when calling and landing when they do promotions.like during summer new customers were getting huge discount,just rang and got price down where weeks before it was meant to go up,and even cash back on difference,thou with that came 2y contract.

James Delaney

Kavrocks wrote: »

Says 6 months here and 12 months here!

I'd be more inclined to say it's 6 months. I can't imagine UPC ringing somebody up to offer them more services for a smaller price.

Either can I. Haggled with them big time in Sept - gave me 1/2 price for 9mths & €90 for 3 mths - a fairly good deal I thought..

Anybody in Dublin 3 area have an alternative to UPC to inc TV & Broadband.

deepsilent

omg the new call centre is terrible, i got a modem replacement on friday evening. the mac address is not activated yet and explaining this to them was impossible, hours lost and no solution not to mention that the treat was awful. I'll have to wait to monday and talk with the representatives in the forum...

dodzy

Despite previous reply indicating that it is an irish operator, customer loyalty is now picked up in Manilla