Sky vs Virgin vs Eir

Glen_Quagmire

Looking to get a TV subscription from one of these providers. Sky would be my preference but Virgin and Eir are offering good deals at the moment with is tempting.

I would be looking to get the basic TV package with kids channel's and a few documentaries, not interested in getting the sports or movie channels at the moment.

Sky is 30 a month with a free 32 inch LG TV.

Virgin is 10 a month for 4 months and 30 thereafter.

Eir is free for 6 months and 15 thereafter.

Is Sky still the best out there and worth the extra few quid each month or is Eir a good deal?

Anyone have any experience with Virgin or Eir and are they any good?

irishguy1983

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Looking to get a TV subscription from one of these providers. Sky would be my preference but Virgin and Eir are offering good deals at the moment with is tempting.

I would be looking to get the basic TV package with kids channel's and a few documentaries, not interested in getting the sports or movie channels at the moment.

Sky is 30 a month with a free 32 inch LG TV.

Virgin is 10 a month for 4 months and 30 thereafter.

Eir is free for 6 months and 15 thereafter.

Is Sky still the best out there and worth the extra few quid each month or is Eir a good deal?

Anyone have any experience with Virgin or Eir and are they any good?

I'm with EIR and delighted with them for the price I'm paying - I've in month 14 with them now and at full price. WIFI is the best out there and handy how I get my mobile phone bill as part of package....

Sky is still the best TV service but more expensive....

Avoid Virgin like the plague - people are leaving them in droves and I left them 14 months ago

nailer54321

I'm with virgin at the moment, have no issue with the tv, but be aware that they seem to just switch channels off, the latest channel to go is itv2, really liked this channel but hey virgin does not so they got rid of it. they got rid of utv and replaced it with 3, 3e and b3, not as good as utv. Cant fault service except for this. why not try free to air if you only want a basic package

Glen_Quagmire

irishguy1983 wrote:

Avoid Virgin like the plague - people are leaving them in droves and I left them 14 months ago

Why is everyone leaving them?

nailer54321

Not sure everyone is leaving, there broadband is the best out there provided you have the equiptment to get the speed that they advertise, most people don't realise that. customer service can be hit or miss depending on who you get, some are excellent at what they do while others are just reading from a script. Other providers are starting to offer better deals maybe that's why people leave and also virgin don't give the same deals to the loyal cutomers as they do to new ones, there is a number of reason why people switch but my guess would be if you switch providers on a reqular basic you keep getting the best deals because you can go back as a new customer.

Glen_Quagmire

nailer54321 wrote:

I'm with virgin at the moment, have no issue with the tv, but be aware that they seem to just switch channels off, the latest channel to go is itv2, really liked this channel but hey virgin does not so they got rid of it. they got rid of utv and replaced it with 3, 3e and b3, not as good as utv. Cant fault service except for this. why not try free to air if you only want a basic package

I have FTA channels at the moment but no Irish channels or basic Sky channels and the other half is starting to get on my case.

I understand to get the Irish channels (Soarview) I need to install an aerial facing south which would mean pulling cables through the apartment to the TV which is something I don't want to do.

nailer54321

my advise would be to check who are available in your area, not everyone is available in all areas, check what you need and get the best value at that time, then at the end of your contract either switch provides for a better deal or phone the provider you are with to see what deals they can do for you, I know virgin will do some sort of deal at the end of you contract but it will not be as good as there new customer deals, you should never be paying full price as advertise at the end of you contract. you just need to phone your provider and ask them what deals are available.

micks_address

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

I have FTA channels at the moment but no Irish channels or basic Sky channels and the other half is starting to get on my case.

I understand to get the Irish channels (Soarview) I need to install an aerial facing south which would mean pulling cables through the apartment to the TV which is something I don't want to do.

Depending on where you are you might be able to get saorview on an indoor aerial? To be honest you are going to end up paying 30 euro a month for about five additional channels that sky offer.. That would vex me.. I'm paying sky a small fortune every month for all channels plus an eir sport subscription... Madness I know... Sky q is very good though..

The other thing to consider is that if you already have satellite cable you can actually combine the satellite and aerial feed down one cable and split them again inside... I've done this for my parents who didn't want to run additional cables..

Glen_Quagmire

micks_address wrote:

Depending on where you are you might be able to get saorview on an indoor aerial? To be honest you are going to end up paying 30 euro a month for about five additional channels that sky offer.. That would vex me.. I'm paying sky a small fortune every month for all channels plus an eir sport subscription... Madness I know... Sky q is very good though..

micks_address wrote:

The other thing to consider is that if you already have satellite cable you can actually combine the satellite and aerial feed down one cable and split them again inside... I've done this for my parents who didn't want to run additional cables..

Yeah I've actually just had a look at the channels on offer from the three different providers and the only ones I'm missing is the Irish channels and a few Sky channels so paying 30 a month for those does sound a bit much.

Do I need to install and aerial beside the dish is or how do I get the aerial signal through the existing coax cables?

micks_address

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Yeah I've actually just had a look at the channels on offer from the three different providers and the only ones I'm missing is the Irish channels and a few Sky channels so paying 30 a month for those does sound a bit much.

Do I need to install and aerial beside the dish is or how do I get the aerial signal through the existing coax cables?

Yes you'd need to install an aerial. There's a fitting called a combiner which is like a 2 into one fitting where connect both the sat feed and aerial feed to. Then inside there's a diplexer (think that's the term) which splits out the signal again. The fittings are only a couple of euro each. They work on the premise that sat frequencies run at different mhz than saorview..

I'll try and find links and post

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

Yes you'd need to install an aerial. There's a fitting called a combiner which is like a 2 into one fitting where connect both the sat feed and aerial feed to. Then inside there's a diplexer (think that's the term) which splits out the signal again. The fittings are only a couple of euro each. They work on the premise that sat frequencies run at different mhz than saorview..

I'll try and find links and post

https://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-72-SATCOM

Chesty08

Currently have Sky package, all channels incl. Sports & Movies. With broadband the total I'm paying is €127 a month.

I love my sports and this is the main reason why I went with sky but surely I could cut costs somewhere.

Had a problem with broadband only last week and have to say, the service was 1st class!

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

https://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-72-SATCOM

If you are close to any good satellite shop they would be able to sort you out.

micks_address

Chesty08 wrote: »

Currently have Sky package, all channels incl. Sports & Movies. With broadband the total I'm paying is €127 a month.

I love my sports and this is the main reason why I went with sky but surely I could cut costs somewhere.

Had a problem with broadband only last week and have to say, the service was 1st class!

I am thinking the same but it's hard to save... You actually have a decent price there. Is that including eir sports pack? I have virgin for broadband and sky q for TV.. I thought of going for eir for broadband and getting the eir sports free but the package was going to work out more or less the same as sticking with virgin for bb plus the virgin bb is 240mb which is good

bobgaf

Hi.
The first thing to look into is to see if you can access all providers. You appear to live in an apartment so you may not be able to access all providers. It can depend on who's supplying the current landline or broadband.
If you go for Sky, the box supplied and user experience is probably the best. And you also get Sky Atlantic which you cannot get elsewhere.
I have Virgin. The choice of channels is average. I would not recommend the Horizon box if recording content is important to you or yours. It regularly fails to record scheduled programs, has been like this since the beginning and they are either not interested in fixing it or cannot fix it.
I have no experience of Eir or Vodafone.
Go onto the "Talk to" section of Boards to see what the providers are like to deal with. You can verify the recording issues with the Horizon box as I mentioned above.
This will open you eyes to other issues like customer service experiences, billing etc which may affect your choice.
You should specify whether you are looking for a single-point or multi-room connection, this may be a consideration.
Good look with it.

Chesty08

micks_address wrote: »

I am thinking the same but it's hard to save... You actually have a decent price there. Is that including eir sports pack? I have virgin for broadband and sky q for TV.. I thought of going for eir for broadband and getting the eir sports free but the package was going to work out more or less the same as sticking with virgin for bb plus the virgin bb is 240mb which is good

My mother has Eir Broadband. She has no use for Eirsport so i connected her eir account to my Sky ID card and have both sports sets now.

I see Sky offering half price sports packages for 6 months.. could be worth a negotiation?

dublinman1990

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Why is everyone leaving them?

One thing that happened with Virgin this year was that they took away the BT/EirSports pack from their customers and replaced it with Sky Sports Mix.

muffler

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Looking to get a TV subscription from one of these providers. Sky would be my preference but Virgin and Eir are offering good deals at the moment with is tempting.

I would be looking to get the basic TV package with kids channel's and a few documentaries, not interested in getting the sports or movie channels at the moment.

Sky is 30 a month with a free 32 inch LG TV.

Virgin is 10 a month for 4 months and 30 thereafter.

Eir is free for 6 months and 15 thereafter.

Is Sky still the best out there and worth the extra few quid each month or is Eir a good deal?

Anyone have any experience with Virgin or Eir and are they any good?

You could also have a quick look at this on the Bonkers website

kbell

Sky, or FTA and saorview for tv.
Then any of the providers (depending on availability and price) for BB.
You have to remember that eir, virgin and Vodafone's tv service is iptv based, so if there's an outage in BB service then you'll loose tv service too.

dxhound2005

And being IPTV based the OP might get some more advice on that forum. Probably some of the people with IPTV would not read this satellite forum.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=54

the corpo

I've been using Sky for years, but having a look at options, Virgin seem to offer a better range of channels in their basic pack.

*but* I always hated the UPC Horizon box and interface, do they still use the same? Couldn't bring myself to use it 8)

todolist

micks_address wrote: »

If you are close to any good satellite shop they would be able to sort you out.

Virgin are hopeless.Do not touch them with a ten foot pole.Customer service are dreadful.90% of the time you wait 20 minutes to speak to someone.
My broadband was down.Phoned them...waited 20 mins to speak to someone.He hadn't a clue how to help.Said it would be 7 days before someone came to my home.Awful company to deal with.Stay well clear of them.

uck51js9zml2yt

I've been with all 3.
Eir box is cr*p, virgin box is nearly cr*p. Sky is very sleek and doesn't freeze.
Eir and sky broadband were good.
Currently have sky and it's never much below 100mbps. With virgin it was down more than up.never got anywhere near 250 Mbps!