7th July 2008
As you may know, we are the only retailer of digital TV, broadband and home phone services in the UK to be accredited as impartial by Ofcom. As such we have a pretty unique view of the market with thousands of customers per month, calling our experts for impartial advice.
So we thought it might be useful to give a quick summary of how we see the market – what's hot and what to watch out for.
Our take on what's hot this month
There are some cracking digital deals out there this month, as the service providers jostle to attract the cash strapped consumer.
Tiscali and TalkTalk are both offering super cheap broadband and home phone bundle deals. The basic Tiscali package is £9.99/month for the first three months (£14.99 thereafter), with a £30 setup cost. Whilst Talk Talk's package is £13.75 per month for the first three months (£16.99 thereafter) plus £29.99 set up cost. The Tiscali package gives you a wireless router for free and unlimited downloads, but on the home phone side, Talk Talk has the appeal of more free international call destinations to choose from and free weekday evening calls.
On the digital TV side, Sky proves to be the most popular choice for those looking for premium sports and movies channels, whilst Virgin Media's basic TV and phone service is a winner at only £11 per month with line rental thrown in.
Both Sky and Virgin Media are also offering great deals on their PVRs (personal video recorders), which allow you to pause live TV and record whole series at the touch of a button. This is big news and once you have lived with a PVR there is no way you would ever go back – the difference between that and “normal” TV watching is as marked as the difference between dial-up and broadband.
Sky are offering a Sky+ box for £75 when you buy Sky TV with certain combinations of broadband and phone (a saving of £75), whilst Virgin Media are offering their V+ box (which is also capable of delivering high definition TV) for £120, a saving of £30.
Of the “triple plays” (digital TV, broadband and home phone bundles) Sky and Virgin Media are both offering great deals this month – Sky are offering basic TV, 2Mb broadband and free evening and weekend calls for £16 per month, plus £10.50 line rental and £30 set up costs. Whilst Virgin Media's equivalent package is all three services for £23.45, including line rental - plus as an exclusive for Simplifydigital customers free set up (normally £30).
The great pricing of both Sky and Virgin Media's triple-play packages means that they are by far the most popular choice, even though less well established budget players, like Tiscali offer all three services for £15.99 (first 3 months only), rising to £19.99 per month including line rental.
Our 10 things to watch out for when buying digital TV, broadband and home phone
1. The blinding variety of deals screaming for your attention – many have small print and pricing expressed in different ways, making comparing like with like very hard. That's why we recommend that you speak to one of our impartial experts!
2. Companies advertising deals that are not available in your area – very common on both broadband and digital TV
3. Being seduced by cheap looking deals that don't deliver on your requirements – remember you are often locking yourself into 12 or 18 month contracts giving you plenty of time to regret your decision!
4. Cost of line rental not being included in the headline price – this is very common among all providers and is key to determining an accurate price comparison
5. Disappointing broadband speed received versus the speed advertised – as you probably well know, all broadband speed quoted are “up to” speeds and it is highly unlikely that you will achieve the “up to” speed advertised
6. Sneaky price hikes after the end of the introductory deal period – lots of offers come with 3 month introductory deals, but some may come with 12 month intro deals which can come as a shock when the price rises sharply on your first anniversary
7. Assuming that you have high definition TV, just because you have an HD Ready TV set – a common misconception. Remember that you actually have to have an HD set top box (as well as the right TV screen) in order to see genuine HD pictures
8. Check whether the advertised pricing applies for existing customers – sometime you will be pleasantly surprised that you get a better deal as an existing customer, but sometimes hard ware costs are actually more expensive for existing customers
9. Excess charges for exceeding your internet usage allowance – a very common thing
10. Premium rate charges for making technical help calls –some can be horrendous especially if you are kept waiting before actually speaking to anybody