Jumped a sinking ship

clack

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Couldnt take it anymore....the need for HD footy / movies was just too much, back to sky it is ...fitted saturday. Saving private ryan on sky movies hd coming next week was the final straw. Just cant see TW getting any of the HD sprts/movies off sky for along time yet...if at all.
£199 fitted also helped make my mind up:thumbsup:
 
I am pleased a small change has such a profound effect on your life!;)
 
I have to admit I'm thinking about going to sky also. I've been a long term Telewest customer, I'd have to check but I think I've been with them for 10+ years and have consistently taken there top broadband service, phone, 2 boxes and top Digital/TVDrive package but this lack of HD stations is ridiculous.

At present I'm paying over £100 a month to them for a sub standard service compared to Sky, if they don't start to provide better HD support soon they will force me to change providers.

I changed my Digital box to the TVDrive thinking that after a few months there would me loads of content in the form of channels (not recordings) which isn't the case, in fact theres less.

Personally I think you've made the right choice :)
 
To be fair the TW box im pretty impressed with...very good SD picture, recording features...bit of a painfully slow menu system but generally good....however the cost of the full Sky package is roughly the same as TW's but with the added HD channel line up which £ for £ has to be far better value in favour of sky .... oh and if theres one thing which ive really missed with TW is the Sky sports "football first" been able to pick the match highlights youi want...why TW have never got this function is beyond me.
Ok so sky boxes have their problems too...but for some decent HD ...ill take my chance i think!!
 
Enjoy Sky!

I fully understand your decision. If it wasn't for the dish on the side of my house and the BT connection fee I'd be with Sky, BT and Be myself!

Lets hope NTL:Telewest / Virgin Media sort out their offerings soon and maybe we'll see you come back. Bye bye :hiya:
 
Clack - how did you sort out the phone line/broadband issue ?

I would be interested in finding out about the costs to switch to Sky; although I like the tvdrive box, the main reason i got it was for HD channels, and there is now only 1 (which doesn't show much as it's still a 'trial') - simply not interested in hd content on demand available on telewest. in any case, the bulk of that has been unchanged since the box arrived in my living room.

I currently have a bog standard phone line with telewest, and the £25 broadband - do you know if sky can offer these services, and if so how much they cost?

cheers
 
Weren't you locked into having the TV drive for 12 months?

I want shot of mine as well for the lack of HD stuff but I'm sure I have to keep it for a year first.
 
Yeah, I think so - I've had it less than 12 months, but would be willing to buy myself out of it if Sky proved better. Probably about 6 months or so to go, so £60 ain't much
 
i just knocked all the premium channels off for the remainder of the 5 months i have to go on the contract....buy myself out on the remainder roughly £75
Rung sky to get the best deal possible, even though a previous customer i was treated as a "new" customer......got the HD box for a discounted £199 inc free fitting......fitted tomorrow from calling on tuesday !....so in reality still saving on the full price.
phone line / broadband ive been on for years so isnt effected.....but looking at skys cost for these services this may change too in the new year
Big decision but for all the "extra" channels when you look at the 2 companys side by side its not hard to see Sky (even though i hate to admit it) is far superior and far better value than TW......i was actually quite shocked on the ammount of new channels from when i was last with Sky currently not on TW
 
The only thing thats stopping me going over the Sky is the fact that I can record 2 channels and watch a 3rd. And I use this feature a lot!!!

I really wish that Telewest would listen to us and do something about the lack of HD content!! For example, dont Telewest own the likes of UKTV etc? And they are broadcase in 4:3. Ridiculous!!
 
The recording features of TW are very good, rarely has let me down...but and its a big but....like no doubt many others i had TV Drive installed hoping to watch plenty of HD material or at the very least knowing for sure there was significant content on its way.....but unfortunatly this doesnt look the case which a engineer for TW i talked to comfirmed "quote" Best you can hope for is chan4 / bbc / chan5 in the next few years :suicide: ...no hope in the near future for sky sport hd / movies
To be honest i believe the future of HD is from downloadable content which probably isnt too far away ...until then Sky is the only realistic way to go
Looking on the bright side for TV drive users theres some good films on the bbc hd channel over xmas:clap:
 
I think thats probably about right. I will investigate in the new year. After all, I want more HD channels, and only Sky have those at the moment
 
i just knocked all the premium channels off for the remainder of the 5 months i have to go on the contract....buy myself out on the remainder roughly £75

Did you do this all at the same time, or did you cancel the premium channels then after a while tell them you want to cancel completely.

Secondly, when you cancelled did you just say you was cancelling and they told you that you had to buy out the contract or did you tell them you wanted to buy out the contract and ask them how much it would cost?
 
Weren't you locked into having the TV drive for 12 months?

I want shot of mine as well for the lack of HD stuff but I'm sure I have to keep it for a year first.


Do the price increases constitute a change in terms and conditions?
 
cancelled the premium channels first....then rung to enquire how much the remaining term of the 12 month (5 months) would be, paid a 1 off payment for this....didnt cancel the box though, no point.....as far as TW are concerned ive just decreased my package to the absolute minimal to keep within the contract
 
cancelled the premium channels first....then rung to enquire how much the remaining term of the 12 month (5 months) would be, paid a 1 off payment for this....didnt cancel the box though, no point.....as far as TW are concerned ive just decreased my package to the absolute minimal to keep within the contract

So you haven't actually cancelled then?? Apologies if I'm misunderstanding, but from what you've said you have just paid off your relevant subscriptions to the end of the twelve months in one lump sum rather than by 5 monthly payments.

If that's the case, why not leave as it was and just get Sky in addition. Save the initial outlay?
 
I jumped ship and have never been happier with my tv service. I have every Sky channel, inc. HD, for £55 a month! It cost me £140 all up, including a full re-wire of the house, getting my old Sky+ box working as well so I can record three channels and watch a fourth, and a second sat. dish. Thus, in our house we now have four boxes, all working, for £55 a month.

The upscaled pq is as good as TW. The HD is woowwwwwww! Good choice of movies, and history HD is excellent.

The only thing it does not have is Teleport replay. Thus, if you like this more than HD and choice of channels, and lack of technical faults, then keep TW.

I have to thank TW though for letting me out of my contract until next April. Then I will take my phone to BT and internet BB to Sky. Thus, overall a saving on what TW cost, with more variety in channels, and HD.

Hard to lose on this one.

:hiya:
 
Do the price increases constitute a change in terms and conditions?

Yes they do. Some NTL customers have used the fact that broadband is going up by a penny (to be inline with Telewest) to get out of their broadband contracts.
 
Not a good start
Waited in all day from 9am till 8pm for the sky engineer....rung 3 times to check with sky all was well...yes sir your on his list for today !.....8.30pm rung for a 4th time ....errrr sorry sir hes finished for today !....not a single call off anyone to tell me this !!!!to say i wasnt happy is an understatement...some asian bloke at their call centre at 9pm really copped for it
Anyway after a night and calming down a touch i rang sky and asked to be put on to cancellations with the intentions of cancelling the whole episode i was that p****** off....he rerifyed from his screen all the calls i had made and was quite genuinly shocked at the treatment i had received...he came up with a 3rd jan fitting and as a good will gesture from sky, hoping it would put my faith back in to them ....he gave me the full package for half price for the full 12 months....oh and a £10 credit for my phone calls with a letter of appology (which ill frame).......working it out quickly this seemed a very good offer, made the hd box id bought free in real terms...he also arranged for a sky engineer to fit it all instead of the company who should have fitted it
So ....at the end of the day, not a bad deal at all...ok so no HD (bar bbc) over xmas but hey......im used to no HD arnt i TW
 
I jumped ship and have never been happier with my tv service. I have every Sky channel, inc. HD, for £55 a month! It cost me £140 all up, including a full re-wire of the house, getting my old Sky+ box working as well so I can record three channels and watch a fourth, and a second sat. dish. Thus, in our house we now have four boxes, all working, for £55 a month.

The upscaled pq is as good as TW. The HD is woowwwwwww! Good choice of movies, and history HD is excellent.

The only thing it does not have is Teleport replay. Thus, if you like this more than HD and choice of channels, and lack of technical faults, then keep TW.

I have to thank TW though for letting me out of my contract until next April. Then I will take my phone to BT and internet BB to Sky. Thus, overall a saving on what TW cost, with more variety in channels, and HD.

Hard to lose on this one.

:hiya:

Just something to make you aware of not all exhanges have been upgraded,
check this site out, if you can't go with easynet/sky for bb someone else may be cheaper than TW/NTL

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

type in postcode, and view providers at the bottom hopefully sky/easynet are there
 
Yes they do. Some NTL customers have used the fact that broadband is going up by a penny (to be inline with Telewest) to get out of their broadband contracts.

I would have binned my NTL broadband and phoneline but I'm moving later this year from London out to Chippenham, even though the internet has be rock steady for the past 2 years it's now uncompetitive into todays market and I don't blame anyone for using the change of t&c for binning NTL.
 
Just something to make you aware of not all exhanges have been upgraded,
check this site out, if you can't go with easynet/sky for bb someone else may be cheaper than TW/NTL

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

type in postcode, and view providers at the bottom hopefully sky/easynet are there

Cheers mate.

The following services are available in your location:

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
Bulldog LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
Telewest Cable
 
Ok...had Sky HD installed for a week or so now so ill give a totally un-biased comparison over the sky box and TV drive, as mentioned ive had sky put in purely for the HD choice though
Recordings.....prefer the TW facility, not only the recording 2 channels at once but the overall recording system

SD picture quality......about the same on my Pioneer 436, very hard to spot any difference...both exceptionally good

HD......well, obviously Sky wins hands down here, sport, movies etc etc ....most of which looks "brilliant"...ok some is upscaled but the majority ive watched is true HD ... some on the sky HD thread moan about the lack of HD material but been a TW customer for 8 months im spoilt senseless now...at last i feel im getting the best out of my Pioneer

Menu ..... Sky again wins this comfortably, alot faster flicking through the menus and sub menus

Reliability...ok so only had sky for a week but not a a single glitch so far...the TW box required regular re-boots to put its house back in order

Programme choice.....quite shocked at the ammount of shows added to sky since i was lat with them....most of which have never made TW

Overall......i have to say with having both boxes running along side each other, the Sky HD box is much better, not just the HD stuff but the other points above. TW is a good box neverless if you only wanted the recording like sky+ or cant have a dish.....but given a choice Sky is ny recommendation
:hiya:
 
Ok...had Sky HD installed for a week or so now so ill give a totally un-biased comparison over the sky box and TV drive, as mentioned ive had sky put in purely for the HD choice though
Recordings.....prefer the TW facility, not only the recording 2 channels at once but the overall recording system

SD picture quality......about the same on my Pioneer 436, very hard to spot any difference...both exceptionally good

HD......well, obviously Sky wins hands down here, sport, movies etc etc ....most of which looks "brilliant"...ok some is upscaled but the majority ive watched is true HD ... some on the sky HD thread moan about the lack of HD material but been a TW customer for 8 months im spoilt senseless now...at last i feel im getting the best out of my Pioneer

Menu ..... Sky again wins this comfortably, alot faster flicking through the menus and sub menus

Reliability...ok so only had sky for a week but not a a single glitch so far...the TW box required regular re-boots to put its house back in order

Programme choice.....quite shocked at the ammount of shows added to sky since i was lat with them....most of which have never made TW

Overall......i have to say with having both boxes running along side each other, the Sky HD box is much better, not just the HD stuff but the other points above. TW is a good box neverless if you only wanted the recording like sky+ or cant have a dish.....but given a choice Sky is ny recommendation
:hiya:

Thanks for that, Clack. Would be great to hear from you in a month or so, regarding the reliability of the Sky HD box and if you are still pleased with making the switch.
 
Thanks for that, Clack. Would be great to hear from you in a month or so, regarding the reliability of the Sky HD box and if you are still pleased with making the switch.

Yes please, Clack. Keep giving an update on SkyHD performance..

I have been an ardent fan of the TVDrive since it was installed last April 4th. I confess that I have not had the big problems that others seem to have had, (although I have had to have one box swapped when the HDMI failed) but have had a few minor glitches that have required little more than a dab on the reset button and those haven't really bothered me. I think that TW ultimately could have a very good product on their hands.

However Customer Service is paramount to me and just recently with the one major TV service crash (and subsequent minor one), a box that is behaving erratically, I decided today to talk to TW faults.

Frankly the treatment I received was appalling. I have to wait for five days so a diagnostic can be done "over the line" before they will call me back with the results to arrange for an engineer to visit - in the meantime I can't access programmes on the HDD nor record to it potentially for a couple of weeks.

Now, I'm not the kind of person who loses their rag, and I didn't this time, but did decide to talk to Customer Service......to be advised that there would be a 45 minute wait. I said I woiuld call back.

All day I have been advised their is a 30 - 45 minute wait to talk to Customer Service.

In a fit of pique I rang Sky to find out what their service costs. (thinking the sheer expense of Sky HD would make me come to my senses and calm me down).

BUT for a like for like package - two hdd boxes, TWICE the broadband speed and a phone line, Sky undercut TW by £14.50 per month - £24.50 if i forgo the facilty to record on two boxes. Even at the (discounted) cost of the box at £199 it'll have paid for itself in eight months AND I get HD now.

Ironic really when, last April, I was saying I was happy that I was getting HD via TW for no outlay and I was leaving Sky as they couldn't provide HD at the time. (Remember TW1 - Sky 0).

I didn't think Sky would be cheaper AND provide better HD content

Now I AM the kind of person who will not put up with being treated badly. So TW will not hear from me again, I will not rant and rave. I will wait for 19th March when the 12th monthly (in advance) payment goes out and quietly disconnect the equipment and vote with my feet. (TW can ring ME to collect the equipment...45 minute wait indeed).

Sorry TW, a great product with a few minor flaws cannot counter poor technical support and a Customer Service department with major flaws.

K
 

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