setting up TV + internet

I've heard that setting up TV and internet services once we arrive can take eons in the UK.  Does anyone have any pointers to help speed up the process?  I don't even really know what it entails.

I just moved into a new house on September 10th.

I went with Sky (called them on September 8th) for TV/internet/phone and they installed my satellite dish and TV on September 14th and they're hooking up my phone and internet tomorrow (September 26th), which was the earliest date I could get.

I've heard that setting up TV and internet services once we arrive can take eons in the UK.  Does anyone have any pointers to help speed up the process?  I don't even really know what it entails.

Nope there's nothing you can do except if you know you're moving on a certain date, join and call them up for an installation date 2 weeks away if possible. If not then sorry, just gotta wait for a day they're available.

When we moved in, we were able to get Virgin to set things up a couple of days after we moved in.  IIRC, they set up all three on the same day.  We moved on a Saturday and the utilities were on the following Tuesday.  When we switched to Sky it was a bit different because it involved switching things over.  I am not sure how Sky would have been for us for new service.

If you absolutely need everything turned on fast and at once, I'd probably ring Virgin.  However, over the long run, Sky is cheaper, offers free US calls, and has more channels/HD. 

When we moved in, we were able to get Virgin to set things up a couple of days after we moved in.  IIRC, they set up all three on the same day. 

Same here when we had Virgin Media, but apparently Sky have to send 2 different engineers - one to set up the satellite and one to set up the phone line/broadband... hence the different appointments on different days.

If you absolutely need everything turned on fast and at once, I'd probably ring Virgin.  However, over the long run, Sky is cheaper, offers free US calls, and has more channels/HD. 

If you don't mind me asking, does sky also provide unlimited internet like Virgin and cheaper as well? We have a few days left before we can cancel our year's contract and since virgin have been pissing me off with almost everything lately, I'm dying to switch to something else especially if it's cheaper. We're paying about £22/month for just the internet.

If you don't mind me asking, does sky also provide unlimited internet like Virgin and cheaper as well? We have a few days left before we can cancel our year's contract and since virgin have been pissing me off with almost everything lately, I'm dying to switch to something else especially if it's cheaper. We're paying about £22/month for just the internet.

The thing is.. Sky uses broadband whereas Virgin is cable internet. So Virgin's internet is better but Sky's is cheaper.

If you don't mind me asking, does sky also provide unlimited internet like Virgin and cheaper as well? We have a few days left before we can cancel our year's contract and since virgin have been pissing me off with almost everything lately, I'm dying to switch to something else especially if it's cheaper. We're paying about £22/month for just the internet.

Problem with Sky is that I don't think you can get the broadband without the landline or at least paying line rental.  It looks like it starts out cheaper, but after 6 months, it would be more expensive than just Virgin broadband, and possibly slower if you live in a fibre optics area.  However, if you have a landline and were willing to switch it to Sky, it's really a cheap bundle.  If you opt for the £5 international unlimited (free calls to a list of countries, including US. You just need to hang up before an hour is up and ring back), add the line rental, and the discount, you are looking at around £27 for unlimited broadband plus most if not all calls.

This is what I found for you:
http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/broadband-options/broadband-only/

I don't think it works out to be cheaper for everyone.  It's definitely dependent on individual usage, but for us, we're paying £25-40 a month less, getting more channels, and actually have had fewer outages on the broadband than with Virgin.  The satellite can be a bit more temperamental, of course, but even the telly has been up more than Virgin.

We actually ended up with fast broadband (or at least comparable to what we had with Virgin) with Sky because we were never eligible for the fast Virgin cable internet.

The thing is.. Sky uses broadband whereas Virgin is cable internet. So Virgin's internet is better but Sky's is cheaper.

But their cable internet it not available everywhere and they have zero plans to expand on it due to stupidly high costs (When I worked there, I think we were told it was a cost of over £20K per dig).. So if you move to an area without access to Virgins cable connections, youre stuck on DSL.