Not a techie!

Charleygirl5 - I'm not sure what you mean because Smarty doesn't do landlines.

Pittcity - thanks, I have haggled with BT many times over the years! I always managed to reduce the price somewhat, but took out a 24 month contract 2 years ago and it has gone up £10 a month since then as they always raise the prices by £5 in April. It is just about to finish so I'll have to try haggling again. Now they are with EE things might have changed.

Chestnut I pay £29 something to Community Fibre and £5 to Smarty for my landline. I have forgotten how much I pay Sky but it isn't a fortune. I was with EE, and they tried to take me to the cleaners financially, jumping from £54 to £74. Treating me as old and stupid.

We are with Virgin Media for broadband, TV and phone. We must have been lucky, because we rarely have any trouble with the service. They sent us a new hub recently (no charge) to replace our old one and we are delighted with the performance so far.

You need to understand the difference between a network provider and a broadband provider.

A network provider owns and maintains the physical infrastructure (cables, fiber lines, or mobile towers). A broadband provider (or ISP) buys access to this infrastructure to sell internet packages, handle billing, and provide customer support. Many large companies act as both simultaneously.

Think of it like Network Rail owning and maintaining the tracks and Virgin trains, Pennine etc paying NR for the use of their infrastructure.

If you go on a comparison site you will get all the information you need for your area.

We are happy with EE 5g broadband and Freely TV ....total cost £18.80 a month.
We pay for a month of Netflix, Amazon etc if there's something we want to watch.

Chestnut

I'm also confused regarding TV services. I'm currently with BT/EE and paying £54.99 a month (Broadband £35.99/TV box £16.00/landline £3.00).

That has gone up by £5 per month every April and seems expensive now. Is that what others pay?

Loyal customers are always charged more than new customers. To get the best deal you need to swap providers at the end of your contract. If you don't want to swap you must ring your provider to haggle the price down.

What's best for us might not be best for you.
Broadband and TV varies according to where you live and what channels you like to watch as well as budget etc.

Take a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/
which helps to explain what to look for. You can compare what is the best deal for you.

I'm also confused regarding TV services. I'm currently with BT/EE and paying £54.99 a month (Broadband £35.99/TV box £16.00/landline £3.00).

That has gone up by £5 per month every April and seems expensive now. Is that what others pay?

Toula

Would appreciate comments regarding best tv/internet provider. Many thanks.

What do you mean by best?

Best for price?
Best for speed?
Best for streaming services?
Best for reliability?
Best for channel choices?

A lot of it depends on what is available in your area.
I hear a lot of complaints about Virgin media, also talk talk.
We are BtEe but old fibres so are waiting to be upgraded. London area
.

Toula

Would appreciate comments regarding best tv/internet provider. Many thanks.

What’s wrong with the one you’re using now.
Your heading says your not a techie so if I suggested you look up the internet speed of the different providers in your area would you be able to?

Oh and no landline anymore.

I dont have any of the tv streaming services and use a small local broadband provider for my area and its been super quick and reliable for nearly a year now no outages at all.

I also have Sky for TV but Community Fibre for everything else and Smarty for my landline.

We have Sky for TV but do note rate their internet. For internet we use Zen.