Review of BT Total Option 1 + BT Vision
- Super-fast 8MB BT broadband
- Free evening and weekend broadband calls
- Free telephone support 24/7
- Free V-Box Digital TV Recorder (only for 18-month contracts)
- Access to BT Vision's excellent on-demand sport, TV shows and movies (from 29p)
|
SO long as you take the BT Total Option 1 Broadband package for 18 months rather than 12, you are entitled to get BT Vision free (less a £30 connection charge) along with a totally free BT V-Box Digital TV Recorder.
BT Vision for free
Even takers of the BT Total Option 1 12-month contract are entitled to get BT Vision for free, but you'll have to stump up £199 to buy the V-Box which is the magic bit of kit that makes BT's digital TV offering happen.
Worth noting too is that you will need a wireless BT Home Hub which costs a reasonable £30.
So what is BT Vision all about then?
On demand TV
BT Vision is BT's on-demand digital TV offering received through your broadband connection (rather than via satellite as Sky does, or via cable as Virgin Media does) and transferred to nifty set-top box that not only receives Freeview channels and provides the gateway to view all the content on your TV, it also acts as a digital TV recorder.
You can read our full review of the BT Vision V-Box here, but in summary, this nifty piece of kit will receive all Freeview channels in the same way a normal set-top box does, as well as allow you to pause and rewind live TV and record up to 80 hours of programming.
Of course this is also where you get to choose to pay for, and watch any of BT Vision's excellent on-demand digital TV content.
The BT digital TV content is all on-demand (unlike its rival Tiscali, which actually broadcasts about 20 channels over and above Freeview, including Sky One), with music videos available from 29p and a large selection of movies (not as many as Tiscali though) from £1.99 to £2.99.
There is also pay-per-view sports events from 99p, kids content and TV shows and series to watch when you choose.
Very impressive
Considering the connection fee is only £30, and you get a very impressive digital TV recorder in the form of the V-Box there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't take advantage of BT Vision.
And that's not even counting the excellent value on-demand content which works out, on the whole, cheaper and far more convenient than traipsing to Blockbuster in the rain to rent a DVD.
A little more detail
Broadband
| |
|
|
Special Note.. |
Any good? |
| Package Name: |
 |
Option 1 |
- |
 |
| Connection Type: |
|
ADSL |
- |
|
| Max Speed: |
|
8Mb |
- |
 |
| Usage Limit: |
|
5Gb |
- |
 |
| Hardware: |
|
Wireless BT Home Hub |
Only until 16 May 2008 |
|
| Anti-virus Protection: |
|
Yes |
Yahoo! security includes email anti-virus (free). BT NetProtect (£3.50 per month) |
|
| Firewall: |
|
Yes |
Built into the BT Home Hub |
|
| E-mail Account: |
|
Yes |
Up to 5 email addresses |
|
| Webspace Provided: |
|
Yes |
15MB of webspace |
|
| Domain Included: |
|
No |
- |
|
| Backup Dialup: |
|
Yes |
- |
|
| Consoles Supported: |
|
All major consoles supported |
- |
|
Home Phone
| |
|
|
| Package Name: |
|
Evening & Weekend Broadband Call Plan |
| UK Weekend Tariff: |
|
Free to UK landlines |
| UK Evening Tariff: |
|
Free to UK landlines |
| UK Peak Tariff: |
|
3.25p per minute |
| International Tariff: |
|
From 1.25p per minute to USA and Australia. Discounted rates to all other countries. |
TV
| |
| |
| Package Name: |
|
BT Vision |
| Included Channels: |
|
70+ Freeview TV and radio channels |
| Optional Channel Add-ons: |
|
Monthly packages of TV, Sports, Music, Kids from £4 |
| Video on Demand: |
|
Films, TV, Sports, Music, Kids |
| Pay Per View: |
|
From 29p (music videos) to £1.99+ (movies) |
| Record TV / TV Hard Drive: |
|
Yes |
| Hardware: |
|
V-Box |
| Extras: |
|
|
Payment, Installation and Contract
| |
| |
| Payment Method(s): |
|
BT Blue Bill |
| Activation Fee: |
|
£30.00 (for BT Vision connection) |
| Installation: |
|
Free (or £60 for engineer install) |
| Minimum Contract: |
|
12 months |
| Line Rental: |
|
BT line rental required |
| Support: |
|
Free 0800 24/7 telephone support |
Actual User Ratings
|
At a Glance
| |
Bundle details: |
|
Phone: Unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines using your broadband connection (not the landline) |
|
TV: Freeview + Optional add ons for Films, TV, Sports, Music, Kids |
|
Mobile: Not included |
| |
It is best suited for: |
|
Families and undemanding web users who want a good broadband connection along with an on-demand digital TV service |
Customer Reviews
Remember, the customer reviews below are subjective (and are not the opinions of ChooseISP.co.uk).
Miss C Robertson from Tamworth writes... 12/04/2008 "I have been with BT for about 4 months now and have to say it has been our best broadband service to date, we have previously had virgin media who constantly messed up the billing and billed us for things we didnt even know what they were and Aol who sent out an installation disk with the modem which was supposed to be straight forward and ended up in numerous phonecalls. BT was no problem to install and the service has been great, bills never get queried and we wont be changing for a long time. BT Total Broadband Reccommended to everyone."
|
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
