Virgin package (tv, broadband, phone) or smart tv and seperate broadband, phone

[Chocfinger]

Hi all
Trying to determine what would save us money. We have the basic package from Virgin at the moment but are finding that both children and Dh and I tend to watch things Through Netflix and Iplayer. We do watch the main channels for news but only live.Our phone we never use, as reliant on mobiles but want to keep a landline just in case. I have researched Which and money saver.com but am rather bamboozled by the options.
Has anyone bought a smart tv, cancelled Virgin/sky and not looked back?!

Sort of. No smart TV but an Apple TV box which I guess is the same.
We have NowTV as well as Netflix which lets us watch some sky channels (including Sky Atlantic) live.

We used to have Virgin TV, bb and phone line. We now have only the bb. We watch iplayer etc via chromecast (works for Netflix too), and we have a box for recording from the tv. For phones we have mobiles, and a skype phone which is always connected via bb. We pay for a local phone number for the skype phone (about £30-40 per year I think).

Works for us.

I would look at the broadband aspect as that seems to be what you are really using the most.
Virgin in many areas provides very fast connection to the internet via their fibre network.
In comparison some OpenReach lines can be really terrible.
So have a look at what speed you are getting now.
Run some speedchecks, such as using www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk

Then compare with results in your area, using the site previously mentioned.

Physically got for a walk around your local area, can you find a big green box used for Fibre connection. They are quite tall and have a fan on one side.

The nearer you are to one of those boxes the better. Then see if a broadband provider will give a speed estimate based on your phone number... Such as using www.plus.net who can provide Fibre services. Then look at cost... www.samknows.com can tell you which Market your phone number is in. This Market thing is what will determine your fibre broadband cost. Once you know which market you are and how likely you are to get a fast connection, then look at the detailed price list from providers to see what it will cost and what limitations there might be, such as data limits.

Landline can have a small saving if you pay for line rental yearly. Only useful if you are not intending to move house anytime soon.
The product is often called Line Saver. So when looking at broadband providers also see if they can include that. If you stick with BT for phone, then contact them to discuss annual line rental.