Sadly it appears we need to upgrade the BT internet allowance. SWMBO works shifts and quite often iplayers shows she's missed. 10Gb allowance doesn't seem to cut it and the bill goes up for overuse.
next option is £18 for 40 Gb or £25 for unlimited which begs the question is it worth a streaming service too?

For me, I'd say no. Pretty much everything I miss is available from the free services (iPlayer etc).

A no from me.

Everything I download I get from free services. If I'm going to pay for something, I'd rather buy it on physical media.

Voted neither.

If it's just a case of catching up with stuff missed off the telly would it not be better (and cheaper in the long run) to invest in some sort of hard disc recorder so you could reduce the amount of iPlayer usage? Would also have less time pressure to watch stuff although that can be a bit of a double edged sword.

In which case you might be better off switching to Sky for TV, phone and broadband with a Sky+ box. Hmm, should have chosen the Sky option on reflection.

voted netflix, GF has used both while at uni and Netflix seems to have more stuff, atleast the sort of stuff we are interested in i think its a little cheaper too.

Voted get a life.

I "watch" about 2 - 3 hours of TV a week, as opposed to it being on when the others are in the house. We only have the freesat channels, rarely anything worth watching, but I don't really miss it and I haven't seen anything film or TV series wise in the last 5 years, that I'd want to pay for - either streaming or encrypted satellite channels.

Still on the Netflix free trial atm - working out pretty well; seem to have more choice than LoveFilm (nothing like the selection available in the US though). Also have Sky. And pie.

Since you're struggling to watch what's already available, I'd plump for the recorder somebody else mentioned rather than spending any more money

I'd say get a recorder. If you have a PS3, the PlayTV unit works with Freeview. The benefit to this is that you can take the recordings off the PS3 if there is something you want to keep for posterity.

Thinking about it over the weekend, I can't even remember the last time I actually watched a programme from start to finish...

thanks for all your comments.
Essentially, I wondered whether content on the streaming services was worth the effort. Tv today is pretty vacuous and I tend to watch a news bulletin, bit of free to air footy, the odd film I haven't seen and some I have. It all depends on how much free time I have, which is variable.

I take your point Dave, but sometimes I just like to veg.

The PVR sounds like a plan. When analogue is switched off in this neck of the woods, DTV will not be available as the aerial is over a hill or something. So I had already set up freest on a Humax box but didn't get the pvr version as I didn't think it necessary. Herself though could do with this option now, with the shift work.

I don't mind paying if its quality, otherwise a waste is a waste.

Netflix...easiest £15 I think I have ever made

Watching the first season of Jericho and being paid for it (quidco).

I finally got round to cancelling my lovefilm account. I last rented a film off them in 2009. The woman on the phone offered me another 8 months free if I stayed but I just said sorry can you cancel it. So they waived the last months fee as a goodwill gesture.
So bit of a fail on my part.