Hi EC 
My bill was due to go up by £8.15 a month in February to nearly £70 a month 
I had the XL tv package, with V+ box, weekends free call package, I get free all the time calls on my mobile. I had the 20mb broadband.
So I rang them told them I was gonna leave unless they could offer me something better for less.
I ended up with same tv package, which I didn't want to change anyway, plus a new TiVo box, no extra charge a month. Same phone package, which I was also happy with. Broadband upto 152m, no extra charge.
In fact the whole package is now less than £58 a month, where as it would have been nearer £70 with the 'new' charges.
Job done and happy me 
That is an excellent bit of work Moonie, especially as you want the items in your deal. The 152MB is excellent.
I only have two months to go and I have finished my 12 month lock in. At that point I will re-negotiate.
Fankoo
I was still in my lock in EC but the threat was enough methinks 
Yes, you are right, they did say you could cancel before 31st December. But I suspect that they would prefer to keep you rather than lose you to another provider.
I am going to lose the telephone and keep the broadband as I may be moving house and don't know if Virgin is in the area I move to as I've not decided upon a house yet.
Tbh I wish I could lose the phone all together but you are required to have a phone line, aren't you. Even if you don't use it. I think the free weekend calls are standard, though I could be wrong about that
I'm not 100% sure that you have to have a phone line, mainly because when I last negotiated my package I told them I wanted to lose the TV and Telephone line.
I was told that if I were to keep the telephone line they would do a better deal on the package. The way the conversation went I got the impression that I could just have the broadband. My broadband got upped to 100Mb and I kept the phone line as part of the deal.
The other thing is that they like you to have lots of their services because they can then charge for termination of each if you leave early.
Sounds plausible to me EC 