Virgin Media UK Quietly Increases Standalone Broadband Prices

New subscribers who prefer to take one of Virgin Media’s standalone broadband packages, which remove the phone line rental in favour of a single price, should note that the standard cost has just increased. Meanwhile those who prefer bundles can now benefit from a 9 month discount instead of the previous 6.

As an example of the standalone package change, Virgin Media’s 50Mbps broadband package previously cost £28.50 per month and this has now risen to £30.25 (12 month contract). By comparison you can take the same 50Mbps service with a phone line for an overall total of £21.99 a month for 9 months and £34.49 thereafter.

The price difference isn’t huge, thanks to the new 9 month discount, although you can improve upon that by switching the monthly line rental (£16.99 per month) for annual pre-paid line rental (equivalent to £13.66 a month). After that the price effectively equates to £18.66 per month for 9 months and £31.16 thereafter.

But remember that the price of Virgin Media’s line rental will also go up again at some point in the near future, which should make standalone broadband seem even better value. Sadly standalone packages don’t tend to benefit from the discounts of Virgin’s other services, thus it usually takes a fair while before the full cost saving advantage takes hold.

Elsewhere Virgin Media’s existing price discounts have just been extended from 6 to 9 months, which for example means that their first Big Easy triple-play bundle of 50Mbps broadband, 60+ TV channels (inc. 10 HD channels), unlimited UK weekend calls and free SuperHub router now costs from £10 per month for the first 9 months and £22 a month thereafter (plus £16.99 a month line rental, unless you take the pre-paid option).