Cable network Virgin Media has today cut the prices of their 50Mbps to 300Mbps range of standalone broadband packages for the first 12 months of service (new customers). At the same time they’ve also increased the prices on some of their bundles (i.e. broadband, phone and /or TV).
All new customers are subject to a 12 month contract (a 30 day contract option does exist but the discounts don’t apply) and receive an included Hub wireless router, unlimited usage, access to Virgin’s WiFi hotspots (e.g. London Underground Stations), internet security / parental controls and free email. On top of that a £20 one-off activation applies and some people may also be charged £40 for a standard installation.
VIVID 50Mbps
Price: £27 per month for 12 months (£33 thereafter)VIVID 100Mbps
Price: £32 per month for 12 months (£38 thereafter)VIVID 200Mbps
Price: £37 per month for 12 months (£43 thereafter)VIVID 300Mbps
Price: £42 per month for 12 months (£48 thereafter)
Elsewhere the operator has also tweaked their existing 12 month discounts on dual (broadband and phone) and triple-play (broadband, TV and phone) bundles. For example, the dual 50Mbps package with free UK weekend calls has gone from £27 a month for 12 months (£40 thereafter) to £29 a month for 12 months (£40 thereafter) and the same increase is seen on their faster options.
However there’s better news for those opting to take a triple-play bundle because the post-discount price has been reduced, although it’s worth remembering that by the time you finish your contract the post discount price may have been hiked again. For example, the 50Mbps triple-play “Player bundle” was £33 a month for 12 months (£56 thereafter) but this is now £35 a month for 12 months and then £48 thereafter.
Take note that Virgin Media’s cable (EuroDOCSIS) network currently covers a little over half of UK premises, albeit mostly in urban areas. However their network is expected to reach around 60-65% of the UK by 2019, which reflects their on-going expansion to a further 4 million premises (2 million of which will be served via “full fibre” FTTP).
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these prices arent discounted. i signed up in june 2017 for the 200, this is exactly what i pay
You must of signed up to an older offer or have a discount for whatever reason. 200Mb last month (end of August) was £43 not £37.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170828200430/http://www.virginmedia.com/shop/broadband/broadband-only.html
I also pay less than this. They seem to always do better pricing if you ask.
So a discount rather than normal price.
You probably signed up on an old special offer, which ended several months ago as the standalone (no phone) prices have been higher than above for awhile now. The big ISPs tend to run discounts at different times of year, but only for limited periods.
I spoke to VM on a live chat and asked to be downgraded on to the 50Mb package to save money once it was launched and was told that it wasn’t possible as it was purely for new customers only and even once I said fine I’ll cancel my account and reapply after whatever period you had to wait, I was then told that this would also not be possible as it was only for customers who had NEVER been a previous customer. Not being able to ever move on to a cheaper package seems a rather unfair to me.
In my experience all of the big broadband providers seem to do that. Sometimes you get an offer for existing customers but often the only way to save is to keep switching, which is a double hassle for Virgin Media because you’re on a separate network and swapping to a different one often adds a new line install fee.
@Tom
It’s worth phoning customer service and choosing “retentions” option, they have far more authority to make changes to suit the customers needs. Same applies for all the big players.
@TheManStan Thank you. I will try this.
If you have a look on their forums it appears others have previously wished to downgrade and it seems in most cases they can to whatever current speeds are offered, so going to 50Mb should be no issue. A downgrade will of course mean a new contract but thats pretty standard for most ISPs.
About the only time they probably and rightly may not allow it is if you are still within your 12 Month contract.
This is actually a price rise, not a cut. They are claiming that the current price is actually a 12 month special offer for new customers. I have been with them for years, this is the price. It’s clearly going up to 33 from 27 now though.
It is a special offer. £27 is an offer price for new users for 12 months. The price otherwise is normally £33 as this link from end of last month shows quite clearly…
https://web.archive.org/web/20170828200430/http://www.virginmedia.com/shop/broadband/broadband-only.html
Also 300 in reality you get about 15….
TBB disagree and the average speeds are better than others…
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/7814-peak-and-off-peak-performance-at-the-largest-uk-broadband-providers-in-august-2017
Or in some areas, like mine you don’t get it as it was so crap they removed it.
Just spent the money installing it, then came along, disconnected everyone and ripped it all out of the ground did they?
i received around 3mbps and i was paying for 300mpbs
Your low trolling IQ score has nothing to do with this.
Anyone that only gets 3Mb out of 300Mb obviously has a fault rather than it being normal service for any ISPs product, to think otherwise is dumb.
Anyone else feels like VM are their own worst enemy when it comes to sales and promotion?
I.e. they make it difficult to see/select the better upstream packages on their site and are incentivising you to move once the promotional time period ends as the price goes up. They really need to adopt a more keep-it-simple approach.
Although contradictory to that, if I could remove the bundled rubbish like email, security software and get it a bit cheaper I’d also like that!
“and are incentivising you to move once the promotional time period ends as the price goes up”
Every big ISP at some stage seems to have offers which end at the end of your 12 month contract so you may as well apply this logic to all of them.
As for email, AV etc being included and not wanted that also goes for most of the big players.
Virgin are funny.
I had them for years and I went from 2Mbps to about 50 Mbps over a few years without ever getting an increase.
Unfortunately as an Old Boy said recently “Sky started this Shit”!!
Virgin used to do good honest pricing (and so did BT to an extent) but unfortunately Sky tried to invade their space and steal their customers which forced all the recent price increases, etc.
I remember people used to say they were going (from Sky) to Virgin!
LOL
We’d offer a discount and they’d stay!
Sky really ruined the market for everyone else!!!
How does any of that self opinionated drool have anything to do with special offers and people signing up.
Worst service ever should be reported to the regulators
You know where to go and complain then only you seem to have arrived at the wrong place.
When you sign as if the speeds a gauranteed I had nothing but bad experiences with this company. Paid for 50 got 20 so they upgraded me to 72 I got 13 How on earth can they do this and deny anything is wrong them continue to charge until I disconnected and stopped paying Back on phone line and have uninterrupted coonnection with a speed which is true Big thanks to Talktalk
I signed up about 2 weeks ago this sucks
You have a 30 day cooling off period so if there is still time you could cancel the current order and re-order. If you phone them and explain the situation and tell them if you can not have the discount you will just cancel as you are within your 30 days i imagine they will just give you it anyway.
Ive been with VM for 13 years you dont get anything off them now that they have become bigger
That will be because this is for NEW CUSTOMERS, not those 13 years old (in more ways than one).