Virgin Mobile 4G Customers Get Mobile Broadband Speed Boost

Customers of Virgin Media’s mobile service may be pleased to learn that the UK cable ISP claims to be boosting their maximum 4G mobile data speeds by 40% from 50Mbps to 70Mbp “at no extra cost“. On top of that they’ve also launched ‘Spending Caps’ to give users more control.

The pledge of “upgraded 4G speed” in today’s announcement isn’t fleshed out with any detail, although the figure of 40% being touted by Virgin Mobile appears to stem from Ookla’s analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data that was gathered between 1st April to 30th June 2018 (note: we tend to view any data that Ookla produces as being overly optimistic, due to how they weight their results).

The lack of detail leads us to suspect that Virgin Mobile are just reflecting some of the underlying improvements in their Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) platform with EE, although you should always take such figures with a pinch of salt because mobile broadband performance will vary between customers depending on various different factors (location, signal strength, device used, mobile capacity etc.).

Meanwhile the new Spending Caps feature will give Pay Monthly subscribers the ability to set a cap (from £0-100) for any extra cost outside of their monthly call, text and data allowance. On top of that VM will send customers an SMS alert when they approach their spending cap and again if the limit is reached (these are in addition to the warnings they already send when a customer uses up their inclusive monthly allowance).

Jeff Dodds, Managing Director of Virgin Mobile, said:

“Spending Caps have been high on our customers’ wish list for some time, so we are pleased to be able to start introducing them now. Combined with our freshly updated app and even faster 4G speeds, we’re giving our customers a fast and flexible service with more control and peace of mind than ever before.”

On top of all this Virgin Mobile has also said that their Virgin Mobile App will be refreshed at the end of September 2018 to offer customers a simple way to set a Spending Cap, alongside a host of other new features. The app will also enable customers to see details of their monthly plan, buy data add-ons and get help and support.

More features, such as in-app messaging so that customers can get help at a convenient time, should follow “later this year“.