Virgin Media UK Says Brits Prioritise Broadband During House Moves
A new survey from broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has claimed that nearly half of Brits (45%) “prioritise getting their Wi-Fi set up” (they mean the internet connection) over anything else when moving into a newly purchased house. But 50% of respondents admit they aren’t sure where to place their router to ensure the best WiFi coverage.
Setting up broadband was found to beat other “priority” tasks, such as unpacking (3%), redirecting mail (4%) and buying furniture (1%). The survey also revealed that 55% of respondents didn’t know the difference between WiFi signal, WiFi strength and WiFi speed (we’re not sure if referencing “signal” and “strength” separately really helps). Finally, 71% found it confusing to know which package offers the best value for money with so many options available.
The news that getting broadband setup is a top priority for house movers won’t come as much of a surprise to readers of ISPreview. But we must stress that Virgin Media’s press release contains no details about the sample size or methodology of their survey, so the usual “take it with a pinch of salt” caveats apply.
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In terms of router placement, we’d recommend a quick read of our Wi-Fi Tips Article from a few years ago, which is still largely relevant to today’s environment.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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And for a good reason too, as I’ve learned from my own experience. Virgin’s house move appointments were a real challenge to handle, the customer support people can’t do as much as leave a note for the contractors to see, so the first time they come unprepared and the appointment has to be rescheduled, and once it has been rescheduled by the contractor, the VM support can’t change it anymore as according to what they see, the first appointment went ahead and was a success. Not to mention, these appointments are not available at weekends.
No matter the business or home move, the first thing is phone and broadband. Its first thing I do.
Buyers won’t even look at a house with a flaming great pole dripping in creosote in the picture!!
I ordered Virgin a month before moving into a new house. They decided the best way to deal with that was to immediately cancel the contract for the people living there until we moved in. The only way to restore their internet was to cancel our order until just before our move date.
Muppets.
They just don’t prioritise joing VM with their almost monthly price hike, poor customer services and poor performing broadband.
It amazes me that more people just don’t buy a 5G router and get an unlimited sim card. I pay £15 a month for my broadband and get over 500 mbps.
Because of latency.