Be Connected - Free Broadband

[JitteryPinger]

So I was surprised to come across an advert this week offering a Free Broadband service from Virgin Media.

Once I'd worked out it wasn't fraudulent I placed the order, pretty straight forward, Name, Address and nothing else.

Since had confirmation emails and account details and confirmation of delivery for the Hub (this week) and managed to setup the My Virgin Media account and order is tracking as expected.

All I know right now is that its a sold as 10Mb service with target speeds of 15Mb, unsure of upload at this time, and it would seem that the exchange for the service is receiving marketing emails from Virgin Media.

An interesting move for Virgin Media but I guess this is just some form of trial to try up sell higher services, it should be known that the service is only eligible for those who have already got Virgin plumbed in, and it reads that it was only available for the first 200 applications.

Will let you know more when I have it.

 

[Mark.J]

Free? What's the catch / eligibility term(s) and can you share the advert?

The only 15Mbps service that I know of is the one Virgin Media O2 has setup for those receiving Universal Credit, but that costs £15 per month.

Cheap 15Mb Virgin Media Plan for Universal Credit Users is Live - ISPreview UK

Cable ISP Virgin Media UK has today opened applications for their new £15 per month "Essential Broadband" plan, which offers download speeds of just

www.ispreview.co.uk

 

[Meatball]

This is not a sub domain its a unique one. Does not appear to be registered to VM or Liberty.
https://beconnected-virginmedia.com/index.html
You must check and take action if bank details have been provided.

 

[kommando828]

Offer has run out, strange to scam a selected few people.

 

[Brumski]

Virgin Media are (or should I say were) pushing this via their official (verified) Social Media channels so I'd be inclined to suggest it's less of a scam and more a small scale loss leader to promote VMs services in new areas.

 

[Lucian]

Virgin Media are (or should I say were) pushing this via their official (verified) Social Media channels so I'd be inclined to suggest it's less of a scam and more a small scale loss leader to promote VMs services in new areas.

According to JP, the offer requires you to have the VM sockets in your home already, so I am not sure this is for "new" areas. Might have been just a marketing shenanigan.

 

[Meatball]

If so fine but registering a new domain via Amazon and not inserting correct company details?

Corporately they use CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.

If it is genuine it certainly isn't good practice.

 

[JitteryPinger]

As has been discussed here, its a weird practice but a genuine one, My Virgin Media account states its turning up tomorrow, more then.

 

[Mark.J]

Fascinating. I'll give VM a nudge to clarify the how and why.

 

[JitteryPinger]

Fascinating. I'll give VM a nudge to clarify the how and why.

Whilst your there you could ask them about upload speeds... I've been made aware by a 100Mb customer that they've recently received a boost from 10mb to 20mb on the upload, but nothing is mentioned when searching.

 

[Mark.J]

Whilst your there you could ask them about upload speeds... I've been made aware by a 100Mb customer that they've recently received a boost from 10mb to 20mb on the upload, but nothing is mentioned when searching.

I suspect that's down to something they did around January 2021, where they advertised an upload speed of 20Mbps on their 100Mbps packages instead of 10Mbps. At the time I queried this and was told it was an "error", although it took a couple of weeks for them to resolve it. My guess would be they had to honour what they advertised. But I'll query this again. Do you know where the 100Mb customer mentioned getting such an upgrade?

 

[JitteryPinger]

Do you know where the 100Mb customer mentioned getting such an upgrade?

I can confirm that the speed configuration in the Hub has changed to meet the 20Mb limit and speed tests reflect the same thing.

Interestingly though another 100Mb customer around the corner sharing the same network area is only getting 10Mb still.

 

[JitteryPinger]

@Mark.J - Should be noted this particular account was not taken out recently and has been running said M100 service since mid 2020

 

[JitteryPinger]

Morning guys, so Virgin box turned up a short while ago, plugged everything in and were in business.

The service does seem to match that of the essentials service of 15Mb/s down and 2Mb/s up, however instead costs nothing.

As expected its supplied via a Hub 3, and theres not much else to tell.

Will be using this as the main driver for my Sky Q and desktop for a few days to see how things perform when using a pre-2010 type of service.

 

[Mark.J]

Does it stay free forever or are they saying it'll cost you at some point in the future?

 

[JitteryPinger]

Does it stay free forever or are they saying it'll cost you at some point in the future?

No mention of costs at all, no payment details required on sign up.

 

[Mark.J]

I looked at the terms, before they pulled the website, and it also mentioned that you'd have to consent to receiving some sort of advertising (no context was given). One to watch out for.

 

[JitteryPinger]

I looked at the terms, before they pulled the website, and it also mentioned that you'd have to consent to receiving some sort of advertising (no context was given). One to watch out for.

Yeah, I noticed that too before signing up.

 

[bulldog]

I looked at the terms, before they pulled the website, and it also mentioned that you'd have to consent to receiving some sort of advertising (no context was given). One to watch out for.

this one is to avoid it, pretty nasty one! I don't trust virgin media due to data protection million of customers are leakhole!

 

[JitteryPinger]

this one is to avoid it, pretty nasty one! I don't trust virgin media due to data protection million of customers are leakhole

Hmm, I know, but too late for me, I had 4 accounts with until 2021