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Virgin Mobile migrating from Vodafone to O2

Martin.S

Pro Member
I changed to Virgin Mobile last November because I was getting fed up with slow data speeds on O2. At that time Virgin were taking all its users off of EE and moving to Vodafone.
O2 and Virgin Media had already jumped into bed together but there was no mention of Virgin using O2 as its provider, I thought they had done a long term deal with Vodafone?

Well it came as a big surprise to me that as of this morning that I have been pushed back to the O2 network again!
The process must have started sometime yesterday because my phone started reporting I was roaming on Vodafone (despite roaming being switched off on my phone) and Virgin wasn't available.
I was completely out of service for at least couple of hours this morning. When I rebooted my phone it said I was back on Virgin again but using O2 instead (as reported by Netmonster).

I have not had any notification from Virgin about this. It's unlikely that I shall renew my contract with them again when it's due.
 
My understanding is currently both web sites (Virgin and O2) state the change will not be automatic unless a contract changes or you request certain O2 benefits.

I am currently on a "free" VM (Vodafone) 5 Gb SIM that comes as part of the VM M350 service (Sept 21 for 18m) which I use for testing. No change yet.

Thanks I will be watching.
 
There are no stated plans to phase out the Virgin Mobile brand, but Virgin Mobile's network service is currently in the process of being fully migrated to O2.

They served notice to cancel the Vodafone MVNO agreement pretty soon after the merger completed (this was covered in their Q2 2021 results document) and appear now to be in the process of a managed migration.

It was covered on here back in Feb.

 
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There are no stated plans to phase out the Virgin Mobile brand, but Virgin Mobile's network service is currently in the process of being fully migrated to O2.

They served notice to cancel the Vodafone MVNO agreement pretty soon after the merger completed (this was covered in their Q2 2021 results document) and appear now to be in the process of a managed migration.

It was covered on here back in Feb.

I must have been asleep when that article was published! Thanks.
Still think that VM should be notifying it's customers about the change of service though.
 
So we're due to see a rebrand happen I guess
Or retiring the VM brand in favourite of using the O2 brand instead?

Equally we could see the VM brand being kept but having PAYG services reintroduced as well as existing Contract services kept.
 
Couldn't see true PAYG ever being reintroduced anywhere to be honest, maybe a prepay bundle service
I was thinking more along the lines of credit check free bundles that they all offer for a set price eg £15 for 15GB with unlimited calls and texts which is PAYG but not true PAYG as we knew it from 20 years ago.
 
Is this migration actually taking place? Can't seem to find any support articles relating to it. O2's data speeds are *significantly* slower.
 
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Could we use this as justification to cancel a long term contract? I'm not with VM, but I'd be fuming if they moved me from Vodafone to O2.
 
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I think so. I only just signed up my parents on VM SIMs from Sky because O2's network is pretty bad.

Maybe it's fine in other areas but O2's network just isn't as well performing as other networks... even Three's. That's saying something.
 
I think so. I only just signed up my parents on VM SIMs from Sky because O2's network is pretty bad.

Maybe it's fine in other areas but O2's network just isn't as well performing as other networks... even Three's. That's saying something.
Sorry for asking but isn't Sky a MVNO operating on O2 infrastructure which I believe it is which makes your statement that you signed up to VM from Sky obsolete as it uses the O2 infrastructure.

The one thing that would help O2 would be more use of the VMO2 infrastructure behind the scenes so upgrading the network in places from a 20mph residential street to a 70mph 4 lane motorway if you will.
 
If Virgin are moving their mobile network operator over to O2 from Vodafone (with no notice), could this be considered a break clause due to a change in the mobile operators terms and conditions and a change in the mobile network coverage which is a detriment to the user if it causes super slow network speeds.

I would consider looking into the terms and conditions and see what they say about a change in coverage and network performance.

The O2 network, albeit improving little by little is still an absolute mess of a network. Far too many subscribers on the network. I’m sure by physical subscriber base it has the most customers connected to it through Wholesale O2 and MVNO customers.
 
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If Virgin are moving their mobile network operator over to O2 from Vodafone (with no notice), could this be considered a break clause due to a change in the mobile operators terms and conditions and a change in the mobile network coverage which is a detriment to the user if it causes super slow network speeds.

I would consider looking into the terms and conditions and see what they say about a change in coverage and network performance.

The O2 network, albeit improving little by little is still an absolute mess of a network. Far too many subscribers on the network. I’m sure by physical subscriber base it has the most customers connected to it through Wholesale O2 and MVNO customers.
I seriously doubt it gives you a right to cancel. Your contract is with VM not Vodafone or O2 and VM are continuing to supply a service albeit not quite the same. Your contract will say that they cannot guarantee 100% coverage and won't mention the underlying network provider. It does not mean that VM won't be kind and let you out of your contract though.
 
I seriously doubt it gives you a right to cancel. Your contract is with VM not Vodafone or O2 and VM are continuing to supply a service albeit not quite the same. Your contract will say that they cannot guarantee 100% coverage and won't mention the underlying network provider. It does not mean that VM won't be kind and let you out of your contract though.
I believe if they change your network being an mvno and it impacts your ability to use the network as you were before, you should be able to leave penalty free.
 
They were allowing people to leave penalty free when they moved EE to Voda last time, I presume the same this time too. Some people are already seeing issues. Saw one guy say when he joined it was EE and went at 30mbps, then it moved to Vodafone and that cut down to 10mbps, now he's on O2 and it's 0.9mbps, barely usable. People should be able to leave penalty free.
 
Sorry for asking but isn't Sky a MVNO operating on O2 infrastructure which I believe it is which makes your statement that you signed up to VM from Sky obsolete as it uses the O2 infrastructure.
They were with Sky Mobile before - but switched to Virgin (back when it was running on Vodafone and didn't seem like it would change for at least a few hours).

Now it seems moving away from O2 has just backfired because it's O2 again.

I haven't seen any notification about it though.
 
Is this a force? Or going to network selection mode, setting to manual and forcing to Vodafone, does this override? Thus meaning it’s just a preferred roam at the moment?
 
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I changed to Virgin Mobile last November because I was getting fed up with slow data speeds on O2. At that time Virgin were taking all its users off of EE and moving to Vodafone.
O2 and Virgin Media had already jumped into bed together but there was no mention of Virgin using O2 as its provider, I thought they had done a long term deal with Vodafone?

Well it came as a big surprise to me that as of this morning that I have been pushed back to the O2 network again!
The process must have started sometime yesterday because my phone started reporting I was roaming on Vodafone (despite roaming being switched off on my phone) and Virgin wasn't available.
I was completely out of service for at least couple of hours this morning. When I rebooted my phone it said I was back on Virgin again but using O2 instead (as reported by Netmonster).

I have not had any notification from Virgin about this. It's unlikely that I shall renew my contract with them again when it's due.
My daughters phone was on a SIM only deal with VM that completes contract on 20 July. I’ve put a PAC in to move her over to my Vodafone account from Monday. There’s no 02 cover at our place in Suffolk so little point and the Voda sim only deal is cheaper with more data allowance.
 
Is this a force? Or going to network selection mode, setting to manual and forcing to Vodafone, does this override? Thus meaning it’s just a preferred roam at the moment?
I don't think it's a preferred roam as if it was, all android devices would show the little "R" on the status bar which I subsequently haven't seen
 
To be fair, VM dont communicate anything, and this should have been communicated to all users and then the change done, and people offered a get out jail free card....

It really is about time the MVNO was killed off, and just replaced with o2
 
To be fair, VM dont communicate anything, and this should have been communicated to all users and then the change done, and people offered a get out jail free card....

It really is about time the MVNO was killed off, and just replaced with o2
They probably covered it in their terms and conditions around changing provider so it depends really. I'm not a VM customer so can't source out the finer terms.
 
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