Virgin Media has kickstarted its Winter Sale, with savings across broadband and TV packages for new customers. As well as lowering monthly bills, Virgin Media has also waived its set-up fee ― a one-off £35 fee usually charged to all new customers to cover any future engineer callouts.
If you’re looking to increase your broadband speeds, then look no further than Virgin Media’s M250 plan. This unlocks download speeds of 264Mbps — that’s 3.8x faster than the average broadband speed nationwide as measured by Ofcom earlier in 2023.
Virgin Media offers a minimum download speed of 132Mbps. If your speed falls below that threshold for three consecutive days, you can leave your contract without a penalty.
For its Winter Sale, Virgin Media has dropped the price from £32.50 down to just £27 per month.
As a Virgin Media broadband customer, you’ll get access to O2 Priority (the two companies merged in a behemoth £31bn merger in June 2021) so you’ll be able to redeem free snacks and coffee from high street chains, discounts on Vue cinema tickets, and early access to ticket sales at O2 venues.
It’s worth noting that Virgin Media relies on its own network of full-fibre cables, which connects 15.5million homes across the UK and is completely separate from BT-owned Openreach.
If you've never used Virgin Media at your address, you’ll need to check hereto determine whether your home is connected to that full-fibre network.
Virgin Media has discounted its broadband-only plans and its TV bundles in the Winter Sale
VIRGIN MEDIA PRESS OFFICESo, how does the Virgin Media M250 plan compare to the competition?
Pretty well, as it turns out. TalkTalk is currently offering 50% off bills for the first six months of your new full-fibre contract and a guarantee of no price rises until 2026. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an equivalent to Virgin Media’s M250 plan — with download speeds of either 500Mbps or 150Mbps.
The latter costs a ludicrously-low £17.50 per month before rising to £35 when the half-price promotion ends. TalkTalk has not waived its set-up fee, so you’ll need to add an extra £4.95 to your first bill too.
By the end of your 24-month contract, you’ll spend £735 for TalkTalk Full Fibre 150. In comparison, the 18-month minimum contract term with Virgin Media will set you back £486 — and you’ll enjoy download speeds at least 100Mbps faster.
Of course, Virgin Media customers will need to renegotiate their broadband contract — or switch to another provider — six months sooner than those with TalkTalk, BT (£752.26 for its 100Mbps speeds over two-years), and Plusnet (£719.76 for its 145Mbps speeds over two-years) deals. As such, a direct price comparison isn’t completely fair.
Like Virgin Media, Sky Broadband offers its new customers an 18-month contract. The closest download speeds you’ll find to Virgin Media's M250 package is Ultrafast, which offers 145Mbps speeds. At £38 per month, you’ll spend a total of £684 over the minimum contract term.
That’s £198 more than Virgin Media’s faster speeds.
Virgin Media has dropped the price of its TV bundles too, which include its popular TV 360 box to pause and rewind live television, Sky Cinema and Sky Sports channels, and more
VIRGIN MEDIA PRESS OFFICE
If you sign up for a broadband-only bundle from Virgin Media, you’ll be able to add Stream — a nifty set-top box that works with Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Disney+ and Netflix. There’s a £35 set-up fee, but that’s all you’ll ever pay for the box. As you add different streaming subscriptions to Stream, Virgin Media will refund 10% of your Direct Debit as Stream Credit.
Virgin Media’s Bigger Combo Bundle packs the same 264Mbps download speeds but combines it with a TV 360 set-top box that can pause, rewind and record live television. You’ll also get Sky TV channels included with the package and unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines.
Usually £39.50, Virgin Media’s Winter Sale has dropped the cost down to just £36 per month. That’s a saving of £63 over the course of the 18-month contract.
Check the Virgin Media Winter Sale to find the complete list of discounts and deals.
