Virgin Broadband Deals in the UK 2023

What are the different types of broadband? 

There are a few ways of getting broadband to your home. They are:

ADSL (standard) broadband

ADSL stands for asymmetric digital subscriber line, and uses your copper phone cables to connect your home to the internet. It succeeded dial-up as the preferred method of connection around 20 years ago. It’s widely available and is among the cheapest broadband you can get, the downside being that it offers the slowest average speeds of any method still in use. It also requires line rental to get you online.

Fibre broadband

In the UK, there are two main types of fibre broadband, which both use fibre-optic cables to provide services:

• Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) – broadband is delivered to nearby broadband cabinets using fibre-optic cables. It then makes the final journey from the cabinet to your home using a copper phone line, meaning you’ll need to pay line rental.
• Fibre to the premises (FTTP) – fibre-optic cables are used from the exchange all the way to your home. Not using copper phone lines means this is the fastest connection available. FTTP is also known as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) or full-fibre. Only around a quarter of UK homes have access to FTTP. 

Both ADSL and fibre broadband networks are owned and operated by Openreach. It means that other internet providers have to piggyback on Openreach’s infrastructure to provide you with broadband. 

Cable broadband

Rather than use copper phone lines or fibre-optic cables to connect your home to the internet, cable broadband uses coaxial cables. This type of connection offers faster average speeds than ADSL or many fibre broadband packages, but it’s not as fast as FTTP. Virgin Media is the only provider using this connection method, unlike other providers such as EE and Vodafone and operates the only major alternative network to Openreach.

What type of broadband connection does Virgin Media use?

Virgin Media uses its own cable broadband network to connect homes to the internet, but it doesn’t operate all over the country. Despite being the largest cable broadband operator, Virgin Media services are only available to around half of UK households, although the provider continues to roll out its services in new areas. 

New customers signing up with Virgin Media will need to be connected to Virgin’s network, which could mean some initial set-up costs, but they usually benefit from special offers that will offset this cost.

What average broadband speed do I need?

Broadband speed is measured in Mbps (megabits per second), which usually refers to download speed. The higher the Mbps, the faster the speed and the more you can do online. For example, if you have a low average download speed, you won’t be able to stream TV or films without buffering. Upload speeds are also important, although they are not as clearly advertised, as they dictate how quickly you can send data, for example, if you upload content to YouTube or livestream on Twitch.

To get an idea of how Mbps relates to everyday activities, you’ll need a minimum of 5Mbps to watch a programme in high definition on BBC iPlayer, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. However, if you opt for the minimum broadband speed needed, it could mean other users in your household could struggle to get online while you’re streaming. 

With that in mind, if you’re a household of a couple of people and you’re both light internet users, consider a package with an average broadband speed of at least 10Mbps, which gives you some leeway to ensure other devices can also get online. It’s also worth noting that if you have standard broadband, your average speed can suffer from the distance to the nearest cabinet or the telephone exchange, as your service relies on copper phone cables. 

If there are three or four of you in your household and you all use the internet, you’re likely to need a cable or fibre broadband connection and should look at broadband deals offering average download speeds between 30Mbps and 60Mbps. Larger households, gamers and heavy internet users should look at the fastest broadband packages offering at least 60Mbps. You will only get these speeds with a cable or fibre broadband package.

What’s the difference between superfast and ultrafast broadband?

Both superfast and ultrafast broadband provide considerably higher average speeds, which will allow you to perform data-heavy tasks online at the same time on multiple devices. This makes it a good choice for big families or large households generally. These terms are usually applied to fibre broadband packages, but Virgin’s cable internet more than matches the speeds to which they refer.

Communications regulator Ofcom considers anything over 30Mbps to be superfast broadband. Average download speeds over 300Mbps are considered ultrafast. If you also upload content to the internet (via your YouTube or SoundCloud account, for example), you will also want to look into the average upload speed offered by your broadband package – it is often slower than a package’s average download speed and not advertised as clearly, but for some users is a dealbreaker.

Whether or not you need superfast or ultrafast broadband really depends on your online activities. If you stream a lot of music, TV or films, opting for a broadband deal with greater than average download speeds could be worth the extra cost.

Deals that provide faster average speeds are also worth considering if you like to play games online. This will mean latency (the difference in time between sending and receiving data) is reduced, enabling faster response times. Virgin’s Bigger Bundle comes with average speeds of more than 100Mbps, which is perfect for those looking to for more services with their broadband deal. For new customers looking for fast broadband-only deals, we suggest looking into M100, M200, M350 or M500 broadband.

What broadband speeds does Virgin Media offer? 

Virgin Media broadband offers significantly faster average download speeds than standard or even FTTC broadband, so you shouldn’t have any problem streaming content. The provider’s average download speeds range from 54Mbps up to 1130Mbps on the following packages:

• M50
• M100
• M200
• M350
• M500
• Gig1 Fibre

What broadband deals does Virgin Media offer?

You can opt for a broadband-only package, or a bundle combining broadband with other services such as TV and phone – these have names such as the Big Bundle, Bigger Bundle and Bigger Bundle+. Virgin Media also offers bundles that combine TV and broadband packages with an O2 SIM-only deal for your mobile.

You don’t have to combine extra services, but it can help you save money compared with paying for them separately. New customers can also get exclusive deals on bundles, and TV bundles include premium channels such as BT Sport, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema.

Bundled broadband deals also streamline your admin, as you’ll only have to deal with one provider if you decide to cancel your contract or switch. Current top Virgin Media deals include:

Virgin Media broadband-only deals

Virgin Media broadband, TV and phone

Virgin Media and O2 SIM-only deals

What are the benefits and drawbacks of Virgin broadband?

Virgin broadband offers new customers a good selection of broadband deals, with some of the most sought after TV channels including Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, and BT Sport. However, for some customers, its flexible bundles aren’t quite enough to offset its reputation for poor customer service. 

To help you weigh up the pros and cons, here’s a summary of what customers are saying on online review sites: