Virgin Media 4 for £40 Broadband Bundle

Review of Virgin Media 4 for £40

STOP PRESS! This package now comes with a 28-day moneyback guarantee, so you can safely try it out for a whole month with no risk.

BACK in the old days, a 512k broadband connection cost £40 a month. Now, with Virgin Media's 4 for £40 package you get broadband, television, home phone and mobile!

How quickly times change, or looked at from another angle, what amazing value this Virgin Media package actually is.

Amazing value

For £40 a month and get broadband (size M), TV (size L), phone (Size M) and a Virgin Mobile SIM for £10 (which allows you to keep your same phone and same phone number), or even a free handset if you opt for fewer inclusive minutes and texts.

Virgin Media's cable broadband (size M) promises speeds of up to 2Mb with no download limits and an excellent security suite.

Beauty of cable broadband

The beauty of cable broadband is that, unlike the usual ADSL broadband which comes down the copper wire phonelines, this comes to you through fibre-optic cable which means no lag the further you are from the telephone exchange, and it is unaffected by other people on the line so in theory a cable connection should remain consistently fast no matter what time of day you are using it.

Oh, and did you know that Virgin Media will soon be offering 50Mb broadband across its network before the year is out?

£30 installation

Like all Virgin Media's cable packages, there is a one off £30 installation fee, but remember that no line rental is required, so you'll effectively be saving yourself £11.75 a month from the get-go.

This is especially important if you are comparing this Virgin Media package to something similar offered by Sky (where you'll have to pay line rental).

Virgin Media's home phone size M package gives you free weekend phone calls to UK landlines - and of course there is no line rental as your phone line will now be connected to the Virgin Media cable network, rather than BT's copper wires.

Virgin Media TV

The included Virgin Media TV package for this bundle is Virgin's second from best: the Size L package, which includes over 85 channels including Virgin Central (Virgin's very cool, on-demand TV channel), Bravo, Discovery, Nickleodeon and UKTV Gold.

Mobile package

For your mobile, you'll get a Virgin Mobile SIM for £10 which you can use on your current phone and includes 200 texts and 200 minutes a month to use on any network at any time.

Alternatively, you can take the £10 SIM and get a free mobile handset if you opt for 100 minutes and 100 texts a month instead.

You'll have to be living in a Virgin Media cable-supported area to get this package, but this can be checked when you sign up for the package.

	Virgin Media 4 for £40 is currently offering £30 off your first bill when you sign up online. Also a 28-day moneyback guarantee.

A little more detail

Broadband

			Special Note..	Any good?
Package Name:		Size: M	-
Connection Type:		Cable	-
Max Speed:		2Mb	-
Usage Limit:		Unlimited	Fair use policy applies
Hardware:		Modem	-
Anti-virus Protection:		Yes	Part of PCGuard package (which also includes Firewall, Pop-Up Blocker and Privacy Manager)
Firewall:		Yes	Part of PCGuard package (which also includes Anti-virus, Pop-Up Blocker and Privacy Manager)
E-mail Account:		Yes	Up to 15 email addresses
Webspace Provided:		Yes	55MB of webspace
Domain Included:		No	-
Backup Dialup:		Yes	0845 dial backup
Consoles Supported:		All major consoles supported	-

Home Phone

Package Name:		Size: M
UK Weekend Tariff:		Free to UK landlines
UK Evening Tariff:		4p per minute, with 7p connection charge
UK Peak Tariff:		4p per minute, with 7p connection charge
International Tariff:		Lower international rates with Talk International (£1.50 per month)

TV

Package Name:		Size: L
Included Channels:		Over 90 digital channels including Virgin1 and Disney Channel
Optional Channel Add-ons:		Add SkyMovies and/or Sky Sports for an additional monthly fee (from £19)
Video on Demand:		Yes, free last week's TV (Films etc. cost extra)
Pay Per View:		Music vids, films and live sports events
Record TV / TV Hard Drive:		Yes (requires £150 installation fee, and £5 p/m)
Hardware:
Extras:

Mobile

Package Name:		Virgin Mobile SIM
Network:		Virgin
SIM / Phone:		£10 sim. Free phone available if you take 100 minutes & texts instead of 200
Free Minutes:		200 minutes
Free Texts:		200 texts

Payment, Installation and Contract

Payment Method(s):		Direct Debit + Paperless Billing only (other payment methods incur a £5 charge + £1 for paper billing)
Activation Fee:		Free
Installation:		From £30
Minimum Contract:		12 months
Line Rental:		No line rental required
Support:		Free (from Virgin Media phone, otherwise 0845 local rate)

Actual User Ratings

At a Glance

Our Rating
Max Speed	2Mb
Usage Limit	Unlimited
Monthly Price	£40.00
Set Up Cost	£30.00
Min. Contract	12 months

	Bundle details:
	Phone: Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines
	TV: Over 90 digital TV channels
	Mobile: £10 sim plus 200 texts & minutes, or £10 sim plus FREE phone with 100 texts & minutes

	It is best suited for:
	Web users looking for the ultimate 'bundle' package of broadband, phone, TV and mobile.

Customer Reviews

Add your own review of Virgin Media broadband...

Remember, the customer reviews below are subjective (and are not the opinions of ChooseISP.co.uk).

John from glasgow writes... 14/05/2008

"Since Virgin have taken over from NTL they've taken a flawfless service and ran it straight in to the ground. I live right beside an exchange so in theory I should be getting fairly close to 4Mb, I'm lucky to get 2 most days. Also lately at any point from 4-12 streaming any type of media results in the connection dropping and sometimes taking 15+ minutes to reconnect. Until they get their act together avoid Virgin."

Martin from London writes... 12/10/2007

"Signed up for Virgin Media XL Broadband 20Mb. I don't even get 1Mb most times, usually lower. The customer service is extremely poor and they are all based in India. There is no email based support, only 25p/min tech number."

Gareth Snow from Worthing writes... 03/10/2007

"We recently had broadband, telephone and also TV installed from Virgin Media and they were excellent. Really good value for money. Also we have Virgin Media's V+ service which is superb!"

S.J. from Manchester writes... 08/09/2007

"When Virgin Media was still Telewest it was great. Now the XL package is £37/month, with fair use policy introduced, the speeds are not consistent and the upload speed is ridiculous for todays isp's. The once free tech help is now 25p/min with 10p connection charge (to India!!). If I had a BT line I would try another broadband provider."

Jason Hines from Epsom writes... 12/08/2007

"So far so very good. I signed up to the VirginMedia 3 for £30 bundle in April and so far have been amazed. I had heard bad stories but took the risk as they offer a moneyback guarantee. Thankfully I never had to use it. I still find it amazing that I get all this for £30. Highly recommended."

Hazel Wykes from Birmingham writes... 11/08/2007

"We thought we'd give Virgin Media a try just to see how it compared but were so dissatified with it, that we changed back to BT. We are now on BT Total Broadband Option 3. Its top class, everything about it is excellent. It beats Virgin Media all round."