Virgin Media 3 for £30 (Broadband, Phone & Mobile) Broadband Bundle

Review of Virgin Media 3 for £30 (Broadband, Phone & Mobile)

DESPITE the ravaging that Virgin Media has taken from disgruntled customers in its admittedly rocky first year of business, we're big fans of the service, especially since the issues that plagued them so badly appear to be behind them now (in fact they are up for an award at this year's ISPAs after being nominated Best Consumer ISP).

What's more, one of the biggest complaints customers had about Virgin Media was the 25p per minute technical support line, has been eliminated witb tech support now absolutely free if you use a Virgin Media home phone package, otherwise its just an 0845 local rate number.

Best value broadband bundles

Probably one of the best value broadband bundle packages available right now, the Virgin Media 3 for £30 deals offer a fantastic grip of three services for the price many people pay for just their broadband.

In this Virgin Media 3 for £30 package you can pay £30 a month and get broadband (size M) and phone (size M) and a Virgin Mobile sim which gives you free texts and minutes while letting you keep your old number and existing phone (or opt for half the number of texts and minutes and get a free phone instead).

No download limits

The Virgin Media Broadband Size: M gives cable broadband speeds of up to 2Mb with no download limits.

You'll also benefit from the excellent security features of Virgin's PCguard security suite.

Why go cable?

What is the benefit of cable broadband over normal ADSL broadband through the phoneline?

Not only is it generally faster, it is unaffected by where your house is located in relation to the telephone exchange, and more importantly it doesnt get congested the way ADSL does.

This means you'll receive a far more consistent speed, even at peak times.

No line rental needed

Like all Virgin Media's cable packages, there is a one off £30 installation fee, but remember that you don't require line rental for this package, so you can safely deduct £11.75 (the cost of BT line rental) off the price to get an accurate reflection of what you are paying.

The Size M phone package included in the bundle gives you free weekend calls.

Decent mobile package

When it comes to the mobile side of the package, you'll get a Virgin mobile sim for £10 along with 200 texts and 200 minutes a month to use on any network, any time. Alternatively you can take the same £10 sim and opt for 100 texts and 100 minutes and get a new phone thrown in free.

Remember that you will need to be in Virgin Media's cable-supported area in order to get this package. This is checked live, online when you sign up for the package.

	Virgin Media 3 for £30 (Broadband, Phone & Mobile) is currently offering £30 off your first bill when you sign up online.

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:		3.25p 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)

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	£30.00
Set Up Cost	£30.00
Min. Contract	12 months

	Bundle details:
	Phone: Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines
	TV: Not included
	Mobile: £10 sim plus 200 texts & minutes, or £10 sim plus FREE phone with 100 texts & minutes

	It is best suited for:
	Web users who like to chat - be it on the phone or the 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."