Virgin Media 2 for £25 (Broadband & TV) Broadband Bundle

Review of Virgin Media 2 for £25 (Broadband & TV)

VIRGIN Media offer by far the most comprehensive selection of products to make up their bundle packages, including broadband, home phone, digital TV and mobile. The beauty of their bundle packages is that they encompass just about every combination of the four options which means you can truly plump for a bundle that is ideally suited to your own surfing, viewing or nattering needs.

In this Virgin Media package you can pay £25 a month and get broadband (size M) and Virgin TV (size L).

So you'll get Virgin Media's broadband speeds of up to 2Mb - coming to your PC through fibre-optic cable - with no download limits (although a fair use policy does apply). You'll also get a free modem and a some excellent security features from Virgin's PCguard package.

Like all Virgin Media's cable packages, there is - unfortunately - a one off £25 setup fee. However, you do not need line rental in order to receive this package, so you effectively save yourself £11.75 a month.

The Size L TV package included in the bundle gives you access to over 85 digital TV channels including Bravo, Discovery, Movies 24, Sci-fi Channel and Paramount Comedy. You'll also get the excellent Virgin Central channel which we predict may soon come to rival Sky One.

For those worried about the horror stories of Virgin Media's poor customer service, you'll be pleased to know that Virgin Media is really on the up in this department and we're thrilled to see them nominated for 'Best Consumer ISP' in this year's ISPA awards.

Remember that you will need to be in Virgin's cable-supported area in order to get this package, which is currently about 50% of all UK homes at the moment. This is checked live, online when you sign up for the Virgin Media package.

	Virgin Media 2 for £25 (Broadband & TV) is currently offering £20 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	-

TV

Package Name:		Size: L
Included Channels:		Over 85 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:

Payment, Installation and Contract

Payment Method(s):		Direct Debit only (other payment methods incur a £5 charge)
Activation Fee:		Free
Installation:		From £30
Minimum Contract:		12 months
Line Rental:		No line rental required
Support:		25p per minute technical support

Actual User Ratings

At a Glance

Our Rating
Max Speed	2Mb
Usage Limit	Unlimited
Monthly Price	£25.00
Set Up Cost	£30.00
Min. Contract	12 months

	Bundle details:
	Phone: Not included
	TV: Over 85 digital TV channels
	Mobile: Not included

	It is best suited for:
	Home web users looking for a good, simple broadband and basic cable TV package.

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."