Virgin Media Broadband Size: L Broadband

Review of Virgin Media Broadband Size: L

STOP PRESS! This package is now available for just £17 a month for the first 6 months, saving you £48! Alternatively, take it with a Virgin Media home phone package (see details here) and get it for £11.50 a month for the first 12 months (+ £11 a month for the phone package).

BURSTING with so many special offers you'd think Mr Branson was desperate for your custom - and maybe he is - the Virgin Media Broadband Size L package is a slightly pricey 4Mb cable package suitable for most web users who want to enjoy fast, unlimited broadband.

Fortunately, there are two introductory offers on this package. Standing alone, you'll save £48 over the first 6 months, or if you take it with a Virgin Media home phone package you save almost £100 in the first year. Read our full review of this Virgin Media broadband special offer bundle.

In addition, Virgin Media has recently announced that this package will now be upgraded to a 10Mb speed, to be completed across the country by the end of the summer. The upgrade is free and won't affect the price of the package. (Read the full story of Virgin Media's speed increase for Broadband Size L customers).

While there is an unfortunate £30 connection charge (this is cable after all, so we'll excuse Virgin Media for this), remember that you don't require line rental to get this package. So you can safely subtract £11.75 a month from the cost to see a more realistic figure.

So how does Virgin Media Broadband Size L perform? Well Virgin Media have inherited NTL's rather shaky cable network which had a history of hiccups, and then suffered a bluster of bad press in their first 9 months but general concensus is that the connection is stable, fast and - according to many - more reliable than ADSL broadband. In fact, Virgin Media earned itself an accolade in the 2008 ISPA's for best consumer ISP.

And with Virgin Media's 30-day moneyback guarantee on all its broadband packages, you are safe to try it for yourself and see. They'll even refund the installation fee.

	Virgin Media Broadband Size: L is currently offering just £17 per month for the first 6 months (saves £48 per year!).

A little more detail

Broadband

			Special Note..	Any good?
Package Name:		Size: L	-
Connection Type:		Cable	-
Max Speed:		4Mb	Rising to 10Mb before the end of the summer
Usage Limit:		Unlimited	Fair use policy applies
Hardware:		Modem	-
Anti-virus Protection:		Yes	Part of PCGuard Total package (which includes PCguard features as well as extra Anti-Spyware, Identify Theft Protection and Parental Control features)
Firewall:		Yes	Part of PCGuard Total package (which includes PCguard features as well as extra Anti-Spyware, Identify Theft Protection and Parental Control features)
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	-

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	4Mb
Usage Limit	Unlimited
Monthly Price	£25.00
Set Up Cost	£30.00
Min. Contract	12 months

	Bundle details:
	Phone: Not included
	TV: Not included
	Mobile: Not included

	It is best suited for:
	Internet users wanting a solid, decently priced unlimited broadband package with fast speeds that are only getting faster!

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."