I notice that VM's SIM-only plans are now far more expensive. You would think that you would get more for the increased price, right? Wrong - you get less than before.

Their PAYG tariffs are now better value than their SIM-only ones!

and they have jumped on the "The charge for your tariff will increase with your July bill each year. Any increase will be in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation at the time" band wagon.

Assuming they still enforce a 3.5GB cap on 'unlimited', you now get superb value in paying an extra £5pm for a whopping 500mb extra and access to some national numbers most people never call. Bargain!

Not sure if the 3.5GB FUP is still in place. I checked the other day and it seemed to have charged.

Charged? I don't recall people being charged; only capped.

It's still there.

Still buried in the T&C.

Sorry auto correction is great when it works. The t&cs seemed to have changed.

Here is the latest t&cs.
General:*Phones subject to availability. From 2015, your Pay Monthly Standard Contract & Freestyle Airtime Contract will be adjusted every year on your July bill by the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation announced in the May before. Included in your tariff (subject to the allowance specified): UK calls to UK landlines (beginning 01, 02, 03) & UK mobile networks. Calls and texts to Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man mobiles not included. UK texts and data only. You should expect speeds delivered up to 384kbps (3G), actual speeds experienced may be higher or lower and will vary by device and location. You cannot share your data connection with other devices - known as "Tethering

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile.html

Still mentions 3.5GB in the full T&C acceptable use section.

http://store.virginmedia.com/the-leg...r-service.html

Having been shackled to Virgin Media for two years after being tricked into joining in a mendacious way I have mentioned so often before, I have to say I'm glad - hopefully fewer people will be duped into suffering the misery that is Virgin Mobile Customer Services. It's on a par with the shambles Virgin Media used to be before the latter thankfully got their act together.


"Hello sir - how can I help you today? Oh I'm so sorry the last person mouthed exactly the same platitudes but your problem hasn't been resolved. Rest assured It won't be sorted by me either while I trill away in my soothing voice. Have a lovely day and don't hesitate to call back when you find out that nothing has been done and no-one has bothered to answer your letters. Good bye and once again - have a GRRRREAT DAY! Of course I really, really couldn't care less and if you think I do you're an even bigger idiot than the people who designed "Unlimitacular" to sucker mugs like you into joining us think you are.".


I can think of no greater indictment than that.

I know this is SIM only, but for some people that might have dragged them into the clutches of a permanent contract.

One word.

Don't.

BIB

I thought that was a spoof, unfortunately i went to the website and it actually IS in the T&C! WTF?

Way to sell a service, i must phone them up

Is it a typo and they mean KBps?

Well the service is certainly slower than EE, the network they use.

As an aside, to avoid starting a thread, I've just called for my PAC number. Given that my average spend is around £40, it was interesting that they made no attempt to offer me a retention deal. Unless they offered me something unbelievable I probably would have left anyway but I was surprised they were so indifferent. Its something that's been commented on before - you could say "way to keep customers".

I didn't realise Tony the Tiger works for Virgin...

Looks like they have dropped the NUS Extra 15% discount as well.

He is planned to be in their new ad campaign for 2015...

I notice they've launched a new raft of deals under the banner "freestyle contracts"

It's basically the same as the O2 'Refresh' deal on the face of it, but the prices of the SIm only deals have been re-jigged again.

You can get 'unlimited' minutes, texts and 1gb of data for £12 quid now, or you can go for the top end of the tier with 'unlimited' everything, including 0800, 0845 e.t.c.. for £20 quid a month.

Might go for that one myself and see if i can knock it back down in a few months through retentions.

You have to be a VM customer though, right?

you can get a VM sim without being a VM customer. also if you call to place an order they ask if you are a customer, to which if you say yes, they don't ask for any further information to confirm you are a customer, so you could potentially get a customer only offer even if you aren't a customer. it seems the VM mobile is a different limited company or something. I usually speak to folk in America when I call VM mobile, but UK folk usually when calling about other stuff. I think a Scottish call centre

Would they still be like that if i wanted to upgrade my tariff rather than get a new one ?

Just rang them to see if i could change to one of these freestyle deals but when i gave them my number, it just offered me the selection of tariffs for non-VM customers which obviously in my case is correct.

I doubt it as you are already in the non VM group of customers. you could always try a retention deal. I got one after only being with them 3 months. I was on a 30 day contract. you could try saying you now have VM for telly or something and see what they say

I did ring them back and ended up getting better deals for my mum and sister but not me

I kind of curse getting rid of my original deal actually as I had the first version of their "unlimited" everything deal that i was getting for £11 a month on retentions, so i suspect if i'd kept that i could have probably nudged the price of that down again.

well just rang back and managed to haggle my way around to getting "unlimited" minutes and texts and 1gb of data for £8 quid a month so i'm happy with that.

Would this tarrif be available for a new contract from Virgin Mobile? as that seems a good one you got.