Have just been looking at Virgin mobiles tariffs. They used to do a unlimited data (FUP 3.5GB). This now seems to have gone. The highest amount of data you can get with a handset is 3GB or sim only 5GB. Talk about going down hill. When most networks offer up to 20GB these days.
Virgin Mobile now drop Unlimited data
If you spoke to anyone in the Virgin call centre, they'd swear to the high heavens there was no FUP - even the UK based staff - but it was always there in the T's & C's.
Seems to be somewhat of a cycle though - i know a lot of companies offered unlimited data some years ago before they all moved away from it and, subsequently, went back again.
It'll likely mean that in a few years we'll be back to unlimited data plans again once the networks have upgraded to cope with the demand.
Seems to be somewhat of a cycle though - i know a lot of companies offered unlimited data some years ago before they all moved away from it and, subsequently, went back again.
It'll likely mean that in a few years we'll be back to unlimited data plans again once the networks have upgraded to cope with the demand.
Probably a precursor to enabling 4G. It's unlikely they'd want to encourage people to switch to them for unlimited 4G...
Originally Posted by philt74:
“Probably a precursor to enabling 4G. It's unlikely they'd want to encourage people to switch to them for unlimited 4G...”
“Probably a precursor to enabling 4G. It's unlikely they'd want to encourage people to switch to them for unlimited 4G...”
Fair point actually - they've always said they'd offer 4G at some point.
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“What happens once you've downloaded 3.5GB then? or does the OP mean 3.5 Mb/s speed cap?”
“What happens once you've downloaded 3.5GB then? or does the OP mean 3.5 Mb/s speed cap?”
If you go over the 3.5gb limit, they throttle your internet speed right back. You can still use "unlimited" data I suppose, but the actual speed would be, if i recall correctly, somewhat along the lines of a 2g connection.
Originally Posted by corf:
“I thought it was down to 384 kbps”
“I thought it was down to 384 kbps”
You're probably right - I was only recalling it from memory.
Yeah the way they capped it was very sneaky. I actually reported it to the ASA.
Instead of saying, after using 3.5GB, your speeds will be throttled, they said you should only expect speeds of 384Kbps. That way they could make it sound like there was no cap.
Guess who the ASA agreed with.
Instead of saying, after using 3.5GB, your speeds will be throttled, they said you should only expect speeds of 384Kbps. That way they could make it sound like there was no cap.
Guess who the ASA agreed with.
Sounds like they have ended it now, the op should probably just look at their real data usage over 6 months and then buy a fixed plan that suits their needs.
This is easy if it's lower than 20GB as you can buy up to around 20 on several different networks. I don't see the attraction of Virgin anyway, there's nothing outstanding about their offering.
This is easy if it's lower than 20GB as you can buy up to around 20 on several different networks. I don't see the attraction of Virgin anyway, there's nothing outstanding about their offering.
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“Yeah the way they capped it was very sneaky. I actually reported it to the ASA.
Instead of saying, after using 3.5GB, your speeds will be throttled, they said you should only expect speeds of 384Kbps. That way they could make it sound like there was no cap.
Guess who the ASA agreed with.”
“Yeah the way they capped it was very sneaky. I actually reported it to the ASA.
Instead of saying, after using 3.5GB, your speeds will be throttled, they said you should only expect speeds of 384Kbps. That way they could make it sound like there was no cap.
Guess who the ASA agreed with.”
You weren't the only one
lucky 7!
Originally Posted by JasonWatkins:
“Fair point actually - they've always said they'd offer 4G at some point.”
“Fair point actually - they've always said they'd offer 4G at some point.”
no they haven't. Every press release so far when asked the question said they aren't look at 4G for consumer, AFAIK 4G is business accounts only.
Originally Posted by old bill2:
“Have just been looking at Virgin mobiles tariffs. They used to do a unlimited data (FUP 3.5GB). This now seems to have gone. The highest amount of data you can get with a handset is 3GB or sim only 5GB. Talk about going down hill. When most networks offer up to 20GB these days.”
“Have just been looking at Virgin mobiles tariffs. They used to do a unlimited data (FUP 3.5GB). This now seems to have gone. The highest amount of data you can get with a handset is 3GB or sim only 5GB. Talk about going down hill. When most networks offer up to 20GB these days.”
I'd love for most networks to offer 20GB for 4G data. A search of the networks and MVNO's suggest that ain't gonna happen via SIM only. I fear the day when Three take away The One Plan from me because there'll be no alternative unless I pay 2-3x what I do now, a unpalatable scenario which will make me reconsider whether I have a mobile phone in the first place. And in my opinion, I suspect AYCE is on borrowed time. The general trend has been for data allowances to drop whilst prices increase. The way things are going, mobile operators really don't want you buying your phone separately and would prefer you to use Wi-Fi (where at home, quad-play firms can happily also increase your line rental to bump up profits).
Three's One Plan was meant to be 25, but a lot of people got it for 15 on special offer, I don't think they expected people to use as much as they did. The average was around 2GB, the thing is 20GB of mobile data is a lot.
Everyone wants UK call centres, they want widely rolled out 4G, they want more than 20GB but they aren't willing to pay the 40+ a month. So you end up with a compromise, you get offshore call centres, limited 4G rollout and unlimited with a 4GB tethering cap for around 15 or 20 or you can pay a lot more for premium, but you can't have everything for virtually nothing.
One of the reasons why Three offered that deal at 15 was to try and grow the customer base fast, I didn't ever see it being a very long term offer, however it did last several years, if it hadn't been so widely used for broadband it might have lasted longer.
Everyone wants UK call centres, they want widely rolled out 4G, they want more than 20GB but they aren't willing to pay the 40+ a month. So you end up with a compromise, you get offshore call centres, limited 4G rollout and unlimited with a 4GB tethering cap for around 15 or 20 or you can pay a lot more for premium, but you can't have everything for virtually nothing.
One of the reasons why Three offered that deal at 15 was to try and grow the customer base fast, I didn't ever see it being a very long term offer, however it did last several years, if it hadn't been so widely used for broadband it might have lasted longer.
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“Three's One Plan was meant to be 0525, but a lot of people got it for 0515 on special offer, I don't think they expected people to use as much as they did. The average was around 2GB, the thing is 20GB of mobile data is a lot.
Everyone wants UK call centres, they want widely rolled out 4G, they want more than 20GB but they aren't willing to pay the 0540 a month. So you end up with a compromise, you get offshore call centres, limited 4G rollout and unlimited with a 4GB tethering cap for around 0515 or 0520 or you can pay a lot more for premium, but you can't have everything for virtually nothing.
One of the reasons why Three offered that deal at 0515 was to try and grow the customer base fast, I didn't ever see it being a very long term offer, however it did last several years, if it hadn't been so widely used for broadband it might have lasted longer.”
“Three's One Plan was meant to be 0525, but a lot of people got it for 0515 on special offer, I don't think they expected people to use as much as they did. The average was around 2GB, the thing is 20GB of mobile data is a lot.
Everyone wants UK call centres, they want widely rolled out 4G, they want more than 20GB but they aren't willing to pay the 0540 a month. So you end up with a compromise, you get offshore call centres, limited 4G rollout and unlimited with a 4GB tethering cap for around 0515 or 0520 or you can pay a lot more for premium, but you can't have everything for virtually nothing.
One of the reasons why Three offered that deal at 0515 was to try and grow the customer base fast, I didn't ever see it being a very long term offer, however it did last several years, if it hadn't been so widely used for broadband it might have lasted longer.”
Town/City Centre or village public wifi hotspots are only done on a shop to shop basis and all under different mobile operators, so is only useful for listening to the internet streamed radio while you are inside the specific shops for a while. Using wifi hotspots instead of mobile data for continuous internet streamed radio walking casually along the high street and other town/city centre streets is totally impossible so you are forced to use your data sim.
Also if you have no access to wifi at all for 2 or 3 weeks while you to go away from home you have option but to use your mobile data sim for surfing the internet.
With virgin it's impossible to properly surf the internet away from home the way you do at home without having to use 2 or 3 PAYG data sims each with 3GB of data in them to cover you if your smartphone is locked to virgin and you are on one of their contract sims. Paying an extra 0545 on top of your normal costs to Virgin just to get a good amount of data at proper speed away from home with no wifi access if you need to consume in excess of 10GB of data is a rather extreme cost.
Paying 0540 to allow you to consume 20GB sim only in normal circumstances would have been excessive. That would have meant people with virgin e.g. would be paying upwards of 0590 for a month just to properly access the internet if away from home with no access to wifi at proper speed for a few weeks which would be ridiculous.
NB:- Sorry about my above post where the values appear rather odd, but I am using uc browser on my mobile phone, not a browser on a PC. I could not manage to alter it as I had to answer a phone call and by the time I got back, I could not edit it.
[]O,,525 e.g. is meant to be 25 and []O,,515 is meant to be 15.
[]O,,525 e.g. is meant to be 25 and []O,,515 is meant to be 15.
Originally Posted by corf:
“I thought it was down to 384 kbps”
“I thought it was down to 384 kbps”
That's sufficient for streaming audio, is it not?
Certainly ok for web browsing, email and data light apps. Maps (that aren't cached) would be pretty slow I suppose.
Unless they offered 50Gb for 1p I'd avoid Virgin Mobile like the absolute plague. By far and away the most horrific company I've ever signed up with for anything and that's saying something. Of course Customer service has gone down hill everywhere in the digital age but I've never before had an operator be blatantly, rude, sarcastic, aggressive and talk over me so much I couldn't make my case and had to put the phone down.
In my two years with them I've had cause to write three letters (one which was in part complaining about the above-mentioned operator). Not one has even been acknowledged (they were sent by tracked mail). They also often ignored emails - the only time I got replies and a follow up call was when I threatened them with the ombudsman - a path I'm now actually about to take after they refused to comply with the Sale Of Goods Act.
Sign a handset contract at your peril.
In my two years with them I've had cause to write three letters (one which was in part complaining about the above-mentioned operator). Not one has even been acknowledged (they were sent by tracked mail). They also often ignored emails - the only time I got replies and a follow up call was when I threatened them with the ombudsman - a path I'm now actually about to take after they refused to comply with the Sale Of Goods Act.
Sign a handset contract at your peril.
Originally Posted by carnivalist:
“Unless they offered 50Gb for 1p I'd avoid Virgin Mobile like the absolute plague. By far and away the most horrific company I've ever signed up with for anything and that's saying something. Of course Customer service has gone down hill everywhere in the digital age but I've never before had an operator be blatantly, rude, sarcastic, aggressive and talk over me so much I couldn't make my case and had to put the phone down.
.”
“Unless they offered 50Gb for 1p I'd avoid Virgin Mobile like the absolute plague. By far and away the most horrific company I've ever signed up with for anything and that's saying something. Of course Customer service has gone down hill everywhere in the digital age but I've never before had an operator be blatantly, rude, sarcastic, aggressive and talk over me so much I couldn't make my case and had to put the phone down.
.”
Whilst slightly off topic I've had the exact same issues with Virgin Media customer support, not sure how similar they are. Operator remoted into my computer (with my permission) reset my router 4 times, admitted there was a problem and Virgin were responsible, wouldn't do anything to rectify it saying that I should get used to it.
I've had better luck with Three. Sounded slightly grumbly on a call, got a guy from higher up calling back asking me if I was OK because I didn't sound satisfied. Then he went to tell me that I was in line for some good developments from Three such as 800Mhz.
Originally Posted by carnivalist:
“Unless they offered 50Gb for 1p I'd avoid Virgin Mobile like the absolute plague.”
“Unless they offered 50Gb for 1p I'd avoid Virgin Mobile like the absolute plague.”
Tell me about it, at the end of my Cable contract which was plagued with many problems which if I'm kind to them was probably connected and working for about 80% of the whole contract I canceled, wrote to them and called to check that it was cancelled. Only to find a year later they had carried on charging (I had moved) they had not sent bills or anything and only found out when it was flagged up when I checked my credit history and then a few weeks later a debt collection company had tracked me down for 1600 !
They argued for 3 months that I had not cancelled the account even though I had and there was brief notes on the account saying I had called and had it confirmed (!!) so after threatening them with court via a solicitor and getting a press friend to call them for "pretend" story did they only take notice and finally close it down.
Shocking company on the retail side, make BT look good.
So I relish the fact their misleading advert (and product) was taken off air/website.
My friend had a similar experience with Virgin a couple of months ago. Virgin pulled the broadband from their area and sold their details to Talk Talk. He hates Talk Talk with a passion so signed up to BT and had heaps of problems getting Virgin to play ball. He paid his final bill and was told he was disconnected so he cancelled his direct debit. He then got another bill last week equal to 3 months of his old plan so phoned them and they had forgotten to disconnect him.
On the other hand, I've been with Virgin Mobile since September 2003 and with Virgin Media for Landline and Broadband since they took over NTL/Telewest back whenever and most of the time any problems I've had have been ironed out pretty quickly. I also nearly went to BT but Virgin offered me a fair loyalty discount that's tied in for 12 months but available for 18 months saving me 19 a month and increasing my speed. I just bought my smart phone but because my deal is the old VIP15 Sim Only I get unlimited everything, including for 16.50 a month. I do find the staff can sometimes be rude but I always take their name and phone back and complain - I've had quite a few 5 or 10s knocked off the bill
On the other hand, I've been with Virgin Mobile since September 2003 and with Virgin Media for Landline and Broadband since they took over NTL/Telewest back whenever and most of the time any problems I've had have been ironed out pretty quickly. I also nearly went to BT but Virgin offered me a fair loyalty discount that's tied in for 12 months but available for 18 months saving me 19 a month and increasing my speed. I just bought my smart phone but because my deal is the old VIP15 Sim Only I get unlimited everything, including for 16.50 a month. I do find the staff can sometimes be rude but I always take their name and phone back and complain - I've had quite a few 5 or 10s knocked off the bill
This will be why:
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/04/vir...le-data-claim/
So not to do with 4G or anything, but more the ASA finally did something useful!
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/04/vir...le-data-claim/
So not to do with 4G or anything, but more the ASA finally did something useful!
The ASA ruled that Virgin Media misled consumers about Unlimited data
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Virgin Media misled consumers by claiming that they could get Unlimited data (Mobile Broadband) on one of their mobile 3G SIM-Only tariffs, except that customers who exceeded 3.5GB of data in any 30-day period found that their speeds were throttled to just 384Kbps (0.38Mbps).
Its particularly interesting to see the ASA going beyond the advertising claim itself in order to investigate what service is actually being delivered, although were not convinced that Ofcoms data is extensive enough in order to be relied upon in this way. Equally Virgin Media did cover their bases by only promising up to 384Kbps and so technically they havent breached that pledge.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...ms-banned.html
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Virgin Media misled consumers by claiming that they could get Unlimited data (Mobile Broadband) on one of their mobile 3G SIM-Only tariffs, except that customers who exceeded 3.5GB of data in any 30-day period found that their speeds were throttled to just 384Kbps (0.38Mbps).
Its particularly interesting to see the ASA going beyond the advertising claim itself in order to investigate what service is actually being delivered, although were not convinced that Ofcoms data is extensive enough in order to be relied upon in this way. Equally Virgin Media did cover their bases by only promising up to 384Kbps and so technically they havent breached that pledge.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...ms-banned.html
