Virgin SIM Only - any good?

sweetstyle · 04-07-2015, 23:09

Virgins 3G sim only seem brilliant value right now, they have got rid off the £5 tax if your not an existing virgin.

Apart from price,the lack of 4g & Visual Voicemail what are the down sides compared with going direct with EE?

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-...nthly-sim.html

Gigabit · 05-07-2015, 00:00

Stay away.

andycat · 05-07-2015, 08:31

I've been on a while, no 4G but better coverage (for me) than the Tesco 4G I've trialled the last month.

JasonWatkins · 05-07-2015, 08:57

They get a lot of stick in forum-world but i've been with them for a while and have no major complaints. I always say I don't get very good data speeds where I live but they could well be perfectly fine and I just have no patience

I get unlimited minutes & texts and 1gb of data for £8 a month at the moment. Would be nice if they launched 4G but i'm not holding my breath.

artnada · 05-07-2015, 08:57

Just remember, "unlimited" is NOT Unlimited. (I do wish these telcos would get fined for this).

It is heavily throttled after 3GB. And when I say heavily, so much so that webpages will remind you of the good ol' days of dial-up with a 2400baud modem, (I remember this), and even Spotify could buffer. Actually buffer!!!

I have experienced this phenomenon only on Virgin mobile.

Gigabit · 05-07-2015, 09:02

They don't have unlimited data anymore.

JasonWatkins · 05-07-2015, 09:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

They don't have unlimited data anymore.

This is true. The largest amount of data they offer now is 8gb.

Paul_P · 05-07-2015, 12:26

I was with Virgin for less than a week.

Firstly, they made a balls up of porting my number which I have had ported from Voda to o2 to Three without a problem, then Virgin manage to leave it floating about in the ether somewhere, try to get it sorted then spend literally hours on the phone talking to poor sods in customer services who have as much knowledge of the problem as I have about Space Shuttles. In the end I gave up.

Now waiting on an EE SIM, but my Virgin experience was not a good one.

secretmsgs · 05-07-2015, 20:56

STAY AWAY if u after data .TBH these days 4g is must , and if u hunt around , u might get something reasonable..

jonmorris · 06-07-2015, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by secretmsgs

STAY AWAY if u after data .TBH these days 4g is must , and if u hunt around , u might get something reasonable..

4G is certainly nice, but 3G isn't dead yet. Well, unless you're stuck with a rural site with a poor backhaul, which is not likely on any network using EE or Three.

I am testing a The People's Operator SIM (with 31GB of data for £19.99 a month) right now, and it's on EE's network - but 3G only. And with no throttling, I am topping 15Mbps regularly - and even getting mid 20s in some places. Uplink speeds are as high as 3Mbps, which is also fine. Ping times around the 50-60ms mark.

The same tariff also has unlimited texts and calls, so if you could stand not having 4G as an option yet, that could be a good alternative. Still uses the same network as Virgin. It's a 30 day contract too, so it's hardly difficult to tell the network to get stuffed if anything changed.

(BTW I know there's no throttling as I've got two Orange SIMs and have done tests on them in the same location. Bar an expected slight variation from test to test, the speeds are generally the same on the TPO SIM as the two Orange (3G only) EE SIMs.

04-07-2015, 23:09	#1
sweetstyle Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Stamford Posts: 72	Virgin SIM Only - any good? Virgins 3G sim only seem brilliant value right now, they have got rid off the £5 tax if your not an existing virgin. Apart from price,the lack of 4g & Visual Voicemail what are the down sides compared with going direct with EE? http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-...nthly-sim.html

05-07-2015, 00:00	#2
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	Stay away.

05-07-2015, 08:31	#3
andycat Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 51	I've been on a while, no 4G but better coverage (for me) than the Tesco 4G I've trialled the last month.

05-07-2015, 08:57	#4
JasonWatkins Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 53,670	They get a lot of stick in forum-world but i've been with them for a while and have no major complaints. I always say I don't get very good data speeds where I live but they could well be perfectly fine and I just have no patience I get unlimited minutes & texts and 1gb of data for £8 a month at the moment. Would be nice if they launched 4G but i'm not holding my breath.

05-07-2015, 08:57	#5
artnada Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2000 Posts: 9,397	Just remember, "unlimited" is NOT Unlimited. (I do wish these telcos would get fined for this). It is heavily throttled after 3GB. And when I say heavily, so much so that webpages will remind you of the good ol' days of dial-up with a 2400baud modem, (I remember this), and even Spotify could buffer. Actually buffer!!! I have experienced this phenomenon only on Virgin mobile.

05-07-2015, 09:02	#6
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	They don't have unlimited data anymore.

05-07-2015, 09:04	#7
JasonWatkins Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 53,670	Quote: Originally Posted by Gigabit They don't have unlimited data anymore. This is true. The largest amount of data they offer now is 8gb.

05-07-2015, 12:26	#8
Paul_P Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 263	I was with Virgin for less than a week. Firstly, they made a balls up of porting my number which I have had ported from Voda to o2 to Three without a problem, then Virgin manage to leave it floating about in the ether somewhere, try to get it sorted then spend literally hours on the phone talking to poor sods in customer services who have as much knowledge of the problem as I have about Space Shuttles. In the end I gave up. Now waiting on an EE SIM, but my Virgin experience was not a good one.

05-07-2015, 20:56	#9
secretmsgs Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 100	STAY AWAY if u after data .TBH these days 4g is must , and if u hunt around , u might get something reasonable..

06-07-2015, 00:28	#10
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	Quote: Originally Posted by secretmsgs STAY AWAY if u after data .TBH these days 4g is must , and if u hunt around , u might get something reasonable.. 4G is certainly nice, but 3G isn't dead yet. Well, unless you're stuck with a rural site with a poor backhaul, which is not likely on any network using EE or Three. I am testing a The People's Operator SIM (with 31GB of data for £19.99 a month) right now, and it's on EE's network - but 3G only. And with no throttling, I am topping 15Mbps regularly - and even getting mid 20s in some places. Uplink speeds are as high as 3Mbps, which is also fine. Ping times around the 50-60ms mark. The same tariff also has unlimited texts and calls, so if you could stand not having 4G as an option yet, that could be a good alternative. Still uses the same network as Virgin. It's a 30 day contract too, so it's hardly difficult to tell the network to get stuffed if anything changed. (BTW I know there's no throttling as I've got two Orange SIMs and have done tests on them in the same location. Bar an expected slight variation from test to test, the speeds are generally the same on the TPO SIM as the two Orange (3G only) EE SIMs.

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Virgin SIM Only - any good?