DS Forums

 
 

Virgin Media finally to offer 4G


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-11-2016, 08:16
rasseru16
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Posts: 665
What about Virgin Mobile pay as you go customers? is 4G now available for them too?
rasseru16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 07-11-2016, 08:19
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
Well, I'm not overwhelmed by these new prices.

I'm currently paying £15 for unlimited calls, texts and 3GB of data so for the same price I could get 2500 minutes (which would be more than enough for me) plus 4GB of 4G data.

Three do a 4G SIM with 8GB of data for £19 and the "feel at home" roaming which sounds tempting.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 08:26
Ed3925
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 97
New tariffs are pretty good in my opinion.
Ed3925 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 08:28
JasonWatkins
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 53,623
Well, I'm not overwhelmed by these new prices.

I'm currently paying £15 for unlimited calls, texts and 3GB of data so for the same price I could get 2500 minutes (which would be more than enough for me) plus 4GB of 4G data.

Three do a 4G SIM with 8GB of data for £19 and the "feel at home" roaming which sounds tempting.
I'm not impressed either. Up until last week, I was paying £12 a month for unlimited minutes & texts and 1GB of data and this would only now get me 2500 minutes on their 4G plan.

It's probably the main reason I decided to move to Three. They're doing a 12 month contract for 4GB of 4G data with Unlimited Minutes & Texts for £9 a month which will be ideal - and cheaper !.
JasonWatkins is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 10:03
Richard1960
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 13,433
New tariffs are pretty good in my opinion.
Well i am getting 30GB Data and unlimited minutes and texts on three plus wi fi calling, for £24 a month (12 month deal) £1 less then VM are charging for much less.!
Richard1960 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 10:05
-ajm-
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Hedge End, Southampton, Hants.
Posts: 2,814
Data rollover sounds good.
-ajm- is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 11:17
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
Data rollover sounds good.
Ah, I had missed the news about the data rollover. That makes the 4GB plan slightly more tempting and I could drop down the the £12/2GB if I wasn't using it.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 17:48
Darreninessex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 184
So I'm interested in the free data for whatsapp and FB messenger..

Is this a intro offer or time limited ?

With teenage kids using lots of data away from wi.fi at home this could be good for me.

Wonder what the download speeds will be, anything above 15mbps within the london M25 and I may go for this
Darreninessex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 18:14
Heanor_Man31
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 395
So I'm interested in the free data for whatsapp and FB messenger..

Is this a intro offer or time limited ?

With teenage kids using lots of data away from wi.fi at home this could be good for me.

Wonder what the download speeds will be, anything above 15mbps within the london M25 and I may go for this
By the looks of it I'm guessing it's a permanent feature for PAYM customers.

Don't know what kinds of speeds you'd get but I'd imagine EE/BT Mobile customers will take priority.
Heanor_Man31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 18:42
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
So I'm interested in the free data for whatsapp and FB messenger..
Unless you are sharing video (which I'm not even sure you can with those apps as I hardly ever use them) then they aren't going to use much data at all.

I'm going to have a ponder over the next few days between switching to a 4G tariff on Virgin or moving to Three. I'll have to check whether EE or Three have the better coverage in the places I go to.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 19:36
Ed3925
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 97
I'll have to check whether EE or Three have the better coverage in the places I go to.
To be honest, there are almost no places where Three have better coverage than EE. EE use most or all of the masts that Three use, plus quite a lot of additional sites, and EE have a large number of 2g/3g/4g sites which are 3g-only for Three. In addition, although there are a few areas where Three offer better internet speeds, there are far more areas where EE have better speeds.

There are certainly places where Vodafone/O2 have better coverage, and places where EE/Three are best.... but EE being superior to Three is pretty standard.

Although Three are using 800 MHz 4g on some masts, any area where 800 MHz represents the only coverage from Three are generally poorly served.
Ed3925 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 19:40
Richard1960
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 13,433
To be honest, there are almost no places where Three have better coverage than EE. EE use most or all of the masts that Three use, plus quite a lot of additional sites, and EE have a large number of 2g/3g/4g sites which are 3g-only for Three. In addition, although there are a few areas where Three offer better internet speeds, there are far more areas where EE have better speeds.

There are certainly places where Vodafone/O2 have better coverage, and places where EE/Three are best.... but EE being superior to Three is pretty standard.

Although Three are using 800 MHz 4g on some masts, any area where 800 MHz represents the only coverage from Three are generally poorly served.
Where i live coverage on Three is equally good, also i travel a lot in Norfolk and often found lots of black spots on VM near the coast and around Thetford/Brandon where i am able to pick up a 4G signal on Three where i got no reception on VM/EE.

Also around the coast Cromer/Sheringham.

Though in other areas it may well be a different story.
Richard1960 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 19:41
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
Thanks for the info. I think I'll switch to the Virgin 4G service and see how it goes. It will still be on a monthly contract so I wouldn't be locking myself in.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 22:00
Darreninessex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 184
Is FB video and whatsapp video included in this.

Notice it says sending pictures and messages, nothing about video
Darreninessex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 22:11
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,875
VoLTE ever?
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2016, 22:25
Ed3925
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 97
Where i live coverage on Three is equally good, also i travel a lot in Norfolk and often found lots of black spots on VM near the coast and around Thetford/Brandon where i am able to pick up a 4G signal on Three where i got no reception on VM/EE.

Also around the coast Cromer/Sheringham.

Though in other areas it may well be a different story.
Thanks. I probably shouldn't speak for other areas.
Ed3925 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2016, 06:27
JasonWatkins
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 53,623
Is FB video and whatsapp video included in this.

Notice it says sending pictures and messages, nothing about video
Well both FB Messenger and Whatsapp are said to be 'zero rated' (if that's the right terminology) so, in theory, anything you send using either service wouldn't impact on your data allowance.
JasonWatkins is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2016, 07:47
rasseru16
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Posts: 665
Is this single speed 4G or double speed I wonder??
rasseru16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2016, 07:57
JasonWatkins
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 53,623
Is this single speed 4G or double speed I wonder??
Single .. and capped as well apparently.

"At a fast 4G speed of 25Mbps you’ll be able to…."

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-...ta-speeds.html
JasonWatkins is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2016, 09:49
SkipTracer
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: The City and County of Bristol
Posts: 2,621
Single .. and capped as well apparently.

"At a fast 4G speed of 25Mbps you’ll be able to…."

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-...ta-speeds.html
What I like about VM mobile is their BS because as an existing BB customer they give you a lower rate just like BT and TalkTalk do.

However while BT and TT are true discounts if you’re not an existing customer with VM you can also get these low rates.

A slap in the face with a wet fish comes to mind when I viewed that on their web site and its why my sim’s plans are with iD Mobile and Life Mobile even though I’m a VM BB customer.

BTW, 3 (iD) and EE (Life) share the same mask here and average download speed on Life Mobile 3G only is just a tad under 20 Mb/s with iD 4G over 30 Mb/s and all without VM false discounts.
SkipTracer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2016, 10:20
Resonance
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,204
What I like about VM mobile is their BS because as an existing BB customer they give you a lower rate just like BT and TalkTalk do.

However while BT and TT are true discounts if you’re not an existing customer with VM you can also get these low rates.

A slap in the face with a wet fish comes to mind when I viewed that on their web site and its why my sim’s plans are with iD Mobile and Life Mobile even though I’m a VM BB customer.

BTW, 3 (iD) and EE (Life) share the same mask here and average download speed on Life Mobile 3G only is just a tad under 20 Mb/s with iD 4G over 30 Mb/s and all without VM false discounts.
Yes, I noticed that. I'm pretty sure a few years back the discounts were real, but they got rid of them for some reason. Still it means they might get me as a customer in the future (can't get Virgin Media TV, Broadband, etc in these parts).
Resonance is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-11-2016, 13:07
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
Just got my new 4G SIM today but it's annoying that the changes won't come into affect until my monthly refresh date which is 3 weeks away.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-11-2016, 00:01
beans0ntoast
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
By the looks of it I'm guessing it's a permanent feature for PAYM customers.

Don't know what kinds of speeds you'd get but I'd imagine EE/BT Mobile customers will take priority.
From what I've read on the Virgin Media Community, it seems that Virgin Mobile 4G is speed capped at 25Mbps... which isn't great. It's slightly faster than what 3G offers, but not by much...

I'm also wondering if the 3.5GB limit is still active on these new 4G plans. I know from past experience (and what others have said) that VM 3G plans had a 3.5GB limit on all SIMs; after which the speed would drop to about 350kbit/s and remain at 350kbit/s for the remainder of the calendar month. So even if you had a 10GB SIM, you'd still only be able to use 3.5GB per month before you'd have to throw the SIM out and put a secondary SIM in, because I doubt much would actually work at 350kbit/s...
beans0ntoast is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-11-2016, 02:25
david16
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Central Belt
Posts: 12,264
Just got my new 4G SIM today but it's annoying that the changes won't come into affect until my monthly refresh date which is 3 weeks away.
If it was a trio sim you got 3G max with, I would have thought it would automatically pick up a 4G signal without requiring a new sim to be sent to you.
david16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-11-2016, 10:06
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,670
If it was a trio sim you got 3G max with, I would have thought it would automatically pick up a 4G signal without requiring a new sim to be sent to you.
I thought that to but when I ordered it I was told that I needed a new one. Not that it really matters. It only took a few seconds to activate.
LostFool is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:21.