Virgin Mobile deals – what you need to know
In this guide
- Why choose Virgin Mobile?
- What deals does Virgin Mobile offer?
- Roaming
- How good is Virgin Mobile’s network?
- What are the alternatives?
- Frequently asked questions
Virgin Mobile was launched in 1999 and provides a range of pay monthly and SIM-only mobile deals. It is, of course, part of Virgin Media, best known for its TV services and for having the fastest widely-available broadband in the UK.
Running on O2’s network, Virgin Mobile has a number of features that make its mobile offers interesting. And there’s even more benefits available if you’re also a Virgin TV and broadband customer.
Why choose Virgin Mobile?
Mobile providers define themselves by the features they offer customers above and beyond the standard data, text and calls allowances. This is what makes Virgin Mobile what it is.
- Data rollover – At the end of each month, Virgin automatically rolls over any unused data to the following month and adds it to your allowance.
- Spending caps – Virgin Mobile gives you the option of setting a spending cap, which acts as a safety buffer by limiting the amount you can spend on things not covered by your allowance, such as picture messages and premium rate calls.
- Flexible plans – Virgin’s flexible plans allow you to upgrade or downgrade your tariff every month, so you can change down if you’ve always got loads of data left over or change up if you often find yourself running out.
- Data-free messaging – On Virgin Mobile, you can use WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook Messenger as much as you like and it won’t affect your data allowance.
- Free wi-fi – Virgin Mobile customers can use the Connect app to join any of the provider’s 3.5 million wifi hotspots around the UK for free. This includes hotspots in more than 250 London Underground stations and 79 Overground stations.
- Free internet security – All pay monthly phone plans come with a free 12-month subscription to F-Secure SAFE, software which keeps you safe from viruses, protects your passwords, scans apps for threats and more.
- Tech bundles and free gifts – Virgin often bundles extra tech, such as games consoles, tablets and earphones, with its pay monthly phone deals. Also keep an eye out for cashback offers and flash sales.
What deals does Virgin Mobile offer?
Virgin Mobile has a wide range of mobile deals available on 12, 24 or even 36-month contracts. Customers can choose between a pay monthly deal with a new phone or a SIM-only deal.
- Pay monthly phone deals – Virgin Mobile stocks premium handsets including the latest from Apple, Samsung and Huawei as well as cheaper options from the likes of OPPO and Fairphone. There’s never any upfront cost and the option to take phones on a three-year contract allows Virgin to offer some of the UK’s lowest monthly prices.
- SIM-only deals – Virgin’s SIM-only deals offer many of the same features as its pay monthly phone deals, including data rollover and data-free messaging. Data allowances range from 4GB to unlimited data, and there is a choice of 12-month or 24-month plans.
Roaming
Like other providers, Virgin Mobile allows you to use your data, minutes and text allowances anywhere in the EU just as you would in the UK, with no extra charges. Virgin does operate a fair usage policy, though, which states that if you use your allowances for more than 63 days in a four-month period, you may be charged additional fees.
Before you travel, you should log in to your Virgin Mobile account and ensure International call barring is switched off and that Roaming is switched on. It’s best to do this at least 24 hours before you leave the country if you’re going to want to use your phone right away.
The destinations included in Virgin’s Roam like Home area are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the French Antilles and Vatican City.
You can roam in countries outside the EU but it will cost you more as this isn’t covered by your usual allowance. Virgin warns that it will charge up to £12.50 per megabyte, depending on the country you are in, if you are using your allowance outside the EU.
How good is Virgin Mobile’s network
Virgin Mobile is an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) and so doesn’t run its own network, instead using that of O2 to deliver its services. O2’s 4G network covers 99% of the UK population and, according to the latest report by independent crowdsourced company Tutela, achieves an average download speed of 13.4Mbps across all spectrums. For 5G specifically, it averages 53.1Mbps, making it faster than the UK’s three other network operators – O2, Three and Vodafone.
Virgin says customers can expect an average speed of 177Mbps download speeds and 23Mbps upload speeds on its 5G network, with a maximum download speed of 303Mbps and maximum upload of 47Mbps.
These speeds are not just comparable in terms of user experience to home broadband, but vastly superior to it in most cases. It’s easily good enough to stream HD videos on YouTube or Netflix, or to stream audio from the likes of Spotify or Apple Music. The thing most likely to disrupt you is if you hit a blackspot, although even dropping back to a 4G connection is unlikely to cause much disruption
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