Virgin Mobile – Deals and Discounts For Existing Customers in 2021

At the time of writing, Virgin Media customers can only benefit from two extra features, but we expect this to change for the better once the network merges with O2.

£2 Discount on Extra SIMs

As a Virgin Media customer you get a direct discount when you add extra SIMs under your main account. You can have up to four extra SIMs under one account and get a monthly £2 discount on each SIM. The discount only applies to additional SIMs, the main account still has to pay full price.

The main account can manage all the other SIMs via Virgin Mobile’s mobile app or the official website. This helps you keep an eye on spending over all devices, you also get one bill for all SIMs combined and you can save some money if you decide to take out additional lines.

Virgin’s family mobile plans aren’t bad, but there are much better options on the market. However, if you’re already a customer with Virgin Media TV or broadband services and have a Virgin Mobile SIM, then this will definitely save you money.

You can cancel any extra lines at will, your other SIMs on the family mobile plan won’t be impacted. Some Virgin Mobile SIM plans aren’t eligible for this deal, but normally any plan that offers more than 1GB of data should be fine.

Unlimited Data Plans

Not too long ago the average UK mobile customer would spend about 2GB to 4GB of data per month, however in recent years this number has increased drastically. The latest data suggests an average UK mobile customer is now consuming around 15GB of mobile data per month.

This brings us to unlimited data plans. They’ve become increasingly common as strong 4G data speeds have been available countrywide for some time. On top of that, all four major networks are constantly upgrading their 5G networks, meaning average usage will only increase. As a Virgin Mobile customer, you can get unlimited data bundled with your price plan.

	24 Month Plan Unlimited data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts	£20/month
	12 Month Plan Unlimited data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts	£25/month

Unlimited data plans are available on both 12-month and 24-month contracts, but you might still want to check out other unlimted data offers on the UK’s mobile market so we’ve got you covered. For instance, VOXI’s unlimited data plan comes with 5G for a similar price, and there are no credit checks to pass to join their network. You can also check out SMARTY’s unlimited data plan if you’re interested in a cheaper, more wallet-friendly alternative. Neither VOXI nor SMARTY offer superior 4G coverage, but we still believe their deals are worth checking out.

The network offers 12-month and 24-month contract deals and that’s really it. They don’t have a traditional pay as you go service and they don’t offer any other type of contract-free SIM deal. However, we have to give credit where it’s due, they offer a wide range of price plans and they all come with unlimited UK minutes & texts. All Virgin Mobile tariffs also include data rollover, Wi-Fi Calling (no 4G Calling though) and data-free messaging across multiple popular social media apps.

Virgin Mobile piggybacks on EE’s network. According to both OOKLA and Open Signal, EE doesn’t enforce any speed restrictions to Virgin Mobile (other MVNOs powered by EE like BT Mobile, ASDA Mobile and 1p Mobile get restricted 4G download speeds up to 60Mbps). As a Virgin Mobile customer you gain unlimited access to the UK’s best 4G & 3G network. Plus, you have 2G as a fall back option, when the newer generations of mobile networks are offering weaker coverage in your area.

When we look at the latest speed test results published by Open Signal, we see EE at the top of the list again with 36.4Mbps average 4G download speeds. The network’s upload speeds are also the fastest in the country, around 9 to 10Mbps.

Even though Virgin’s 4G coverage is stronger than all the other networks which aren’t powered by EE, we still strongly recommend checking out Virgin’s coverage map.

5G Coverage

The parent network EE has the second most locations covered by 5G in the UK, but unfortunately Virgin Mobile customers haven’t made any announcements about launching 5G on their network. We suspect Virgin will offer 5G in the near future, once they merge with O2. We don’t believe Virgin Mobile will be offering 5G download speeds to their customers until then.

5G is only available in specific areas and each network’s coverage differs. Make sure to check all the four major mobile networks’ 5G coverage maps (Three, O2, Vodafone and EE) and see if you’re living in an area with their 5G network. At the moment, you can’t go wrong with any of them. However, Three offers the best 5G SIM plans at the moment, plus it comes at no extra cost and is even available to PAYG customers. You can read our detailed Three Review to learn more about their coverage and SIM plans.

Voice Call Quality

Thanks to EE’s unrivalled network,Virgin Mobile customers can enjoy high quality voice calls across the country. Keep in mind that, even EE doesn’t offer 100% geographical coverage though, so there will always be blackspots in rural areas and occasionally indoors.

However, since the carrier doesn’t offer 4G Calling, EE customers with compatible phones and price plans will still get better network coverage and enjoy clearer voice calls than Virgin customers do.

Wi-Fi Calling & 4G Calling

Currently, there are two modern features that improve your overall voice call quality and help you stay connected in even more areas. These are Wi-Fi and 4G Calling, but sadly not all mobile networks offer them. On top of that, your device must also support these two extras.

Virgin Mobile customers can use Wi-Fi Calling, which lets them make and receive voice calls over Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Calling keeps your handset connected, even when you’re not getting any regular cellular signals.

4G Calling eliminates most indoor blackspots, plus it lets you make voice calls over your carrier’s 4G network. This means you can still get 4G data speeds, even when you’re on a call. In addition to this, calls made over 4G are clearer and higher definition. Unfortunately Virgin Mobile doesn’t offer this feature to their customers yet.

MVNOs like iD Mobile and Sky Mobile offer both these features to their pay monthly customers. Our Sky Mobile Review and iD Mobile Review are great reads if you’re looking to discover more.

Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

As a Virgin Media customer you gain access to free Wi-Fi at over 3.5 millions locations across the UK. On top of that, you have access to free Wi-Fi hotspots in over 250 London Underground stations and more than 79 London Overground stations. Virgin also offers more than 20 million free Wi-Fi hotspots across the world.

All you have to do is download Virgin Media’s Connect app and login with your account. The app will also show you all the available free Wi-Fi hotspots near your location.

Tethering

You can turn your smartphone into a personal hotspot and share your mobile data with other compatible devices including tablets, laptops, PCs with Wi-Fi support and other handsets etc. Virgin Mobile allows you to tether, but if you’re planning to tether fairly frequently we probably wouldn’t recommend Virgin. You will eat through your data allowance at a much faster rate when you’re tethering to other devices, even when you’re doing light data activities and Virgin doesn’t have the greatest selection of large data plans.

You should always be extra careful if you’re tethering to other devices, unless you have an unlimited data plan or at least a large data plan. We think Superdrug Mobile is a great choice for tethering, because they offer an unlimited data tariff at a competitive price, and there are no restrictions or data caps. Read our Superdrug Mobile Review to learn more about their plans and coverage.

International Roaming

You can use your UK allowances in 43 destinations across Europe, but that’s about it. Virgin Mobile doesn’t offer any special roaming add-ons or any other extras. Plus the network’s rates are usually high, meaning if you do decide to roam you can expect an expensive bill!

Virgin will set a default roaming cap at £51.50 (including VAT) when you’re roaming outside the EU, but you can manually change it.

We recommend checking out Vodafone’s pay monthly plans for the best roaming options. Our Vodafone Review goes into detail about the specific roaming destinations that are included in your price plan completely free! Alternatively, you can check out Three Go Roam as it lets you roam freely in over 70 locations.

Virgin Mobile’s discounts and extras for TV and broadband customers are a bit limited at the moment. The network had better discounts in the past, and we expect to see better deals when the merger with O2 happens.

They could learn from one of their rivals: BT Mobile. The carrier offers major discounts and double data to their loyal customers, meanwhile Virgin’s discount doesn’t even apply to the main account holders and is only available on any extra SIMs. We’ll update our article, if Virgin Media offers more benefits to their customers in the future.