News - Virgin Media joins the 'unlimited 3G data' war with Premiere tariffs

[HEXUS]

The best deals out there... if you're a Virgin Media customer.

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[3dcandy]

I have a SGS3 on unlimited data plan @ £34 with 3 and have been very happy. They allow tethering though, do Virgin?

[Noli]

I think I'll stick with unlimited 3G data on giffgaff for £10/mth thank you very much.

2,500 minutes? Just how many people are averaging 40 hours a month on their phones?!!

[3dcandy]

Sorry didn't catch that...was on the phone to some random

[DeludedGuy]

I used go through 1500 minutes a month when I was 19, but now I manage with 300 minutes a month, I think it helps I live with my girlfriend now.

[crossy]

I have a SGS3 on unlimited data plan @ £34 with 3 and have been very happy. They allow tethering though, do Virgin?

According to http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...o/td-p/1102501 the answer is that Virgin DO allow tethering - in which case £20 for unlimited data (already a triple play customer) and effectively no limits on text and phone sounds like a very tempting deal.

I'm in the process of leaving Three (because they're utter crap) and was planning to head for T-Mobile (like the deal with OpenZone and 1.5GB/month on 3G is enough for me), but maybe I'd be better off with VM? Only downsides I can see are questions over VM's coverage and that it's a 24 month contract (the T-Mob one I was looking at is 12 months).

By the way, I like VM's tethering rules - assuming that post is correct - basically "if we've given you the allocation, then it's up to you how you use it". I realise that this isn't a good thing if you're on "unlimited data", but otherwise it seems eminently sensible.

[Hicks12]

Don't think Virgin mobile coverage is questionable, it's the t movie network and I believe they are setup to use orange as well now (basically same as being an orange or t mobile customer). Only thing to sort out is that Virgin may still be pulling the old applying data a day late trick, used to get charged for the first day of every month for data, had to ring up multiple times to get it refunded, slightly annoying but its easy to deal with. And after using other networks I can say Virgin were good for me, no better than orange now.

[Brewster0101]

I'm in the process of leaving Three (because they're utter crap) and was planning to head for T-Mobile (like the deal with OpenZone and 1.5GB/month on 3G is enough for me),

You have to be very careful with T-mobiles terms and conditions. On some data packages they offer 3G speeds but this actually means upto 55Kb/sec speeds. Also last year they tried to cap everyones data by changing their terms and conditions. After my T-mobile contract expires I intend to more back to three. They have naff customer service and some signal issues , but you get exactly what it says on the tin... - so to speak.

[crossy]

You have to be very careful with T-mobiles terms and conditions. On some data packages they offer 3G speeds but this actually means upto 55Kb/sec speeds. Also last year they tried to cap everyones data by changing their terms and conditions. After my T-mobile contract expires I intend to more back to three. They have naff customer service and some signal issues , but you get exactly what it says on the tin... - so to speak.

Sage advice (as always) - that's one of the reasons that I was looking particularly at a 12 month contract - better deal than a 30 day, but more flexible than a 24 month. I've got one of those Wireless Pointers (mobile Wifi hotspot - used when Virgin's broadband decides to play hard to get) and data rates seemed pretty reasonable. Both my daughters are on T-Mobile anyway, hence there's advantage in me moving too - plus they seem pretty happy with downloads (although none of us are into streaming media - apart from the odd YouTube video).

I'm also going to agree with you on Three - as far as data hungry mobiles go, they're still the best deal out there. Unfortunately, as you say coverage is middling (including some surprising omissions) and their "f*** off, we've got your money" attitude to billing screw ups is a downer. As is not being able to phone freephone numbers or 50/50 success rate on MMS - both minor points in themselves, but enough of a "sand in ma britches" to make me eager to leave. Another source of dissatisfaction was the attitude at my local Three store = "look up whatever you're asking on the website", the T-Mobile folks (in two separate shops) on the other hand were very helpful - even offering to pull in some discounts to win my business, and doing a run down of the new phones features for my youngest daughter.

Oh, while I'm dissin' Three - how come (or so it seems) every other phone provider runs support forums - except Three? Don't believe me? Look on the Three blogs and you'll see a lot of posts that could've been answered better on a forum (a la Hexus).

Hicks12 - thanks for the info on Virgin's provider(s) - I thought they were EEE too, but someone was saying that they were "flirting" with O2 at one point.

[Brewster0101]

Oh, while I'm dissin' Three - how come (or so it seems) every other phone provider runs support forums - except Three? Don't believe me? Look on the Three blogs and you'll see a lot of posts that could've been answered better on a forum (a la Hexus).

I used to use the following forum : http://www.3g.me.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=120

Found quite useful in my time on three but looking at it now seems no one uses it.

[GeorgeStorm]

I always thought GiffGaff was the best for unlimited data, who can argue with unlimited data for £10 a month

I've just switched to a Virgin tariff with data (previously had no data) seems ok so far. If it's not enough (currently on a tariff with 1gb for £7 a month), then we'll ring up, say we're still thinking of leaving, and see what they can do

[crossy]

I always thought GiffGaff was the best for unlimited data, who can argue with unlimited data for £10 a month

£10/month IS pretty good - but then again GiffGaff uses O2 network which - if what I've seen locally is accurate - doesn't have the best coverage nor data rates.

I've just switched to a Virgin tariff with data (previously had no data) seems ok so far. If it's not enough (currently on a tariff with 1gb for £7 a month), then we'll ring up, say we're still thinking of leaving, and see what they can do

Devious! Although I hope your leaving is easier than mine has proven to be so far with Three. Requested my PAC code and it took 50 minutes to do so, and even then they're claiming that I need to give 30 days notice (contract term is up), but it's worth £30 just to get rid of them.

[davesom555]

I'm on giffgaff myself and using the £10 gift bag. But you can't tether with that so if you say wanted to tether your laptop or wifi tablet you'd have to buy a gigabag that's like 12.50 for 3gb. So virgin may be better value in this respect.

Apparantly giffgaff know you are tethering by the ttl value of phone. So if you tethered a device the ttl would be 1 higher than normal. Anyone know how to chage this for a phone?

[GeorgeStorm]

£10/month IS pretty good - but then again GiffGaff uses O2 network which - if what I've seen locally is accurate - doesn't have the best coverage nor data rates.

I've heard fairly good things about the people I know on it.

Devious! Although I hope your leaving is easier than mine has proven to be so far with Three. Requested my PAC code and it took 50 minutes to do so, and even then they're claiming that I need to give 30 days notice (contract term is up), but it's worth £30 just to get rid of them.

We just rang them up, saying we wanted to cancel my contract (30 day rolling) and switch provider, and they were like hold up, lets see what we can do
Basically I'm (our whole family now actually) are on the £15 package, but at basically half price (I think the actual price of the package is £15.32, and we're getting £8 off)
So say the 1gb internet isn't enough, maybe they'll offer a £20 package half price, who knows, no harm in asking

I'm on giffgaff myself and using the £10 gift bag. But you can't tether with that so if you say wanted to tether your laptop or wifi tablet you'd have to buy a gigabag that's like 12.50 for 3gb. So virgin may be better value in this respect.

Apparantly giffgaff know you are tethering by the ttl value of phone. So if you tethered a device the ttl would be 1 higher than normal. Anyone know how to chage this for a phone?

And giffgaff no longer allow tethering because people used to use the phones internet for downloads etc, since it was truly unlimited at one point, for the money they're still pretty good in my opinion, especially considering you can just stop at the end of the month if you wish, no contract

[miniyazz]

You have to be very careful with T-mobiles terms and conditions. On some data packages they offer 3G speeds but this actually means upto 55Kb/sec speeds. Also last year they tried to cap everyones data by changing their terms and conditions. After my T-mobile contract expires I intend to more back to three. They have naff customer service and some signal issues , but you get exactly what it says on the tin... - so to speak.

Well that's just not true - they recently introduced throttling on their unlimited packages, and also raised existing customers' bills by 3.6% claiming it was costing them too much and inflation and blah blah but rubbing it in our faces even more by having the same deal that I signed up to at £35 available for £34. Add to that the VAT increase that they claimed wouldn't affect me when I signed up but did anyway, and I'm now paying the equivalent of over £70 more over the course of my 'contract' than new customers, and nearly £50 more than I originally budgeted.
And that's aside from other detrimental changes that Ofcom couldn't give a **** about like introducing charges for SMS delivery notifications.

So in conclusion, go **** yourself with a massive, preferably spiked, mains-powered vibrating object, Three.

[Hicks12]

orange charge for delivery notifications, you saying three are now doing that to? It pisses me off big time, it should be a free service its free on every other network and when i rejoined orange i forgot until i had been charged a few bob for it! Orange arent any better though, signal always seems to be pretty dire unless im using it in a place where i have access to 100mb/s wifi at uni... bit pointless then. Orange also put prices up by nearly 4% (did it before three i think?) bloody ridiculous as the service hasnt improved, the only 'good' thing about orange is the fact i can get orange wednesday, ive been to the cinema 6 times in 2 years all because of free tickets or orange wednesday, i refuse to pay £12 per person at my local cinema its silly!.

Yup ofcom seem to do bugger all, the best we get is cheaper rates abroad... what about our bloody nation , i use my phone inland 100% of the time (havent gone abroad in 7 years, far to expensive for a holiday), maybe we need a system like china where its dead cheap .