Virgin mobile launches on Monday [3 months Free for existing customers]

uck51js9zml2yt · 05-10-2015 8:15am

20 & 30 if you're not an existing customer

Nothing to be excited about .

Niemoj · 05-10-2015 8:20am

Interestingly enough I get told there are no services available at my location.

As a former Chorus NTL customer of days gone by this is amusing!

StaticNoise · 05-10-2015 8:25am

I'm currently adding the pricing to moolamonkey.com, but the site has crashed. That said, here's the pricing:

1GB Data
10,000 minutes 250 minutes
10,000 SMS 250 SMS
€15 for existing customers, €20 for new customers
This was changed from the previous number on the website. It reflected the different figures before 9am.

30GB Data
10,000 minutes
10,000 SMS
€25 for existing customers, €30 for new customers

An international bundle is available for all at €5 extra each.

eh i dunno · 05-10-2015 8:32am

Is it sim only plans?

tharmor · 05-10-2015 8:37am

So the 25 pm is a 30 day contract...can i use it for 3 free months and cancel it ??

thefinalstage · 05-10-2015 8:37am

https://www.virginmedia.ie/mobile/mobile/

Mobile SIM Only customer price plans and offer: Customer price plans and offer available to Virgin Media broadband or TV customers, subject to a limit of two mobile subscriptions per account and a new 12 month contract on your broadband, TV and home phone services (as applicable). A 30 day rolling contract on mobile applies. Plans includes national landline and mobile calls, text messages and data within the Republic of Ireland. Offer closes 15/01/16.

Additional 12 month broadband contract for the 30 day sim only plan. Eh noooooo.

Also, if you got above the 30Gb ou get charged at standard rate of 1c per MB over.

ninty · 05-10-2015 8:45am

Its seems only the €25 mobile package is free for 3 months

positron · 05-10-2015 8:47am

Main site seems to be working again.

Standard / Out of bundle call charges: https://www.virginmedia.ie/pdf/Mobile/mobile-standard-call-rates-2015-new.pdf

National Landlines 25c per minute
National Mobiles 25c per minute
National Texts 10c per text
Data per MB 1c per MB

International ** Rates
UK Landlines 25c per minute
UK Mobiles 30c per minute
USA and Canada 30c for 1st minute & 30c per minute thereafter
Europe Zone 1 35c for 1st minute & 35c per minute thereafter
Europe Zone 2 90c for 1st minute & 90c per minute thereafter
Oceania, Asia, Middle East, South Africa Fixed & Mobile 60c for 1st minute & 60c per minute thereafter
Central America, Argentina Fixed & Mobile 60c for 1st minute & 60c per minute thereafter
ROW (Rest Of World) €2.30 for 1st minute & €2.30 per minute thereafter
Skyphone (Satellite) €8.90 for 1st minute & €8.90 per minute thereafter
Iridium Network (Satellite) €6.00 for 1st minute & €6.00 per minute thereafter
International Texts 25c per text

Okay, no reason to switch so!

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 05-10-2015 9:09am

New 12 month broadband contract is bollocks. So if I move house in the next 12 months to a non UPC covered area I get to pay them 200 euro because of this, no thanks.

It's a deal breaker for me, I would have probably switched my number over to them otherwise.

Fr_Dougal · 05-10-2015 9:23am

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

New 12 month broadband contract is bollocks. So if I move house in the next 12 months to a non UPC covered area I get to pay them 200 euro because of this, no thanks.

It's a deal breaker for me, I would have probably switched my number over to them otherwise.

So it's a 12 month contract on broadband (which will mean many will have to go back up to non-discounted prices).

Almost the same price as Three, no 4g, no option to add 3 like home for €3 for a month if you're heading off on your holidays.

Very bad deal.

pippip · 05-10-2015 10:25am

None of their bundles, TV/Broadband etc. have any half price offers, just seems to be full price or nothing.

bk · 05-10-2015 10:39am

pippip wrote: »

None of their bundles, TV/Broadband etc. have any half price offers, just seems to be full price or nothing.

Not at the moment, they had fantastic deals just last month. Keep an eye out, the deals come and go. I'm sure they are just focused on launching the new brand and the new mobile service this month.

BTW Their new site is up now:https://www.virginmedia.ie/

biebiebie · 05-10-2015 11:41am

Very disappointing IMHO.

Was all set to change, but at those prices I see no point in changing from Tesco.

Plus to top it all off, a new 12 month tv/broadband contract?!
Yeah right. Good luck with that I say.

bk · 05-10-2015 11:42am

Yup their new mobile plans aren't looking good.

€15/€25 deals are only available to existing customers and if you do sign up then it puts you on a new 12 month contract for your TV/broadband service! Why?! iditotic.

€15 for 250 minutes, texts and 1GB of 3G data is pointless. Tesco Mobile offers unlimited calls, texts and 1GB data for the same money.

And with Tesco they have far cheaper international calls (1c per minute versus 25c) and then their is the Tesco deal of turning €5 of clubcard points into €15 top-up. Effectively makes it much cheaper.

The €25 plan with 30GB of 3G data is a little bit more interesting for heavy data users. But again, most would probably be better off with Three's €20 unlimited data plan.

So again, another pointless launch of a new mobile operator like the ID mobile launch.

Greenmachine · 05-10-2015 12:06pm

Bundles now starting from €75?? Hardly jaw dropping prices 5there. On the full price end of my current contract paying approx €80. Now going to get myself in a tiss over €5.

seamus · 05-10-2015 12:17pm

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

New 12 month broadband contract is bollocks. So if I move house in the next 12 months to a non UPC covered area I get to pay them 200 euro because of this, no thanks.

It's a deal breaker for me, I would have probably switched my number over to them otherwise.

That's standard tbh. If you have Sky and you move house to somewhere that can't get Sky BB, you will have to pay them a termination fee.

You won't find a broadband provider that doesn't have an early termination fee.

bk · 05-10-2015 1:14pm

seamus wrote: »

That's standard tbh. If you have Sky and you move house to somewhere that can't get Sky BB, you will have to pay them a termination fee.

You won't find a broadband provider that doesn't have an early termination fee.

While that maybe standard for signing up new customers (need to recuperate the equipment and installation cost, fair enough) it certainly isn't standard for long term existing customers. Sky certainly don't do it to existing customers unless they move (need to pay for the new install).

When their is new "Free" equipment involved or a "free" install, then locking you into a contract is fair enough. But locking you into a contract for nothing more then switching a product is complete nonsense.

And it absolutely isn't standard when getting people to sign up for a mobile service.

They certainly aren't doing themselves any favours by doing this. I don't see many people signing up to their mobile service due to this. I certainly won't be recommending them to anyone due to this clause.

The sooner they drop this ridiculous clause for the mobile packages, the better for them.

Red Silurian · 05-10-2015 1:16pm

There aren't many places you can't get sky thanks to satellite technology

Stokolan · 05-10-2015 2:39pm

So I managed to get signed up for their mobile service earlier. It took 1hr 45min to get it tho.

I don't know if it was just the operator i got or its taking this long for everyone

bk · 05-10-2015 2:57pm

colmtheperson wrote: »

There aren't many places you can't get sky thanks to satellite technology

Traditionally it wasn't available in most of the cities. What with apartment buildings and managed housing estates not allowing a satellite dish to be put up for visual reasons and also many people not liking the look of a dish.

Also planning law doesn't allow for a dish to be placed on the front of a house, see this controversial case from just two weeks ago:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0929/731102-satellite-dish/

Now in the last year or so, Sky has done a big push for fiber based shared communal dish systems for apartment buildings, thus making it a little more common. But traditionally UPC had almost a monopoly on the cities. So it is very common for people in Dublin, Cork, etc. to never have experienced Sky.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 05-10-2015 3:10pm

seamus wrote: »

That's standard tbh. If you have Sky and you move house to somewhere that can't get Sky BB, you will have to pay them a termination fee.

You won't find a broadband provider that doesn't have an early termination fee.

bk wrote: »

While that maybe standard for signing up new customers (need to recuperate the equipment and installation cost, fair enough) it certainly isn't standard for long term existing customers. Sky certainly don't do it to existing customers unless they move (need to pay for the new install).

When their is new "Free" equipment involved or a "free" install, then locking you into a contract is fair enough. But locking you into a contract for nothing more then switching a product is complete nonsense.

And it absolutely isn't standard when getting people to sign up for a mobile service.

They certainly aren't doing themselves any favours by doing this. I don't see many people signing up to their mobile service due to this. I certainly won't be recommending them to anyone due to this clause.

The sooner they drop this ridiculous clause for the mobile packages, the better for them.

That's the key point, 'it absolutely isn't standard when getting people to sign up for a mobile service.'

If UPC was everywhere it'd be fine, but UPC have now positioned themselves as the only mobile provider in Ireland where you risk a 200 euro fine if you move house, on a PAYG contract! :eek:

It's a foolish business move by them where I presume, all they want to do for the first year or so is gain some market share. There is no need to have such an intrusive clause for the sake of a 15 euro PAYG tariff imo.

degsie · 05-10-2015 3:18pm

bk wrote: »

And with Tesco they have far cheaper international calls (1c per minute versus 25c) and then their is the Tesco deal of turning €5 of clubcard points into €15 top-up. Effectively makes it much cheaper.

Can someone explain how to do the €5 to €15 trick?

bk · 05-10-2015 3:51pm

degsie wrote: »

Can someone explain how to do the €5 to €15 trick?

If you shop at Tesco (or use a Tesco credit card) you can gain Tesco clubcard points.

Once you have earned €5 worth of Tesco clubcard points, then you can convert them into €15 Tesco Mobile top-up on the Tesco clubcard site.

kn · 05-10-2015 3:53pm

degsie wrote: »

Can someone explain how to do the €5 to €15 trick?

You can convert €5 of Tesco clubcard vouchers into a €15 TM top-up on the Tesco site. You enter the cludcard voucher codes after selecting the €15 top-up reward and they send you a code to your email that you text on your phone to the number provided and that tops-up your account by €15 if your bill pay or PAYG. And on PAYG it means free calls for 30 days.

seamus · 05-10-2015 4:03pm

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

That's the key point, 'it absolutely isn't standard when getting people to sign up for a mobile service.'

If UPC was everywhere it'd be fine, but UPC have now positioned themselves as the only mobile provider in Ireland where you risk a 200 euro fine if you move house, on a PAYG contract! :eek:

It's a foolish business move by them where I presume, all they want to do for the first year or so is gain some market share. There is no need to have such an intrusive clause for the sake of a 15 euro PAYG tariff imo.

That only applies if you have a bundle though. If you're a customer who hasn't bundled other fixed line services, there is no cancellation charge for moving.

Yes, if you add it to your existing bundle, you have a whole new contract. So in the unlikely event that you plan on moving in the next 12 months, it may not be for you. You can always choose to pay the additional fiver a month and not bundle it, and have no cancellation charge.

I guarantee you all of the operators work on the same basis. If you have an eircom/eir broadband package and you decide to sign up for their mobile service and bundle it in, then you'll pay a cancellation fee if you move.

It's a pretty niche, but standard scenario at the end of the day.

palong88 · 05-10-2015 4:22pm

Does anyone know if they are keeping the UPC boxes and software?

Not a big fan of the UPC interface.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 05-10-2015 4:40pm

seamus wrote: »

That only applies if you have a bundle though. If you're a customer who hasn't bundled other fixed line services, there is no cancellation charge for moving.

Yes, if you add it to your existing bundle, you have a whole new contract. So in the unlikely event that you plan on moving in the next 12 months, it may not be for you. You can always choose to pay the additional fiver a month and not bundle it, and have no cancellation charge.

I guarantee you all of the operators work on the same basis. If you have an eircom/eir broadband package and you decide to sign up for their mobile service and bundle it in, then you'll pay a cancellation fee if you move.

It's a pretty niche, but standard scenario at the end of the day.

But that's the thing though, UPC are trying to enter a competitive mobile phone market by offering a discount to entice their current customers to join them, the same way Eircom/Eir want their broadband customers to sign up with Emobile. And tying customers up with new contracts and termination fees if they move house is perfectly within their right to do.

However, it's my contention that it's a dumb business move by UPC/Virgin when iD Mobile, 48, Blueface (who?

), Lycamobile, Meteor, Postmobile, Tesco Mobile, Three, and Vodafone are already in the market with offerings that don't tie you to a potential house moving termination fee. And granted, the majority of people don't move every 12 months but the vast majority of renters may need to move in the next 12 months, and don't want to add any unnecessary stresses like termination fees over a sim only phone contract.

Metroboulot · 05-10-2015 4:51pm

I don't know what people expect really. Our wonderful Brussels regulators (despite ComReg's objections) allowed the merger of 3 and O2. The result is that the prices will inevitably not be as competitive.

We have only got three networks now, Vodafone, 3 and Eir/Meteor. Everyone else is just an MVNO and is ultimately stuck with whatever wholesale prices they can get from, in this case 3.

I don't know what the EU was thinking allowing this merger. You'd wonder about Brussels sometimes, very little transparency and limited accountability.

Metroboulot · 05-10-2015 4:52pm

I don't know what people expect really. Our wonderful Brussels regulators (despite ComReg's objections) allowed the merger of 3 and O2. The result is that the prices will inevitably not be as competitive.

We have only got three networks now, Vodafone, 3 and Eir/Meteor. Everyone else is just an MVNO and is ultimately stuck with whatever wholesale prices they can get from, in this case 3.

I don't know what the EU was thinking allowing this merger. You'd wonder about Brussels sometimes, very little transparency and limited accountability.

You'd want to see the mobile prices in Belgium! Wow, data is unusably expensive.

tonylee · 05-10-2015 4:55pm

palong88 wrote: »

Does anyone know if they are keeping the UPC boxes and software?

Not a big fan of the UPC interface.

I'd assume they will introduce the Virgin Media Tivo box they use in the UK? And the separate modem they use there. Won't be sorry to see the back of the Horizon box. Hope they don't drag out the changeover period.

Virgin mobile launches on Monday [3 months Free for existing customers]

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