Virgin Customers - 30 day sim only plan

coldfire1x

If you are a Virgin broadband or tv customer you can get this for €10 per month for 6 month and €25 thereafter.

It's a 30 day plan so you can switch after that if you want. Even €25 is a decent value.

Unlimited 4G Data
Unlimited Calls
Unlimited Texts

Cant see going wrong at least for 6 month for €10 a month.

vandriver - Please note that this requires you to sign up for a new 12 month contract for all your other VM services.

Sinister Kid

coldfire1x wrote: »

If you are a Virgin broadband or tv customer you can get this for €10 per month for 6 month and €25 thereafter.

It's a 30 day plan so you can switch after that if you want. Even €25 is a decent value.

Unlimited 4G Data
Unlimited Calls
Unlimited Texts

Cant see going wrong at least for 6 month for €10 a month.

Great price but the network is rubbish. Internet is very hit & miss.

vandriver

Sinister Kid wrote: »

Great price but the network is rubbish. Internet is very hit & miss.

Please note that this requires you to sign up for a new 12 month contract for all your other VM services.

coldfire1x

vandriver wrote: »

Please note that this requires you to sign up for a new 12 month contract for all your other VM services.

Thanks didnt realize that. I guess good for someone signing a new contract.

coldfire1x

Sinister Kid wrote: »

Great price but the network is rubbish. Internet is very hit & miss.

Are they rubbish everywhere?

skippy15

coldfire1x wrote: »

Are they rubbish everywhere?

I've been on this deal since they came out and to be honest don't have an issue with any speeds of service. Would recommend to others as seem at least equal or better to any other provider I've been with, well in Dublin anyways

slave1

Whatever about the mobile coverage the home broadband service is brutal since Virgin took over UPC, their equipment and software "upgrades" look like the culprits, I on my 5th modem after 4 previous hardware/software failures and numerous outages and engineer calls since July whereas everything was rock solid with UPC, just beware....

crustybread

Their coverage is terrible in certain areas. I am in ratoath village. Stuck the wife on this. She has nothing but problems. Constant loss of signal. Messages arriving late or not arriving at all. Not able to send messages. When I rang the Customer support I was basically told the coverage is poor in the area and told me to switch to another provider. No effort to even keep me. I have their broadband and phone which is great but would not touch their mobile service until they make improvements in MY area.

Dave..M

slave1 wrote: »

Whatever about the mobile coverage the home broadband service is brutal since Virgin took over UPC, their equipment and software "upgrades" look like the culprits, I on my 5th modem after 4 previous hardware/software failures and numerous outages and engineer calls since July whereas everything was rock solid with UPC, just beware....

It was purely a re badging, UPC's parent company; Liberty Media purchased Virgin Media UK from Branson and paid him a licence fee to use the Virgin Brand rather than rebrand the UK business to UPC, obviously having two different brands in the UK & Ireland market they decided it was cheaper and easier to change the Irish name and continue to pay Branson the licence fee. End result VMI = UPC in all but name, no other difference I'm afraid. The hocus pocus was clearly successful.

vandriver

crustybread wrote: »

Their coverage is terrible in certain areas. I am in ratoath village. Stuck the wife on this. She has nothing but problems. Constant loss of signal. Messages arriving late or not arriving at all. Not able to send messages. When I rang the Customer support I was basically told the coverage is poor in the area and told me to switch to another provider. No effort to even keep me. I have their broadband and phone which is great but would not touch their mobile service until they make improvements in MY area.

You mean until Three make improvements in your area.

rob316

slave1 wrote: »

Whatever about the mobile coverage the home broadband service is brutal since Virgin took over UPC, their equipment and software "upgrades" look like the culprits, I on my 5th modem after 4 previous hardware/software failures and numerous outages and engineer calls since July whereas everything was rock solid with UPC, just beware....

Do you have the new white modem? I had the broadband through the horizon box, nothing but problems lately. Guy came and replaced with white modem, the difference is night and day, I'm getting on wireless 180mb down before that about 25mb.

slave1

Dave..M wrote: »

It was purely a re badging, UPC's parent company; Liberty Media purchased Virgin Media UK from Branson and paid him a licence fee to use the Virgin Brand rather than rebrand the UK business to UPC, obviously having two different brands in the UK & Ireland market they decided it was cheaper and easier to change the Irish name and continue to pay Branson the licence fee. End result VMI = UPC in all but name, no other difference I'm afraid. The hocus pocus was clearly successful.

It also included new VM equipment different than UPC and differing software implementation on the equipment, look up the whole IP4 V's IP6 (sic) change they implemented.
They also moved their helpdesk out out the country to Mania (I think) and they are just hopeless to talk to.

Was more than a rebrand unfortunatley

Dave..M

slave1 wrote: »

It also included new VM equipment different than UPC and differing software implementation on the equipment, look up the whole IP4 V's IP6 (sic) change they implemented.
They also moved their helpdesk out out the country to Mania (I think) and they are just hopeless to talk to.

Was more than a rebrand unfortunatley

I'm afraid the DS Lite (UPC's implementation of IPv6) was going on a long, long time before the VMI rebranding, there were threads and discussions on the ask UPC forum and the new VMI equipment is standard across their territories. I'm afraid it was just a rebaging, however successfully implemented.

jeffk

I am on this and when I signed up I was told its €10 off four months then it turned into free for 4 months.

I can’t complain on free, but if I was paying I would complain

• Random internet working/not working(maybe a lot is down to using the 02 network)
• Get told a day or two later you missed a call from x number
• Text issues in general and about a week ago for about 5 days couldn’t text herself
• IF you get the right person customer services in limerick are great, if not then it’s the usual robot reading a script

If you take it at €25 and compare to say Meteor (second best network in Ireland), then the unlimited calls are all you’ll miss (unless you need more than 15Gb). You could always use virigns app if you’re with them for broadband or try viber etc to call people for free or cheaply

bk

Not really unlimited, 30GB fair usage allowance, under "legal stuff" it says:

Fair Usage Policy on unlimited plans: Monthly allowance of 10,000 national (landline and mobile) minutes, 10,000 national SMS, and 30GB of national data, within the Republic of Ireland. All other calls, SMS or data usage for international, premium, nongeographic numbers and roaming will be charged at our standard rates, details of which can be found here. Where your usage exceeds our Fair Usage Policy, these rates shall also apply.

So you will be charged 1c per MB if you go over the 30GB allowance!

Dave..M wrote: »

It was purely a re badging, UPC's parent company; Liberty Media purchased Virgin Media UK from Branson and paid him a licence fee to use the Virgin Brand rather than rebrand the UK business to UPC, obviously having two different brands in the UK & Ireland market they decided it was cheaper and easier to change the Irish name and continue to pay Branson the licence fee. End result VMI = UPC in all but name, no other difference I'm afraid. The hocus pocus was clearly successful.

Almost correct, just a small nitpick. Branson never did own Virgin Media UK. It was always owned by NTL UK (until Liberty Global/UPC took it over), they just licensed his name and paid him to appear in ads, in order to increase visibility. Pretty silly IMO.

slave1 wrote: »

It also included new VM equipment different than UPC and differing software implementation on the equipment, look up the whole IP4 V's IP6 (sic) change they implemented.
They also moved their helpdesk out out the country to Mania (I think) and they are just hopeless to talk to.

Was more than a rebrand unfortunatley

Nope, UPC Ireland/Virgin Media Ireland has been owned by Liberty Global International (LGI) for the past 12 years or so. LGI is the largest cable company in the world with operations in almost every country in Europe.

LGI were moving to IPv6 lite all across Europe and moving their call centers to Manila long before the rebrand.

jeffk wrote: »

Random internet working/not working(maybe a lot is down to using the 02 network)

Virgin Mobile actually uses the Three network (as does ID). Tesco Mobile/Lyca/48 months all use the old o2 network, which is now owned by Three, but still not fully integrated with the Three network.

Overall, I can highly recommend Virgins broadband service, it is by far the best wired broadband service in Ireland. Their mobile service, not so much, there are better networks and better deals out there depending on your needs.

jeffk

bk wrote: »

Virgin Mobile actually uses the Three network (as does ID). Tesco Mobile/Lyca/48 months all use the old o2 network, which is now owned by Three, but still not fully integrated with the Three network.

I thought you said 02 in a lyca thread and was too lazy to search to be sure

slave1

Dave..M wrote: »

I'm afraid the DS Lite (UPC's implementation of IPv6) was going on a long, long time before the VMI rebranding, there were threads and discussions on the ask UPC forum and the new VMI equipment is standard across their territories. I'm afraid it was just a rebaging, however successfully implemented.

Fair enough, all I know is I was 100% with UPC on 120 broadband but since VM moved me up to 240 I've had 5 different modems, lots of outages or slow connections and unreal frustration with the Manila based helpdesk, maybe I'm just unlucky

beauf

slave1 wrote: »

Fair enough, all I know is I was 100% with UPC on 120 broadband but since VM moved me up to 240 I've had 5 different modems, lots of outages or slow connections and unreal frustration with the Manila based helpdesk, maybe I'm just unlucky

The opposite, you were lucky not to have the same issues with UPC.

Dave..M

bk wrote: »

just a small nitpick. Branson never did own Virgin Media UK. It was always owned by NTL UK (until Liberty Global/UPC took it over), they just licensed his name.

Fair cop gov'nor

wolfyboy555

Can you cancel the sim after 6 months? I am only just after renewing contract for to and broadband so it doesn't matter that it ties me into 12 months with that but I wouldn't fancy paying €25 when I can get a better deal maybe elsewhere

iggy

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Can you cancel the sim after 6 months? I am only just after renewing contract for to and broadband so it doesn't matter that it ties me into 12 months with that but I wouldn't fancy paying €25 when I can get a better deal maybe elsewhere

I just did the same. I think u can cancel anytime as long as u keep your broadband for the remainder of the contract.
I only switched over on Monday and am leaving as I find the network terrible. I drive around Ireland and had terrible signal.

loyatemu

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Can you cancel the sim after 6 months? I am only just after renewing contract for to and broadband so it doesn't matter that it ties me into 12 months with that but I wouldn't fancy paying €25 when I can get a better deal maybe elsewhere

I think you can cancel it after one month - "A 30 day rolling contract on mobile applies"

wolfyboy555

iggy wrote: »

I just did the same. I think u can cancel anytime as long as u keep your broadband for the remainder of the contract.
I only switched over on Monday and am leaving as I find the network terrible. I drive around Ireland and had terrible signal.

Network doesn't sound great really from the sounds of things. Might not be worth the hassle. I am based in Dublin I wonder is it ok around here?

unkel

I've been on this for nearly 4 months and can't fault it. Last time I tested 4G on my over 2 year old phone, I got 70mbps. I even switched off wifi as 4G is faster most of the time

bk wrote: »

Not really unlimited, 30GB fair usage allowance

I have exceeded NTL / UPC / Virgin Media limits and fair usage allowances by ridiculous amounts over the years and never even had a warning letter...

My wife moved to VM and service has been fine with the exception of texting Tesco Mobile numbers. Texts never arrive. Tried help desk and on their forum here but still not resolved after 5 months.

Yggr of Asgard

There are several reported problems/restrictions with Virgin Mobile

a.) If you ported in a number previously with another MVNO on three you might not be able to get calls/text from other MVNO's on three (like Tesco/48/ID)

b.) You will be unable to get several automatic SMS's by different providers used for 2 Factor Authentication for example, Apple, BoI etc.

c.) You can't use Hulu voicemail service as it VM is using a different way of forwarding calls

d.) Customer service is bad, you think Tesco is bad until you have VM

e.) In rural areas the coverage goes from 4G to 3G to E constantly with data speed all over

f.) There are constant outages in data that are not announced and not explained

Yes it's a bargain but if you need a reliable coverage or use your phone for getting SMS from several automated systems, you can't use it.

Check the VM Board for details about automated SMS etc before you get this bargain.

bk

unkel wrote: »

I have exceeded NTL / UPC / Virgin Media limits and fair usage allowances by ridiculous amounts over the years and never even had a warning letter...

That is completely different. Virgin's wired broadband services use their own network and they have incredible amounts of capacity available on their own network.

Their mobile service is different, it it a MVNO, a virtual network, they are using Three's network and are therefore constrained by the limits of Three's network and have to pay Three for the use of their network.

Virgin's wired network in the past mentioned fair usage policy, but they never specified an actual cap, nor did they ever specify a charge for going over the cap.

By contrast, for this service they absolutely specify a cap of 30GB and a charge of 1c per MB when you go over this cap.

Use just 1GB over the 30GB and you will be paying €10 extra, go 10GB over you will be paying €100 more! If people use this Virgin Mobile service in the same way they use their wired service, people could end up with a bill for hundreds of Euro's.

These are not comparable services and products at all.

loyatemu

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

There are several reported problems/restrictions with Virgin Mobile

a.) If you ported in a number previously with another MVNO on three you might not be able to get calls/text from other MVNO's on three (like Tesco/48/ID)

b.) You will be unable to get several automatic SMS's by different providers used for 2 Factor Authentication for example, Apple, BoI etc.

c.) You can't use Hulu voicemail service as it VM is using a different way of forwarding calls

d.) Customer service is bad, you think Tesco is bad until you have VM

e.) In rural areas the coverage goes from 4G to 3G to E constantly with data speed all over

f.) There are constant outages in data that are not announced and not explained

Yes it's a bargain but if you need a reliable coverage or use your phone for getting SMS from several automated systems, you can't use it.

Check the VM Board for details about automated SMS etc before you get this bargain.

e & f are presumably down to Three - I'm on Three currently and their data service is quite flakey, I'd expect any MVNO using their network to be the same.

a & b are potential dealbreakers though

spurious

There is also a big problem when abroad. It won't connect to a network or takes up to 15 hours to do so.
Hit and miss internet, never knowing if texts will send or arrive, unable to get some automated texts - it's a lot of things that all add up.
It's cheap, but in this case you get what you pay for on their mobile product.

A pity, I was very enthusiastic about them when I heard they were starting, but they are dreadful, just waiting to find an affordable billpay option elsewhere and I'm off.

unkel

spurious wrote: »

There is also a big problem when abroad. It won't connect to a network or takes up to 15 hours to do so.

Had my phone abroad a couple of weeks ago and it connected straight away. Had no problems at all making / receiving calls

iggy

I was on Vodafone for a few years with no problems. I'm on sim only and was constantly going over the 5gb allowance.
Was paying €35 a month with Vodafone.
Said I'd try virgin media. It's been a nightmare really since I ported over. Network signal constantly shoes R symbol which then is really 2g, so I can't receive data. I have data roaming On.
I have to manually select network providers to virgin media IE then I get a signal.
I'm in Dublin where I had consistent 4g with Vodafone.
Basically u pay for what u get.
I'm switching providers on Monday. Maybe Meteor for €30 a month with free calls, texts, 4g, 15gb data.