The annual Virgin Price increase

28-01-2021 12:13am #1

Just seen Virgin Media are 'going the extra mile' and putting prices up for everyone. :rolleyes:

I'll give them a ring looking for a discount, or I'll be saying my goodbyes. It's like a parody.

Doesn't say how much they're going up by, but reading online i read something about 4%, so approximately it's something like €2.50-3.00 per month? Has anyone been contacted yet?

Bazmo · 28-01-2021 12:44am

This seems to be for VM in the UK.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/PriceChange2020-info

I think the reason why we haven't gotten the annual hike yet is because of this (scroll down towards bottom of article for VM bit):

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-decides-against-passing-on-vat-reduction-to-customers-1.4346565

28-01-2021 1:23am

Bazmo wrote: »

This seems to be for VM in the UK.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/PriceChange2020-info

I think the reason why we haven't gotten the annual hike yet is because of this (scroll down towards bottom of article for VM bit):

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-decides-against-passing-on-vat-reduction-to-customers-1.4346565

Ah, that's good news, so. (well - it's something, anyway!).

Cheers for clarifying that Bazmo.

djivide_ · 30-01-2021 11:14am

so the fact there was a stealth price increase is good news? just shows how greedy they are.

I swapped over to Vodafone on openeir network and happy with the change. 40 euro per month for a gbit connection, I was only on 250mbit with virgin as i was sick of constant prices increases. Eventually enough was enough and I swapped over, happy to be rid of them. Cant complain about the virgin network at the 250mbit level at least, I had been using it for past 9 years and can only remember a handful of times there was issues.

LoGiE · 30-01-2021 11:44am

This has the added bonus for VM that customers can't end their contract early.
I'm currently with them for TV and BB and will be dropping the TV in favour of Freesat and most likely will look at FTTH when my contract finished this year.

pabloazazel · 13-05-2021 5:10pm

I just received an email from Virgin

The price of your broadband is going up in 2021
We're getting in touch to let you know that from August 21st 2021 the price of your broadband will increase by €4.00 a month.

So I will be paying 68,50€ for only 240Mb Broadband when new customers can get it for 60€

CoBo55 · 13-05-2021 5:14pm

pabloazazel wrote: »

I just received an email from Virgin

The price of your broadband is going up in 2021
We're getting in touch to let you know that from August 21st 2021 the price of your broadband will increase by €4.00 a month.

So I will be paying 68,50€ for only 240Mb Broadband when new customers can get it for 60€

Which is still a ripoff, can't wait to get away from these price gougers they're taking the complete piss at this stage. Roll on Siro!!

Infini · 13-05-2021 5:16pm

I got nothing from them so far about any price increase but the thing about price increases is that they're a breach of contract as they've upped the price you agreed to so you have the option of cancelling their service once they do without penalty.

Eir finally got fibre broadband into my estate late last year so Im considering them as their combined fibre broadband and mobile 5G package is half of what im paying atm, Virgins service is extremely reliable but I might not renew a contract with them this time around simply as it would have my spending on broadband and I no longer need the TV from them.

jeffk · 13-05-2021 6:01pm

Got the email today, so do we start the ringing and sure im thinking of leaving (wink wink) and get offered a deal?

Also got a letter to say in two weeks ill have no net/phone etc as doing works in my area, might stop getting half the speed all the time

CoBo55 · 13-05-2021 8:15pm

Infini wrote: »

I got nothing from them so far about any price increase but the thing about price increases is that they're a breach of contract as they've upped the price you agreed to so you have the option of cancelling their service once they do without penalty.

Eir finally got fibre broadband into my estate late last year so Im considering them as their combined fibre broadband and mobile 5G package is half of what im paying atm, Virgins service is extremely reliable but I might not renew a contract with them this time around simply as it would have my spending on broadband and I no longer need the TV from them.

Only if they increase it by more than a certain amount. Sky always play it clever keeping it slightly below the treshold. I wonder what the penalty is for breaking the contract with VM?

tigger1962 · 14-05-2021 2:51pm

I've gotten no price increase from Virgin Media yet but to be honest, both Eir and Siro now have fibre here now so I'll be quitting with Virgin if they do, might be quitting with them anyway due to price anyway.. Siro doing deal with quite a few providers

CoBo55 · 14-05-2021 3:33pm

tigger1962 wrote: »

I've gotten no price increase from Virgin Media yet but to be honest, both Eir and Siro now have fibre here now so I'll be quitting with Virgin if they do, might be quitting with them anyway due to price anyway.. Siro doing deal with quite a few providers

Siro is the way forward for me anyway, as you say having so many providers is great for the consumer.

pabloazazel · 16-05-2021 2:34pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

Which is still a ripoff, can't wait to get away from these price gougers they're taking the complete piss at this stage. Roll on Siro!!

tigger1962 wrote: »

I've gotten no price increase from Virgin Media yet but to be honest, both Eir and Siro now have fibre here now so I'll be quitting with Virgin if they do, might be quitting with them anyway due to price anyway.. Siro doing deal with quite a few providers

Lucky you guys, Eir and Siro does not offer Fiber in my address

jeffk · 16-05-2021 2:47pm

pabloazazel wrote: »

Lucky you guys, Eir and Siro does not offer Fiber in my address

Same here

15 or do from Eir Verus 500 or so from Virgin

bonjurkes · 19-05-2021 11:58am

I was paying €59 for 250, and got told my price will increase €4. Can someone tell why internet prices are so freaking expensive that it's considered luxury. Who does pay €60+ for 250 connection in Europe, I really really wonder. These prices are crazy.

Eircom_Sucks · 19-05-2021 3:30pm

i only stay with them as to me the broadband is very good

but my friend recently got in sky and its pretty good

im already with sky for tv so might look at upgrading to a package

Auld Jim Halpin · 20-05-2021 12:02am

I'm completely fed up with VM and their (twice?) yearly price increases for the exact same service. Anyone have any historical data on their price increases? I'm going to ring tomorrow and cancel, I presume with the premium price that they charge their customer service is top notch with no wait times?!

Also is the same E4 increase justified for all customers, 1000Mb vs a 250Mb customer, not very equal is it?

Auld Jim Halpin · 20-05-2021 12:05am

bonjurkes wrote: »

I was paying €59 for 250, and got told my price will increase €4. Can someone tell why internet prices are so freaking expensive that it's considered luxury. Who does pay €60+ for 250 connection in Europe, I really really wonder. These prices are crazy.

Everything is a rip off here and we just take it, enough I say.

20-05-2021 3:14am

I got this €4 increase email today. I don't mind paying €60 per month for internet, to be honest (which is what I pay at the moment). And I believe, with a budget of €60 I have several options. So I'll just ask them to keep me at €60, or cancel my service.

€60 seems reasonable to me.

Eircom_Sucks · 20-05-2021 9:52am

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

Everything is a rip off here and we just take it, enough I say.

i agree

but to be honest , no other broadband comes close to theirs for the price

all be it €60

MarkR · 20-05-2021 10:00am

Thank goodness Siro was available in my area. Went from paying the bones of 70 per month with VM to 35 per month with Pure Telecom.

https://siro.ie/

Keep your hopes up!

CoBo55 · 20-05-2021 10:09am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I got this €4 increase email today. I don't mind paying €60 per month for internet, to be honest (which is what I pay at the moment). And I believe, with a budget of €60 I have several options. So I'll just ask them to keep me at €60, or cancel my service.

€60 seems reasonable to me.

If VM is your only option yes it is, otherwise it's very expensive. You can play hard ball and go for the cancellation, you've 30 days to go without blinking, you'll definitely get one of the half price offers for either 6 or 9 months. Go for it!!

Noxegon · 20-05-2021 4:32pm

I've just gotten the increase notification, and a quick search suggests that I can only get Virgin Media here as I don't have a traditional phone line

1huge1 · 20-05-2021 5:23pm

You don't have to have a traditional phone line to get fibre?

However, tt may be that your in a similar situation to myself where you are living in an urban area where virgin are the only provider. (I find their service to be flawless, but the price is too high in my opinion).

deravarra · 20-05-2021 9:26pm

Looking at the 1 Gig service with phone, they will be charging about €92.
That seems colossal when looking at the likes of any 1 Gig Siro offering.

With Siro and the National Broadband Plan pushing across the country, why is VM insistent on getting their pound of flesh from (very often) loyal customers?

Noxegon · 20-05-2021 10:14pm

1huge1 wrote: »

You don't have to have a traditional phone line to get fibre?

However, tt may be that your in a similar situation to myself where you are living in an urban area where virgin are the only provider. (I find their service to be flawless, but the price is too high in my opinion).

No fibre here. Just DSL (which needs a phone line) or Cable.

dam099 · 20-05-2021 10:56pm

deravarra wrote: »

Looking at the 1 Gig service with phone, they will be charging about €92.
That seems colossal when looking at the likes of any 1 Gig Siro offering.

With Siro and the National Broadband Plan pushing across the country, why is VM insistent on getting their pound of flesh from (very often) loyal customers?

Siro must not be overlapping them that much yet, not enough to care anyway. NBI wont have have overlap by design (if you can get VM out of scope for the National Broadband Plan).

Either an expansion of Siro into more of their areas and the OpenEir urban rollout or both will probably eventually force them to compete more on price but I expect they want to milk it for as long as possible and recover some of their capital outlay.

Eircom_Sucks · 21-05-2021 1:51pm

Noxegon wrote: »

No fibre here. Just DSL (which needs a phone line) or Cable.

how is it in this day and age they don't have fibre everywhere ??

shambles of an organisation

CoBo55 · 21-05-2021 2:25pm

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

how is it in this day and age they don't have fibre everywhere ??

shambles of an organisation

Privatisation and subsequent asset stripping that's why.

21-05-2021 2:32pm

Deleted User wrote: »

So I'll just ask them to keep me at €60

... Which they agreed to do, and were fairly polite about it. Tried hesitantly to push me to a more expensive package, but rescinded fairly quickly. Overall phone call (including waiting, putting my account number in, etc) was 5mins 58secs and has saved me €48 per year.

CoBo55 · 21-05-2021 2:53pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

... Which they agreed to do, and were fairly polite about it. Tried hesitantly to push me to a more expensive package, but rescinded fairly quickly. Overall phone call (including waiting, putting my account number in, etc) was 5mins 58secs and has saved me €48 per year.

The minimum they give off is 15, you could have gotten that in a heartbeat. Are you tied to a new contract now? Power is off here for the day Siro are working strong, one of the lads was telling me it should be live within 2 months as they're the final crew to be used.

deravarra · 21-05-2021 4:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

... Which they agreed to do, and were fairly polite about it. Tried hesitantly to push me to a more expensive package, but rescinded fairly quickly. Overall phone call (including waiting, putting my account number in, etc) was 5mins 58secs and has saved me €48 per year.

Their automated phone service is horrible. Why? Some parts are played so low you need to turn up the volume quite a bit, and then it blasts out at a huge volume.

My ears are destroyed

Saudades · 21-05-2021 5:13pm

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

Anyone have any historical data on their price increases?

Usually comes into effect from February each year. Perhaps they delayed it this year due to Covid.

August 2021 - €4 (€48pa),
February 2020 - €3.50 (€42pa),
February 2019 - €3.50 (€42pa),
February 2018 - €3.50 (€42pa).

21-05-2021 5:50pm

Saudades wrote: »

Usually comes into effect from February each year. Perhaps they delayed it this year due to Covid

I'm presumably mistaken, but i thought they said originally they werent gonna do a price increase in 2021 as the vat reduction worked in their favour.

deravarra · 21-05-2021 5:50pm

Saudades wrote: »

Usually comes into effect from February each year. Perhaps they delayed it this year due to Covid.

August 2021 - €4 (€48pa),
February 2020 - €3.50 (€42pa),
February 2019 - €3.50 (€42pa),
February 2018 - €3.50 (€42pa).

Just spoke with someone in VM a short while ago, and asked why the big difference in price between Siro offerings and VM for 1 gig broadband.
I was told that none of the Siro providers own the lines, and it could take days for them to answer a call out.
Is that worth an approximate extra 400 euro a year? And isnt there a customer charter where the supplier has to ensure you aren't waiting 10 days for a repair?

21-05-2021 5:51pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

The minimum they give off is 15, you could have gotten that in a heartbeat. Are you tied to a new contract now? Power is off here for the day Siro are working strong, one of the lads was telling me it should be live within 2 months as they're the final crew to be used.

No Siro near me anytime soon, it seems.

To be honest, I would probably have gotten more off, or half price for X amount of months and all that. But I have €60 set aside for internet each month and it suits me down to the ground.

That said, the day they don't agree to €60 is the day I'll cancel.

CoBo55 · 21-05-2021 6:57pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

No Siro near me anytime soon, it seems.

To be honest, I would probably have gotten more off, or half price for X amount of months and all that. But I have €60 set aside for internet each month and it suits me down to the ground.

That said, the day they don't agree to €60 is the day I'll cancel.

30 a month for 6 or 9 months would be better. My 6 months is ending full price from next month, hopefully not for much longer.

Gadgetman496 · 21-05-2021 7:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm presumably mistaken, but i thought they said originally they werent gonna do a price increase in 2021 as the vat reduction worked in their favour.

No, you are correct.

Buddy Bubs · 21-05-2021 7:27pm

69 euro going to 73. Too high anyway. What's the best approach here, call and threaten yo leave and hopefully get a discount? If I fail to get a discount and leave, what's the procedure for coming back as new customer?
Can I ever be a new customer again or does new mean first time?

HBC08 · 21-05-2021 7:51pm

Jaysis ye are getting rode for internet!

Vodafone €35 per month.

They are allowed do the price increase to certain % each year,I think it could be 4% but not sure.Sky do it every year too.

Saudades · 21-05-2021 8:19pm

HBC08 wrote: »

Jaysis ye are getting rode for internet!

Vodafone €35 per month.

Fibre or mobile? Any download limits?

Sheep Shagger · 21-05-2021 8:21pm

Buddy Bubs wrote: »

69 euro going to 73. Too high anyway. What's the best approach here, call and threaten yo leave and hopefully get a discount? If I fail to get a discount and leave, what's the procedure for coming back as new customer?
Can I ever be a new customer again or does new mean first time?

Is that for BB only without TV, if so thats nuts even at the old price.

To get any new customer rate you need to put in another name at your home address.

Saudades · 21-05-2021 8:28pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm presumably mistaken, but i thought they said originally they werent gonna do a price increase in 2021 as the vat reduction worked in their favour.

Around September 2020, Virgin said rather than pass on the reduction in VAT to its customers, it was cancelling a planned increase later on that year.
They usually announce the increases around October (the 'later on this year' part), and then implement them from January/February.

So technically, they haven't cancelled the planned increase, they just delayed it by 6 months from February 2021 to August 2021. And added an extra 50 cents on top of their usual increase rates.

Buddy Bubs · 22-05-2021 8:02am

I have a few alternatives to virgin in my area, all offering max 100 mbps. Now that could be anywhere between 0 and 100. But they are much cheaper. In practice, what speeds would I need to achieve for streaming of Netflix etc to be the same user experience as virgin I have now? I can get speeds up to 500mbps sometimes, but if all it takes to run it perfectly is 50mbps, what's the point?

Also, before canceling virgin, could I get an alternative provider in on trial and cancel in my cooling off period if not happy with it, and then push for discount with virgin?

I do think they are price gouging now, it's getting expensive. I have only recently started paying big attention to all the standing orders and direct debit amounts coming out of my account and got better value. The difference though is with the likes of electricity and gas, it's exact same product, broadband isn't.

22-05-2021 8:06am

I did this dance with virgin for years, every year getting discounts.
Bit the bullet this year, left completely. Now I'm with Eir for 29.99 a month, less than half my virgin cost.
It's been perfect for everything I do, streaming, general browsing and I had a few days online college and exams. No issues.
Sorry I didn't do it years ago!
I'm in Dublin city.

Wanderer78 · 22-05-2021 8:09am

Buddy Bubs wrote:

I have a few alternatives to virgin in my area, all offering max 100 mbps. Now that could be anywhere between 0 and 100. But they are much cheaper. In practice, what speeds would I need to achieve for streaming of Netflix etc to be the same user experience as virgin I have now? I can get speeds up to 500mbps sometimes, but if all it takes to run it perfectly is 50mbps, what's the point?

It's hard to tell what limits you need, but I was testing a new home network setup during the week, on a 240 virgin line, over home plugs with network switch. I had 4 devices streaming on the one switch over the home plug that was only giving me about 30mbps at the time, so my network was effectively only a 30mbps line, and it worked flawlessly, so.......

Buddy Bubs · 22-05-2021 8:17am

Wanderer78 wrote: »

It's hard to tell what limits you need, but I was testing a new home network setup during the week, on a 240 virgin line, over home plugs with network switch. I had 4 devices streaming on the one switch over the home plug that was only giving me about 30mbps at the time, so my network was effectively only a 30mbps line, and it worked flawlessly, so.......

1 tv in the house, soon to be 2. 2nd TV will be in kitchen and just used for around cooking dinner time, nothing major at all. Main TV is streaming only from firestick/ps4.

2 smartphones in house, usually not 2 heavy users together. Herself can be a nightmare for phone use at times, even when watching a movie or TV. Don't know how she concentrates on both, but for me it's either one or the other at a time.

I'll look up alternatives and see what the cooling off period is like with them, I know its mandated by law I just forget if it's 14 or 30 days, either will be long enough to tell anyway.

DaveyDave · 22-05-2021 8:17am

I wish there was cheaper internet. I don't understand why they all have to offer €60+ packages for 250-500Mb. I'm a household of two, and aside from downloading updates for PlayStation games I don't need anything more than 100Mb and even that is more than enough.

I'm paying €30 a month for 500Mb Vodafone half price then will probably switch to Sky if they're on offer next year but after that we will have used up all our new customer offers, I don't want to spend €60+ on internet.

Why is the price constantly going up? Customer service is a joke and Virgin Media's equipment is awful. For a lot of people Virgin is the only viable option, it's ridiculous.

On an unrelated note, customer service with Vodafone has been great. A month in my speeds randomly dropped to 4-5Mb for a few days after connecting a Powerline. They offered to pay for me to buy Cat 6 cables, then knocked €10 off my bill even though it seemed to resolve itself. Eir, Virgin, Permanent TSB, only ever had abysmal customer service and they fight you over everything if you want a discount...

dubrov · 22-05-2021 8:23am

Buddy Bubs wrote: »

1 tv in the house, soon to be 2. 2nd TV will be in kitchen and just used for around cooking dinner time, nothing major at all. Main TV is streaming only from firestick/ps4.

2 smartphones in house, usually not 2 heavy users together. Herself can be a nightmare for phone use at times, even when watching a movie or TV. Don't know how she concentrates on both, but for me it's either one or the other at a time.

I'll look up alternatives and see what the cooling off period is like with them, I know its mandated by law I just forget if it's 14 or 30 days, either will be long enough to tell anyway.

HD Netflix needs about 5Mbps. UHD would be 25Mbps. YOutube on a phone would be the same but most videos would be in SD so about Mbps or less. hone browsing uses nothing.

So I'd say worst case, anything above 60Mbps would make no difference to you. YOur problem is that even though the new provide says 100Mbps, that might mean 100Mbps at midnight and 10Mbps at 6pm.

Wanderer78 · 22-05-2021 8:24am

Buddy Bubs wrote:

I'll look up alternatives and see what the cooling off period is like with them, I know its mandated by law I just forget if it's 14 or 30 days, either will be long enough to tell anyway.

I've no idea if others will be able to supply you with the minimum you require, as its very area dependent, but I suspect you ll be just fine, competition has improved a lot. I was very surprised with my own test, I was expecting something to break, but nothing did, all 4 devices worked perfectly

DaveyDave wrote:

Why is the price constantly going up? Customer service is a joke and Virgin Media's equipment is awful. For a lot of people Virgin is the only viable option, it's ridiculous.

It's hardly to do with maximising profits, is it, and by largely privitising our infrastructure, this would hardly lead to similar outcomes, would it?

Buddy Bubs · 22-05-2021 8:39am

dubrov wrote: »

HD Netflix needs about 5Mbps. UHD would be 25Mbps. YOutube on a phone would be the same but most videos would be in SD so about Mbps or less. hone browsing uses nothing.

So I'd say worst case, anything above 60Mbps would make no difference to you. YOur problem is that even though the new provide says 100Mbps, that might mean 100Mbps at midnight and 10Mbps at 6pm.

Yes, I agree. I'll try the new one during cooling off period. 14 days or 30 days will be enough to tell, hopefully. Fingers crossed. I'll do some research on alternatives.

So far this year I've moved my mobile to a company mobile which is saving me 30 a month, life insurance provider saving me 20, gas and electricity saving me about 30 depending on use. Got diesel card in work more as a pay raise than anything but that's 100 a month. Netflix and YouTube premium are in far flung destinations so they cost nothing really now, Amazon prime is on work account now because we use it for deliveries, I use the video service. Spotify and Disney plus are shared family accounts with people on boards. Motor insurance I left my long standing broker and got the cheapest no frills policy (kept bonus protection but not breakdown cover and add ons etc...)
Started using supermarket loyalty cards and use lidl/Aldi more. Make my lunch for work instead of a deli sandwich and crisps every day. Oh, forgot that I also changed my mortgage to a green energy rated mortgage down to 2.25% fixed now instead of 2.95% saving me 60 a month.

It's all saving me about 5000 a year. And I'm no worse off for any of it, not all available to everyone I agree but plenty of it is.

Very liberating for anyone still reading and not bored with my rant, serious savings to be made and put elsewhere to better use if you have the will and the want.

Broadband and bank charges next in the firing line.

The annual Virgin Price increase

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