Virgin Media Broadband

Get super-fast Virgin Media cable broadband from just £4.50 a month with amazing digital TV and home phone bundle options.

TV packages now include Sky channels - order bundles online and get £50 credit.

New year online special offer! Order online for 3 months free broadband, TV and phone

In this section

• Virgin Media online shop
• Virgin Media packages
• Virgin Media awards
• Virgin Media features
• Virgin Media news

Services

Services

• Cable broadband
• Calls
• Home broadband
• Mac compatible
• Modem
• No line rental required
• Security package
• Fair usage policy
• Free wireless router
• Digital TV
• Support
• Trial period
• Mobile phone
• Email
• Webspace
• ADSL broadband
• Parental controls

Company history

Company history

Choosing Virgin Media Broadband is not just choosing an ISP, it’s a lifestyle. The Virgin Group is a collection of businesses ranging from communication to travel to entertainment. Virgin’s figurehead, multi-millionaire Richard Branson, officially set up the company in 1989 as a holding company. Since then Virgin has expanded and developed considerably and is now operates in over 50 different business areas.

Virgin Media, formerly known as NTL:Telewest, has four major areas of business; television, mobile phones, landline phones and internet. Because of this 'quadruple-play’ setup, Virgin as an ISP also offers its customers great combination deals. This means that choosing Virgin will provide maximum media variety with minimal hassle.

The Virgin Group is a diverse company and it is equally geared towards a diverse clientele. Of all the ISPs on the market Virgin Broadband has the greatest number of packages meaning that you’re bound to find a package to suite your lifestyle needs.

Customer service

Customer service

Virgin Media are renowned for their good customer service (award winning, in fact!), and finding the right number to call for help is simple with their user-friendly website. Customers calling from their Virgin Media landline call free or a national rate number from a BT or other landline. They are open 7 days a week: Mon-Fri 8am-8pm; Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 10am-4pm.

There is also the option of Virgin Remote Assistance, providing free online support for customers who can chat online to a member of the team. Their simple ‘service status’ page also provides a quick check on any ongoing performance issues that might be occurring with your broadband service.

Equipment

Equipment

Each package option comes with a free modem for connection via fibre optic cable or through your telephone line. Currently no wireless option is given, however the super-fast broadband speed and no download limit is a real plus!

Software features

Software features

PCGuard (package size M) and PCGuard Total (package sizes L and XL) offer sound online protection with Firewall, anit-virus, pop-up blocker and Privacy Manager. The added extras of Anti-Spyware, Identity Theft Protection, and Parental Control are included as part of the PCGuard Total package (£3 a month extra for size M customers).

Email features

Email features

Customers have access to their own Virgin email account, with a generous 15 email addresses available to use as additional accounts or for family members. Also included as standard is 55Mb of webspace to create your own website online.

Extras

Extras

Customers get a £10 discount off their first monthly bill when buying online.

Virgin Media news

• Special report: Progress continues apace on Virgin Media’s 50Mb roll-out
  6th January 2009
  More than 1.5 million homes can now sign up for Virgin Media’s 50Mb service, with the number of...
• Virgin Media top of the speed pile
  5th January 2009
  Virgin Media is celebrating after being named the UK's fastest broadband provider for the fourth...
• Samuel L to be face of Virgin Media 50Mb
  2nd January 2009
  Film star Samuel L Jackson has been chosen by Virgin Media to star in advertisments for the...
• Virgin Media 50Mb could pave way for IPTV service
  18th December 2008
  Virgin Media's new 50Mb broadband service could have been set up in part to pave the way for an...
• Ofcom welcomes new Virgin Media offering
  16th December 2008
  Ofcom has released a message of support as Virgin Media launches its new 50Mb...
• Special report: Be hits back at Virgin Media's 50Mb offering
  16th December 2008
  Be Broadband has fired a broadside at Virgin Media with the news that it has successfully...

Customer reviews

• I pay for a 20Mb connection and after 5 speed test websites I have found that I only connect at 5000kb/s (5Mb) when I call the help line they asure my that it is 20Mb and it is the test sites that are inconclusive and inaccurate.... mmmmm. I think that I am paying over the top for a service that other providers can offer for half the price.

  john appleby, 24th December 2008

• Virgin are terrible and a waste of money. The current advertised price of 2Mb b/band with phone line is £9.00 per month for b/band then £11 per month for the phone line which should come to £20. So why have I just been charged £18 for the b/band plus the cost of the phoneline?! This isn't just a one off either, I have been overcharged 6 times since January 08! I think they hope people wont notice and just pay the extra. I was previously on the 20Mb b/band package and it was very slow. What a con. I am taking my business elsewhere.

  Louise Wilson, 23th November 2008

• Bring back TELEWEST. Virgin Media sucks. Two out of three of my telephone lines and one of my cable lines have been damaged since July 2008 and haven't been repaired yet. I cannot use the phones because of the noise due to damage and my intenet (supposed to be 20Mb) is slow and intermittent. My monthly bill is around £120 and for this price I expect a decent service. I'm almost at the end of my tether and if this is not sorted soon together with a decent compensation offer I'm switching providers. Come on Branson, concentrate less on trips to the Moon and ballon trips around the world and more on your fortune donating customers. If you're thinking of switching to VM think twice.

  Jeff Clarke, 22th October 2008

• I cant understand why I pay £60 and £70 a month for my package to Virgin when I was led to believe it should be around the £30 MARK AS QUOTED WHEN I FIRST TOOK THE PACKAGE OUT OVER 1YEAR AGO.

  fredpetch, 20th October 2008

• I've been a customer for over ten years but just this week Virgin did something that absolutely outraged me. I've had TV, two phone lines and broadband for years. Then I got my bill on tuesday, which I pay by direct debit. The same day my service wasn't working, I assumed the service was down for some reason and didn't think anything of it. At the end of the day it still wasn't working so I phoned them and......it turns out they had cut it off because the amount outstanding was over £200 - even though I pay by direct debit. No warning letter, nothing just cut me off. I couldn't believe it but apparently this is company policy. This is absolutely outrageous and an appalling way to treat any customer, but especially stupid to do that to someone who has spent thousands and thousands of pounds with NTL (virgin). As you can imagine I'm outraged and will be pursuing this matter right to the top.

  Tim Walker, 25th September 2008

• Virgin Media offer broadband with good speeds at a fair price. Calls are cheap and the TV options are 2nd only to Sky. One happy customer. Don't bother with TalkTalk, Virgin Media are better.

  Marie Ryder, 23th September 2008

• For the money, Virgin Media is off the scale! Great value, cheap calls and good broadband too. Value-wise, the bundles are much better than Sky's which work out more expensive. Virgin Media's packages tick the right boxes for me.

  Marie Ryder, 20th September 2008

• When our broadband changed to Virgin i thought it would be even better but things just got worse! My speed is getting slower by the day! I rang them to tell them what is up with my internet speed, but as usual they say it is something to do with the modem. I have heard many people saying that their internet speed is worse than dial-up! For example this page took 40-80secs to load. Great speed! NOT! Oh and I have the LARGE package. Stay away from Virgin as you will most likely be disappointed.

  Ben, 18th September 2008

• We signed up to Size L 10meg....didn't give us free wireless router on install so had to ring up...was asked to provide a password which I hadn't yet been supplied with...rang again later, was allowed to change it... now I'm getting terrible pings while not downloading anything.... had it less than a week, a one year contract is looking long.

  Jamie, 15th September 2008

• Virgin Media is very good. Why are people upset with them. Do they expect too much for their money? I wonder. They are great for television, phone and broadband.

  alan bailey, 14th September 2008

• Seems to be a very polar set of reviews with little in between. Personally I think the service is very good and regularly get my 20Mb speed. Seems that performance is highly dependent on location. The technical support I have received has always been excellent except for the one or two times they route me to India.

  tom hepplewhite, 29th August 2008

• I pay £25.00 for up to 4Mb and was told by customer services that I am on 10MB I told them that I am only getting avg 3.5mb. I was told I am on 10mb and if I got to speedtest.net I can test my speed but it's best to do it at night for better results. I did two tests, the first one was 4.01Mb and the second was 3.94Mb.

  To summarise: I pay £25 for up to 10Mb but only if I surf at night (maybe 4 to 5 hrs unless I stay up all night) otherwise it's upto 4Mb.

  M Tyrer, 29th August 2008

• It's a joke, we pay for 20Mb connection yet dont even get 0.5Mb and have not been able to connect for a month. We keep calling Virgin Media but get no response. My advice is to go with someone else because what Virgin Media are doing could be deemed as fraud.

  Aven Fisk, 26th August 2008

• I haven't had a problem with Virgin Media's customer services (on the broadband, mobile is a joke). I dont get the full 20Mb and when I do, after half an hour at full speed, the traffic management ruins the service applying a five hour slap on the wrist. They should be sued for claiming a) it's all fibre optic, which it's not (fibre optic cabling to your door, thats what we want) and b) it's the fastest out there, Be do 24MB (although you probably wouldn't get it, technically its possible).

  Ross, 10th August 2008

• In our house we have the Vigin Media package, (internet, phone, v ). The internet is shocking. The connection is nearly always intermittent so I am often unable to use internet and they charge you for upgrades and services you have not even agreed to!

  richard, 5th August 2008

• I've been with this company since NTL owned it. Are the people praising their customer service right in the head? It's a joke!

  Not only do they fob you off with poor excuses, they sign you up to new contracts without your knowledge.

  I've been an existing customer for over 7 years and only remain because BT is worse.

  Virgin media is very poor, just not as bad as BT. If any other company wants to invest seriously in fibre optics they'll find everyone jumps ship... Speaking from experience of over 7 years, this company is a joke.

  phil, 15th July 2008

• The last leg of the Virgin Media line is run on coaxial cable so their advertising of "fibre optic broadband" is false. Technically speaking, it is not truely fibre optic broadband.

  Plus, although I'm on the 20Mb package, I rarely get the maximum speed of the connection which I paid for.

  Lewis, 7th July 2008

• I've had nothing but problems from Virgin Media, I'm supposed to be getting speeds of 10Mb but I'm only getting around 57kbs!!!! What a joke. No stars from me.

  gary, 30th June 2008

• Virgin Media is the best ISP I have been with, I used to be with BT, they were charging me £26 for 2Mb, so I changed to Virgin Media 4mb, which has now been increased to 10Mb free of charge.

  I only pay £27 a month now and get 10Mb broadband, line rental and a free Virgin Media cable TV box with 80 channels. It's the best deal on the internet. Switch to Virgin Media, they offer very speedy broadband and their customer service is great.

  antony, 25th June 2008

• I have nothing but praise for Virgin Media. I pay for 4Mb broadband which is what I get. The customer services and technical staff have gone out of their way to help me. You get what you pay for with Virgin Media, unlike BT.

  A.Riley., 20th May 2008

• I having nothing but praise for Virgin Media, I pay for a 4mb broadband service which I get, the customer service has been excellent and friendly. I wish I could say the same about BT who my telephone service is with, a huge let down - I will switching as soon as the contract expires.

  Andrew, 1st May 2008

• Virgin Media is a three legged donkey of a company. Avoid it at all costs. Example: 2Mb broadband... Averages 50-100kbs if you are lucky, odd bursts higher never seen above 200kbs!!!! Join at your peril!!! P.s. no star but site forces at least 1.

  chris h, 24th April 2008

• This is a shocking service. Technical support are no help whatsoever and have even been rude on occasion they often used to hang up on me before dealing with the problem. I don't ever get the bandwidth I pay for and my connection drops at least 4 times a day. I know of nobody near me on a different ISP with the same problems The best way to save money on Virgin Media is not to go with them in the first place. Maybe the monopolies and mergers commision should investigate the UK's only cable operator since they are taking our money under false pretences. I will be switching as soon as my contract is up.

  Matt Knight (Filton exchange), 23th April 2008

• I work for Virgin Media and I have all of the services, I know there have been a few glitches since the changeover but doesn't anyone realise that it is just the name that has changed? The service I have experienced is excellent, extra fast speed and now a free wireless router for 10 meg customers, what more could you ask?!!

  steven, 22th April 2008

• Excellent service - 4Mb service speed checked in at 4.14Mb.

  The best I ever had with BT was 0.5Mb when I was paying for 2Mb...

  gordon mundie (Falkirk exchange), 9th April 2008

• Virgin Media cable broadband is exellent, I highly recommend this service. I would say that ADSL is rubbish it's too slow and the further you live from exchange the slower it gets. Get Virgin Media cable.

  john (Edmonton exchange), 1st April 2008

• Customer service is rubbish. My 20Mg package is only 6Mg at best. The TV package seems to fail once a week. I will soon switch to Sky, I think.

  Mark Stevens (Hertford exchange), 31th March 2008

• I signed up to Virgin Media broadband over 2 weeks ago and I still havent received the service. I have been calling over and over but noone is willing to help, the delivery company are blaiming Virgin Media... Virgin Media are blaming the delivery company... I'm so annoyed!!!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!

  Lynsey, 28th March 2008

• Virgin Media is excellent - I get 20Mg and never see below 14 or 15Mg when I test the speed.

  Never really had any issues with customer services either. I highly recommend it.

  Gary (Ashton In Makerfield exchange), 20th March 2008

• Virgin Media in theory should be excellent, unfortunatly they are far from it. I pay for 20Mb but rarely get over 4Mb. The customer services/technical support are appalling, they cannot solve problems and often refuse to help. I have called them 6 times in the last 2 weeks to no avail and been charged for each call. I would avoid them if I were you.

  Macs Dickinson (Headingley exchange), 11th March 2008

• Before it was Virgin Media, Telewest was good. Since the takeover my broadband's slower, the customer care is an absolute disgrace, the team can never give an answer to a query and their billing system is terrible.

   

  william (Motherwell exchange), 9th March 2008

• The broadband is very good but their customer service is shocking, they cannot sort any problems quickly or to satisfaction. I would recommend the products but use customer service and you will see their true colours.

  Willie (Livingston Station exchange), 19th February 2008

• Virgin Media are not good, they cost a fortune and charge different people different amounts for the same service. The broadband speed is slow too.

  peter anderson (Leith exchange), 19th February 2008

• Virgin Media are making my life a nightmare. I moved house on 30.11.07 and they had 30 days notice, they picked up their equipment but are still charging me!! I now owe £180.00 up to 13.3.08...

  I Cant get anyone to understand, its just a con through and through... Avoid them like the plague...

  Tracy Wright, 13th February 2008

• After using NTL/Virgin Media for a number of years I have come to the conclusion that it isn't an out and out Number 1 Telco providor but then again it isn't the worst either.

  Plus Points - Broadband service regularly at speeds of 14Mb + which is great when downloading or gaming. I downloaded a 2GB video file using torrent in under 30 mintues which was fantastic. Very reliable whereas the technical support is, missing something....That would be both the technical and support elements, is pants!

  Telephone service is good, free landline calls all day every day (up to 1 hr). Negative Points - As mentioned, the technical support (or lack thereof). Billing service - Some billing issues here and there such as over charging (minimal).

  Speed Restrictions if you download too much, but let's be honest, for paying as little as i am, i can't expect the world!!

  All in all, im satisfied. It works for me :)

  Andy (Redcar exchange), 6th February 2008

• Virgin Media gave me the worst service I have ever had. The broadband is a waste of time and was installed by a novice.

  Having spent hours on the phone to customer support, I'm still no better off.

  I would not recommend Virgin Media.

  I'm going back to BT.

  claire dainty (Orrell exchange), 5th February 2008

• Truly shocking service and sky-high bills

  DO NOT go anywhere near Virgin Media. You dont need the hassle or the expense. The Broadband and TV bundles are terrible - intermittently breaking up (sometimes off for an entire day), contacting them involves making a premium-rate phone call (£1 per minute) and their staff are clearly told to avoid giving any useful information.

  If I could give negative star rating I would, signing up to Virgin Media has honestly wasted hours of my time with faulty connections and useless help centres.

  John Applegate (Lower Holloway exchange), 30th January 2008

• Well I've been with virgin media / ntl / cabletel, since about 1997.

  I shall be totally honest and say... The broadband service is top notch (cabled). I've only been unable to connect about 5 times (due to faults on they're network) and we've not been off line long at all (the worst case was about 4 hours).

  So I would give the cabled broadband excellent marks for reliability.

  But, the tech support which used to be excellent, is now useless.There are two branches of tech support for cabled broadband that I know of, one in India, and one in Swansea. Both cost a premium rate call and the India call centre is just complete dross.

  Should you ever be lucky enough to get through to Swansea, then its totally the opposite (IE: excellent) but I can never seem to get through to Swansea anymore ;0(

  To sum up... I find virgin media's cable broadband excellent, but the tech support is dreadfull! Thankfully its not needed 99.5% of the time

   

   

  Reb Hardres (Farnborough exchange), 28th January 2008

• Simply awful. I was advised in the Virgin Media store that their ADSL service was great for gaming (as I can't get cable). I've had it for 3 weeks now and my pings in any game I play are 200+ and download speeds are less than 50k a sec. They said it was my computer (being an IT Tech I laughed at this response), given the age of my PC though and my own desire to upgrade I put together a new one. Still 200+ pings. EVEN on my missus laptop (which incidently when connected at my parents house gives great download speeds and great pings).

  I complained the day after I was activated initially, yet I still need to pay the full disconnection fee if I want to go.

  Apparently I can get upto 5.5mb on this line through MaxDSL. VM simply do not care about rectifying my problems, just taking my money.

  Avoid Virgin at all costs!

  Lewis Morgan, 25th January 2008

• I was satisfied with Telewest for 11 yrs but, since Virgin Media took over, my telephone has broken down twice... The service is appalling...

  Jean Matthews (Merton Park exchange), 19th January 2008

• I've been with Virgin Media for 6 months and have no complaints. The speed is great and I'm loving the TV choice too- haven't had any problems so can't vouch for the customer service!!

  Once you go cable you'll never look back!!

  Julie B (Fulham exchange), 18th January 2008

• Virgin have appalling "help" lines.

  They cannot answer queries about switching providers or put you through to correct dept. The number I was finally given (I was with NTL who were taken over by Virgin Media) played "musac" for 15m at 5p a min. They are seriously rubbish.

  tony (Littlewick Green exchange), 17th January 2008

• My 3mb cable broadband connection only averages speeds of around 50kbps between 3pm & midnight. Switching to Virgin has taken my internet usage back about 10 years. It's absolutely appalling. If you make the same mistake as me and sign up, you'll be stuck with speeds slower than dial-up for a full year. Frustration, frustration, frustration!

  Colin Johnson, 15th January 2008

• I'm living in a student area and our Virgin broadband is rubbish. I tested the speed and it turned out I was getting 337kb/s instead of "up to 8Mb" (8000kb/s). Its a scam. When we had problems with the internet it took them weeks to come and sort it.

  Rachael B, 15th January 2008

• I just want to say that the ADSL broadband package is a joke.

  They traffic shap you at 512kbps for a week if you are in their top 5% of users. It'ps pathetic. If you are a heavy user/family its not good for you.

  kieran (Boston exchange), 10th January 2008

• I service the computers for several of my neighbours, and I have to say that I am appalled at Virgin's service. There are regular outages in my area which can actually last for weeks, and the support is on a premium-rate number that closes after 6pm. Their PCGuard software seems to cause more problems than it prevents.

  They say that Cable is better than ADSL, but that's only true to the providers in the U.S. Wait until BT have completed the 21CN project over here, then see how they compare.

  Peter Mays (Bromley exchange), 8th January 2008

• Excellent value for money for Non-Cable Subscribers like me! 8MB UNLIMITED Broadband for just £17.99 per month. Good, reliable service too. :)

  Daniel (Marlow exchange), 23th December 2007

• Later in on the evening the broadband gets slower, this is no good for online gaming

  Will wyatt (Bude exchange), 21th December 2007

• Cable BBI, what can I say, its pure perfection. So much better than the connection I had with sky. They are a joke! Up virgin!

  James Lee (Stainton exchange), 21th December 2007

• Absolutely love Virgin - the 20mb broadband runs damn near at 20mb and is the most reliable internet I've ever had (Tiscali & Orange). The TV is also fantastic and apart from the odd rare 2 second stick works a treat - especially love the onDemand service.

  I would (and do) reccommend Virgin to everyone I know.

  Dave C, 27th November 2007

• I have found Virgin Internet (Virgin Media) to be excellent - untouchable to honest. People come to my house and are jealous of how fast my computer and internet is. I had 8Mb AOL before this and thought that was good, but it's not a mark on Virgin!

  I do have one discrepancy though and thats with the TV - I had the full package and the TV is bad, but the internet and phone more than make up for that.

  rob drake, 26th November 2007

• When Virgin Media had a special offer of £4.50 broadband for 12 month, we took it. However, when we got our first payment through it was for £18 instead. When I called to tell them it should have been £4.50, they said I couldn't have it because I wasnt a new customer. To cancel will cost £9o - I now feel I have been scammed.

  maggie, 14th November 2007

• Its good value, it works - basically Virgin Media are as good as you could hope for. Cable broadband is fast, ADSL isn't. Why anyone can moan about Virgin's broadband service is beyond me. As a new customer you can get it incredibly cheaply (£4.50 for goodness sake!) and it's reliable. I have had enough with people moaning on this page. Virgin Media broadband is absolutely fine.

  Ern wells, 11th November 2007

• I love Virgin media

  we have 2 pc and 2 laptop at home

  that the family use and it is great.

  I have had other ISP before and there is nothing that can touch Virgin

  Mark Lunn, 5th November 2007

• Virgin Media has offered very bad service. My Broadband was cut off in June 07 without reason, only to be restarted a week later and then my Email service was switched off and now they cannot recover the email because it has a ntlworld.com address.

   

  I have spent hours waiting in a que on the phone with no answer and when you get through no one can fix the problem.

   

  Virgins tech support was incompetent and only through me knowing someone at the company meant that part of my problem was fixed. Tech support just said it was nothing to with them when my friend proved it was.

   

  Virgin Mobile has very poor service and I have now choosen to leave and yes they have tried to charge me £50 for doing so ?

   

  STEPHEN ROBINSON (Middleton On Sea exchange), 1st November 2007

• Great, fast broadband on cable. Very, very fast indeed and the TV packages are perfect for me. Great value.

  R Green, 29th October 2007

• I do not reccommend Virgin Media ADSL. I have not have any internet connection for a month and have been paying 17.99 for the privilege. After a month of constant phone calls to tech support and billing accruing a bill of over £30 and visits from 2 engineers, I finally spoke to a manager and was told that I would be issued a full refund if I called back at 5pm. I thought it was odd but said OK. I call back at 5pm I am told that I cannot cancel my account (after waiting 1 1/2 hrs on hold and being transferred all over the country at local rates). I am now unsure what will happen but I am not hopeful. I'm livid.

  David Kerr (Coleraine exchange), 26th October 2007

• I love my Virgin Media package, it's great value (I get free calls, fast broadband and have had no problems).

  Chris Norman (Bushey Heath exchange), 10th October 2007

• Amazing speeds, I've never had a problem and my speeds average about 18Mb/s, absolutley perfect for downloading, I admit the box is a little ugly but who cares when you get speeds this high. I fully recommend Virgin, as you just don't get this from ADSL.

  David, 10th October 2007

• My line speed reguarly sits around the 400 kbps, yet at other times I see 7Mbps. Virgin don't take any interest what so ever in their lack of bandwidth or address the greedy few. Can't wait to change!

  Joe (Cheylesmore Exchange) (Cheylesmore exchange), 10th October 2007

• I've Been with them since the analogue box with NTL, The company just keeps getting better! There's no hidden costs, and the broadband is always getting better - 20mb, see if Sky can beat that!!!! Virgin has brilliant on-demand services. The Virgin brand maintains its usual high standards. They don't charge for technicians unlike Sky unless you take out insurance. The V+ box is only £100 to install and that's it, no extra cost per month and it does HD. Sky- where do I start - the HD box £399 and £10 a month. I will stay with them and get their new 50mb broadband when it comes out! I would highly recommend them!

  Daniel (Gourock exchange), 4th October 2007

• Fast broadband, good TV and cheap landline. I'm very happy. Thanks Mr. Branson. Shame about the ugly box it all routes through though.

  Chris Dawes, 27th September 2007

• Virgin Media are the worst company I have ever had to deal with - avoid like the plague.

  Douglas Reid, 27th September 2007

• I am a very happy Virgin Media customer. I love my TV channels - there's loads of those, the broadband is fine and we get free calls. For the price it's fine.

  Rob Newsome (Teddington exchange), 21th September 2007

• I have been with Virgin from the start, I was with NTL, and I did not have much to complain about, but since going over to Virgin Media, I have had nothing but problems. For one we have had no information on programs for a week with the TV. My computer is that slow that I make a cup of tea waiting. When I phone, they try to make me pay the top price. I think it is time to make a change - so much for Branson, Sky looks a good bet. Cheers. Here's looking forward to another call to India.

  r. young (Roath exchange), 21th September 2007

• The contestability is a real issue with Virgin Media, several e-mails and calls to their support staff give no bonafide reason for the horribly high pings and painful download speeds at peak times, one can only assume they cannot cope with the demand for ADSL to give satisfying internet. Since I have switched from BT, my broadband experience has worsened dramatically.

  Joe (Woodham Ferrers exchange), 12th September 2007

• I have just gone on to Virgin Media from AOL. I found it quicker to get onto the internet with Virgin. I also have a problem with my connection, but the fault technician is coming to my house to fix it. I think that it's a very good service.

  eric (Atherton exchange), 27th August 2007

• I chose Virgin as I often use their services in other areas of my daily life and I know their customer service is exemplary, and it's a trusted brand I know. I find the package very reasonable although it would be nice to have the option of wireless included in the price.

  A real bonus is the 15 extra email addresses, which is a brilliant option to have as my children all want to email their friends. Luckily the parental controls included with PCGuard Total give me peace of mind, and I don't feel like I have to watch over them.

  Mr T. Davidson, 30th May 2007

• I went for the Size L package which offered everything I needed. I often need to download materials for my research and I haven't experienced any problems with the speed of the connection so far.

  As a newcomer to broadband though I have felt the need to contact the service team a few times but struggle with their opening hours - I often work through the night and it would be good to have someone there to contact should anything go wrong - especially if I have a deadline the next day!

  Helen, 14th May 2007

• I think Virgin offers great value for money, especially as there is no download limit. I've found the customer support second to none with helpful staff and a commitment to getting the problem sorted. I can't see the need to switch to another company as I know what I'm getting with Virgin Media - it's a simple and basic service!

  Jake, 17th March 2007