Virgin Media offers up to £95 off bundles for one week only


Updated on 15 April 2013 | 2 Comments

You can get an extra £35 off existing Virgin Media TV, phone and broadband deals for a limited period. But how does the offer compare?

Virgin Media has launched an exclusive deal with broadbandchoices.co.uk that could save you up to £95 on some of its TV, phone and broadband bundles.

For one week only, Virgin Media will top-up existing deals on selected combinations with an extra £35 credit.

Boost to deals

Currently Virgin Media has offers on its dual and trio bundles.

For TV, phone and broadband you can choose from one of the Collection packages; Essential, Premier or VIP. At the moment these deals come with six months half price, free installation and £60 credit. But if you sign up online via broadbandchoices.co.uk before the 21st of April you can get an extra £35 top-up bringing the total saving to £95.

Alternatively, if you’re just looking for a dual deal, Virgin Media is already offering a £40 credit on selected broadband with phone or TV combinations - a saving you can boost up to £75 for one week only.

The extra £35 saving can only be made from entering a code at the checkout. This code appears when you click through to an eligible deal using broadbandchoices.co.uk.

How they compare

The limited offer from Virgin Media sounds cracking, but how does it compare?

I have gathered the cheapest bundle deals available on broadbandchoices.co.uk to see how the costs and extras stack up.

The tables are arranged by total first year cost, which includes line rental, credits and any up front charges.

Broadband and phone

Package

Calls package

Broadband speed

Usage limits

Upfront cost

Monthly cost

Deal

Total first year cost

Virgin Media 30MB Broadband + Phone: M

Weekend

30MB

Unlimited

Free

£14.99/£29.49

Six months free

£40 + £35 credit

£191.88

EE Broadband & Off Peak Calls

Evening & Weekend

14MB

Unlimited

£6.00

£19.00*

£30 credit

£204

Plusnet Essentials + Evening and Weekend

Evening & Weekend

10GB

16MB

£5.99

£16.98

Half price for 12 months

£209.75

O2 The Basics + Evening and Weekend Calls

Evening & Weekend

20GB

16MB

£3.00

£17.25**

Half price for 12 months

£100 M&S voucher

£210

Tesco Broadband & Evening and Weekend Calls

Evening & Weekend

14MB

Unlimited

Free

£17.90

Half price for 12 months

£30 Tesco voucher

£214.80

Talk Talk Unlimited Broadband & Phone Essential

Evening & Weekend

14MB

Unlimited

Free

£18.20

Half price for 12 months

£218.40

Primus Saver Broadband + Phone

Evening & Weekend

14MB

40GB

£4.95

£18.18

£223.11

Sky Broadband Unlimited + Talk Weekends

Weekend

14MB

Truly unlimited

Free

£19.50

Half price for 12 months

£25 M&S voucher

£234

*EE, T-Mobile and Orange customers only

**O2 customers only

Source: broadbandchoices.co.uk

There's a variety of shopping voucher incentives thrown into a lot of these deals, but that doesn’t make them the best for savings.

As you can see the £35 offer from Virgin Media propells the 30MB Broadband + Phone: M deal to the top of the table. It is £12.12 cheaper overall compared to the next best price from EE – which is only available to existing Orange, T-Mobile or EE customers.

The downside is that the Virgin deal only offers weekend calls while a majority of the other providers offer evening calls as well.

But what the offer lacks in calls it makes up for in superfast broadband with a possible 30MB speed available and the opportunity to boost it to 100MB. However, only Sky offers truly unlimited usage which means you won't be subject to a fair usage policy.

Broadband, phone and TV

Package

Calls package

Broadband speed up to

Usage limits

Upfront cost

Monthly cost

Deal

Total first year cost

Virgin Media Essential Collection

Weekend

30MB

Unlimited

Free

£27.99/£40.99

Half price for the first six months

£60 + £35 credit

77 channels

£318.88

Talk Talk Plus TV, Broadband and Phone

Anytime

14MB

Unlimited

Free

£30.45

Includes YouView

82 channels

£365.40

Virgin Media Classic Collection

Weekend

30MB

Unlimited

£49.95

£22.99/£32.99

£10 off for the first six months

52 channels

£385.83

Virgin Media Essential Collection (Broadband 30MB + Phone:L + TV: M+)

Evening and weekend

30MB

Unlimited

Free

£41.59

£60 + £35 credit

77 channels

£404.08

BT YouView TV Essential + Unlimited Broadband and Calls

Weekend

16MB

Truly unlimited

£55.95

£31.45

£25 Sainsbury’s voucher

80 channels

£433.35

Sky Entertainment + Broadband Lite + Talk Weekends

Weekend

14MB

2GB

£79

£36

£25 M&S voucher

315 channels

£511

Source: broadbandchoices.co.uk

As you can see the £95 saving you can make for a limited period places Virgin Media above the competition for phone, TV and broadband combination deals. The Virgin Media Essential Collection is over £46 cheaper than the Talk Talk package, a pretty significant difference.

What's more Virgin again offers the fastest speed out of the cheapest deals with the chance to boost packages up to 100MB. But this time only BT offers truly unlimited usage.

It's worth noting that Virgin Media superfast fibre optic broadband is only available in selected areas so make sure you can get access by checking your postcode on the website.

One downside to the Virgin deal is that you only get 77 channels whereas other providers offer much more - Sky has 315! Plus you only get weekend calls with the top Virgin deal - onlyyou have to pay an extra £86 to get evening calls thrown in.

Right for you

Although Virgin appears to be the cheapest of the bundles, this is based on the total first year cost.

The contract on offer from Virgin lasts 18 months while other providers like Sky offer shorter 12-month tie-ins, so you might want to take this into consideration before making your decision.

As always it pays to shop around and compare prices against what you need to get the best deal for you.

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