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 |
Weekend |
30MB |
Unlimited |
Free |
£14.99/£29.49 |
Six months free £40 + £35 credit |
£191.88 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
14MB |
Unlimited |
£6.00 |
£19.00* |
£30 credit |
£204 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
10GB |
16MB |
£5.99 |
£16.98 |
Half price for 12 months |
£209.75 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
20GB |
16MB |
£3.00 |
£17.25** |
Half price for 12 months £100 M&S voucher |
£210 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free |
£17.90 |
Half price for 12 months £30 Tesco voucher |
£214.80 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free |
£18.20 |
Half price for 12 months |
£218.40 |
|
Evening & Weekend |
14MB |
40GB |
£4.95 |
£18.18 |
£223.11 |
||
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
[SPOTLIGHT]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 |
Weekend |
30MB |
Unlimited |
Free |
£27.99/£40.99 |
Half price for the first six months £60 + £35 credit 77 channels |
£318.88 |
|
Anytime |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free |
£30.45 |
Includes YouView 82 channels |
£365.40 |
|
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 |
Weekend |
16MB |
Truly unlimited |
£55.95 |
£31.45 |
£25 Sainsbury’s voucher 80 channels |
£433.35 |
|
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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