Virgin Media customers will today finally get 4G connectivity after waiting almost four years compared to rival networks.
It may have been a long time coming, but today Virgin Media finally launched its own 4G LTE service, using the EE spectrum. While unlimited plans are now a thing of the past, Virgin Media will be introducing a new ‘Zero rated’ access scheme which includes free unlimited usage of messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Multimedia content such as images and video will also be included free of charge, giving them a significant selling point over rivals. The MVNO is also introducing ‘data rollover’ to its 4G plans, meaning that any allowance left over at the end of each month will be carried across to the next.
Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at uSwitch, praised the move: “Virgin [Media] has offered a sideswipe to the competition in the form of free Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger usage that doesn’t eat into your data allowance and a fair selection of tariffs.”
“Although these apps don’t consume huge amounts of data, 42% of British mobile users continue to spend an extra £40 per year on out-of-tariff mobile charges – and with around four in ten incurring these costs by exceeding their mobile data allowances – so every little helps.”
Virgin Media’s new plans will start at £6 per month. For this you’ll get 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 300MB of data. The price rises to £25 for 5000 minutes, unlimited texts and 20GB of data. The MVNO has also said that it will cap additional data usage fees at £2 per day, meaning that users won’t get left with any surprising bills.
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