Introduction to Virgin Media

Virgin Media is the UK's largest fibre optic cable provider, currently covering 13m UK homes (mostly in urban areas). It is made up of the merger of a number of pre-existing cable companies like Telewest and NTL and is part-owned by Richard Branson.

Virgin Media services

Virgin Media provides digital TV, broadband and home phone services. If you live outside a Virgin Media cable area, it also offers a Virgin Media National DSL broadband and home phone package (but no TV services).  You can use the postcode checker on the Simplifydigital.com website to check if you are in a Virgin Media cable area. 

Virgin Media's digital TV packages offer between 40 - 160 channels. Premium Sky movies and Sky Sports packages are also available. Virgin Media TV subscribers get access to 500 films and thousands of shows on demand. Watch them when you want, pause them, rewind them. It's as easy as watching a DVD. Virgin Media does not have as much HD (high definition) TV content as Sky, but its HDTV channel range is growing fast and it has a large library of on-demand content in HD.

Also Virgin Media lets you watch BBC iPlayer on your TV. So if you've missed your favourite BBC show, you don't have to settle for watching it on a computer monitor.

Virgin Media has a PVR (personal video recorder) like Sky+, called a V+ Box. It lets you pause and rewind live TV. You can record two programmes at once, while watching a third. XL TV subscribers get the V+ box for free. Everyone else has to pay a monthly fee to 'rent' the box from Virgin Media. The provider has successfully launched its TiVo (set-top box TV recorder) services after penning papers with, the US PVR manufacturer.

Virgin Media encourages all subscribers to take their home phone line rental. It's not necessary, but it does make the digital TV and broadband packages cheaper.

Virgin Media's fibre optic broadband

Virgin Media remains the UK's largest and oldest-established provider of fibre optic broadband. Fibre has a number of major benefits, allowing faster broadband speeds.

Indeed Ofcom's latest research shows that Virgin Media broadband delivers 90-96per cent of the advertised "up to" broadband speed, versus 78per cent for BT Infinity (the BT fibre optic broadband service) and just 29 per cent for the other ADSL broadband providers such as Sky, TalkTalk, BT Broadband etc. All these broadband services are ideal for busy families who are online a lot and who may have more than one person online at any one time.

Virgin Media history

As mentioned before, Virgin Media was launched in February 2007 out of a merger between NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile.

In doing so, it became the first quadruple-play media company in the UK offering all four services: broadband, digital TV, landline and mobile services.

This combination means that Virgin Media is in a unique position to offer the greatest number of packages to suit your lifestyle needs.

It is no surprise that Virgin Media is the largest company in Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

In the last year, Virgin Media has challenged Sky's supremacy as the UK's leading subscription-based digital TV provider. While Sky still has more channels, including over 30 in stunning high definition, Virgin Media has TV Choice on demand and 5 HD channels.

Virgin Media phone line

All of Virgin Media's services are delivered via a fibre optic cable, including the phone line. You will not need a traditional landline from BT or another provider.

You do not have to get the Virgin Media phone line to get the other services, but it does make them cheaper.

All Virgin Media broadband packages come with specialist software to protect your PC from online spyware, malware, annoying pop-ups and fraudulent 'phishing' sites that try to steal your personal details. It also has parental controls to filter out sites that may be inappropriate for children.

All Packages come with a free wireless router, so you can go online anywhere in the house, or even the garden.

Bundling services

You can save money by taking out more than once service at a time. It's worth keeping an eye out for promotions as well, Virgin Media is famous for generous freebies such as complimentary installs or 6 months free services.

If you are not in a cabled area

Virgin Media National is perfect if you don't live in one of Virgin Media's cabled areas.

It offers both home phone and broadband services for people who live which are not currently blanketed by Virgin Media's services.

The broadband is available at speeds of up to 20Mbps, which is above the UK average. Similarly to fibre optic broadband, Virgin Media National comes with free software that protects your PC from web-bugs so that both you and your children are safe online.

On top of all that you get a free wireless router so you can connect one or more computers to the internet at any time from practically anywhere in your house.

If you bundle your services with Virgin National you can also receive great home phone rates.

You can choose between free weekend and evening calls or, for a slightly higher cost, you can receive unlimited anytime calls.

Why it may not be right for you

Be aware that Virgin Media National doesn't offer a TV package so, if your after a wider choice of channels its worth looking at Sky, BT or, for a more inexpensive option, Freesat.

In addition, the service isn't the most competitive broadband offering out there. If you do just want internet access, at a high speed, it's worth looking at providers such as O2 or AOL.