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The clock is ticking on the latest giveaway from Virgin Media, which is offering a tough choice to those looking to join the full-fibre broadband firm or renegotiate a new contract. Until the clock strikes midnight tonight (September 22) Virgin Media is offering customers a brand-new 4K TV from Hisenseor£200 off full-fibre broadband and television bills.
The 43-inch flatscreen from Hisense has an RRP of £249. For those who don't know, 4K Ultra HD has 4x as many pixels as 1080p HD — offering more detail on-screen. On-demand boxsets from HBO and Sky TV, as well as streamers like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and live coverage of sports on Sky Sports all support this pixel-packed resolution.
But if you're not looking for a new television, Virgin Media will offer £200 bill credit instead.
This will be deducted automatically from your Direct Debit each month until you've used the allowance. Depending on the cost of the package that you've selected, that £200 windfall could mean you don't have anything to pay for the first three to four months of your new contract — that means you could be bill-free until early 2024.
As well as using the credit to pay bills, you can also use it to buy on-demand entertainment on Virgin TV.
To make the flash sale even more tempting, Virgin Media has waived its usual £35 set-up fee. This is designed to cover the cost of any maintenance or engineer call-outs throughout the duration of the 18-month contract. Virgin Media recently added a series of themed channels for free, which will also be available to new users.
The timing of the latest giveaway from Virgin Media across its full-fibre broadband and television bundles couldn't be better. That's because the long-delayed “One Touch” switch system is finally becoming available across the UK.
For those who haven't been closely following the saga, this new system was introduced by regulators to enable customers to switch between rival broadband infrastructure in the UK — like Virgin Media’s full-fibre network, which connects to roughly 16 million homes, to smaller operators like HyperOptic and Community Fibre, as well as BT-owned Openreach — without hassle.
For the first time, when moving between these brands, there’s no need to contact your current supplier. Instead, your new supplier will sort everything behind the scenes. If that sounds familiar, it's because this seamless behind-the-scenes experience already exists... but only for those who move between brands that operate on Openreach cables, like BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk, and Plusnet, to name just a few. For the first time, regulators will insist that those moving between full-fibre networks enjoy the same experience.
That means if your new provider is unable to connect you on the date agreed, you’ll receive compensation. You don't need to take action, the money will be sent automatically.
The “One Touch” switch system has been delayed multiple times, and even now, it's a staggered roll-out across the UK, so it might not be available at your address today — but stay tuned.
It's worth noting the latest blockbuster offer isn't available on every bundle in the Virgin Media line-up.
The free 43-inch flatscreen is limited to Virgin Media bundles that combine TV with its full-fibre broadband. Virgin Media, which recently ranked as the most reliable broadband supplier in the country, is available in some 16 million homes and businesses across the UK. Its pay-TV service, which is delivered via the same fibre-optic cables as its broadband, is in direct competition with Sky and the newly-relaunched EE TV.
Whether you're tempted by the Hisense TV or the £200 off bills, you'll need to take action fast.
The flash sale from Virgin Media is only available until 11:59pm this evening (Sunday September 22, 2024).
Unfortunately, if you're already a Virgin Media user, you'll not be eligible for this generous giveaway as it's only available to new customers. If you've used Virgin Media in the past, you might be able to claim the freebie if you've been away long enough to be considered a new customer.
Following a shake-up from Sky Broadband earlier this year, Virgin Media is now one of the only broadband providers that still offers an 18-month minimum contract term for its TV and broadband plans. That means you'll be able to renegotiate a new deal or upgrade to more channels and faster speeds sooner.
Virgin Media’s free 4K TV isn’t available with every plan it offers, so you’ll need to pick between a few select plans. The bundles that are eligible for the £200 bill credit of free TV are as follows...
As the name suggests, this bundle arrives with over 200 channels, including the complete Sky Cinema package and 11 dedicated kids’ channels. Everything can be watched on the included Virgin TV 360 set-top box or on your phone or tablet with the companion app. You’ll also get ultrafast fibre broadband with average download speeds of 132Mbps, and free weekend calls to UK numbers.
If you’re looking for live sports coverage, the Bigger Sports HD Combo has you covered. It comes with all Sky Sports channels alongside over 195 other paid- and free-to-watch channels. You’ll get a slightly faster broadband connection with this bundle, boasting average download speeds of 264Mbps as well as free weekend calls to UK numbers.
Take delivery of a Virgin TV 360 set-top box with all Sky Sports and Sky Cinema channels to watch alongside over 210 other paid- and free-to-watch channels. If that isn’t enough to keep you occupied, there’s also a Netflix subscription included too. When it comes to broadband, expect a fibre connection with an average download speed of 132Mbps and free weekend calls.
There’s not a lot missing from this jam-packed bundle from Virgin Media. You’ll have over 230 paid- and free-to-watch channels on the TV 360 set-top box, as well as Sky Sports and Sky Cinema in HD. You'll also enjoy an ad-free Netflix subscription too. It comes with one of the speedier broadband connections, with average download speeds topping 514Mbps and an O2 SIM card with a 10GB data allowance and unlimited calls and texts.
Following the merger between Virgin Media and O2 back in June 2021, anyone who signs up for Virgin Media will be eligible for O2 Priority. The loyalty scheme offers discounted cinema tickets, coffees and lunch deals from the biggest high street chains, as well as early access to gig tickets.
There's a 14-day cooling off period with all of the above deals, so you'll be able to downgrade your bundle, tweak the fibre broadband speeds, or walk away entirely if you're not satisfied.
Virgin Media offers full-fibre broadband speeds to all of its 16 million customers, with top speeds sitting at around 1Gbps — that's 14x faster than the average broadband speed across the UK
VIRGIN MEDIA PRESS OFFICELive and on-demand television will be available via the Virgin TV 360 box, the latest set-top box from the company with support for 4K Ultra HD picture quality, voice search to quickly find the show, actor or director that you're looking for — across linear channels and libraries from your favourite streaming apps.
There are also dedicated profiles for every member of the family, so you'll be able to separate everyone's viewing habits and suggestions for new boxsets and films will be better tailored to individuals.
You'll also be able to stream from the TV 360 box on up to five of your devices, using Virgin TV Go. Or add up to two additional Virgin TV Mini boxes for an extra charge, so there’s no more fighting over the remote!
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Virgin Media has its own nationwide broadband network, which is available in over 16 million homes. It's completely separate from BT-owned Openreach, which is used by broadband suppliers like BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk, and Plusnet to connect customers to the internet.
Virgin Media uses a different technology, which offers download speeds of over 1,100Mbps at every address on its network. In comparison, Openreach is halfway through planned upgrades to connect millions of properties to next-generation full-fibre broadband.
All Virgin Media customers will be supplied with a Wi-Fi router compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 6 wireless standard, something that's only recently come to Vodafone customers.
