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Virgin Mobile review: are they better now on O2?

Virgin Mobile logo with a phone and a SIM cardVisit virginmedia.com

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We joined Virgin Mobile as a new customer on SIM only to put their coverage, speeds and benefits to the test, now they use O2. Last updated: 11th July 2023.

Overall rating

SIM Sherpa rates Virgin Mobile as good, for the money
 (3/5, good)

"There’s no denying the main reason to join Virgin Mobile is low prices. Their SIM only deals on 1-month contracts always come near the top of comparisons. And 36-month phone contracts work out cheap per month.

But the actual quality of their network experience makes Virgin worth joining too. Using O2 means leading coverage for calls/texts, while 4G data signal is decent enough too. 5G is a work in progress.

You also get a few nice added perks. Free data for social media messaging is nice, data rollover is always useful and they make good use of their Virgin Media WiFi network of hotspots to save mobile data.

Where Virgin Mobile lack is when you interact with them as a customer. They have a worrying record with the government regulator Ofcom and we found managing our account a little rough round the edges.

But if you know this up front, we can see people willing to tolerate it to bank the great prices."

The 3 best bits

1) Short, cheap SIM only contracts
2) Solid coverage and speeds
3) Extras like WiFi calling / hotspots

The 3 worst bits

1) Worst customer service record
2) Glitchy online account management
3) Conditions on roaming

Is Virgin Mobile UK closing down?

No. Despite the merger between O2 and Virgin Media, there are currently no known plans to close down Virgin Mobile. It has millions of customers and offers a different product to different people to O2.

Who is Virgin Mobile owned by?

Virgin Mobile is owned by Virgin Media, a company owned by a larger parent company called Liberty Global. Richard Branson does not own Virgin Mobile in the UK. Virgin Media lease the Virgin brand.

Does Virgin Mobile offer 5G?

Yes. Virgin Mobile offer 5G on all their SIM only plans and phone contracts for models with the feature. The 5G data service is provided via the O2 network for new customers and Vodafone for existing ones.

Will Virgin Mobile switch to the O2 network?

Yes. New customers' SIMs will now use the O2 network for signal. Existing Virgin Mobile customers may still be on Vodafone. Years ago, Virgin also used EE!

Are Virgin Mobile and EE the same company?

No they are separate companies. EE are owned by BT. Virgin Mobile are owned by Virgin Media-O2.

Does Virgin Mobile have WiFi calling?

Yes and 4G calling (VoLTE). They run their own system. They don’t use O2/Vodafone’s WiFi calling, despite using their networks. Check your phone is supported though, as it’s not universal.

Can you keep your number on Virgin Mobile?

Yes. All you have to do is get your PAC from your old provider. You get this by texting the word PAC 65075 from your old SIM. You then provide Virgin Mobile with the code and they’ll arrange to transfer your number.

Information symbol We're a professional reviews website but we bought our Virgin Mobile SIM card as a regular consumer, to test what it's actually like for real life paying customers. The contents of this review are a combination of our expert industry knowledge and what we experienced during our test.

Virgin Mobile's network

Coverage for 4G and call signal is a strength on Virgin

Virgin Mobile network map screenshot

Check 5G/4G/3G/2G signal with their mapCheck Virgin signal

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

New Virgin Mobile customers will get signal via O2’s network. This is because the two networks have started to merge and Virgin have moved over to using O2’s network to provide 5G/4G/3G/2G signal.

For calls and texts, this is good news. You'll be accessing the joint-best network for the amount of the UK's physical geography they've got covered. Fewer blackspots and better indoor signal than most.

In terms of 4G (see 5G here) they’re a bit behind other networks for coverage (such as EE and Vodafone) but it’s not a weakness of Virgin either. You’ll get 4G in all big cities and in most small towns and villages.

It’s worth checking what their signal is like in your local area by using Virgin’s coverage checker here. Have a look wherever you’re expecting to need signal.

Useful link: Our Virgin Mobile vs O2 guide

Our coverage rating:
★★★★☆ (excellent)

Rank:
Joint 2nd
(out of 4 places)

Not as good as:
EE, BT Mobile

Similar to:
O2, Vodafone
(and all providers that use them)

Data speeds are typically a downside on Virgin Mobile

Rocket themed mobile phone

Speeds can be fast where signal is goodRead why

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

For new customers joining Virgin Mobile on a SIM card that uses the O2 network, data speeds are going to take a bit of a hit vs what they were when Virgin used Vodafone and EE.

Independent network testers Opensignal measure typical speeds on all networks. Their latest report shows typical 4G speeds around 16.8 Mbps (identical to O2’s), making them the joint-slowest 4G network.

We tested 4G data speeds using a Virgin SIM in different locations and compared them to the speeds we got on our O2 SIM to see if there were any differences.

In rural areas we went as low as 5 Mbps and rarely got much higher than that. But in the city centre we were able to get a healthy 90+ Mbps which is a lot faster than what Opensignals’ report shows.

But we can see how they get their typical speeds as most of the time we sat around 15 Mbps - 20 Mbps.

Speeds did fluctuate between O2 and Virgin, but not enough to conclusively say one is faster than the other. So we can say it’s likely you’ll get similar speeds on Virgin and O2.

That’s similar to what you’d get over old copper style home broadband. For browsing or social media use you won’t notice the slower speeds, but HD videos may buffer noticeably more often than on other networks.

Not only do Virgin provide similar speeds to O2, but they will soon merge with O2 entirely. We think EE might be the better choice for rural 4G speeds, but Virgin and O2 are good choices for urban users.

Useful link: What Virgin say about speeds

Our speed rating:
★★★★☆ (excellent)

Rank:
Joint 2nd

Not as good as:
EE

Better than:
Three, Vodafone, O2
(and other providers that use them)

5G signal is great on Virgin, but speeds are underwhelming

Speeds can vary massivelySee 5G locations

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Virgin Mobile also get access to O2’s growing 5G network and offer it on all their plans for no added cost. But they’re unfortunately not the strongest for 5G coverage or speeds.

You can get 5G in 750+ locations on Virgin (the same as on O2) which is more than any other network. And on a street-by-street basis in these locations, coverage is quite good.

Results from Opensignal and Speedtest by Ookla show typical 5G speeds sit between 80.57 Mbps - 92.3 Mbps, with peak speeds up to 214.2 Mbps. That means they’re the joint-slowest network for 5G as well as 4G.

It’s also knowing that EE are ahead of them in terms of how well they cover their declared 5G locations. But while Virgin aren’t the strongest 5G network, it’s still great that it’s included on all plans.

Useful link: Read our rankings for the best 5G networks

Our 5G rating:
★★★☆☆ (great)

Rank:
3rd

Not as good as:
EE, Three

Better than:
Vodafone

Virgin support few phone models for WiFi/4G calling

Virgin Mobile WiFi calling

Fewer compatible devices than othersCheck models

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Virgin have offered WiFi calling and 4G calling features for a long time now. These let you make and receive calls over WiFi or 4G signal if you’re somewhere with weak call signal (2G/3G).

While it’s always a nice feature to have, they’re not the best in our estimation. Virgin’s WiFi calling has its own issues:

Their list of supported devices is decently long and any devices not on the list definitely won’t work for WiFi calling. And in our testing we couldn’t transfer from a WiFi call to a 4G call without it dropping.

We tested out their WiFi calling by finding an area indoors where there was absolutely no signal (usually by getting as low to the ground as possible).

On Virgin we found that any Android models not on their list wouldn’t work for WiFi calling at all, which isn’t the case on all networks. But our iPhone worked fine after turning it on in our settings.

With some other networks we found that Android models not on their list would still work, but not the case with Virgin Mobile. But with our test iPhone it worked fine after we turned it on in our settings.

In our tests we found that your call will drop if you lose WiFi signal on a WiFi call. Virgin let you make calls over 4G but you can’t transfer a WiFi call to a 4G one without it dropping, unlike on some networks.

Expanding their support to more models and letting you go from WiFi to 4G without dropping your call would raise our opinions of them. But for now we’ll just say it’s decent. Not astounding, but good enough.

Useful link: Our guide to the networks with WiFi calling

Our WiFi calling rating:
★★☆☆☆ (average)

Rank:
6th
(we're still investigating)

Not as good as:
Three, EE, BT Mobile, iD Mobile, Vodafone

Same as:
All others

Virgin offer a nice handful of extra network features

Virgin Mobile free WiFi hotspots

Loads of WiFi hotspots around the UKSee hotspot coverage

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Virgin’s huge network of 4.3 million+ WiFi hotspots are really handy for saving data on the go. O2 also offer lots of hotspots, so we could see a merging of the two schemes once Virgin move over to O2 entirely.

Or if you want to tether other devices to your phone’s data signal, Virgin let you do it without limits on all plans. So long as you’ve got decent 4G/5G signal you’ll be able to tether smoothly.

Virgin don’t support call forwarding, so you can’t divert incoming calls from one number to another if you can’t answer or want to leave one line free. Here are all the networks that do support it.

Voicemails are included in your plan at no extra cost and you set up your own custom message or just not have one. But Virgin don’t yet support visual voicemail as a feature (see which networks do here).

Finally, it seems Virgin don’t offer eSIMs anymore. We couldn’t take one out and when we asked their customer service said we could get an eSIM on O2 instead, so this is probably a part of their merging with O2.

Useful link: Find your nearest WiFi hotspot

Virgin Mobile benefits

Data rollover is a great extra benefit on Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile's data rollover scheme

Another month to use your leftover dataHow it works

from Virgin's own guide
(opens in new window)

Virgin include their data rollover feature on every pay monthly SIM only plan and phone deal. Not a lot of networks have it, so it’s a great benefit to get on top of your Virgin Mobile plan.

If you choose a double data boosted offer like we did you’ll only get the non-promotional data rolled-over. There’s nothing manual to do as Virgin will calculate it for you and send you a text when it’s done:

You can see exactly how much data you’ve used in their mobile app. This will show you that any data boosts you have will be use up first, then your rolled-over data and then your regular data allowance:

It’s nice to know you’ll not have to wrack your brain with calculating all this. It’s a simple and user-friendly scheme that helps you get the most data for your pound.

Any data you didn’t use in one month will be automatically transferred to your next month’s data allowance. So you get another chance to use the data you’ve paid for, rather than watching it disappear each month.

The scheme works best for rolling over a bit of data, since if you’re accumulating a lot of unused data we’d say you should choose a cheaper plan.

We like how Virgin’s scheme works, but it’s not as good as Sky’s that lets you keep unused data for up to 3 years rather than just your next month. In any case it’s a great extra to get on your plan.

Useful link: Virgin Mobile's data rollover help guide

Our data rollover rating:
★★★☆☆ (good)

Better than:
All others

Unlimited social media data can save a handy bit of data

Free social media messaging on Virgin Mobile

Use these apps without eating your dataRead full details

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

When networks offer free data schemes they either offer free data to stream video/music (such as EE), for social media apps (like Virgin) or both (which is what VOXI do).

With any pay monthly plan (either SIM only or phone contract) Virgin will offer you unlimited data to use for messaging on Facebook, scrolling Twitter or for use on Whatsapp (even with videos but not video calls).

We wanted to stretch this benefit to the extreme, so we used each app as intensively as we could (sending large videos on Whatsapp for example). We then looked to see if we had used up any data.

Screenshot of Virgin Mobile data usage

We found that none of our data was used up. It really does what it says on the tin.

There are a few drawbacks to note, which Virgin list here on their website. First the scheme doesn’t work while you’re abroad and second you do need some data left over for it to work.

Comparing it to other data schemes, you’ll find it’s not the most valuable in terms of savings. Some of VOXI’s plans give you data-free social media and video streaming. But if you message on the daily, Virgin’s is a helpful scheme.

Useful link: All details on how Virgin's free messaging works

Our free data rating:
★★★☆☆ (good)

Not as good as:
Three, EE, VOXI

Better than:
All others

EU roaming is included but is unnecessarily complicated

Free EU roaming on Virgin Mobile

Inclusive roaming in 43 EU countriesLatest destination list

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Virgin have kept their EU roaming policy in place while many networks have got rid of theirs. So you can use your UK mins, texts and data abroad at no extra cost, but there is a limit to your data usage while there.

While they mention it all over their website, finding precise details can be a massive pain. They do have a calculator here which lets you work out how much you can use abroad without being charged extra.

When we landed in the EU we found roaming worked automatically on our Virgin SIM. We didn’t need to do anything manually.

You’ll receive your information text almost as soon as you turn off airplane mode. We were able to get 4G basically everywhere, which is good as some networks can only get you 3G while you’re abroad.

Having to calculate the fair usage policy for your plan is annoying. But we didn’t get anywhere near our limit while abroad, so for short trips you don’t have to worry too much about going over that limit.

It’s an unfortunate blight on an otherwise great scheme. There’s really no reason to make it so complicated other than wanting to make as much money off roamers as possible.

If you go beyond the EU then your usage will get expensive quickly. You’ll pay at these steep rates per min, text and MB of data on top of your bill. Even just 1MB of data in the USA costs £5 (or 1GB for £5000!).

Useful link: Virgin's full guide to roaming on their network

Our roaming rating:
★★☆☆☆ (average)

Rank:
Last

Similar to:
Most others

There are a few nice smaller benefits on Virgin too…

Spending caps banner

Set an overspending limit how you likeSee the benefits

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Virgin’s plans are all on 1-month deals, meaning you can switch plans each month if you’re spending too much or always going over your data allowance. But you will lose your rolled over data if you switch plans.

You can also cap your extra spending at fairly small increments. This is helpful if you don’t want to rack up a massive bill, but some networks do let you set it at £1 increments (like Talkmobile).

Apart from that, Virgin don’t have a huge amount of added benefits. It’s also worth knowing what benefits O2 offer, as once Virgin merges with O2 these are the benefits you’ll get instead (read our O2 review here).

Useful link: How to set your spending cap on Virgin Mobile

Other networks offer benefits that you might prefer

Sky Mobile piggybank banner

You get 3 years to use leftover dataRead all benefits

at sky.com
(opens in new window)

While we like Virgin’s social media data benefit, VOXI offer free data for streaming videos with their Unlimited Video benefit. This can save a lot more data than Virgin’s benefit each month.

Sky Mobile offer a similar benefit for their TV customers, which Virgin could try to copy as they also offer TV services. As it stands, the only benefit for being an existing Virgin customer is their Family Plans.

Virgin also don’t offer any inclusive worldwide roaming, which their hosts O2 offer on their higher end plans with their Travel Inclusive Zone benefit.

Here we’ve picked out some of the best current SIM only deals which get you O2’s Travel Inclusive Zone:

And finally, you’re missing out on arguably better data rollover schemes like Sky Mobile’s piggybank and SMARTY’s money back for unused data schemes.

In all fairness, these are all very special benefits and no network can offer everything. We don’t think they’ll bring out anything new as they’re planning to merge with O2, but we can only wait and see.

Useful link: Read our guide for the best unlimited data streaming schemes

Virgin Mobile deals and plans

What type of deal are you interested in?

Choose an option to skip to the right section:

Special offers running on Virgin Mobile

Here are the latest promotions on SIM only or phone contracts.

Virgin Mobile's SIM only plans

Use our price comparison tool further below to find the right deal

Key facts about Virgin's SIM only plans

You’re allowed to move both up and down plans on Virgin. So if you need more minutes and data, you can switch to a more expensive plan that gives you more.

But if you find you’ve always got minutes or data spare at the end of the month, you can move down to a cheaper plan, to pay less each month. You can do this once a month, as many times as you like.

Find a SIM only plan

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Phone contracts from Virgin Mobile

Here are the pros and cons of getting a phone contract on Virgin Mobile:

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Virgin’s phone contracts offer great flexibility

Screenshot of phone contract comparison

Compare phone deals

at simsherpa.com
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If price is a priority for you, then we think Virgin’s Mobile’s phone contracts will definitely appeal to you. You don’t have to pay anything upfront and they’re typically cheaper than on some networks.

The cost of your device is the same whether you take a 24-month or 36-month contract (not all networks do this). But their longer contracts are better if you just want a lower monthly bill.

Your usage plan (mins, texts, data) and your device are on separate finance agreements. This means you can switch your data deal whenever you like. And you can pay lump sums to end your phone contract early.

And you’re free to leave Virgin entirely once you've paid off the cost of your device (with 30 day’s notice beforehand). Overall, we think customers will appreciate the added flexibility of Virgin’s phone deals.

Useful link: Browse Virgin Mobile's phone range

Credit checks can be quite strict for phone contracts

How Freestyle contracts work

How Freestyle works

at virginmedia.com
(opens in new window)

Most of the time you’ll have to pass a credit check to join a networks’ phone contracts. So customers with poor or no credit history will find it harder to join on one, especially on higher end devices.

The reason for this is that Virgin are basically loaning you the money for your phone on the promise that you’ll pay it back with monthly payments. They have to lend responsibly (see the terms and conditions here).

It can be hard to pass these checks, as any blips in you credit history may mean you end up being rejected for a phone contract. Virgin make them strict for a good reason, but it’s still important to know.

Their trade-in scheme, where you can give in your phone to upgrade it early, is pretty poor in our eyes. We think you’re better off selling your phone to pay off your loan.

Useful link: Browse Virgin Mobile's phone range

Pay As You Go isn’t available on Virgin

1p Mobile pay as you go rates

The cheapest tariffs in the UKSee PAYG rates

at 1pmobile.com
(opens in new window)

Only a few networks let you pay as you go in the traditional way and Virgin aren’t one of them. They scrapped their scheme a while ago, but it was expensive and only got you 3G data, so no big loss.

It’s a shame as pay as you go can be a great option for those who don’t use their phones often at all. At the very least having the choice can be nice.

1pMobile are definitely worth a look if you’re certain you want a traditional Pay As You Go scheme. They have rates of 1p per minute, text and MB of data, while giving you many of the same features as most networks.

Useful link: Read our 1pMobile review

Virgin Mobile customer service

Customer service isn’t a strong point on Virgin

Ofcom complaints data table

Virgin get more complaints than averageRead Ofcom's report

at ofcom.org.uk
(opens in new window)

When customers can’t get their issues resolved with their network, they can turn to Ofcom, the government regulator for the telecoms industry.

They measure complaints based on how many they get for every 100,000 customers. The industry average has stayed at 2 in their latest report, and Virgin sit with a disappointing 4 complaints per 100,000 customers.

By using their customer service in real life, we can understand now why this is the case.

Their over-the-phone agents didn’t have a good enough English level for us to explain our more complicated problems with them. That made it harder to get our issue resolved than it should have been.

Their app works alright for getting help, but their online account management glitches more often than it works. It can sometimes be hard just to log in, let alone making any changes to your account.

It is good that they let you call them, as lots of low-cost networks don’t have over-the-phone services at all. And they offer other avenues of getting help as well, including going into a physical store for help.

In any case, this doesn’t mean you’ll always run into problems trying to get help with Virgin, it’s just that it’s typically harder to get your issue resolved with them than on some other networks.

Useful link: Our guide to the best customer service networks

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