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Search Cancel Broadband TV Mobile Energy Insurance Money Search Cancel Broadband Compare Broadband Compare Broadband & TV Compare Broadband Broadband & TV 30-day plans Fibre broadband Full fibre Business Providers BT Sky Virgin Media TalkTalk Plusnet EE Now Hyperoptic Vodafone Guides Fastest Cheapest Customer service How to switch Affordable tariffs Fixed prices More guides Reviews Virgin Gig1 Sky vs Virgin TalkTalk Plusnet Hyperoptic More reviews Latest news TV Compare TV & Broadband Compare TV Packages Compare TV & Broadband TV Sky Sports BT Sport Sky Cinema TV with Netflix Providers BT Sky Virgin Media Now TalkTalk EE Guides Virgin TV 360 BT TV Box Pro TV boxes Sky Sports Sky Cinema More guides Reviews Sky TV Virgin Media Now TV BT TV More reviews Latest news Mobile Compare Mobile Phones Compare Mobile Broadband Compare SIM Only Compare Mobile Phones Pay As You Go SIM Only Mobile Broadband Providers EE O2 Three Vodafone Guides Best coverage Customer service Best for 5G Free streaming Fixed prices More guides Latest news Handsets iPhone 13 iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 12 Mini Galaxy S21 Galaxy S21 Plus Galaxy S21 Ultra Sony Xperia 10 III Energy Gas & Electricity Energy crisis Energy crisis help Energy Price Cap Cheapest supplier Energy saving tips Energy efficiency When suppliers collapse Latest news Energy grants Boiler upgrades Insulation schemes Energy debt Winter bills More guides How to energy guides Claim bill credit How to switch Smart meters Prepay meters How to read a bill How to complain More guides Insurance Compare Car Insurance Compare Home Insurance Compare Pet Insurance Motor Insurance Car Insurance Van Insurance Motorbike Insurance Dash cam discounts Electric car cover Classic cars Young drivers Insurance groups Home Insurance Home Insurance How to claim Contents cover Flood cover Pet Insurance Pet Insurance Why insure your pet Money Compare Bank Accounts Compare Credit Cards Compare Personal Loans Bank Accounts Bank Accounts High Interest Cash Rewards Insurance Benefits Overdrafts Basic Accounts Credit Cards Credit Cards 0% Transfers 0% Purchases Cashback Air Miles Credit Building Loans Personal Loans Home Improvement Debt Consolidation Large Loans Guides Balance transfers Customer service Mobile banking Basic bank accounts Repair credit rating Section 75 More guides Latest news Home > Broadband > Virgin Media > Gig1 Broadband Review VIRGIN MEDIA GIG1 BROADBAND REVIEW Last updated: 9 April 2022 By Dr Lucy Brown, Editor Virgin Media Gig1 offers speeds of over 1Gb per second to 15.5 million households in the UK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gig1 offers the fastest widely available broadband for many in the UK with blistering top speeds. Price: Speed: Reliability: Customer Service: For many, it will be the fastest available broadband in their area with average download speeds of 1.13Gb. There is also the option to add a landline, inclusive calls, TV and a 5G SIM in the biggest bundle Virgin offer. Virgin Gig1 is also now available across the entire Virgin Media network of 15.5 million homes. In this guide At a glance Gig1 packages Price comparison Router Speed Customer service Availability Verdict In this guide: 1. At a glance 2. Gig1 packages 3. Price comparison 4. Router 5. Speed 6. Customer service 7. Availability 8. Verdict -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIRGIN MEDIA GIG1: AT A GLANCE SPECIAL OFFERS Offer Terms Get this offer Virgin Media Ultimate Volt Bundle just £85 a month with no setup fee. 18 month minimum term. No set up fee. £161/mth after 18 months. Get this offer Get this offer Virgin Media Big bundle just £33 a month with no setup fee. 18 month minimum term. No set up fee. £65/mth after 18 months. Get this offer Get this offer Virgin Media 200Mb broadband, free weekend calls and an O2 SIM with 10GB data, unlimited mins and texts for just £38 a month with no setup fee. 18 month minimum term. No set up fee. £63/mth after 18 months. Get this offer Get this offer No setup fee on selected Virgin fibre broadband and TV packages (was £35) 18 month minimum term. No set up fee. Prices vary depending on package chosen. Get this offer WHAT'S ON OFFER Broadband Cable Download speeds 1.13Gb Upload speeds 52Mb Home phone Optional home phone TV Bundles available Router Virgin Hub 4 Minimum term 18 months Price from £62 What we like What we don't like Fastest widely available broadband Possible reliability issues Good hardware with the Hub 4 Upload speeds around 52Mb Intelligent WiFi Plus included free Limited availability Option to add home phone and calls Not the cheapest -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIRGIN GIG1 BROADBAND PACKAGES Gig1 from Virgin Media is now available to all 15.5 million households on the Virgin Media network following the completion of their network upgrade in December 2021. The package is the fastest available from Virgin Media and comes on an 18-month contract. Customers can add a phone plan to the service with free calls at the weekend to UK landlines. Here are the current deals for Gig1: Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term Go Gig1 Fibre Broadband 1.13Gb average £60 Free 18 months Offer: No setup fee (was £35) Go Gig1 Fibre Broadband + Talk Weekends 1.13Gb average £64 £35 18 months Virgin Media broadband As we can see, the cost of adding a landline isn't much more than taking broadband on its own, so customers who want those services can cheaply benefit from them while those who won't use them don't have to have them bundled together. A couple of other things to note: the 18-month contract term and set-up fee. Virgin Media currently offer 18-month minimum contracts to customers taking Gig1. There are no shorter contract options such as 30-day broadband, but at least customers aren't tied in for 24-months as some providers insist. Equally, Virgin charges a £35 set-up fee for all their broadband packages as standard, although this is sometimes waived as a special deal so keep an eye on our special offer tables at the top of this Virgin Gig1 review. Find out more about Virgin Media's other broadband plans. CALL PLANS If a customer takes a landline from Virgin Media, they will receive Talk Weekends along with it. This covers calls to UK landlines, Virgin Mobiles and 0870 throughout Saturday and Sunday. However, other call plans can be added to suit a household's needs: Call plan Features Price per month Talk More Weekends Weekend calls to UK landlines, UK mobiles, 0845 and 0870 numbers £1 Talk More Evenings & Weekends As above plus evening calls £5 Talk More Anytime Inclusive anytime calls £8 Talk More International Anytime As above plus calls to 50+ international destinations £15 These are in line with call plans from other broadband providers and customers who call internationally may like the look of Talk More International Anytime. BUNDLES Virgin's Gig1 broadband can now be bundled with other services as part of the Ultimate Volt bundle. This includes Gig1 broadband, a home phone line with anytime calls, Virgin TV with more than 230 channels plus Netflix Standard and an unlimited 5G SIM on the O2 network. Package TV Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term Go Ultimate Volt bundle 230 1.13Gb average £85 Free 18 months Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with Unlimited data, minutes and texts Virgin Media TV & broadband We've got a full review of Ultimate Volt looking at what it offers to customers searching for the biggest bundle available from Virgin. There's more on Virgin TV too. We named it as the Best Bundle at the Choose Broadband and TV Awards 2022, with Gig1 also helping Virgin to the Fastest Network crown. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW DOES GIG1 COMPARE ON PRICE? Virgin Media's Gig1 may be the most widely available gigabit capable broadband service in the UK but it is far from the only option out there. Here is how Virgin Gig1 compares to packages from other providers on price: Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term Go Hyperfast (24 months) 900Mb average £35 Free 24 months Offer: Money off for 24 months + Free activation (Ends 19/07/2022) Go 1 Gig Fibre Broadband 920Mb average £35 Free 24 months Offer: Save £14 per month + Installed in 48 hours + Free setup (Ends 04/08/2022) Go Pro Gigafast 900 910Mb average £58 Free 24 months Offer: Super WiFi + Guarantee with Alexa built in + Automatic 4G Broadband Back-Up + 12 Months Free Norton 360 Premium (Ends 28/07/2022) Go Fibre Max Gigabit 900Mb average £50 £30 24 months Offer: 12 month free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for EE pay monthly mobile customers + 10% off for EE pay monthly mobile customers + 20GB extra data for EE pay monthly mobile customers Go Gig1 Fibre Broadband 1.13Gb average £60 Free 18 months Offer: No setup fee (was £35) Compare broadband So, Gig1 is among the more expensive options when we're looking at mainstream providers of broadband around the 1Gb mark. Yet the providers listed here all have less package availability than Virgin do with Community Fibre a dedicated London ISP, Hyperoptic expanding building by building, Vodafone available to around eight million homes with their full fibre plan and EE operating on the Openreach fibre to the premises (FTTP) network. What this means for customers is that Virgin Media's Gig1 is far more likely to be an option available to them right now, so the competitive deals from other providers may be largely irrelevant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GIG1 ROUTER Customers signing up to Gig1 will receive a Hub 4 router. This is routinely offered only to customers on their fastest broadband package and is able to handle the 1Gb per second speeds. The Hub 4 has the following features: * Dual band wi-fi * 11 antennae * 4 x Gigabit Ethernet ports * WPA2 / WPA / WEP security * WPS enabled As it's designed to work with the level of speed on offer in Gig1, the Hub 4 is an upgrade to the Hub 3 usually given to Virgin Media broadband customers. Virgin Media's Hub 3 alongside the larger and more chunky looking Hub 4 The Hub 4 is not the latest router available to Virgin broadband customers, although the Hub 5 is currently only being offered to existing Virgin customers. So, while customers signing up to Gig1 may get the Hub 5 at some point, it isn't clear exactly when. Read more about the Hub 5 and why it's our top pick when it comes to ISP routers. INTELLIGENT WIFI PLUS Virgin Media Gig1 customers receive Intelligent WiFi Plus as standard. This service includes enhanced firmware for the Hub 4 to make it more effective for customers and one WiFi Pod to boost the wi-fi signal around the home. Up to two addition pods can also be supplied if an engineer deems it necessary, allowing customers to get better Gig1 coverage around the home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW FAST IS VIRGIN MEDIA'S GIG1? The headline speed figure for Gig1 is 1130Mb, which is among the fastest broadband in the UK. On their website, Virgin give an expected speed range of 1120Mb to 1130Mb, which is what most customers will receive. However, it's worth pointing out the Minimum Guaranteed Download Speed of Gig1 is just 570Mb. That's the level at which customers can make a complaint about their speed under the following rules: * If the Gig1 speed to the Virgin Media Hub falls beneath 565Mb for three consecutive days (either continuous interruptions or intermittent) and Virgin Media are unable to fix the problem within 30 days customers may be able to leave their contract without paying an early termination fee * All new customers are eligible for this Minimum Speed Guarantee and those who have changed/upgraded their broadband services since February 2019 (that's all Gig1 customers) Most customers signing up for Gig1 will receive high speeds within the expected range. To meet Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules, at least 50% must receive the average speed of 1130Mb for it to be used in advertising. Nevertheless, some customers won't hit 1Gb speeds and they may not get as low to invoke the Minimum Speed Guarantee. To illustrate how Virgin Media services perform in the real world, here are the results from Ofcom's annual panellist tests showing how some of their slower packages perform: While we can't judge Gig1 solely on tests for other packages, it's clear Virgin Media speeds are high, just maybe not as high as their advertising suggests. UPLOAD SPEEDS The advertised upload speed for Virgin Media's Gig1 is 52Mb. Again, there is an expected speed range, but this puts the upload speed between 48Mb and 52Mb, so there isn't too much difference. Upload speeds are one area where Virgin Media fails against their rivals. Thanks to the cable technology they use for their gigabit capable broadband, they can't offer symmetrical upload speeds of 1Gb in the same way companies using fibre to the premises (FTTP) technology theoretically can. This is a drawback for some customers but, in reality, upload speeds of 52Mb are going to be sufficient for most households. It's also the case that full fibre providers using the Openreach network don't offer symmetrical download speeds either - although their upload speeds are still higher than Virgin as we can see from the table below: Provider and package Download speed Upload speed Virgin Media Gig1 1130Mb 52Mb BT Full Fibre 900 900Mb 110Mb Community Fibre 1GB 900Mb 900Mb Hyperoptic Hyperfast 900Mb 900Mb So, the upload speeds provided by Virgin Media on their Gig1 plan are 18 times slower than those offered by symmetrical providers and half the speed of those offered by BT. RELIABILITY The reliability of the technology used by Virgin doesn't always compare favourably with the full fibre technology used by rivals like BT and Vodafone. Virgin's cable is vulnerable to high levels of latency (the amount of time it takes actions to be completed) and jitter (which measures inconsistency on the line). Cable is also more prone to disconnections where customers are left without service for 30 seconds or more. This is how Virgin's slower packages compared against BT's full fibre plans in the most recent Ofcom research (lower figures are better): Provider and package Daily disconnections Latency (ms) Downstream jitter (ms) Virgin Media 108Mb Cable 0.12 15.32 0.18 BT 145Mb FTTP 0.03 6.94 0.07 Virgin 213Mb Cable 0.16 15.34 0.16 BT 300Mb FTTP 0.00 6.36 0.07 Virgin 362Mb Cable 0.15 15.37 0.17 Virgin 516Mb Cable 0.15 15.21 0.16 On all three measures BT's full fibre plans were more reliable than Virgin's. While we don't have figures for the fastest packages offered by the two providers, the trends are clear in the data above - Virgin's broadband is not the most reliable technology on the market. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOMER SERVICE Virgin Media has experienced a decline in customer satisfaction in recent years, yet they remained in line with industry averages in the latest Comparing Service Quality report published by Ofcom in May 2021. These were some of the positive customer findings: * 80% were satisfied with service overall (average 80%) * 82% were satisfied with the speed of service (average 79%) However, there were also some problems highlighted in the report: * 29% of customers said they had a reason to complain (average 26%) * Only 48% were satisfied with overall complaints handling (average 52%) Virgin also had higher complaint levels with 69 per 100,000 customers (average 50) and customers spent longer waiting to speak to a customer service adviser (7 minutes 40 seconds compared to average 4 minutes 9 seconds). Ofcom's September 2021 update on broadband complaints covering Q1 2021 showed a huge spike in Virgin's complaint figures with 33 complaints per 100,000 customers for the quarter compared to the industry average of 19. When we contacted Virgin, they said they'd taken steps to improve their customer service by hiring more customer contact agents. This was borne out by more recent figures showing a reduction in complaints, although they are still above the industry average. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IS VIRGIN MEDIA AVAILABLE IN MY AREA? Gig1 is now available wherever Virgin Media broadband and TV services are following the completion of the network upgrade in December 2021. This includes the following urban areas amongst others: Brighton Colchester Derby Gillingham Portsmouth Southend Sheffield Stoke-on-Trent Swansea Wakefield Northern Ireland London Southampton Manchester Reading Birmingham Coventry Edinburgh Liverpool Glasgow Leeds Bradford Bristol Bournemouth Northampton Sunderland Wolverhampton Wigan York Blackpool Cambridge Leicester Nottingham Oxford Swindon These are just some of the main areas covered by Gig1, but customers on the Virgin Media network in suburbs and nearby towns will also be able to benefit as the map below demonstrates: As we can see, the green dots representing Virgin coverage are heavily concentrated around major cities, even though we've seen expansion into smaller towns and suburban areas in recent years. Even so, Virgin Media's network currently only reaches around 15.5 million premises across the UK. This means many customers who would like to sign up for Virgin Media broadband are unable to just yet, even if expansion plans are continuously ongoing. Check your postcode to see if you can get Virgin Media broadband where you are: Check availability We've also got more information on why Virgin Media availability is so patchy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VERDICT: IS VIRGIN MEDIA GIG1 WORTH IT? Virgin Media broadband Virgin Media's Gig1 is the fastest available broadband for over 15.5 million customers across the UK and may well be the only gigabit capable option a customer has. While it is pricier than its competitors, Virgin Gig1 does have some great benefits: * Average download speeds of 1.13Gb * Upgraded router with free WiFi Mesh Pod * Good range of call plans if customers want to take them * Bundles available On the other hand, there are some drawbacks: * Upload speeds only around 50Mb * Technology isn't always the most reliable * Patchy customer service record Equally, now that Gig1 has been switched on across the whole Virgin Media network, anyone with Virgin in their area will be able to benefit - but that doesn't cover everyone. As the service only covers around 15.5 million premises, it's still an option that many will miss out on, especially those in more rural areas where Virgin Media hasn't yet expanded to. Although there are plans to extend to an additional seven million premises now the merger with O2 is complete, no timescales have been mentioned and customers will have to wait and see whether Virgin Media (and Gig1) comes to their area anytime soon. See here for more on Virgin Media and their deals. Which broadband deals are available in your area? Compare deals Which broadband deals are available in your area? Compare deals We are independent of all of the products and services we compare. We order our comparison tables by price or feature and never by referral revenue. We donate at least 5% of our profits to charity, and we have a climate positive workforce. Read more about the Choose Promise BROADBAND & TV GUIDES Broadband & TV Could Virgin Media expand to my area? Home Broadband Who provides the best broadband in Yorkshire? Broadband & TV Cheapest ways to get a home phone LATEST NEWS Broadband & TV Now Broadband official complaint levels low on debut Mobile Tesco Mobile best telecoms provider in UKCSI report Home Broadband Fines for nuisance call companies could be increased Get insider tips and the latest offers in our newsletter Subscribe We promise never to spam you or sell your details. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. COMPARE AND FIND A DEAL Compare Broadband Compare Broadband & TV Compare TV Deals In this guide: 1. At a glance 2. Gig1 packages 3. Price comparison 4. Router 5. Speed 6. Customer service 7. Availability 8. Verdict Climate positive We've planted 2,440 trees, and offset 117.48 tonnes of CO2 About us Choose Promise Campaigns Contact us How we work Privacy Terms of use © 2022 Choose Ltd. All rights reserved. Choose Ltd is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 05628680. 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