What is unlimited broadband?
Unlimited broadband is a broadband service that doesn’t have any restrictions on how much data you can download and upload each month. You’ll have complete freedom to use the internet as much as you like without having to worry about monthly data usage limits on your account.
What is traffic management and throttling?
Traffic management is when broadband speeds are lowered to make sure everyone gets a fair speed overall. This usually comes into effect at peak times. It is a bit like rationing. Everyone gets slightly slower speeds, instead of the extremes where some would end up getting slower speeds – or no internet at all. Traffic management can also be applied to individual lines to protect the services and speeds for other broadband users on the network.
Throttling is when your internet service is slowed down on purpose. This could be because the network is overloaded and you notice it occasionally when streaming services all of a sudden take a little longer to load.
At Virgin Media we make sure our home broadband service is fair for everybody. We sometimes moderate the speeds for the top 5% of customers who are downloading or uploading an unusually large amount. We do this to try to make sure the service runs as smoothly as possible.
What are fair usage limits?
Unlimited broadband packages usually come with a fair usage policy. These are put in place to prevent one person on a network from downloading too much and having a detrimental affect on other users in the area.
Regular levels of streaming and downloading will probably not constitute as unfair usage, so most of us will not encounter these limitations. Check with individual internet providers to see what they constitute as fair usage, and what will happen if the terms are breached.
Do I need unlimited broadband?
There are so many uses for internet bandwidth these days, it’s hard to argue why you wouldn’t want unlimited broadband. In fact, there aren’t really that many packages with limited broadband, but they do pop up occasionally. More than likely your deal will offer you unlimited supply so you may as well consider the benefits; whether you’re a gamer, film fan or just shift a lot of data around in your regular day to day projects.
Who is unlimited broadband for?
There are quite a few set-ups at home that would benefit unlimited broadband.
- Gamers. If anyone at home is a keen gamer, unlimited broadband will more than help. Downloading games is demanding on broadband, as is streaming them on services like Google Stadia. More data means unlimited supply.
- Larger households. If there’s more than one of you, unlimited broadband helps. With video calls, streaming and much more on every screen, it simply makes sense.
- Heavy Streamers. If folk at home get heavily into Netflix, Now TV, Disney+ or similar, it would be fairly easy to use up a whole internet allowance with some binging. Unlimited broadband means they could attack any virtual boxset without worry.
- Everyone else! There really aren’t any strong cases for having limited broadband when the world is now digital and always-on, for everyone.
What are the benefits of unlimited broadband?
One of the main benefits of unlimited broadband is an easier and smoother internet and digital life at home. Whether you’re bingeing seven episodes of the latest TV show, on video calls or just browsing; it’s better not to have to worry about limits. And if you have a busy household, with gamers, students or occasional work-from-homers, the last thing you need to worry about is a broadband outage or slowdown. Unlimited broadband lets you get on with your digital life.
Another benefit is that you won’t incur a charge for exceeding the usage limit as no such restriction applies. On limited broadband deals, you could be charged extra for any internet usage that’s over and above your contractual limit. Choosing an unlimited broadband deal could save you money in the long run, especially if you and your household use the internet regularly. Why not check out our broadband deals to find a package that’ll suit your needs?
What download speeds will I get with unlimited broadband?
The speed of internet connection you enjoy with unlimited broadband largely depends on whether your provider uses ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), cable or a fibre optic connection.
- ADSL is the most widely available connection, which also offers the slowest download speeds, around 10-30Mbps, on average.
- Cable broadband packages are not as widely available as ADSL but they can offer speedier average download speeds – Virgin Media offers between 50Mbps and 1Gbps packages.
- Fibre broadband is becoming more widespread in the UK and usually offers the fastest speeds available – often between 50 and 300Mbps.
Pick your broadband speed
If you are looking at a fibre broadband option and you’ve used our Broadband postcode checker to see if you can get it in your area, then it is worth looking at the speeds you can expect. Fast downloads and uploads can give your digital life an enjoyable upgrade and let everyone at home get on with what they want to do.
Check out Virgin Media broadband speeds
What other services can I get with unlimited broadband?
With the freedom of unlimited broadband, you often get a package that’s bundled together with a landline and or a TV deal. If you opt for either of these, it’s possible you can save some money, with the added benefit of convenience. At Virgin Media, our unlimited broadband packages come in the following ways:
FAQs
Virgin Media’s broadband service utilises the latest cable technology that connects the customer’s home to the cabinet over a coax cable. These cables are capable of delivering much faster speeds than a standard copper wire network.
From the cabinet and onwards, Virgin Media then passes the traffic across its own fibre optic network where it travels at the speed of light, similar to other fibre networks.
Yes, for residential households (with reasonable expectations: acceptable usage agreement applies). All of our broadband deals are unlimited and don’t have a data usage allowance, so stream, download, and connect with loved ones as much as you like.
If you’re talking about Virgin Media packages, there are a range of them available. Best to have to quick look through and see what type of package suits.
Explore unlimited broadband deals.
Getting ‘unlimited’ internet without a phone line is possible with our fibre broadband services. With Virgin Media, you can get broadband in your home without landline with one of our broadband only packages or with mobile broadband. Use our broadband postcode checker to see if you can get our services where you live.
Yes, you can get unlimited broadband as part of a package in one of our bundles. The option you go for just depends on what type of set-up you have and what your preferences are, in terms of extras around your broadband.
Compare Virgin Media broadband packages.
Our acceptable usage agreement will let us step in when broadband is used for illegal or non-residential purposes and when usage is so extremely high that it’s affecting others on our network. So, yes – technically, terms do apply. But broadband is rarely limited for average households.
Yes, across the range of Virgin Media’s broadband packages, each one is unlimited, so you can surf, video-call and download without fear of limits slowing you down. Keep your smart speakers connected and stream as you like, without traffic management or speed throttling ruining your day.
The speed you get on your unlimited broadband package should be in line with the initial speed you were promised, provided there is no traffic management or speed throttling going on. For truly unlimited broadband, you just have to look at the upload and downloads speeds offered by the provider.
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*Monthly price shown will increase each April from April 2024 by the Retail Price Index rate of inflation announced in February each year plus 3.9%. Doesn’t apply to Netflix Add to Bill add-on, Disney+ add-on, Lionsgate+ add-on, Stream Entertainment subscriptions or admin charges. See www.virginmedia.com/prices and www.o2.co.uk/prices for details.
6 bottle Virgin Wines case or £50 bill credit:
• This offer is available to new Virgin Media customers ordering the Big bundle or Bigger Combo bundle (including Volt variants) online.
• The bundle needs to be ordered between 25th September and 11.59pm on 28th September 2023.
• Your contract runs for 18 months.
• This offer can’t be used with another offer.
• A household can only claim 1 Virgin Wines case or 1 bill credit amount.
• We can remove this offer at any time.
• Prices may change during your contract.
• We can’t offer cash or anything else in place of this offer.
• You won’t be able to keep your Virgin Wines case or bill credit if:
• You cancel your services before they’re installed or before the end of your 14-day cancellation period.
• You downgrade your bundle before your services are installed or before the end of your 14-day cancellation period.
16 bottle Virgin Wines case or £150 bill credit:
• This offer is available to new Virgin Media customers ordering the Bigger Combo bundle + Sports, Bigger Combo bundle + Movies, Biggest Combo bundle (including Volt variants) or the Mega Volt bundle online.
• The bundle needs to be ordered between 25th September and 11.59pm on 28th September 2023.
• Your contract runs for 18 months.
• This offer can’t be used with another offer.
• A household can only claim 1 Virgin Wines case or 1 bill credit amount.
• We can remove this offer at any time.
• Prices may change during your contract.
• We can’t offer cash or anything else in place of this offer.
• You won’t be able to keep your Virgin Wines case or bill credit if:
• You cancel your services before they’re installed or before the end of your 14-day cancellation period.
• You downgrade your bundle before your services are installed or before the end of your 14-day cancellation period.
Virgin Media £50 bill credit: This offer is available to new Virgin Media customers ordering the Big bundle or Bigger Combo bundle online, including Volt variants. This bill credit will be applied to your first bill. Any that’s left over will be applied to your following bills until it’s all used. This offer runs between 25th September and 11.59pm on 28th September 2023.
Virgin Media £150 bill credit: This offer is available to new Virgin Media customers ordering the Bigger Combo bundle + Sports, Bigger Combo bundle + Movies, Biggest Combo bundle (including Volt variants) or the Mega Volt bundle online. This bill credit will be applied to your first bill. Any that’s left over will be applied to your following bills until it’s all used. This offer runs between 25th September and 11.59pm on 28th September 2023.
No setup fee
This promotion means you won’t pay the usual setup fee of £35. No setup fee is available on all bundles, broadband & phone, and broadband only packages. If you can set up using a Self-Install pack, but choose to use an engineer for the installation, you’ll still be charged £30 for this service.
These prices are for new customers only.
Virgin Media services are only available in eligible Virgin Media network areas. TV 360 and home phone not currently available in 2022/23 network expansion areas.
All of the products on this page are subject to survey, network capacity and a credit check.
Each service has a minimum contract length that’s shown in your basket.
If you take a bundle with both Virgin Media and O2, you’ll have separate contracts and bills – one for Virgin Media, and another for O2.
- Offers are subject to eligibility and availability.
- Read the terms on the Priority app or at o2.co.uk/terms
Fastest WiFi guarantee of any major provider
Comparing WiFi guarantees of major UK ISPs. Terms of guarantee vary by provider. To verify click here. Virgin Fibre Areas only. Available with M50 broadband or faster. £8p/m extra or included with Gig1 or Volt. At least 30Mbps download speeds in every room or £100 one-off credit. Up to 3 WiFi Pods if needed. Excludes broadband faults and broadband network outages. Further exclusions & legal stuff apply.
UK’s fastest widely available broadband
Virgin Media Gig1 (average download speed 1130Mbps) vs fastest widely available average download speeds of UK ISPs. For verification see virginmedia.com/fast