Think 2GB to 5GB of data for casual browsers, our recommended 12GB to 35GB pay monthly plans, as well as big data offers giving 100GB or even unlimited data, so you’re never caught short. Rather than telling you our data allowances are great value for money, let us show you – browse our star deals, SIM only offers or pay monthly phones, if you’re curious.
Two ways our SIMs save data (and why you love us…)
That’s why you can use these messenger apps and stay in touch, even when you’ve no more data – you’d only be charged for going over your allowance if Twitter, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger update themselves in the background using extra data. But you can stop this happening, see: how to toggle off data completely (below).
Don’t be surprised if your data rollover was rounded up – 23MB often become 25MB for example. If less rolled over than you expected, you probably have a special offer SIM (double or triple data maybe) and the most you can roll over on these is the SIM’s original, non-promotional amount of data.
£3 a GB, daily in the UK, £4.79 a GB, (daily in the EU) – meaning, you’ll automatically buy 1GB of extra data when you go over your allowance and you can keep this for a single day.
Download the My Virgin Media app from Google Play or Apple’s App Store and sign in to track your allowances in real-time, including your data. Or check your data usage in your mobile’s settings. For help doing this on your type of phone or iOS, see our support guides.
Try going to your Android’s Settings > Connections > Data Usage, then see how many GB and MB (megabytes) of mobile data you’ve used so far this month.
When this happens, you can’t use extra data – in fact, all extra charges outside your allowance will be blocked. If you don’t fancy waiting for your allowances to refresh at the end of the month, you’ll have buy a data add-on or choose to increase your spending cap. If you decide to remove or increase your spending cap, the change will happen straight away. If you set up a spending cap in Your Account, remember, you can change this using the My Virgin Media app.
Decreasing your limit or adding a new spending cap, however, can only take effect when your allowances refresh at the end of the month.
Monthly data roaming charges are already capped at £52.70
Text ‘No’ to 23457 if you don’t want this spending cap. Otherwise, you’ll get a text when you hit 80% of your roaming usage, another when you hit the limit. Your data roaming cap resets on the 1st, each month. For more information about international data charges, including roaming outside the EU, see our pay monthly tariff.
These 3 options prove you’re not doomed to spend a fortune in extra data charges or the rest of the month alone, offline…
Sign in on Your Account or My Virgin Media to buy a data add-on.
Or tap the link in our text message that came when you were almost out of data.
How do they work?
Data add-ons get you back on the internet when you’ve used up your monthly allowance. Rather than paying a hefty £3 to have 1GB of data for single a day – as you do, when you go over your data allowance unofficially – you’ll have until your allowance refreshes at the end of the month to use your data add-ons (if you can make them last). Just pay for them on your monthly mobile bill.
Can you use data add-ons abroad?
Only in the EU, where data add-ons are subject to our fair usage limits and you can Roam Like Home. For the rest of the world, please see our roaming hub for international data prices and details before you travel.
Every 30 days, you can change your 4G plan or how big your data allowance is by signing in on Your Account. Go to My Service > My Plans & Features > Change My Plan, then follow the instructions to switch to a higher data allowance – if you keep buying extra data add-ons, maybe the right mobile plan could work out cheaper or better value for money.
How to reduce your data allowance
Because you’re not using any data when you’re on WiFi, you can connect to a network, even when you’ve no more allowance.
Keep going over your limit? The Virgin Media Connect app helps you to keep track of your mobile data use and see how many minutes and texts you’re using each month.
Virgin Media and O2 have joined forces.
When your household is with both of us, you’ll get supercharged speeds, data and WiFi for every account, in your household.
That means you’ll get double the O2 mobile data allowance on every eligible O2 Pay Monthly plan, a broadband speed boost to the next available level (if you aren’t already on the fastest speed available in your area), and supercharged connectivity at home or on the move. All on top of the lightning-fast speeds, reliability and great rewards with Priority (registration required) and Extras from O2.
If you have at least 50Mbps Virgin Media broadband and an O2 Custom Plan, then you qualify for a mobile data boost on your O2 tariff. Please note that if you already have unlimited data on your O2 plan, the benefit cannot not be applied.
If you already have Volt benefits, but require even more data, you can visit the O2 site to find out more about Bolt Ons, from as little as £3 per month.
To find out more about Volt benefits, head to our Volt article here.
To turn this on, so you can connect your mobile to a WiFi network, go to your:
While you’re connected to WiFi:
iPhone settings…
When you don’t need mobile data or want your apps to use it in the background, go to your:
Or follow steps for your type of iOS, in its iPhone support guide.
Android’s settings…
Or follow steps for your type of Android, in its phone support guide.
Switching your data off stops mobile apps nibbling away at your allowance – checking for notifications, emails, app updates and more in the background, even when you’re not using them.
Plus, when you’ve used your full allowance, keeping your data switched off helps you avoid being charged for extra data.
To stop other devices using your mobile data to get online, go to your:
iPhone Settings
If they’re draining too much of your allowance you could tap the green switch next to the apps to stop them using mobile data. Until you decide to switch them back on again, they’ll only work when you’re connected to WiFi.
Or follow steps for your type of iOS, in its iPhone support guide.
Android’s settings
Or follow steps for your type of Android, in its phone support guide .
Switch off iOS and Android notifications
Go to your:
Or there are quicker ways to silence all your iPhone’s notifications in one go:
For peace of mind, you should also go to your:
Before you travel, find out more about using your phone abroad and our pay monthly tariff for international charges, including roaming outside the EU.
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