Ultrafast broadband provider Virgin Media has today announced a new whole-home Wi-Fi guarantee service that will be free to some customers.
If you’re a Gig1 or Volt customer, Virgin Media will guarantee a minimum download speed of 20Mbps in every room of your home. And if you don’t get that, you will be able to claim £100 credit back. If you’re on any other Virgin Media plan, you can pay an additional £8 a month to get the benefits of this new Wi-Fi guarantee.
The thing that makes this deal stand out is that its minimum download speed is a lot faster than other guarantees from UK broadband providers. TalkTalk and Vodafone offer a minimum of 10Mbps, while Sky guarantees at least 3Mbps. And BT only guarantees a ‘reliable’ Wi-Fi connection.
Virgin Media has said this minimum speed is to ensure its customers can still stream Netflix or YouTube in high-quality Ultra-HD in every room. It’s also a very useful minimum speed for people who regularly work from home, enjoy gaming online or live with lots of other internet users.
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How does the Virgin Media Wi-Fi guarantee work?
The new Wi-Fi guarantee means that, if you can’t get at least 20Mbps in every room, Virgin will supply you with up to three of its mesh Wi-Fi pods that you can place in different areas of your home. If you put them nearer to the rooms with a weaker connection, they will boost your router’s Wi-Fi signal and you should start seeing much faster results.
If this still doesn’t give you a minimum of 20Mbps, you will then likely have to work with Virgin Media’s customer service team to make sure you’re getting the most out of your current home setup. This includes checking that it’s in fully working order, and ensuring it’s in the best position in your home.
Leaving a Wi-Fi router tucked away in a cupboard, or the corner of your house, can limit the reach of its signal. So moving it to a more central, open area in your home could help to improve the signal strength in any hard-to-reach rooms. It’s important to keep this in mind before you start paying an extra £8 per month for additional equipment that you might not need.
Learn how to boost your Wi-Fi throughout your home.
If the pods that Virgin Media supply still don’t supply enough internet speed for your entire home, you can claim back £100 credit.
Virgin Media Gig1, Volt and Ultimate Oomph customers can enjoy this new benefit for completely free. But customers on Virgin’s M50, M100, M200, M350 and M500 broadband plans will have to pay £8 per month for the guarantee.
New Virgin Media Connect app
In addition to a revamped whole-home Wi-Fi policy, Virgin has updated its Connect mobile app to let customers test the Wi-Fi strength in their home room-to-room, with a new feature called ‘home scan’. You’ll also be able to manage your separate devices and pause Wi-Fi access to them if you want to save some bandwidth.
This update is only compatible for customers with Virgin Media’s Hub 3, Hub 4 or Hub 5 Wi-Fi routers.
Virgin Media says...
About the new Wi-Fi guarantee from Virgin Media, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media O2 Jeff Dodds said:
“Delivering fast and reliable broadband is at the heart of our business. We know how important seamless connectivity is, and as our customers’ needs evolve beyond just speed, we’ll continue to enhance our products and services to ensure we meet those needs.
“That’s why we’re investing to improve our Connect app and have today launched our market-leading WiFi guarantee so our customers can work, play and stream safe in the knowledge their connectivity needs are covered.
“Virgin Media’s new WiFi guarantee goes hand-in-hand with its self-optimising hubs and signal boosting mesh WiFi Pods to offer customers complete peace of mind that they’ll get reliable WiFi in every room or money back.”
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