Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Billing remains separate, but if you take a Volt bundle your broadband speed is increased to the next level and mobile data is doubled.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-10-17/...-to-take-on-bt

Interesting development given Virgin Media appears to be ditching sales on its own mobile network so soon. I wonder whether this could end up in a legal battle with Vodafone.

Bundles now live on the VM website, including Ultimate Volt at £99pm including gig1 broadband.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

So ... im confused here, and the Virgin Website is down atm.

Does this "upgrade" only apply if you somehow had both VM and O2 services.

So anyone who was loyal to just VM gets nothing ?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

According to the O2 website, you can activate through the My O2 app if you're already a customer of both services https://www.o2.co.uk/virgin-media-o2

This does look to offer more than the Oomph bundles did (which was just the speed boos IIRC?) Though Ultimate Volt at £99pm is more than I saw Untimate Oomph advertised for in quite a while - it seemed to be either £79 or £89 whenever I looked.

The £25pm O2 element of the Ultimate Volt bundle is also subject to an RPI + 3.9% increase every April whereas VM tended to just pluck increases out of thin air, so it could work out berrer or worse for the customer - though with inflation set to rise I suspect its the latter.

This is the bundle page on the VM website https://www.virginmedia.com/tv

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

You can still get Virgin Mobile plans as a standalone offer.

But if you want the Volt offer then you have to have an O2 Pay Monthly plan.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Just activated it on the O2 website - says it could take up to 14 days.

Funnily enough I had just changed my tariff last month (I was on 30GB data, everything else unlimited for £20, but wasn’t using that much data, so I dropped it to 20GB & unlimited data/calls for £10), so now my data will go up to 40GB a month. :D

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I'm surprised there isn't an exclusivity clause in the agreement. Unless of course VM has renegotiated the contract. This move could make the financials of the agreement look very different for Vodafone's bottom line over the next 4 years.

Glad you got sorted - sounds a fairly quick and simple process. I tend to find that bundling services costs more, but this could actually save existing customers money by being able to downgrade their mobile package. Though I must say, even O2s cheapest sim only deal is more expensive than my current tarrif on another network.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

There’s a fairly glaring error in their bundle descriptions. I hope they don’t get too many orders with people taking screenshots.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Which is?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Some of the bundles list Sky Sport and Movies HD when they aren’t supposed to be included. The £57 and £69 ones.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

On which page is that - doesn't seem to be incorrect here

https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/packages

or here https://www.virginmediao2.co.uk/

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

In a nutshell...yes. It's the first attempt to encourage customers to take services from sides of the new company.

It's also a clear signal that Virgin Mobile will disappear as soon as the contract with Vodafone runs out. They are basically encouraging new mobile adds onto the O2 network, sacrificing VM Mobile.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Just tried to activate it on the o2 website and it says I 'already have Volt benefits, or can't get them in your area'


Could this be because I'm on a retentions deal at the moment? Currently on bigger bundle with 200m internet and extra V6 box.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

If you click through to see more bundles from your second link after saying you are new to both.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Are the name and address both accounts the same?

---------- Post added at 16:55 ---------- Previous post was at 16:53 ----------

Cheers

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Yes, same name and address on both accounts. Although my o2 account is out of contract as well.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

It’s quite the price rise on the RRP of Ultimate Oomph (equivalent) from £139 to £161.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Gives them something new to offer me when I come to renegotiate next August hahahaha

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I also get this error. Was wondering if it is due to the fact I cannot get 1gig in my area yet (on Oomph) Although doesn’t explain why I can’t get the data boost

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

And it looks like ultimate oomph doesn't exist anymore. So what benefits are you gaining from the RRP price rise, just double broadband speed? Seems a bit cheeky considering ultimate oomph is supposed to be the best.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Ultimate Volt comes with Gig1 - although that's M600 until your area gets it's Gig1 release after which you'll get the upgrade.

You also get the O2 perks including an O2 Extra for 12 months.

---------- Post added at 20:15 ---------- Previous post was at 20:07 ----------

Also, Oomph has been replaced by Volt for all bundles.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Yes but the RRP is now £161 instead of £139. That's ridiculous considering the main change is just upgrading of broadband speed.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Was the most recent £139 edition not include Gig1?

I don’t really know, I just know I’m paying a lot less than £162 in a retention deal. Think I’d to pay £5 to get Gig1 and UHD from my previous Oomph deal.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

It was M600

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

This is all so, so confusing.
I'm an Oomph customer. My contract's up in January. I pay £95/m.
I don't need broadband at stupid speeds – I'd just like what I've already got for another 18 months at the same price. Can I do that? Or do I have to go through the ridiculous process again of a long call to some poor sap in a call centre just to renew? They don't make it easy, do they?
Or will that Sky Glass leaflet Mrs Nialli picked up in Covent Garden yesterday be the way forward?
It's not very impressive from Virgin. I've been a customer since the nineties but they make it harder and harder to stay loyal with their confusing bundles laden with things I don't need

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Oomph isn't available anymore, so at the point of renewal for any offers on an existing Oomph bundle, I'd expect you'll be offered a deal on the equivalent Volt bundle with an O2 SIM.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Is it still possible to keep my V6 boxes as part of a Volt package?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Currently yes as far as I know. I can't guarantee something for the future though.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Thanks Ben. It’s disappointing that the bundle prices remain high despite customers losing Disney and Discovery channels recently

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

But what's the point of that when you already have VM unlimited sim?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

My understanding is that once any current Oomph offer ends, you wouldn't get a new one. So you'd be able to carry on with your Oomph bundle including the Virgin Mobile SIM at the full price.

Any new cable and mobile bundle offer would be a Volt bundle.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Which is ridiculous way of working things in my opinion. I honestly don't understand why it has a RRP of £161

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I genuinely thought it was a typo - adding the £25 for an O2 sim without discounting it from the £136.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

It seems that from my reading it's correct. It's £74 for VM and £25 for O2 making it £99. After 18 months, VM is £136, but I'm guessing you still need to add O2 onto that at £25 making it £161.
I genuinely do not understand this one bit. Granted you are getting 1 gig over 600mb, but ultimate oomph are supposed to be on the top package, yet they've made this top package, making ultimate oomph redundant and have slapped an extra £22 on top. Surely it's not just me who thinks that is ridiculous?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I'm not commenting on the pricing here as I have no involvement in that.

But it is generally the case that newer 'top of everything' bundles are launched which supersede earlier versions. When the Ultimate Oomph bundles launched, they replaced the older cable only VIP bundles. And there were several versions of those older VIP bundles too.

Even with Ultimate Oomph there are technically two versions - one with two V6 boxes and one with a 360 + 360 mini box.

Oomph bundles are now no longer sold. All new cable + mobile bundles are Volt.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

It's not just you Mythica.

I realise that they have to make money but those prices are madness if it transpires that it goes up to £161 after 18 months.

Ignoring the extra channels with Sky, you're locked in to VM in a way. Last time my Oomph contract was up, adding everything up (TV, phone, BB, two boxes and a SIM) to get the equivilent with Sky and BT etc was substantially more expensive than a discounted new contract and more expensive than even the full price of Oomph.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I ditched Virgin Mobile a while ago, since then, so have other members of my family.

Only two remain on VM, and one of those simply because Im on Bigger Oomph atm.

That package is on a £28 a month discount atm, which runs out early next year.
At that point I'll be cancelling TV (not used anymore) and probably upgrading the BB to 1G.

Nothing 'Volt' related looks particularly appealing.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I'm hoping I can just renew what I have, currently on Ultimate Oomph plus an extra 3rd box for £115 and I feel that's not even that good of a deal got better ones for other members of the family.

Other than not currently having UHD (Not bothered until sport comes) and 1G BB, there is no reason to upgrade and have a terrible time in 18 months trying to get a good discount on £161 pounds

As others say Sky now offering 500meg, BT sport, I believe you can beat virgin media's price now

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

If you took out a new O2 (12m) contract, say a 4GB plan for £6.00 per month, can you then get this bumped to 8GB *and* get your broadband speed "doubled"? It seems to be the case although the Volt press release talks about "Double mobile data on all eligible O2 Pay Monthly plans"

Seems a cheaper route to move to the next broadband tier?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

All the 12 and 24 month PAYM plans on O2 are Volt eligible

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/...actLength=P12M

Obviously you can't get double Unlimited

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

You can, you just wouldn’t notice any difference… ;)

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I've just checked on Ultrafast for my area and estimated speed is 120meg which is pretty poor for a 500meg package

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Says I can get 330meg

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

330 ?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

That didn’t take very long (applied on the 18th).

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...7&d=1635254442

Just checked my O2 account, and the Data Allowance has gone up to 40GB, and done a speed test on my broadband, and it’s still showing the original speed (386Mb/s down, 36Mb/s up), and my VM account still says 350Mb, so I’ll give it a day or two before I chase it up.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

If you have a custom, retentions package with discounts, would the Volt VM speed uplift change the existing contract at all? I would assume the existing arrangements remain unaltered ..

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Better than me! I applied a few days ago. I have the same email telling me they’re active… but I have no extra data and my broadband speed/config remains the same! :erm:

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

As always, it's not that simple... ;)

Just spent an hour or so on the chat service, chasing up the VM Volt upgrade - turns out that since I am already on a discounted deal (I have Maxit TV, Sky Movies, Talk Weekends, and 350Mb for a discounted price that was offered on the VM website (discussed previously ad nauseam)), I am not eligible for the free Volt upgrade*; however, the very friendly and professional person (part of the Volt upgrades team, who I was passed on to after about 10 minutes) on the other end of the link did a bit of searching around, and got me an upgrade to 500Mb for an additional 25p per month (whilst also replacing "Talk Weekends" with "Talk More Weekends- Voicemail". This runs to the same end date as my previous deal (2nd May 2022), then it's renegotiation time (I'll be happy to lose the Sky Movies, as we very rarely watch/record anything from there, and will probably go down to 100Mb (doubled up to 200Mb by Volt)).

I can live with that. :D

Probably useful for others to know if they are on a deal, it might require some contact/discussion to progress the VM Volt part of this.

*probably because that would be a free BB upgrade on top of another free BB upgrade...

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Thanks for this Hugh. I suspect I will need to ring the nice retentions team :)

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I really don’t trust VM one Iota, honestly it shouldn’t make any difference if you're on an existing deal or not, if they say its free and you're not on the MAX BB speed then you should get it - at no extra cost… Advertising Standards!

I have read elsewhere of instances of VM trying to get folk to recontract for £1pm more to get it. Its advertised as free.. Another guy they applied the boost but they upped his price which they eventually had to manually adjust downwards.

I was considering getting a o2 sim, but have decided to wait…. For the moment I would recommend watching your account like a hawk and that contract end date, if you decide to go ahead.

I have a feeling it wont be long before this is on Martin Lewis or Watchdog….

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Well, they've come through for me

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2021/10/17.png

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Out of curiosity if one is alread on the 500Mb package, getting an O2 sim would increase it to 600Mb or 1Gb?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

The info states So 600Mb.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Is 600Mb still available to upgrade to? I think it was only available with Ultimate Oomph, which is no longer sold. Ultimate Volt is Gig1, so the Volt upgrade could be 500Mb to 1Gb.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

The upgrades are listed on this page https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-o2-benefits

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Thanks for that, Ben.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

I was looking on the VM T&C Annex A "‘VOLT’ PROMOTION TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR VIRGIN MEDIA SERVICES" and see no mention of being not eligible if you have an account discount unless I have misread it. I will call retentions tomorrow and ask if they know the scoop on this.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Yes, that was the point I made to the nice person on VM chat, but she said there was no option to give a free upgrade on top of a previous free upgrade, so she had to find a way at minimum cost to me (and spent quite a bit of time trying solve the "challenge"), I was happy with 25p, not (imho) worth arguing about… :)

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Thanks for that, its interesting to say the least I could potentially double my speed for a cheap O2 sim. Though I'm expecting a price rise come January seeing as it will have been 12 months since they last raised them by then.

Am I eligible for it if I already have a discount on 500Mb?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Had a look. Not interested. I'm on Three, and wouldn't really get any advantage from switching back to O2. Not an advantage that's worth me spending however much I'd have to pay off on my handset if I left Three now anyway.

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Pleasant surprise: I checked my VM package details and I can now see "Volt M500 Fibre Broadband" as my current broadband selection. The modem has also been updated to this 575000000/38520000 traffic rate configuration.

No need to call retentions :) Interestingly, no uplift on the O2 side yet although it was they I rang to request the Volt upgrades

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

So got my Volt benefits applied and assumed that my speed would not increase as I am on 600 and Gig1 is not available in my area. However interestingly just got an email saying my new hub is on the way due to my speed upgrade…

Separately last week I had a text saying there is planned maintenance in my area on Thursday so maybe it is being enabled then?

We will see! Nice surprise if I’m getting 1 gig

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

So an update. A few hours after posting my data did increase, but didn’t hear anything regarding the broadband speed increase. I looked on Twitter and saw a number of people being told to wait 14 days for the broadband increase (the text from O2 suggested they were both enabled), so I have just waited and today I had a text saying my new Virgin Kit was on the way. That took me by surprise!

Looks like they won’t provision my upgrade to 350Mbps on my original Hub 2! Could it be a Hub 5 they are sending?! *Checks email* ah no… a Hub 3 Quick Start Kit… :erm:

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Yeah sadly my upgrade to Gig1 is a Hub 4 :)

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Also appears that so far it is only picking up the 600 mbps config file. Not sure if this is expected initially or it is due to Gig1 in fact not being in our area?

Re: Virgin Media O2 to launch Volt bundles
 

Rebooted and now on Gig1… still shows as unavailable in our area which is interesting. Wonder if that’s an error or they are holding it back currently