[BenMcr]

There isn't a way around it.

The handsets are only provided free because they are balanced out by the cost of the contract over the minimum term

If Virgin allowed you to upgrade now they would lose money because they wouldn't have covered the full cost of the handset.

You can sometimes upgrade the tariff itself if you find it's not covering your usage, but to get a new handset it's either wait till the end of the term or do as advised

I doubt you'll find any other network that would allow it at this stage of the contract either