Virgin Mobile Broadband

Richard Branson profiteered from most vulnerable – Richard stole our trust and ran away with our money and left us for dogs to eat us. Stupid us got stung $15 late fees for years - run Richard run but you can’t hide from God. Inferior service keeps cutting out and no one to help. But keep getting charged for everything and anything. We need to take class action to make them stop profiteering from the vulnerable Show details

Good coverage and data – I have virgin mobile broadband and have used it in lots of areas throughout Queensland and Northern NSW and find the coverage to be excellent. More often than not it works better than other mainstream providers in my area. If I have any issues I have called them and most of the time they credit my account as compensation. Show details

VM Broadband now forces ALL customers onto an automatic excess data upload plan instead of cutting o – I had been with this service for years, very happy with it. Until Dec 2017 they migrated everyone to a new plan that has automatic activation of extra data at EXHORBITANT cost. It used to just prevent access once my data limit was reached and I had the option to buy more data. Now it just buys more data without you even knowing about it and having… Read more

no way to deactivate it! Shameful and disgusting practice of Optus to do this. Yes Optus own this brand name! I wasn't asked if I wanted this new plan it was decided by Optus to migrate everyone to it without their consent. Currently trying to get these excess data charges removed as I had no warning and no way to know that I had exceeded my data download for the month and was having my account debited huge amounts in excess data charges. I have data on my phone plan which I would have used instead had I been made aware I was close to my limit for the month.

Virgin Mobile Broadband Now Force Customers To Accept Extra Data When It’s Not Wanted – UPDATE: (extra star added) Although Virgin continues with their auto adding of unwanted data packs to their accounts, I must give credit to their customer service unit, which promptly contacted me and answered all questions well, plus refunded the charges for unwanted added data...KUDOS. Also, Virgin's broadband services has improved greatly… Read more

in the country area I live in. It's many times faster (at least 10x but probably much more) and with far fewer disconnections. For that alone, they're worth trying. I've been with TELSTRA, IINET, WESTNET (iinet), OPTUS, and several others. Currently, this Virgin mobile broadband service beats them all for value and connection easily, but there were major teething problems before the system upgrade. It's now far better than the ADSL2+ here where previously it was far worse.

Credit where credit's due...

Thank You VIRGIN!!!

If you have issues with your Virgin account, I suggest contacting customer complaints direct as they seem good and can take action. The online chat was useless.

If Virgin changes their auto data adding to OPTIONAL, I'll give them 5 stars.

ALERT: Virgin’s new Mobile data policy.

Virgin’s new broadband data contracts will automatically add data (and charge 10x the normal contract rate per GB) to an account if that account’s user runs out of data before monthly rollover is up, Irrespective of whether the customer wants more data or not. There is NO CHOICE!!! This makes it nigh on impossible to use up your monthly data without Virgin unilaterally adding more data at the exhorbitant rate of 10X what you normally pay.

This is a significant change from previous Virgin broadband policies where once the monthly data was used up, that was the end of it until next month’s rollover.

Kudos to Virgin for including data rollover of any remaining data you have left per month to be included into the next month (albeit a common practice now and finally some honesty to the adage, you actually get to use what you pay for).

However, Virgin should offer data packs for customers that run out of data as an OPTION, not as a compulsory additional charge, which other carriers offer when monthly data runs out.

Virgin’s texting service warning of % data usage is also of limited help in avoiding these extra fees as texts are received many hours (even days where reception is patchy like where I live) after the fact (after Virgin have already charged you for data) and in this case, all at once (ie, texts for 85%, 100% and ‘now you’re being charged for an addition 1GB’ all at the same time!!!). Useless!!!

I contacted Virgin about this and got nonsensical responses via online chat so lodged complaint with the Ombudsmman. Virgin did respond with a call from their customer complaints department fairly quickly (GOOD) and offered to remove unrequired data fees (also GOOD), but alas informed me that they can’t switch off Virgin’s new compulsory imposition of expensive extra data packs (POOR). This is not the complaints service person’s fault and they were as pleasant and as helpful as possible (KUDOS), but Virgin need to review this policy or they stand to create unnecessary resentment among customers and accumulate bad word of mouth.

I’m going to continue my Virgin contract as generally I have been impressed with their upgraded data speeds and consistency, but for many people like me, broadband is one of the larger monthly bills and having it needlessly added to is not appreciated. Apart from this, Virgin have been providing a good broadband service and considering I have had data theft issues with at least 3 other carriers, I would still suggest people check out Virgin’s packages for comparison; with eyes open to this policy though.

If Virgin do change this policy to a customer choice setting, then I will alter my rating accordingly.

Stay Out Of Virgin Mobile, 4 Days Waited For Sony Z5 Conection – What a joke, 4 days waited to get my Sony Z5 connection, it is absolutely ridiculous nightmare, I have been loyal with virgin Mobile for complete 4 years, last Friday, just upgrade to another 2 years contract. Virgin has a big problem switching the existing service to the new phone, Sony Xperia z5, this has become unimaginable… Read more

consequences, NO SERVICE FOR 4 DAYS, the wait is still on.

Just too much stress to deal with VIRGIN MOBILE.

ROBINA AREA, QLD

January 13th 2017 Update: 6 Days Waited For Virgin Mobile New Phone Activation

What a joke, 6 days gone by, virgin mobile can not active my new headphone, can anyone believe that? been through 5 phone call to customers service, each average about 1 hour, 2 hours waited at Robina virgin shop, they knew they had problems, keep telling the same excuses, they need 48 hours to turn on my new phone.

Everyone should think twice after reading my feedback!! this is my 3rd renewal with virgin, connecting to a new hand phone from existing customer is big nightmare.

Today, i am into 2 years contract with absolutely no connection on my new phone.

OK But Varies Enormously from Rural to City – We have used the Virgin wifi broadband modem for 5 years after being frustrated with dial-up and disappointed with useless satellite. We are between Daylesford and Castlemaine in a rural area with quite good mobile reception. Last year we switched to a 4G modem and continued with the 12GB plan. My wife uses her modem for work and business while I… Read more

use mine for general research.

In the Melbourne suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula the modems work well, are fast and reliable and an excellent choice for travellers to multiple addresses.

On our rural farm it is a different matter. The service which used to be pretty reliable became usable around early December 2015. We were told to reset modems, which we did, or wait until holidays were over when less people would be using the system. A few calls to their technical section also proved unsatisfactory even though they said both modems were reset and the relatively new tower, five kilometres away and visible to us, was working OK. We have since learnt that recent work on the tower may have meant broadband was not calibrated correctly and Telstra offered to sell a modem to try their service with a written guarantee of return of funds should the service not work in our area. However, their allowance was low and cost high compared to Virgin.

Last week both modems returned to normal speeds and connect promptly to our multiple system. We have still decided to cancel one modem and wait for the new replacement as current 4G supplied modems have been in use for four years. We are also considering trying Telstra which works on a slightly different frequency to Optus.

It appears the National Broadband Service will never cover our area, except by satellite, and this may be 10 years or more away. Even then, family members recently connected to the new service are not completely satisfied with the speed or reliability.

good service – I have had an iphone 7 plus contract with Virgin for a year now and it has been great. It was so easy just to go in store and get the phone with no complications even though i had to change my number over from telstra. I found that the pricing was great coming from a students point of view and also the coverage is awesome!  Show details

Pity they are closing – After some bad experiences with competitors, I found Virgin Mobile. They're quote was really good, and the support they have through the app, online and calling was excellent. Their coverage was strong too. Unfortunately they have decided to (or have been made to) stop operating and gave me a few months to research an alternate provider, and also… Read more

arranged a similar quote with their parent company so I wasn't left out in the cold.

Virgin were really good , and I'd have been happy to stay with them, if they kept their doors open.

If they resume operation at any stage, I'll be keen to compare their services and return.

The best internet I could ask for – The service cost $60/month and gave me a phone line (Australia wide) and unlimited internet usage. A sim card went into the side as was a plug for a desk phone. A 3 minutes set-up straight from the box. The system was password enabled at my request. Best of all, the service call center was in Australia!!! So good to speak with a local service… Read more

center. I found the internet and phone system to be extremely reliable as long as it was plugged into the power point and the power was on. For it's value, it was the best available in my opinion.

Terrible – No reception inside my home, have to go outside to make and receive calls. Customer service is a nightmare! Mistake signing a contract with Virgin  Show details

Terrible cust service, slow or stop your service – When you are out of contract they slow your service down then stop completely. No internet and make it hard to ring out. When you ring to find out was is happening they tell you they don’t support that plan and they offer a more expensive plan. Might be a cheaper option at the beginning but you are better going with a more reputable carrier who looks after there customer and has good customer support.  Show details

Broadband data disappears like magic – Reading a few reviews here and it seems i am not the only one experiencing this issue. I am on a 13gb plan with Virgin and over the last 2 months the 13gb have disappeared in a matter of days (5gb download/day) we only use the internet to check emails and social media at night. Customer service not able to give details of where data is going.… Read more

Having serious doubts about the accuracy of data download information and will be cancelling this service.

Good Connection – We signed up for 12 months with Virgin Wi-fi 3 months ago and so far it have been good. We are in Sydney and use 3G network on 2 laptops and we have no issues. It is handy that any unused data can be rollover for next month's usage. Setup was easy, just visit a Virgin shop and it takes 10- 15 minutes, Good price too.  Show details

Convenient and one of the cheaper mobile broadband plans around – Bought this a few years back as my housemate did not want to share a naked broadband plan. The price is much better compared to a lot of other broadband plans. Get a further discount by bundling my mobile phone plan to it. Haven't had issues with their customer service so far. Speed used to be ok although it has slowed down quite a bit in the last few weeks.  Show details

4g wireless internet crap – Between 6pm and 10pm the internet speed is terrible!! Latency is Horrible there tech support blame the speed on your end but the magical thing is how come the internet speed is good through the day then 1 it hit 6pm it's poor, fix your phone towers!!  Show details

Stay away – When I first got on virgin mobile broadband, things weren't too bad. However, lately the customer service has been well below standard. They don't respond to online messages, and when you phone them, although I do get through quite quickly without have to be on hold for long, talking to their customer service reps on the phone is like talking to a… Read more

6 year old kid, under-skilled and can't help much. Recently I've cancelled my service (after facing a fair bit of resistance from them), and doubt I'll ever be going back. They wouldn't let my number be ported to different mobile broadband service either.

Virgin 4g - I give it a 1G! – Virgin mobile internet is dead slow and not good value. I had better speeds with my old Samsung S2 on 3g then I get on 4g with a Huawei gr3 in Sydney town. I have DSL at a remote bush property that has no mobile cover - equivalent to Virgin 4g in the city. There ain't much point having all this data on your plan if you cant use it. Drat I knew i should have signed on with Vodaphone or Aldi or Boost!  Show details

Data disappears like magic – I have USB Mobile broadband. On Christmas day I was busy cooking and celebrating with my family and friends. The modem and computer were turned of . On Boxing day we went out most of the day and again everything was turned of. I am the only one in my house that uses the internet. I also have passwords on everything. But when I went to sign on… Read more

this morning I found that 5.5gb of data had been used. I phoned Virgin and after some language difficulties, the data usage was explained as that there is someone in my house is using my broadband. Not so I live alone. The next explanation was maybe I downloaded the data but forgot about it?? When I asked for the data to be reinstalled I was told more or less, no chance. i appealed and asked them to check my average usage over the last 3 years (as my daily usage is about 250kb a day. But no luck. Can not recommend Virgin.

Drop outs continuous – The connection is really bad. Since the upgrade of the tower, the service is hopeless. I'm cancelling my 2 services today! 12 months of bad internet. It was better than Telstra originally.  Show details

Crap. Data being used when nothing connected to it – Burned through 4gb of data in one morning, despite being at work and having no other devices connected to it. I used to get by with 3gb of data on my phone, but got this, so I could just be a little more free with the internet on my phone, and all of a sudden, where I used to use 2gb per month, I'm using 12gb in a few days, although my browsing habits are the same. Go figure.  Show details

Virgin Mobile – I have been using Vodafone Mobile broadband over the last year. I live in a remote area and reception was variable often depending on the weather. I recently switched to Virgin Mobile Broadband and the reception is much better for me where I live. The customer service is quite good. I have an issue with Virgin that they make it hard to know how… Read more

much data you have used. Another drawback is that getting extra data beyond 25 gb is expensive and not much is offered. Hopefully in the future they will offer more data if needed at a good price.

Crap. I can get 11 Gb of data and unlimited calls (incuding to mobiles) for $40 from Boost – Utterly fed up with Virgin. Every month my data gets used up quicker and quicker even though I do nothing differenty. Virgin doesn't have any answers other than to try and sell me an extra Gb for $15. Signed up when Richard Bransen started the company but of course it's been all down hill since he sold it. My advice to everyone is this: Join… Read more

Boost and use your mobile phone. For $40 per month you get 11Gb of data (though you do have to use 2Gb at each weekend) but what the heck? I'm paying an additional $40 for a miserable $12 with Virgin now. So I am set to save $40 per month and be rid of Virgin once and for all. Just sorting out what phone to get, but with Boost offering smartphones for $49 which includes $10 data and free postage, you can't go wrong. I can't wait to be rid of Virgin once and for all. They deserve to go broke and I'm sure they will. DON'T GO NEAR THEM!!!

Pathetic & incredibly frustratingly bad – I've had enough. I am lucky if I get 2mbps download speed when i was getting 15mbps with telstra. It's a waste of $40 per month for 12GB. I would expect at the very least 5mbps download speed . If i had known it was going to be this slow I would never have gone with Virgin.  Show details

Still happy with Virgin – I have been looking for landline ISP because I have been using more data and want to try netflix. Have had phone (2GB) and mobile wifi (6GB) with virgin for years. Always have to watch my data, but this month I have used most of it right in the beginning of the data cycle. It is proving complicated to get landline data so I did online help with… Read more

virgin and for an extra $10 have gone to 12GB mobile wifi, still month to month (no contract) with BYO and kept my other discount for phone bundle. So easy and now I can relax while I keep thinking and looking for land-line data. Love Virgin and still do.

Beware SPAM – Around 3 years ago I closed my virginbroadband email account. For the past few weeks I have been getting advice from friends that they are receiving SPAM with my old virginbroadband address in use as the sender. It would appear someone has hacked my old account! I cannot be bothered hanging on the end of the phone trying to ring Virgin re this… Read more

problem as it could take hours to get through to someone in the Philippines who probably won't be very interested.

LOUSY respect for the customer – Unable to install a 4GL wireless modem on any of 3 PCs running W7, W8, W10. 1. Website offers chat with help staff: haha, it's always 'off'. 2. 20 min wait to get thru to phone help, who promised to call me back as my calls are very pricey -- they didn't. 3. Couldn't get thru again - 'unavailable for technical reasons' please try again… Read more

later. (THIS was a lie as a sales consultant said they don't have enough staff!) But couldn't over 2 hours but failed, so..

4 Called Sales, got through to them OK! Eventually, someone tried to help, hard to understand the overseas (Philippines?) accent - after 80 minutes of pretty routine stuff she said she'd haa 4GL wireless modem as the case on, expect a call back next day.

5. At 4pm, I gave up as I had to go move on and HAD to have a Net connection so I packed it up and returned it the dispatching address as per consumer law.

6. Virgin makes in VERY difficult to contact them by email, but I did manage and listed the problem and notified them that the non functioning product had been returned and that they should consider the contract cancelled.

7. I have repeated this message twice more, BUT

8. I am being pestered by them to pay my bill! Are they deliberately harassing me or are they just plain incompetent?

And do remember - it's part of Optus.

Slow B/Band Speed – Yes, I have had big problems with my 4g 12 gB plan started off slow & now nothing at all. My partner has the same problem with her 3g, the whole system is a failure & the people you speak to are in the Phillipines, so how can they correct anything they said they will send me a new sim card, it will be interesting to see if this corrects my problem, then my partner, I think we will be looking for another provider total dead loss.  Show details

4G works really well – UPDATE: 05/12/2015- I have been using Virgin Mobile Broadband since 2013 and its works really well. Speed is good enough for streaming videos and I will definitely recommend it. Packaged data size appears good value for money Terribly slow Show details

Total waste of money – Very unreliable service, they were good 6 months ago now its like dialup speed and less, thanks virgin broadband visp for the useless service.  Show details

Disgraceful Customer Service – Network is slow and not good for remote areas. On top I tried to get in touch with customer service team and mission was unsuccessful. After long delays couldn't get in touch with customer service, I thought that must be a busy day so tried again but still same. Now I am locked in for 24 months wish I never signed up for Virgin phone.  Show details

Time to change – Time to move to Optus $70 for 50 gig!!!! Virgins $40 plan seems to be chewing data rather quickly! I've had enough of not getting value for money!  Show details

Good – I am posting a positive review of this service so that people considering it will have a more balanced view. I have had the 12GB $40 a month plan for 1 year and have had no problems with it. Sometimes it's slow, but I'm ok with that given the price. I've had no problems streaming from YouTube or doing anything I need to do on the internet. I… Read more

don't do any gaming though. For me, and others like me, who can't easily set up a phone line for broadband this works great. My only issue is that I need more data.