NOW Broadband vs Virgin Media

NOW Broadband offers budget broadband packages with prices from as low as £22 per month for either a part or full fibre connection.

Virgin Media offers their M125 broadband plan for just £26 per month, making it one of the cheapest ways to get 100Mb+ speeds.

While availability may play a part, Virgin Media broadband is faster and can be bundled with their TV service, as well as with mobile benefits through O2.

At a glance

Best deals

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Full Fibre 100	100Mb average	£25	£5	24 months
	Offer: £5 refundable advance fee for new customers if applicable
Go	M125 Fibre Broadband	132Mb average	£26	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £26 per month + No setup fee (was £35)

Price

Winner: NOW Broadband is cheaper than Virgin Media, but speeds are much more limited.

NOW Broadband starts at just £22 per month with free setup, while Virgin Media's cheapest deal is currently £26 per month.

While NOW Broadband is cheaper however, broadband speeds are typically slower, with the £22 per month package offer 75Mbps, and 100Mbps costing £25 per month. Virgin Media's cheapest £26 deal offers 132Mbps speeds, but customers can also get 264Mbps for £28.99.

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Superfast	61Mb average	£23	Free	24 months
	Offer: Free setup
Go	M125 Fibre Broadband	132Mb average	£26	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £26 per month + No setup fee (was £35)

NOW Broadband packages come with a home phone line included with calls on a pay as you go basis, customers also get the Sky Broadband Hub router included, and setup is currently free.

In comparison, the Virgin Media deals listed above don't include a phone line, which costs extra, but setup is free and customers get a Virgin Media Hub 3 or 4.

Both providers will increase prices annually, but it's difficult to say by how much that will be at the moment. Ofcom has now banned inflation-linked mid-contract price hikes, but these new rules won't come into effect until January 2025, so contracts taken out now could still see inflation-based rises.

Virgin Media currently increase prices by RPI + 3.9%, while NOW Broadband say 'prices may rise' but they're not specific. In 2024 NOW Broadband prices went up by £3 per month, while Virgin Media broadband prices increased between £2.55 to £4.22 depending on the package.

Overall, for price NOW Broadband beat Virgin Media broadband, and it's likely even with annual price rises, NOW Broadband will remain cheaper over the length of the contract.

Broadband packages

Winner: Virgin Media has a much wider selection of broadband packages and bundle options than NOW Broadband does.

While NOW Broadband is owned by home entertainment giants Sky, Virgin Media offer a better array of broadband packages as NOW Broadband is ultimately focused on being Sky's budget brand.

NOW Broadband focus on low-cost superfast broadband plans, with one part-fibre and two full fibre packages on offer.

Since becoming 'powered by Sky' in June 2024, NOW Broadband's packages are more comprehensive, with a better standard router, and an optional WiFi 6 router upgrade and WiFi guarantee add-on, as well as access to Sky's parental controls and MySky app.

However, their major drawback is their budget focus, with packages only available up to 100Mbps.

While that will be adequate for most households, especially those moving to full fibre for the first time, customers who want ultrafast or gigabit speeds will need to pick Virgin Media instead.

Here are NOW Broadband's packages side-by-side with equivalent entry-level deals from Virgin Media:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Full Fibre 75	75Mb average	£23	Free	24 months
	Offer: Free setup
	Full Fibre 100	100Mb average	£25	£5	24 months
	Offer: £5 refundable advance fee for new customers if applicable
	M125 Fibre Broadband	132Mb average	£26	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £26 per month + No setup fee (was £35)
	M250 Fibre Broadband	264Mb average	£28.99	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £28.99 per month + No setup fee (was £35)

NOW Broadband packages come with a home phone line as standard, which is another benefit in their favour, as the Virgin Media deals listed above are broadband-only, and customers will have to pay more to include a home phone line, although it is available.

Households who want to access WiFi boosters to improve coverage around the home can add Sky WiFi Max to NOW Broadband for an extra £6.50 per month, while Virgin Media's WiFi Max add-on costs £8 per month, or it's included free with Volt bundles.

Interestingly, both Sky WiFi Max and Virgin Media use Plume WiFi pods in their WiFi guarantees, although customers will receive different routers, which we look at below.

For faster broadband speeds, Virgin Media is the only option, here are their ultrafast and gigabit packages:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	M500 Fibre Broadband	516Mb average	£33.99	Free	18 months
	Offer: 500Mb broadband for less than the price of 350Mb + No setup fee (was £35)
	Gig1 Fibre Broadband	1.13Gb average	£40.99	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £40.99 per month + No setup fee (was £35)
	Gig2 Fibre Broadband	2Gb average	£69.99	Free	18 months
	Offer: Reduced price: £69.99 per month

It's also possible that NOW Broadband may be available in locations where Virgin Media isn't, and vice versa - especially for full fibre deals. You can use our free broadband tool and add Virgin Media and NOW Broadband to the filter to see the deals available in your area.

Read more about Virgin Media broadband and NOW Broadband in our main reviews.

Broadband speed

Winner: Virgin Media is noticeably faster than NOW Broadband, with speed options up to 1Gbps nationwide, as well as 2Gbps in select areas, compared to just 100Mbps with NOW.

NOW Broadband offer a superfast broadband deal in part-fibre Openreach areas with average download speeds of 61Mbps. For those living in Openreach full fibre areas, they can also choose from a 75Mbps and a 100Mbps plan.

Virgin Media on the other hand, offer a selection of seven different broadband speeds, including multi-gigabit and optional symmetrical speeds in certain areas.

That means for speed, Virgin Media are the clear winner over NOW Broadband, as even their cheapest M125 broadband plan is faster than NOW Broadband's Full Fibre 100.

Here are the average download speeds of NOW Broadband:

And those of Virgin Media broadband:

NOW Broadband and Virgin Media also both use different underlying networks to connect their customers, with NOW reselling Openreach and Virgin Media managing their own network plus additional full fibre coverage with Nexfibre.

Its properties connected to Virgin Media via Nexfibre full fibre that will be able to access their new Gig2 package, as well as the symmetrical speeds add-on that boost upload speeds to the same as the headline download speed.

Minimum broadband speeds

In addition to the advertised averages above, we can also look at the minimum speed guarantees for each broadband package to see what speed a provider is willing to promise the contract on.

Basically, if broadband speeds drop below the minimum guaranteed the customer is free to exit their contract early and without penalty, as long as the provider is given 30 days to try and remedy any issues.

We tested one location with both Openreach full fibre and Virgin Media cable broadband and were given these minimum speed guarantees for each of their packages:

While full fibre broadband connections are generally more reliable speed-wise as the fibre optic cable is installed into a customer's home, connections with the last mile covered by copper (part-fibre) or coaxial cable in the case of Virgin Media, could suffer more from speed variations.

In this instance then, Virgin Media's minimum speed guarantees are useful for extra reassurances on the quality of service we'll receive, but most customers will receive the average speed or faster in any case.

Overall, while NOW Broadband also meet Ofcom's voluntary practice on broadband speeds and offers packages that will be adequate for most homes, Virgin Media offer some of the UK's fastest broadband with both gigabit and multi-gigabit options.

Router

Winner: NOW Broadband customers can pay to upgrade to a WiFi 6 model, while Virgin Media only provide this on their fastest Gig1 and Gig2 plans.

While Virgin Media offer faster broadband, NOW Broadband may offer the faster router - with the option to upgrade to a WiFi 6 model bundled with their WiFi guarantee add-on 'WiFi Max'.

All NOW Broadband customers will receive the Sky Broadband Hub as standard, it's a dual-band WiFi 5 (802.11ac) router, with 8 internal antennae and four 1Gb Ethernet LAN ports. Released in 2019, it's a decent router that offers strong signal throughout the home.

However, it's also possible for NOW Broadband customers to take the WiFi Max add-on for an extra £6.50 per month, which includes the Sky Max Hub, a WiFi 6 enabled router, as well as up to three Plume WiFi pods to boost coverage seamlessly around the home.

Virgin Media customers on the other hand will receive a router depending on the package they signed up for, and while it's possible to access Plume WiFi pods, each of Virgin's routers work with these pods as they all support mesh.

Customers who take Gig1 will receive the Hub 5, which does support WiFi 6, however customers who take any other plan will receive either the Hub 3 or Hub 4 which are both older WiFi 5 devices.

Here are the specifications of the standard routers from Virgin Media and NOW Broadband side-by-side:

These are the specifications of Virgin Media's Gig1 router, and the Sky Max Hub which can be bundled with any NOW Broadband package for an extra cost:

Overall, while the Virgin Media Hub 5 stands out as a good device, most customers won't receive it, yet, NOW Broadband customers at least have the option to access a better device.

TV

Winner: Virgin Media offer a more comprehensive TV package that's integrated with the broadband deal, while NOW Broadband offer access to Sky TV it's no different to taking the plan separately.

Since becoming more integrated with Sky, NOW Broadband packages are no longer offered in bundles with discounts or special offers on NOW TV Memberships. That's a shame, because while NOW Broadband customers can now take Sky TV during sign up instead, it's no cheaper than taking the plan separately.

Virgin Media broadband is still available bundled with Virgin Media TV 360 plans and with Virgin's new Stream TV service. Some Virgin Media TV and broadband bundles offer exceptional value for money too, costing just a few pounds more than the broadband-only plan.

Here are some examples of some of the most popular Virgin Media bundles:

	Package	TV	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Big bundle	117	264Mb average	£33	Free	18 months
	Offer: No setup fee (was £35)
	Bigger Combo bundle	190	362Mb average	£39.99	Free	18 months
	Offer: No setup fee (was £35)

These deals also include a home phone line with free calls to UK landlines at the weekend, and can also be bundled with Volt too.

In terms of TV content, it could be said that Sky TV is better than Virgin Media TV, but in this case, Virgin Media broadband customers could also opt for Sky TV as well, so NOW Broadband aren't bringing anything exclusive or new to the table.

Overall, Virgin Media beat NOW for TV as the packages are more integrated with greater value for money for bundling alongside their broadband.

Customer service

Winner: It's a tie. NOW Broadband complaint levels have peaked recently, while Virgin Media's complaints have been higher than average for a while.

Neither NOW Broadband or Virgin Media stand out particularly well for customer service, with both providers generating higher than average complaint scores in recent months.

In the last quarter reported by industry regularly Ofcom, Virgin Media had the most complaints with 20 per 100,000 customers, followed by NOW Broadband with 18. The industry average was just 12, with customer service super heroes Sky gathering only 5 complaints per 100,000 customers.

However, that's a fairly new trend for NOW Broadband, with Virgin Media also performing better prior to the Q4 2023 report:

The reason for Virgin Media's complaint peak have been tied to Ofcom's investigation into their complaints handling and contract cancellations, which launched in July 2023. Why NOW Broadband complaints spiked recently is not as clear however.

We do know that Sky recently outsourced a number of their previously UK based customer service call centre jobs overseas to locations including India and Bulgaria, which is likely to affect NOW Broadband as well.

Virgin Media have used overseas call centres for some time and have never had fully UK-based call centres. Despite this, they only answered the phone on average in 3 minutes and 7 seconds, compared to 51 seconds for calls to NOW Broadband, according to Ofcom's latest Comparing Service Quality report.

Overall, it's difficult to pick between Virgin Media and NOW Broadband for customer service, although prior to recent spikes NOW Broadband had a lower complaint record and their parent company is Sky, who generally excel in customer service research.

Verdict: NOW Broadband or Virgin Media broadband?

Overall winner: NOW Broadband are better on price, but Virgin Media offer a more comprehensive broadband service with options to bundle additional services for further savings.

Virgin Media's broadband and TV bundles offer exceptional value for money, and the ability to also combine discounts and benefits with O2 can save households real money.

However, as with all deals, it will come down to what a household wants and needs and what they'll use. Homes that already use O2 as a mobile provider can really benefit, as can those who want to subscribe to premium TV content from Sky.

Virgin Media's broadband speeds are also hard to beat, with options up to 1Gbps available nationwide, and growing coverage for their new Gig2 plan and symmetrical uploads.

For many households however, NOW Broadband's low prices will be hard to pass up, and their recent relaunch means customers also benefit from Sky's more up to date equipment and services like Sky Broadband Shield, the MySky app, and Sky TV bundles.

Ultimately, it'll come down to individual preference, but Virgin Media offers faster broadband with value bundles, while NOW Broadband is a simpler option for those looking for the cheapest broadband deal.