Customers who take out Virgin Media's WiFi Max guarantee will be sent up to three WiFi Pods to help improve wireless signal around their home.
The WiFi Max guarantee costs just £8 per month, or is free to some customers, and promises minimum download speeds of 30Mbps in every room, or a £100 bill credit.
This guide looks at how Virgin Media's WiFi Pods work and whether the WiFi Max add-on is worth paying for.
At a glance
| Monthly price | £8 |
|---|---|
| Free with | Gig1, Gig2 and Volt |
| Minimum term | 30 days |
| Minimum speed in every room | 30Mb per second |
| Router required | Hub 3, 4 or 5 |
| Equipment provided | Up to 3 WiFi Pods |
| Guarantee | £100 bill credit |
Get Virgin Media WiFi Max free with:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
M250 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter | 264Mb average | £33.99 | Free | 18 months |
 Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts (Ends 31/05/2024) | |||||
|
Gig1 Fibre Broadband | 1.13Gb average | £41 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price: £45 per month + No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 08/05/2024) | |||||
Virgin Media WiFi Max Booster
Virgin Media WiFi Max is a guarantee that promises minimum download speeds of 30Mbps in every room in a customer's home, or they'll get a £100 bill credit.
In addition, the WiFi Max booster service can be cancelled at any time with just 30 days' notice whether it works or not, so if it doesn't work as well as it should, customers aren't tied in to a lengthy contract.
The guarantee was also boosted last year from 20Mbps to 30Mbps for both new and existing customers at no extra cost, making it one of the fastest wireless guarantees from all major providers.
Overall, WiFi Max was our best buy choice out of all the whole home WiFi guarantees we reviewed.
How does WiFi Max work?
All of Virgin Media's newer routers, that's the Hub 3, 4 and 5, come with mesh technology built-in.
Mesh is also sometimes called Intelligent WiFi, and it basically allows a wireless network to be seamlessly extended over a larger area using mesh boosters.
While mesh boosters offer improvements in efficiency over older 'WiFi range extenders', their biggest benefit is that they enlarge the original wireless network, rather than creating new networks. This means devices in a home can stay signed in to just one wireless network wherever they are in the property.
Virgin Media's WiFi Max guarantee uses their own branded WiFi Pods, built by Plume, which are smallish white hexagonal devices that plug straight into a power outlet.
These WiFi Pods can be placed in areas of a home where wireless signal weakens, such as upstairs (when the main router lives downstairs), or even in a converted loft room.
What is the process for the WiFi guarantee?
Customers who sign up to Virgin Media's WiFi Max guarantee will be sent one WiFi Pod to boost their network, once it's installed they can check their download speed using the Virgin Media Connect app.
The Virgin Media Connect app will perform a WiFi scan around your home by directing you room-to-room and testing the speed in each one.
If any room receives less than 30Mbps download speeds a customer can then contact Virgin Media to request a second WiFi Pod booster.
Virgin will supply customers up to three WiFi Pods in total, but each time the customer needs to setup and check coverage before an additional booster will be sent out.
It's fairly time-consuming process then, but with similar mesh devices costing around £100 to purchase outright, it's reasonable that Virgin only want to supply what's necessary.
Customers can have the WiFi Pods delivered by Click & Collect or home delivery, but Virgin say home delivery may incur postage charges, although they don't specify how much.
If after installing three WiFi Pods a customer still doesn't have 30Mbps speeds in every room, Virgin Media will first look at any other possible problems, for example if the Hub needs replacing, and potentially arranging an engineer visit to check the position of the WiFi Pods around the home.
At this point, if the WiFi boosters still haven't achieved 30Mbps wireless download speeds in every room, Virgin Media will provide the customer with a £100 bill credit.
They'll also be free to cancel the WiFi Max add-on if they're paying for it by giving 30 days' notice.
How much does WiFi Max cost?
Virgin Media WiFi Max costs £8 per month on top of any standard broadband subscription costs. The monthly fee covers up to three WiFi speed boosters, and an engineer visit if that's deemed necessary.
WiFi Max is included for free for customers who take any of the following Virgin Media packages:
- Any Volt broadband package
- Gig1 broadband only, or broadband and phone
- Gig2 broadband, although availability for this plan is currently limited
- Mega Volt bundle
Here are three of the cheapest Virgin Media Volt deals that include WiFi Max:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
M250 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter | 264Mb average | £33.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts (Ends 31/05/2024) | |||||
|
|
M350 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter | 362Mb average | £37.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts | |||||
|
|
M500 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter | 516Mb average | £43.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts | |||||
Gig1 is Virgin Media's flagship broadband package and offers one of the UK's fastest gigabit speeds at 1.13Gbps at peak times. It's available as a broadband-only plan, or with a home phone line, although the broadband-only deal is currently cheapest.
Gig2 is a new multi-gig plan from Virgin Media offering average download speeds of 2Gbps, but is currently limited to locations where Virgin have rolled out their new full fibre connections.
The latest pricing for Gig1 and Gig2 packages is:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Gig1 Fibre Broadband | 1.13Gb average | £41 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price: £45 per month + No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 08/05/2024) | |||||
|
|
Gig1 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter | 1.13Gb average | £49.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts | |||||
|
|
Gig2 Fibre Broadband | 2Gb average | £84 | Free | 18 months |
While Gig1 and Gig2 can be bundled with Stream TV, customers who want a more comprehensive Virgin TV plan will need to opt for a pre-made Volt bundle to get WiFi Max for free.
The Mega Volt bundle (was Ultimate Volt) is currently the top-tier package, with everything a household could want included. Yet, WiFi Max is also included for free in the Bigger Volt Bundle and Big Volt Bundle.
The current pricing for Volt broadband and TV bundles is:
| Package | TV | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Big Volt bundle | 117 | 132Mb average | £37.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 10GB data, unlimited minutes and texts (Ends 31/05/2024) | ||||||
|
|
Bigger Combo Volt bundle | 190 | 264Mb average | £44.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with 10GB data, unlimited minutes and texts | ||||||
|
|
Mega Volt bundle | 230 | 1.13Gb average | £85 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: £200 Bill Credit or a Nintendo Switch 1.1 Gaming Console (Red/Neon) + No setup fee (was £35) + O2 mobile SIM with Unlimited data, minutes and texts (Ends 28/04/2024) | ||||||
For all other Virgin Media packages, customers can still sign up to WiFi Max but they'll have to pay the £8 monthly fee.
For customers who do pay however, WiFi Max is a contract-free add-on so it can be cancelled at any time with just 30 days' notice. We particularly like this flexibility because it's possible customers may find they no longer need it in the future, or if it doesn't work as expected it's easy to cancel.
How does WiFi Max compare?
We've looked at every WiFi guarantee available in the broadband market offered by major providers and Virgin Media's WiFi Max service is by the far the best add-on.
WiFi Max guarantees the fastest download speeds over wireless, offers the most money-back if it fails to deliver, and has the most flexibility with just a 30-day notice term.
Here's how WiFi Max compares with other WiFi booster systems:
| Monthly price | Minimum speed | Guarantee | Minimum term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Media | £8 (free with Gig1 or Volt) | 30Mb | £100 bill credit | 30 days |
| Sky | £6.50 (was £10) | Up to 25Mb | 1 month's subscription refunded | 18 months |
| BT | £5 (was £10) | 'Strong' signal on My BT app | £100 bill credit | 24 months |
| Vodafone | £5 - £15 | 10Mb | Leave contract early | 24 months |
Vodafone also offer a 4G mobile back-up as part of their WiFi booster system, yet it's worth pointing out any Virgin Media Volt customers will have at least 10GB mobile data each month with O2, which could be used in case of any broadband downtime, and Mega Volt customers get an unlimited data O2 SIM.
Overall, Virgin Media's WiFi Max was our easy best buy choice when we reviewed all of the WiFi guarantees available from major providers.
WiFi Max is the only whole home WiFi guarantee that doesn't tie customers into a lengthy contract. It's also the only guarantee that promises realistically usable speeds of at least 30Mbps.
What happened to Intelligent WiFi Plus?
Existing Virgin Media customers may already be aware of Intelligent WiFi Plus, or they be even be subscribed to it.
Intelligent WiFi Plus was originally launched in January 2021 as an upgraded version of Virgin Media's Intelligent WiFi system, which was first introduced with their Hub 3 router.
At launch it cost £5 per month, but was provided free for customers on Virgin's Ultimate Oomph bundle or the Gig1 package.
Existing customers subscribed to Intelligent WiFi Plus will automatically be moved to the WiFi Max plan, yet if they're paying for the service they'll keep the lower £5 per month fee.
Intelligent WiFi Plus didn't make any promises of minimum download speeds in every room or provide any money back if the service failed to deliver.
So, while WiFi Max costs a little more for some customers, overall, it's a much more substantial guarantee than Intelligent WiFi Plus was.
Verdict: Are Virgin Media WiFi Pods worth it?
We think Virgin Media WiFi Max is an easy choice as far as WiFi guarantees go, offering an advanced mesh booster system with up to three WiFi Pods for even the largest homes.
It's free for customers on Volt, Gig1 or Gig2 packages, and for those on M50 to M500 broadband deals, at £8 per month, the 30-day term makes it a safe add-on to try if you're struggling with wireless coverage in a larger home.
Worse case scenarios mean even if it doesn't live up to its promise you'll get £100 off your Virgin Media bill and can quickly cancel the service.
Overall, if Virgin Media is available in your area, WiFi Max stands head and shoulders above any other WiFi guarantee in the broadband market, promising actually useful minimum download speeds and a decent pay out if it fails to deliver.
Read more about Virgin Media broadband and see their latest pricing and special offers here.
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