Virgin Media Big Bundle

Virgin Media's Big Bundle is the perfect low-cost way to access a home entertainment package, especially with on-demand add-ons.

Price:

Speed:

Content:

Features:

Virgin Media's Big Bundle provides the TV 360 box with the M250 broadband plan, and free calls to UK landlines at the weekend.

Customers have two package choices with the option to upgrade to Volt for faster speeds and O2 mobile benefits. It's also possible to add Sky Sports, Sky Cinema or TNT Sports.

Overall, it's a cost-effective way to add a basic TV plan to Virgin Media's ultrafast broadband, with this bundle just £1.49 more than the equivalent broadband-only deal.

At a glance

	Package	TV	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Big bundle	117	132Mb average	£33	Free	18 months
	Offer: No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 30/04/2024)
Go	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)

Who is the Big Bundle best suited for?

The Big Bundle from Virgin Media is the perfect choice for people looking for a low-cost home entertainment plan, with ultrafast broadband and the latest TV 360 box.

While the included channels are limited to mostly free-to-air ones, customers can access a range of on-demand apps through the TV 360 box, and Virgin Media have been gradually adding more channels to their basic pack, including Pluto TV and a number of themed and Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) shows.

The Big Bundle is best for:

• Households who want ultrafast broadband from Virgin Media
• Those on a budget who don't want to overspend on TV and telecoms, with the Big Bundle one of Virgin's cheapest TV and broadband deals
• People who want to watch on-demand apps like Netflix and Prime Video on a large screen
• Those who want the ability to pause and rewind live TV, and record TV programmes, with a dedicated set-top box
• People who don't want to watch live sports: Eurosport isn't included, and Sky Sports is cheaper in the Bigger Bundle + Sports HD pack

Customers can also upgrade their broadband speed and gain some mobile benefits with the Big Volt Bundle option. While the TV service remains the same, the package includes M350 broadband, a 10GB O2 mobile SIM, and a range of other Volt benefits, including a free WiFi guarantee.

The Big Volt Bundle costs just £5 more per month, so is a worthwhile consideration for homes who use O2 as a mobile provider and have more occupants sharing the broadband connection.

Those who want more entertainment and sports TV, should look to the Bigger Bundle however, which bundles an extra 90 TV channels, including TNT Sports and Eurosport 1 & 2, and costs just £4.01 more per month.

Big Bundle package options

There are two main options with the Big Bundle:

1. The Big Bundle, with 100+ channels, the TV 360 box and M250 broadband with weekend calls
2. The Big Volt Bundle, as above but with faster M350 broadband, a free wireless speed guarantee, and a 10GB O2 mobile SIM with unlimited minutes, plus double data for all household O2 plans.

Here is the latest pricing for these Big Bundle packages:

	Package	TV	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Big bundle	117	132Mb average	£33	Free	18 months
	Offer: No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 30/04/2024)
	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)

Virgin Media is currently offering a waived setup fee across their packages so there are no upfront costs, where usually this would be £35.

While it is possible to customise the Big Bundle and Big Volt Bundle with a few premium channel packs, the Sky Sports and Sky Cinema channels are cheaper when taken with the Bigger Bundle + Sports HD and Bigger Bundle + Movies packs. TNT Sports now costs the same however, so that's more of an option.

The minimum term on the Big Bundle is 18 months, at which point prices will rise to an out of contract price.

Customers will be notified when their contract is coming to an end so they can negotiate a cheaper deal with Virgin Media again, or switch away for a new customer offer elsewhere.

Since April 2023, Virgin Media have updated their terms to include an annual price rise of Retail Price Index (RPI) + 3.9%, to bring them in line with the annual price rise of partner company O2.

Big Bundle: what's on offer?

The Big Bundle is Virgin Media's cheapest TV, broadband and phone package, and includes the following:

• M250 broadband, with average download speeds of 264Mb per second
• Weekend chatter, with inclusive calls to UK landlines at the weekend
• 100+ TV channels and the TV 360 box

	Package	TV	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Big bundle	117	132Mb average	£33	Free	18 months
	Offer: No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 30/04/2024)

It's worth being aware the M250 Volt Fibre Broadband + Weekend chatter plan is available for £31.99 per month, and the M250 broadband-only plan costs £30.50 per month.

The Big Bundle is offering really good value for money then as it's priced only slightly more than the equivalent broadband deals without the TV 360 box.

The TV 360 box itself is Virgin Media's latest set-top box, and allows customers the ability to pause, rewind and record live TV, as well as access a range of on-demand apps including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and recently Paramount+ as well.

Ultimately, due to the way Virgin Media price their packages, the Big Bundle is an easy choice for people living in a Virgin Media enabled area, as it effectively bundles Virgin TV and home phone for just £1.49 extra.

Big Volt Bundle

While the Big Bundle comes with M250 broadband, customers can boost their download speeds to 362Mb per second with the M350 plan by choosing Volt.

Volt offers:

• Boosted broadband speeds to next tier up
• WiFi Max, a 30Mbps minimum wireless speed promise, with up to 3 WiFi Pods
• O2 mobile SIM with 10GB data, unlimited minutes and texts
• Other Volt benefits, including double data, roaming and tech treats

Currently, adding Volt to the Big Bundle costs:

	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)

The Big Volt Bundle gets a speed boost to M350 broadband, which offers average download speeds of 362Mb per second, and average upload speeds of 36Mb per second.

M350 is Virgin's third fastest package, coming in just below M500 and Gig1.

At the time of writing, the Big Volt Bundle is the better value for money choice, costing just £5 extra per month, but bundling services worth much more.

As well as the faster broadband speed, Volt has a number of additional benefits that can make it worth the extra cost.

Virgin Media's WiFi Max guarantee for example, while it usually costs £8 per month, it's bundled for free with Volt. This guarantee promises minimum wireless download speeds of at least 30Mb per second in every room or customers can claim a £100 bill credit.

Volt also includes a 10GB mobile SIM plan from O2, with unlimited minutes and texts, worth £10. Any household members with an existing O2 plan will get double data, as well as a free roaming add-on worth £6 per day, and discounts on tech when bought with an O2 plan.

Overall, alongside the broadband boost, Volt is a useful add-on especially for customers who already use O2 as a mobile provider.

TV channels

The Big Bundle includes over 100 live TV channels, although these are mostly free-to-air channels from Freeview. However, as of January 2023, more of these are now in full 1080p HD.

However, Virgin Media have also been actively expanding their TV platform, signing deals with Pluto TV, as well as adding a number of themed TV channels and partnering with some Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) content producers.

All of these new channels have been added to the Virgin Media TV platform and EPG for both new and existing customers for free. So, Virgin TV has been offering increasing amounts of content for customers to watch.

Some of the TV channels on the Big Bundle include:

As well as these channels above, the Big Bundle also includes a number of plus 1 channels, as well as music, news, shopping, and radio channels.

It is possible to customise the Big Bundle at checkout and add premium packs including Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, or TNT Sports.

While the TNT Sports pack costs the same £18 per month across all bundles, those wanting Sky Sports or Sky Cinema will find them cheaper when taken with the Bigger Bundle.

TV box and router

Customers who take the Virgin Media Big Bundle will be provided with a TV 360 box and a WiFi Hub router.

Virgin TV 360 box

The TV 360 box is supplied to all Virgin Media TV customers and is their latest TV box. It allows customers to:

• Pause and rewind live TV
• Record up to 500 hours of standard definition TV
• Record up to 6 programmes simultaneously, while watching a 7th

It supports wired ethernet and HDMI connections, along with an optical audio out and 3.5mm jack.

The Virgin TV 360 box supports a range of on-demand apps that allow customers to add even more programming to their package. While some apps require additional subscriptions, customers can choose from:

Virgin Media have recently added the Paramount+ app to the TV 360 box, after signing a deal in November 2022 to bring it to the platform.

It's also possible to rent more shows through the Virgin Media Store app, which offers access to Sky exclusives like Game of Thrones and Westworld.

Read more about the Virgin TV 360 box and our full review of Virgin Media TV.

Hub 3 or 4

Virgin don't specify which WiFi Hub version they'll send, but it will be either the Hub 3 or the Hub 4.

Both the Hub 3 and Hub 4 support Intelligent WiFi and will work with the WiFi Max guarantee and any provided WiFi Pods.

They're both dual-band wireless routers, which support the WiFi 5 protocol and each have four gigabit ethernet ports for wired connections.

The Hub 4 has more powerful antennas on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band, which is worth bearing in mind if you receive the Hub 3 you may be able to request an upgrade if your wireless performance isn't as good as you expect.

Can I get the Big Bundle?

The Big Bundle is available to anyone on Virgin Media's network, which so far covers over 16.1 million premises, or around 55% of the UK.

Virgin Media are also actively expanding their network too, with an investment of £45 billion to reach an additional 7 million premises by the end of 2026. The provider has wide coverage in London, as well as across the UK in primarily urban and suburban areas.

As a result, availability of Virgin Media is constantly changing, and so it's worthwhile checking your postcode to see if they're available in your area yet.

Verdict: Is the Big Bundle any good?

Virgin Media's Big Bundle is a really good value deal when you compare it to the price of equivalent broadband-only or broadband and phone plans.

It's therefore a fairly straightforward choice for anyone living in a Virgin Media enabled area, except of course, if they want more channels.

Sports fans in particular will want to look at the Bigger Bundle, which only costs an extra £4.01 per month but includes the TNT Sports pack and over 190 channels, including Eurosport and some Sky Entertainment channels, such as Sky Max.

However, it's easy to keep moving up the bundle tiers with Virgin, and those with an eye to a budget will find they're easily satisfied with the Big Bundle, as the ability to access apps on-demand through the TV 360 box provides customers with plenty to watch.

Overall, the Big Bundle should be an easy choice as it offers excellent value for money, while still delivering ultrafast broadband and a decent home entertainment plan.