Virgin Media to increase bundle prices by up to £4 next year
Virgin Media customers who are signed up to one of the company's "Big Bundles" will soon see their monthly bill get an inflation-busting price increase. The cable provider says "the vast majority" of subscribers will see their packages rise by up to 5.4 percent (between £3.49 and £3.99 a month), which will include a £1 line rental increase. The changes won't happen right away -- they'll come into effect next February.
The pricing breaks down as follows: customers on a Big Connection or Big Easy package will have an extra £3.49 bolted on to their monthly bill. Those on the Big Bang, Big Kahuna, Big Daddy plans will get the slightly larger £3.99 increase. Broadband-only customers who were lumped with a bigger bill in November are exempt from Virgin Media's latest price review.
The timing of the hike has prompted many Virgin Media customers to voice their displeasure on social media. When the company bumped its top broadband speed up to 200Mbps at the end of September, it said the boost would incur no extra charge. However, just six weeks later, many of those customers are now receiving notice of a price increase.
Virgin says that the extra money will help it "continue increasing [...] broadband speeds, keep their downloads unlimited and invest in our network." That includes the launch of Virgin Media WiFi, a new hotspot service that will likely turn customers' Superhub routers into public WiFi hotspots. ISP Review reports that the service doesn't utilise customers' own connections and subscribers can opt out should they wish (but they won't be able to use the service if they do).
