uSwitch.com Broadband News

Virgin Media dongle review

8

Comments
Reviews

Posted 8th January 2010 at 12:59pm by Jonathan Leggett

virgin media dongle

Virgin Media has long been the UK’s fastest home broadband provider. Now thanks to its new dongle that apparently delivers speeds of up to 7.2Mb, on paper at least it's set to tie Vodafone for the fastest mobile broadband provider.

However, we've all been stung before by mobile broadband products failing to live up to their billing - whether that's through patchy signal strength or speeds that are well below those advertised. So is Virgin Media's new gadget just another dongle downer? Or does it live up to the bold claims being made for it? The short answer, I'm happy to report, is that it easily delivers on the speed promise. And easily matches Voda's rival offering.

But let’s begin at the beginning, with the start up procedure. With no CD required, it’s simply a case of plugging in. The whole process took a total of two minutes, after which we were surfing the web’s highways and byways instantly.

Just as impressive were the speeds we were able to do so. Although we never quite reached the headline speed of 7.2Mb when used in our central London office and outer London home, we weren’t far off.

Perhaps more crucially, we found that signal strength was consistently and uniformly excellent – vital when, as I was, the inclement weather stops you getting to work and your home broadband goes down.

That meant that once the working day was done we were able to watch BBC iPlayer and wintry YouTube clips just as smoothly as we would have done with an ADSL connection. And that applies when we were watching at peak usage times of between seven and ten. The dongle also doubles as a memory stick. In order to get the most of out of it as a mass storage device, however, you’ll need to insert a microSD card.

The device is available on an 18-month contract with a monthly usage limit options of £10 per month for 1GB, £15 for 3GB. Alternatively, existing Virgin Media home broadband customers who add the dongle to their broadband product portfolio pay £8 and £12 for the same usage limits.

If you're after a premium service or want to upgrade from your existing snail-like provider, Virgin Media's dongle is a terrific product. And at just £10 more than the standard Virgin Media dongle that delivers half the maximum speed, it’s actually something of a bargain too.

Top 10 Broadband review score: 9/10

More news on: Virgin Media, Mobile broadband, Dongles

8

Comments

8 comments

  • Mike C, 13th January 2010.

    Am very interested in this product to get me on line from Majorca or the alpine region of France; do Virgin have a tie in with any of the local mobile companies in either countries?

    Reply

  • Jonathan, 14th January 2010.

    @Mike C

    Hi Mike,

    You can use this Virgin Media dongle in 180 countries, including Spain and France. But before heading off on your trip you'd need to call them on 0845 6000 789 to register.

    Reply

  • Julian Penn, 16th January 2010.

    Hi Jonathan,

    I am looking for a dongle for my wife to use and it must be Linux compatible. I have a Virgin dongle which I cannot use with Linux.

    Is the new Virgin dongle able to use Linux?

    Reply

  • Jonathan, 18th January 2010.

    @Julian Penn

    Hi Julian,

    I'm afraid the Virgin Media dongle only supports Mac and Windows. However, there are some guides around online that show that it can work with Linux. It'd require some Linux knowledge, but I'm sure you'll be able to fix it up.

    Reply

  • Julia Cooke, 23rd January 2010.

    I had been advised that the previous dongle from virgin, did not recognise / work with the microsoft windows set up for e mails etc. Does this new one now do this?

    Reply

  • Dan, 22nd February 2010.

    Jonathan, Do you know of any dongles that are in the pipeline that are perhaps a true threat to a home broadband? Surely paying £15 for 3GB is an expense which most would admit is truely too high?

    If an isp came out offering a mobile dongle even priced at £20, which i belive to be high, but giving you an allowance of 10GB per month, it would clear up the market. As a price point, Virgin Media is giving you 1GB for a fiver. For most households this is not very useful even for iplayer usage alone.

    As with all, sell on bulk and the profit is there. Sell a dongle at £20 with a 10gb usage and surely the demand will be there? What might you thoughts on this be and may you even come to our rescue and tell us you have heard of such a deal.

    Reply

  • Jonathan, 23rd February 2010.

    @Dan I think there'd definitely be a market for the kind of plan you're proposing.. But I can't see them arriving until we get 4G networks or there's a shift in people's perception of where mobile b'band fits in with their lives.

    Reply

  • Daniel, 1st July 2011.

    This is just a t-mobile mobile broadband as virgin dont own a network they are just a MVNO

    Reply

Add your comment

Please enter your name