Vodafone v Virgin Mobile 7 October 2021 at 1:20PM edited 7 October 2021 at 1:21PM in Mobiles 13 replies 432 views

sarahj1990

I have been with Vodafone for the last few years and my contract is coming to an end in a few weeks time. Virgin Mobile have got some good deals on at the moment. How does Virgin compare to Vodafone?

JJ_Egan

VM have no network but use Vodafones network .

sarahj1990

JJ_Egan said:

VM have no network but use Vodafones network .

So would that lead to a worse service if I swapped to Virgin. Also read on the internet last night Virgin Mobile have closed all their High Street stores so only have online presence now.

Neil49

Do you need to stay with the Vodafone network for reception reasons?

Neither Vodafone nor Virgin get particularly good ratings so I would say there's not much in it. I'm aware that you can get various freebies with some Vodafone packages but if you don't use them then that's not an advantage.

Do you need a high street store for any reason. I haven't been into a mobile phone shop for years and just change providers online. 

Use the MSE site or uswitch for deals and see what is available elsewhere. 

Shedman

I was on Vodafone until end of last month and also had a Virgin sim in the phone.  Got same signal and data speeds on both (hardly surprising as they are both Voda network).  Have now put a Lebara sim (also Vodafone network) in place of the old Voda one and again I'm getting same signal and data rate with Virgin and Lebara. 

 Main differences between Vodafone, Virgin and Lebara that I can see are
1) both Voda and Virgin allow VoLTE whereas Lebara doesn't
2) Voda and Lebara have 5G (not that I can use it anyway) Virgin is only 4G.
3) Voda and Lebara have Euro roaming included not sure about Virgin (again not bothered about that anyway), although new cheapest Voda tariffs are Basic and don't include Euro roaming
4) Lebara only ties you into a 1 month contract.
5)Voda had the Very Me rewards where I picked up a few Tesco and Costa giftcards and some Greggs Sausage Rolls but no competion wins 😥.

By the way even though Lebara and Virgin use Voda network you can port your existing number across to them.  

So from my experience you should be fine with Virgin.  

MikeWhite

Shedman said:

2) Voda and Lebara have 5G (not that I can use it anyway) Virgin is only 4G.

Odd, I nearly signed up this morning and they trumpet their 5g coverage?

Shedman

MikeWhite said:

Shedman said:

2) Voda and Lebara have 5G (not that I can use it anyway) Virgin is only 4G.

Odd, I nearly signed up this morning and they trumpet their 5g coverage?

Interesting...maybe they've updated that recently.  As I don't have a 5G phone I haven't really paid any attention to that.

sarahj1990

My Samsung phone that I got when I signed my last vodafone contract is locked to vodafone. When I put in a Sim Card from another network I get this message. Sim network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK. I have got an unlock code from Vodafone but its not unlocking the phone. I contacted Vodafone to let them know they need to send me another code that works. I was told they would email me with 48 hours. Havent received the email. Anyone else had this problem, if so whats the quickest way to resolve it.

Neil49

sarahj1990 said:

My Samsung phone that I got when I signed my last vodafone contract is locked to vodafone. When I put in a Sim Card from another network I get this message. Sim network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK. I have got an unlock code from Vodafone but its not unlocking the phone. I contacted Vodafone to let them know they need to send me another code that works. I was told they would email me with 48 hours. Havent received the email. Anyone else had this problem, if so whats the quickest way to resolve it.

Did you buy your phone from Vodafone or from another supplier such as Carphonewarehouse?

If it's not direct from Vodafone then they can't unlock it. 

sarahj1990

Neil49 said:

sarahj1990 said:

My Samsung phone that I got when I signed my last vodafone contract is locked to vodafone. When I put in a Sim Card from another network I get this message. Sim network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK. I have got an unlock code from Vodafone but its not unlocking the phone. I contacted Vodafone to let them know they need to send me another code that works. I was told they would email me with 48 hours. Havent received the email. Anyone else had this problem, if so whats the quickest way to resolve it.

Did you buy your phone from Vodafone or from another supplier such as Carphonewarehouse?

If it's not direct from Vodafone then they can't unlock it. 

Yes I purchased the 2 year contract on the Vodafone website and phone was part of the deal.

Supatramp

Is Virgin not O2 now, they've been bought by them and I'm sure I saw that the deal had been approved by the Monopolies.