Coronavirus update
Every day, people, businesses and public services rely on Virgin Media to stay connected. But in times like these, it’s even more critical for us to keep things running smoothly – and we’re working hard to do that. Find out what we’re doing to help keep our people and customers safe, and protect our network.
How are we keeping our customers safe
The health and wellbeing of our people and customers is always our top priority, so we’re following Government and medical advice to put safety first while making sure we can still help our customers and connect new households to our services. With this in mind, we’ve put extra safety measures and checks in place. Here's what we’re doing to protect you and our staff:
Three days before a scheduled technician install visit, and one day before a scheduled technician service visit, we’ll text customers to ask if anyone living at their property has been asked to self-isolate or has flu-like symptoms. If customers respond with “yes”, then the visit will be rescheduled for two weeks later, with confirmation of this date by text within 24 hours of the appointment.
We’ll also call you on the day of a technician visit, around 30 minutes before they arrive. If anyone at the property is self-isolating or displaying Covid symptoms, we’ll rearrange the visit.
Where it’s possible, such as for Hub installs and upgrades, we’ll send you a self-install QuickStart pack which means there’s no need for someone to visit your home. This service is currently available at no extra cost.
Our technicians won’t install or move extra phone outlets, extensions or Wi-Fi Pods right now.
Replacement Virgin TV remotes are being sent out by post.
Hygiene measures for engineers were in place long before the coronavirus pandemic. These include anti-bacterial hand wipes and latex gloves as standard kit.
How we're helping our customers
We’re doing all we can to keep our staff and our customers safe. Find out how below:
We’re doing all we can to help our customers if they find it difficult to pay their Virgin Media bill during this time. We continue to speak to individual customers to offer support where it’s needed when they need to make a payment.
We’ve made sure that visits to any NHS websites don’t use any of our customers’ mobile data.
We’ve now launched free Virgin Media Wi-Fi Calling – a way to make calls and send texts in more places on your mobile. Enable Wi-Fi Calling, and you can keep chatting even in a no-mobile-signal spot.
Protecting our network
We know how important our network is to everybody right now. We want to reassure you that we’re working as hard as we can to keep it in great shape, and keep you connected.
We’re keeping you connected
As more people may be working from home at the moment, it’s important to know our network can withstand any increased usage, including peaks throughout the day, in the evenings and at weekends. As usage rises, our existing capacity will be able to take it – but we’ll have a close eye on things and make changes if we need to.
Keeping everyone working safely
We’re set up for our staff (and customers!) to work from home. We’ve done a full impact assessment, including continuity planning, so we can keep managing and operating our network.
How to prepare for engineer visits during Covid-19
If a technician needs to enter your home, please make sure you do the following:
Clear a path to the main wall socket that your Virgin Media product or service is plugged in to
Wipe down any surfaces around the areas the technician will be working
Open any windows or doors where the technician will be working
Keep two metres away from the technician to maintain social distancing or move to a different room if possible
Read our help guides for more information on installing virgin media products or booking engineer appointments
FAQs
Want to learn more about Virgin Media’s Covid response and what we’re doing to keep you connected. Check out our FAQs below:
Our online help pages have support articles covering a whole range of subjects. If you’re having trouble with your service, you could find just what you need to fix it yourself.
Check out our help pages.
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Message us online to speak to a member of our team.
If your internet connection is being slow, you can find support on our help pages. Check out what you can do if you have slow internet, or check your broadband speed to get step by step support.
Having problems with your Virgin Media broadband, TV, phone or mobile service? You can run a test online via our Service status page. Run tests on your services and kit, and check for network outages in your area. If you need to, you can book an engineer appointment too.
Find out how to connect to the internet via our handy help article. You’ll find quick fixes and simply solutions that should have you up and running in no time.
No one wants a slow connection disrupting a video call or getting in the way of you watching your favourite show. If your broadband is being a little slow, check out our help article. It’s packed with loads of hints and tips to help speed things up.
You can also test your broadband speed and get step by step help using our speed checker.
We know that while you’re working from home, having a stable and reliable connection is so important.
First, head over to our Service status page to make sure everything’s running smoothly in your home and area. Here you can test your kit and check for outages in your area.
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact us.
Many companies use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to provide employees with a secure and encrypted connection to work safely from home.
While VPNs provide additional protections, they can impact your broadband speed. This is because all your internet traffic must go through your employer's network and servers. During peak office hours, and with more people working remotely, it may take longer for the data to pass through.
If you're experiencing slower speeds, disconnecting and reconnecting to your VPN can help.
When running a speed test make sure you turn off your VPN to see if you are experiencing slower speeds.
We've also got some handy tips to help improve your household's broadband speed. find out how to improve WiFi signal and speed.
Our offices remain open. As key workers, it’s important that we’re still here to help our customers during this difficult time. However, as with many other businesses, we’ve seen a reduction in our staffing levels, so you might experience a longer wait time than usual.
Before calling us, we’d encourage you to visit our website for help and guidance.
Normally, we ask you to return your kit. That’s because while you're with us, you rent your kit, rather than own it. But as the government advice is to stay home, we don’t want to ask customers to venture outside to post kit back to us.
We’ll drop you a line at a later date to organise the return through CollectPlus, or one of our key workers will safely collect it from your doorstep so we can help to keep other people connected.
For now, please keep your kit somewhere safe.
New customers
Right now, we’re only installing a maximum of two TV boxes into new customers' home due to Covid restrictions. That means we'll be able to install the main box that comes with your bundle, as well as one extra box for another room if you’ve requested it.
Existing customers
If you're having another service installed, then we'll also be able to install an extra TV box for you. Unfortunately, we can't install extra TV boxes on their own at the moment.
We've not taken this decision lightly and are balancing the need to protect our people and customers with the need to keep you connected. We appreciate your understanding.