Virgin Media and O2 warning as it sets unwelcome change for customers - this deal beats it

Virgin Media O2 is hiking the prices for many of its mobile customers from today, meaning mobile phone users may want to look elsewhere for a good deal.

The mobile phone and TV provider is upping the price of its Unlimited data plans from today(October 1). This will only affect a small group of former Virgin Mobile customers who migrated to an O2 unlimited plan upon its closure back in 2023.

Many users saw their mobile phone bills rise in April this year, in line with inflation, but it's thought lots of consumers are unknowingly paying more for their contract. When it comes to looking elsewhere for a deal, there's one way to use O2's network without the added price hike, thanks to giffgaff's£15 a month deal.

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Shoppers can get unlimited data on an 18-month contract via giffgaff, which runs on O2's network, but it's pricing is separate, and therefore not effected by the Virgin Media/P2 hike. It is much cheaper and has a lower contract length than O2.

O2 charges £24 a month on a 24-month contract, and prices rise by £1.80 each month, making the giffgaff offer much more appealing. One important thing to note is that Giffgaff's mobile network is powered by O2's network, so there will be no change whatsoever in coverage and connection.

Sky Mobile has cut its unlimited data plans to £24 a month. There's also SMARTY SIM plans, which have a wide array of plans that can be cancelled and changed at any time, and at no additional cost to the customer.

SMARTY has become popular with consumers for its flexible SIM plans. When it comes to reviews for giffgaff,SIMSherpa gave them three stars out of five.

They added: "There’s no denying the main point of joining giffgaff is to get O2’s coverage in a more economical way than joining directly. Many also like how giffgaff is run like a community and are fiercely loyal.

"But there are better alternatives available. giffgaff doesn't do speed well. They’re the slowest provider on average. They don't do WiFi calling or VoLTE well, either; now, they’ve finally started offering them.

"Though it’s not all doom and gloom. We like that you can get an eSIM. It’s good to see EU roaming still included. And both giffgaff’s phone contracts and SIM-only plans are commendably flexible."

They also reviewed SMARTY with four out of five stars and added: "We’ve tested SMARTY a couple of times in the last few years , and this most recent test has seen a big improvement in their 4G coverage, and we’ve found their 5G in the right places can be unbeatably fast."

Our own team rates SMARTY too, our Tech Content Editor, Harriet Morphy-Morris has tested out its Unlimited data SIM for its EU roaming data. As she said: "SMARTY offers all of its users a chunk of free roaming data to use in the EU (up to 12GB) as part of their plans, making it a rarity among providers since the UK left the EU.

"It falls under its ‘fair use limit’ and as long as you don’t go over this amount in a month you won’t have to pay a penny for it." This is as long as users stick within its 12GB fair use limit.

When it comes to additional EU roaming top up fees, it also works out cheaper. As Harriet outlined: "Vodafone charges their contract customers £2.42 a day or £12 for 8 days or £17 for 15 days to roam in the EU, with a data limit of 25GB. Three Mobile pay monthly customers are also charged a daily roaming fee of £2 per day, with a limit of 12GB of your plan, a price which is matched by Sky and its Roaming Passport Plus fee."