Virgin Media To Give Customers Free Set-Top Box Upgrade
- Customers can upgrade their box to the latest model
- £20 activation fee has been scrapped
- But customers bills are £48 higher than last year
Virgin Media is treating customers to a free upgrade on their set-top boxes.
Telly fans will be able to swap their current boxes for Virgin’s V6 model; previously this would have cost a £20 activation fee.
The box was launched in December 2016, but only one in four customers have chosen to upgrade to it.
Customers will be contacted by Virgin with details of how to get the new box, and Virgin expects most people will be able to set it up themselves without needing an engineer to assist.
The firm said it is one of the “largest customer upgrade programmes ever” to be carried out in the UK, although there is rivalry from Sky, who recently announced it is giving some customers 80 extra channels.
The V6 upgrade allows customers to record six programmes at once, while watching a seventh, and also supports 4k Ultra-High Definition.
David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, said, “ We believe that our finest kit shouldn’t just be for new customers.
“So today we’re kicking off one of our largest existing customer upgrade programmes ever seen in the UK. accelerating the rollout out of our best ever set-top box.”
Although customers will not directly be paying for these charges, their bills will be going up this year for those with a broadband, phone, and TV plans.
The majority of customers will pay an extra £48 a year, with price hikes ranging from £3.49 to £3.99 a month, which will affect all customers, whether they get the box upgrade or not.
So it might seem like a good deal, but you’ll be paying more for it throughout the year.
for gods sake we already pay £59-£65 a month for there small tv package, internet and phone 
