Virgin Media M125 Fibre Broadband Review

Virgin Media M125 fibre broadband is a great option for small to medium-sized households in the UK. As an entry-level fibre broadband package, it offers reliable speeds and decent performance. We’ll look at speed, performance, prices, and extras.

Latest Offers: Free setup. £55 bill credit. Ends 31st March

Is the Virgin M125 Plan Suitable for You?

Virgin Media M125 plan suits small households with 2 to 4 people. It offers ideal speeds for daily activities like streaming TV shows, online gaming, browsing social media, or making regular video calls.

With M125’s average download speed of 132 Mbps, two or three people can stream Netflix or Amazon Prime Video in HD or Ultra-HD at the same time without any buffering or lags during viewing. Similarly, you can play modern online games without any hassle.

However, for larger homes with multiple users (five or more people using lots of devices simultaneously), it’s better to upgrade to a faster Virgin plan such as M250 or M350

How Much Does M125 Cost?

Currently, Virgin Media M125 broadband costs £25 per month for new customers. This introductory price applies to the initial 18-month contract, after which it rises to £54 per month.

Additionally, starting in April 2025, Virgin Media will apply an annual price increase linked to inflation. This increase is calculated using the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus an extra 3.9%. Practically, this means your monthly bill will rise slightly each year. Virgin informs customers ahead of these increases for transparent pricing.

The Virgin Media M125 special offer comes without any upfront setup fees, saving you the £35 activation fee.

Speeds

Virgin Media M125 broadband delivers an average download speed of 132 Mbps and an average upload speed of 20 Mbps, compared to the UK’s average speed of 69 Mbps.

With an average 132 Mbps download speed, you can stream two or three different Netflix or YouTube streams simultaneously, all in full HD or even 4K resolution, without buffering issues. Downloading a typical five-minute video or a complete music album takes just seconds.

The upload speed of 20 Mbps ensures smooth and stable connectivity during Zoom meetings or Skype video calls. As video calls usually require just 3–5 Mbps, at 20 Mbps, your calls will be sharp, stable, and lag-free.

Similarly, gamers will find that 20 Mbps is more than sufficient for playing online. Most online games recommend around 3–5 Mbps upload speeds to function smoothly. Therefore, M125 broadband is a great option for gaming on your console or PC.

While Virgin promises speeds of 132 Mbps, they also ensure a minimum guaranteed speed of 66 Mbps. If your broadband consistently falls below this speed, Virgin must fix the problem, or you have the right to leave your contract early without penalties.

Virgin Media Routers

Virgin Media M125 package includes the Hub 3 router powered by WiFi 5 technology, ensuring reliable internet coverage throughout an average-sized home. It’s a dual-band router that supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies, which means it can handle multiple devices connected simultaneously, ensuring fast speeds for all devices.

If your family uses multiple devices (such as phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, and gaming consoles) or if your home is large with multiple floors and many rooms, you can upgrade to the Hub 4 for better coverage across your home.

The Hub 4 router provides slightly improved signal coverage and adds an extra WiFi channel to the existing ones. It’s still a WiFi 5 router, not WiFi 6, but the extra channels do mean fewer bottlenecks when multiple devices are connected at once. While the Hub 4 isn’t essential for everyone, it can noticeably improve WiFi signal strength in larger or busier homes.

Both routers come with Virgin’s Intelligent WiFi technology. In simple terms, Intelligent WiFi automatically monitors your devices and adjusts the wireless channels or frequencies to provide the strongest signal. This keeps your WiFi connection smooth and consistent throughout your home, reducing dropouts or slowdowns.

Bundles, Extras and Add-ons

Virgin Media allows you get additional features with your broadband package by adding phone and TV bundles.

Home phone: For an extra £4.99 per month, you get a landline service that includes unlimited weekend calls to UK numbers. You can also upgrade to unlimited calls at any time, which will cost £10 per month.

TV Bundles: Virgin Media offers two simple TV options:

Volt Bundle: Volt bundles combine broadband with O2 mobile plans, offering extra perks. The basic Volt bundle provides faster broadband (264 Mbps with M250), an O2 mobile SIM card with 6GB of monthly data, free WiFi Pods (boosters) to improve WiFi coverage, and free data roaming abroad in many countries. Volt is great value if you already use O2 mobile or need better WiFi coverage at home.

Should I Upgrade to M250 or M350?

Larger families or homes (5+ users) with multiple devices and heavy internet usage might consider upgrading to Virgin Media’s faster plans:

In terms of cost, M250 and M350 will cost more than M125, but the choice of plan depends entirely on the number of users or connected devices in your home.

Is Virgin Media M125 broadband any good?

Overall, Virgin Media’s M125 fibre broadband is ideal for small households looking for affordable, reliable internet. Its speeds are great for general internet use, as well as for streaming and providing smooth experiences in casual gaming. Given its affordable initial price and decent performance, it is one of the best value deals in entry-level fibre.

Bundling options allow you to get home phone, TV, and mobile services together and save money.

Limitations

Virgin Media M125 options

M125 broadband only

Users who prefer broadband without a phone line can choose this option. It only gives broadband without landline service, which also means the plan doesn’t come with an all-inclusive call plan like M125 broadband and phone plan that includes weekend calls.

Virgin Media broadband without a phone line is usually a bit cheaper, however, Virgin’s pricing isn’t fixed, so at any given time, the broadband only plan may be cheaper or more expensive than the phone bundle or vice versa, depending on what the provider is promoting and other factors.

M125 broadband and phone

Virgin Media M125 fibre broadband and phone package includes weekend calls, customers who choose this option can make unlimited calls to UK landlines, mobile numbers and 0870 numbers during the weekends. If you need anytime calls, you can upgrade your plan at an extra cost per month as Virgin Media allows the customers to choose from a variety of options to customise their packages.

M125 broadband + Flex TV

Adding Virgin’s Flex TV service to your M125 broadband costs £5 extra per month on a rolling monthly basis, plus a one-off £10 activation fee. Flex gives you over 150 TV channels without a long-term commitment, ideal for flexible viewing.

Flex TV channels include entertainment, kids, news, and you can easily add premium services like Sky Sports or Sky Cinema on monthly basis.

M125 broadband Volt

With the new Volt bundle, you get a 10GB mobile SIM card, free speed boost (264Mbps) on the M250 plan, and other perks like a free WiFi pod for faster WiFi speeds.

Other features include double the amount of data on your O2 SIM and free roaming to 75 foreign destinations. You can also add a TV pack with the M125 Volt bundle.