In 2018, Optus announced it would be closing down the Virgin brand. Over a million customers were affected and needed to switch to a new provider, and over 200 staff lost their jobs.
It’s sad that Virgin Mobile closed down. It delivered innovative ideas about data, reliable customer service and plans that used to be among the best on the market.
However, we’ve come a long way since 2018, and competition amongst telcos of all brands means better prices, bigger discounts and more data today. If you’re looking for better deals than Optus and the big guys can give you, start here.
What are you looking for? Start comparing here.
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The Virgin Brand
Virgin Mobile Australia began in 2000 as a joint enterprise between Optus Mobile and Virgin Mobile UK. The brand benefited from the exciting international reputation which went beyond phone plans into areas such as music and travel. Most people were with either Optus, Vodafone or Telstra, so the introduction of a fresh new brand was enticing to consumers.
Virgin Mobile was particularly appealing to the youth demographic. They offered relatively low cost plans, and were one of the first to address the growing customer demand for increased access to mobile data. Initially they included relatively high amounts of data, and then built on that with their “fair data” policy. This meant that customer data belonged to them, and could therefore roll-over and be gifted to other Virgin customers. They also offered high-end phones along with their plans, including making the latest iPhone and Samsung models available to customers.
Virgin Mobile started making changes last year, ceasing all pre-paid plans in December and offering only BYO phone post-paid plans and plans including a phone. Earlier this month, Virgin were receiving awards for customer satisfaction with mobile broadband, and scoring highly in overall customer satisfaction, value for money, customer service and network performance.
So What Happened?
Virgin Mobile had been in the gap between low-cost MVNOs and the three major telcos, providing a mid-way option that still provided a high quality image and great customer service with a relatively good value plan. However, even though Virgin Mobile was owned by Optus, they were still required to pay for the brand and were in competition for customers. Cutting Virgin streamlined revenue sources and allowed Optus to focus on providing competitive plans and media to customers.
With the massive rise in available MVNO options and a coming shake-up of the market with TPG entering as a major player, Optus decided to attract those customers directly to themselves.
What happened to Virgin customers?
Virgin Mobile Australia officially ceased to exist in 2020, after a two year phase-out period. That allowed customers on 24 month contracts to finish their contract with Virgin Mobile.
People who did not choose to move themselves to another provider were automatically switched to a similar Optus plan. However, for many it was well worth investing some time in researching different SIM card options before allowing an automatic switch to take place. Phone plans have drastically increased in value in recent times, and the number of smaller companies entering the market offer a range of choice not available even a year or two ago.
Getting a Good Deal
If you want a better value plan, particularly if you signed up with Virgin a while ago, there are many, many different options available to you. MVNOs are a good place to start – they use the networks that are owned by the bigger companies, so you should get the same service, but generally with better plan inclusions at a much lower cost. If you simply want better value, finding the best plan will mean deciding how much data you need, whether you require special features like low-cost international roaming or international calls, and then choosing the cheapest option.
However, if you’re after some of the other features that made Virgin a great company, you’ll have to look more carefully at your options.
- Optus Network:
Like the Optus network, but don’t want to pay Optus prices? Phone companies such as Moose Mobile, OVO Mobile, Spintel, Amaysim, Vaya and many more use the full Optus network but generally offer lower prices. - Streaming:
For some customers, being able to stream services like Spotify without using their data was a selling point for Virgin. Optus also has data-free streaming available for the same services as Virgin. If you prefer Apple Music, Telstra and Boost Mobile offer data-free streaming for this service. - Customer Service:
Virgin scored high on customer service this year, but they didn’t win. Aldi has held Canstar Blue’s top spot for overall customer satisfaction for three years running, and also got 5 stars for customer service, so they could be worth a look if customer service is at the top of your list, - Fair Data:
If Virgin’s approach to data (including roll overs and gifting) was what made you sign up, you might want to look at Belong mobile. Offering a “data vault” that lets customers keep all unused data, they are the only other telco that do data rollover and gifting on a post-paid plan. If you don’t mind a pre-paid plan, there are more options. Telstra and Woolworths Mobile prepaid plans include data rollover, although the amount you can roll over is capped at 50GB for Telstra and 15GB for Woolworths Mobile.
The End of an Era
Virgin Mobile was a great brand that was well loved by customers, but that can have a downside. Long term devoted customers can become complacent and forget to check if their once-great deal is still the best value available. Staying with a phone company because it’s the “easy option” does not lead to finding the best value plan. The end of the Virgin Mobile Australia brand will force a reshuffle of customers, and could result in a better deal for people who do their research.
Being wary of the easy option also applies to defaulting to an Optus plan instead of making the switch based on your needs. Remember that there are also a lot of options from phone companies which use the Optus full network, including Moose Mobile, OVO Mobile, Spintel, Amaysim, Vaya and plenty of others. They are all more likely to offer good value than Optus or Virgin. Belong Mobile is another excellent, low-cost option with the additional benefits of their “data vault”.
Change isn’t always pleasant, but it can be a good thing. Farewelling the Virgin Brand might mean customers need to spend time thinking about the options that are best for them, but ultimately means more people will access better deals. Virgin attracted people for a lot of reasons, so it’s unrealistic to imagine that Optus will meet the needs of the wide range of customers who will enter the market as a result of the shutdown. Before locking into a contract, make sure you’re comparing your options based on what works best for you.
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