Moving home with Virgin Media: contract, kit and number

Existing customers book by signing in on Virgin Media's moving-home page, and can manage the move afterwards through Live Chat. There are three steps:

1. Check the new address. The postcode check confirms Virgin Media is available there and says whether you can self-install or need an engineer.
2. Give your moving dates. The moving-out date stops it cutting you off early; the moving-in date tells it when to switch on. It can activate the new home from the day after the old one is disconnected, and asks you to leave at least a day between disconnecting and activating, so choose your two dates with that in mind.
3. Set up at the new home. Services go live on the date you chose: you plug in the kit you brought, or let the engineer in.

Notice and timings

Virgin Media's terms (from 1 December 2025) say you can ask, on 30 days' notice, to transfer your services to an address within its network, and it will do so if there's enough network capacity there. Its moving-home page says to tell it as soon as you have a firm date, so it can aim to have you running on the day you get the keys. It says services can move in as little as 3 days where you can self-install; where an engineer installation is needed, it usually takes around 7 to 14 days, possibly faster depending on the type of install. If a gap looks likely, see our guide to getting online while you wait for installation.

The transfer fee

Moving your services costs a transfer fee, higher if you change package at the same time. The amounts change, so check the current figures on Virgin Media's moving-home page and confirm the charge when you book.

If your dates change or the move falls through

Tell Virgin Media as early as you can, ideally by online chat, so it can move the date or keep you connected where you are. If you decide not to take Virgin Media with you at all, an early cancellation fee may apply in contract.

Virgin Media's moving-home page says you keep your current contract when you take it with you. Its terms add the detail:

• Same services, same minimum period. If Virgin Media continues the same services, your minimum period carries on. Its own example: on a 12-month minimum period, moving in month 7 leaves the remaining 5 months.
• Changed services, possibly a new minimum period, starting from the date equipment is installed at the new address.
• No equivalent service. Even within its network, Virgin Media says it can't guarantee the same services at a new address, for example where capacity is short. If it can't provide services there, or what it can provide isn't equivalent, you can cancel without an early disconnection fee.

So if you're offered a different package as part of the move, ask whether it's a choice or forced by the new address; if it's forced, the terms let you leave without the fee. Check when any new minimum period would end, and compare the offer with current Virgin Media broadband deals and other deals at your new postcode before you sign up to a fresh term.

Bundles and Volt. If you keep some Virgin Media services and cancel others, its leaving page warns that discounts or benefits linked to the cancelled service may no longer apply. Volt (Virgin Media broadband linked with an O2 Pay Monthly plan) is tied to your address in Annex A of Virgin Media's terms (December 2025): the O2 plan can be yours or another resident's at your address, and the speed boost is to the next tier available at your address when you ordered. If the linked O2 plan is cancelled, the boost can be removed or the benefits lost at your next re-contract. The terms don't cover home moves, so if the O2 plan belongs to someone who isn't moving with you, or the new address has different speed tiers, ask what happens to Volt before you confirm. Moving in with a partner who has their own contract? Read what to do with two broadband contracts when you move in together first, because you may only need one.

Virgin Media says only its own line connects its WiFi Hub: you can't get its broadband, TV or phone over another provider's phone line. So a working BT or Openreach line at the new home doesn't help. Its own network reaches homes in more than one way:

• Cable (hybrid fibre-coax, or HFC), its original network, runs on a standard called DOCSIS. Virgin Media's hub page lists the Hub 5 and Hub 4 as DOCSIS 3.1 and the Hub 3 as DOCSIS 3.0.
• Full fibre brings fibre all the way into the home, and Virgin Media has two kinds: an older build ISPreview calls RFoG (radio frequency over glass) and the newer XGS-PON. The Hub 5x is the Hub listed for XGS-PON.

Our guide to the difference between Virgin Media’s network and Openreach explains each. For a move, three points matter:

• “Full fibre” notes don't say which kind. Virgin Media's offer terms rule out QuickStart, its plug-in self-install, and the TV 360 box with full fibre, without saying whether that means RFoG, XGS-PON or both. If the new home has full fibre of either kind, ask whether you can set up yourself and which Hub and TV box you'll need.
• Ask how many engineer visits. Some Virgin Media full-fibre installs need one appointment and others two; nothing we found says which a home move gets, so ask, and whether you must be in for each.
• Cable areas are getting full fibre too. ISPreview reported on 28 January 2026 that Virgin Media is adding XGS-PON alongside its cable and older RFoG areas, aiming to finish by 2028, and that moving each customer across needs an engineer visit. So a new home in a cable area may be offered full fibre.

If you'd like full fibre at the new home, ask whether it can be part of the move; a change of services can start a new minimum period. We couldn't find a Virgin Media page saying whether your Hub or TV box is swapped when the new address uses a different kind of connection, so ask when you book: “Is the new address cable or full fibre, which kind, and will my current Hub and TV box work there?”

Virgin Media tells movers to remove its kit, such as the Hub and any TV box, from the old home and take it to the new one. Don't leave it for the next occupant: you'll need it, and it isn't yours to hand on (Virgin Media's TV terms say the Stream box and remote remain its property).

• Virgin TV 360 box: needs at least M50 broadband and isn't available with full fibre.
• Stream box: needs Virgin Media broadband of at least 50Mbps and a Hub 3 or later. If a box change is on the cards, read moving from Virgin TV 360 to a Stream box first.

Changing your TV package during the move can start a new minimum period, so compare broadband and TV deals before you commit.

Plugging it back in

Virgin Media says to leave the Hub alone for about 10 minutes, and a Stream box for about 5, while they set themselves up. The default Wi-Fi name and password are on a label on the Hub's side or bottom. WiFi Pods need up to 24 hours to settle in a new place, so don't judge the Wi-Fi on day one; see setting up Virgin Media WiFi Pods. Once you're online, run our broadband speed test for a day-one record.

Virgin Media says you may be able to keep your number if the new home is in the same dialling code area, and it checks this when you book. Two more things to raise:

• Home phone isn't available everywhere. Virgin Media's offer terms say its home phone isn't available in its new network expansion areas. If the new address is in one, ask what happens to your phone service and any discount linked to it.
• Leaving Virgin Media? Sort the number first. Its terms say the number belongs to Virgin Media, but you can transfer it to a replacement provider within 31 days of your account ending, and its leaving page says to check with the new provider before Virgin Media disconnects you. Our guide to keeping your landline number when you switch has more.

For how Virgin Media's home phone service itself is changing, see Virgin Media’s Digital Voice switchover explained.

Your kit is only useful if the new home has a working Virgin Media enabled socket, so look for one if you can view the property before moving day. Virgin Media's moving-home page says older sockets marked NTL or Telewest are fine as well as Virgin Media ones, provided the socket is undamaged, firmly fixed to the wall and has its silver connector showing. In a block of flats the socket may look different, and some come with a plug that must be switched on at the wall.

If there's no socket at all, it's damaged, or it carries a BT or Sky label, the same page says to contact Virgin Media and it will arrange for an engineer to finish the job at no charge. That free visit is about socket problems; the moving-home page doesn't say whether any other engineer visit on a move costs extra on top of the transfer fee, so ask when you book. If you've been booked for a self-install and then find the socket isn't right, tell Virgin Media straight away rather than on the day you get the keys.

The last occupants' account. For new orders, Virgin Media says its kit can take up to 14 days to arrive when another person's Virgin Media account at the property has to be closed first. Its moving pages don't say how that affects a home move, but if the previous occupants may still have an account at the new address, mention it when you book.

If the new home has never had Virgin Media, a cable has to be brought in from its network first; our guide to what happens at a Virgin Media installation covers that visit and what to ask beforehand.

Virgin Media's network doesn't cover the whole UK. If it can't reach the new address, you cancel instead, giving the new address and moving date so the old home is cut off at the right time. In contract, Virgin Media waives the early disconnection fee (its terms call it a credit) if you send proof of your new address within 30 days (of cancelling, says its moving page; of Virgin Media asking for it, say its terms); our guide to cancelling Virgin Media broadband explains the process and the proof it accepts.

After cancelling, pay the closing bill and return the kit (Virgin Media collects it or sends a free returns pack). Save anything you need from your Virgin Media email: access ends 90 days after disconnection, and keeping the address means a paid sign-up with Junara, which is taking over the service.

Other providers run over other networks, so the choice at the new home may look quite different: compare deals at your new postcode or browse UK broadband providers, and order before you move in for the best chance of being online on day one.

Someone staying at the old home. Give the details of anyone over 18 who is staying when you book, and Virgin Media can set them up with their own service.

Moving abroad. This is cancelling, not moving. Virgin Media needs at least 30 days' notice, charges until services are disconnected, may charge a cancellation fee in contract and needs its equipment back. The fee credit above is only for moves within the UK. Citizens Advice's advice for people moving house whose provider can't follow them is to explain the situation, because a provider might reduce or remove the cancellation fee; it doesn't address moving abroad specifically, but nothing stops you asking.

A forces posting. See broadband for armed forces families on a posting for what happens to a contract when you're posted in the UK or overseas.

Virgin Media belongs to Ofcom's voluntary automatic compensation scheme, and its scheme terms name home moves: the late-start credit covers “an existing customer moving to new premises”. So if the new home isn't working on the date Virgin Media confirmed, you qualify. Its compensation help page lists the current rates, the same figures ISPreview reported Ofcom set from April 2026:

• £6.46 for every day past the confirmed date until it installs, paid as a single credit afterwards, less any time lost waiting for permits it doesn't control.
• £32.31 when an engineer misses the promised day or calls it off at under 24 hours' notice.

Credits are automatic and cover broadband and home phone, not TV. There's nothing if a provisional date becomes a different confirmed one, or for the wait after a visit where nobody over 18 was home. Its legal terms page still lists the older £6.24 and £31.19 amounts. See automatic compensation for broadband problems for how the scheme works across providers.

If a complaint stalls, outside help now comes sooner: for a complaint first made on or after 8 April 2026 you can take it to an independent alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme after six weeks, or earlier if Virgin Media issues a deadlock letter saying it won't do more. Our guide to complaining to your broadband provider has the steps.

1. Find your minimum period end date on your bill, account or Contract Summary.
2. Check the new postcode, and if you can, the socket at the new home (our guide to checking broadband before you move helps).
3. Book the move with both dates, ideally 30 days ahead.
4. Ask: cable or full fibre? Self-install or engineer? Will my Hub and TV box work? What's the transfer fee? Does anything start a new minimum period? Can I keep my number? Will any discount or Volt benefit change?
5. Note the answers with the date and chat reference.
6. Pack the Hub, TV box, Pods, cables and remotes.
7. On the day: plug in or let the engineer in, then run a speed test.