Virgin Media are one of the leading ISPs in the UK but finding the ideal VPN service to partner with your internet connection is getting increasingly difficult.
Many VPN providers are slow and unreliable and others are geared up directly towards US customers.
Add to the fact some just don’t work well with Virgin Media and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been testing a range of VPN services on Virgin Media to see who performed the best.
The 5 providers I’ve selected below ultimately offered the best service at the best prices.
Just select one as they’re all suitable for use if you have a Virgin Media internet connection. You can’t go wrong!
Best VPN for Virgin Media
1. ExpressVPN
Best VPN for Virgin Media
VPN Countries : 94 | VPN Cities : 136 | Simultaneous Connections : 3 | Price : $6.67 p/m (≈ £5.17)
30-days money back guarantee
Nearly 100 countries
Fewer concurrent connections
With 94 countries around the world ExpressVPN offer one of the biggest VPN networks allowing you to access blocked content from around the world.
This is great if you want to watch TV services like Netflix from the US, SBS from Australia and a whole lot more.
If you find yourself with buffering when streaming video then the unlimited bandwidth and unlimited speeds allowed will come in handy.
A total of 3 simultaneous connections is allowed giving you the ability to protect your desktop, tablet and mobile in the home.
A massive 30-day money back guarantee is available allowing you to test the service with your Virgin Media connection.
Best VPN for Virgin Media
2. IPVanish
Best VPN for overall quality
VPN Countries : 49 | VPN Servers : 1000+ | Simultaneous Connections : 10 | Price : $6.49 p/m (≈ £4.64)
Fast speeds on Virgin Media
Easy to use
No live help
IPVanish performed as one of the best with Virgin Media due to their unbeatable speeds.
Every VPN service will introduce some speed loss but this was minimal when connected to their UK VPN servers.
Torrent and P2P access is allowed on the service which is good news because Virgin Media block many torrent services and this will enable you to access them.
It also means you can avoid traffic shaping by Virgin Media which usually limits your speeds on Torrents and Usenet in peak hours allowing you to get your maximum internet speed.
Zero traffic logs are stored which means Virgin Media, the UK government nor anyone else can snoop on what you’re doing online.
You also can connect 10 devices to the one package protecting your whole household.
3. NordVPN
Best for privacy
VPN Countries : 62 | VPN Servers : 5200+ | Simultaneous Connections : 6 | Price : $6.58 p/m (≈ £4.71)
Off-shore provider
Good speeds
VAT added on prices
If you’re hugely concerned about your online privacy then it’s best to deal with a VPN service that isn’t one of the “Five-Eyes” countries.
Five-Eyes countries are the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand who share information amongst themselves.
NordVPN is registered in Panama which essentially makes them an “off-shore” provider who in theory don’t have to play by the rules that “on-shore” providers may have to.
The service stores no logs of what you do while connected and they have “double-hop” servers that encrypt your data not just once but twice.
Other mode specific servers are available for Tor, Ultrafast TV streaming, Anti DDoS and Dedicated IP Servers.
4. VPN.ac
Best for reliability
VPN Countries : 21 | VPN Servers : 35+ | Simultaneous Connections : 6 | Price : $4.90 p/m (≈ £3.51)
Great download speeds
Big number of simultaneous connections
Not well known
VPN.ac are a provider you may not have heard of and you won’t often find them listed at other “Comparison” websites.
The good news is they’re actually one of the best providers and definitely deserve to be listed in the best VPN for Virgin Media guide.
Testing the service with Virgin Media using their UK and Netherlands VPN servers resulted in some of the best download speeds I’ve seen.
They’re not quite as beginner friendly as some of the other services and are more geared towards strong encryption.
If you’re a techie then you’ll love their policies and encryption standards but if you’re a beginner you should stick with ExpressVPN.
You can connect 6 different devices so most devices connected to your Superhub Wi-Fi or Wired connection can be protected with one account.
5. StrongVPN
Best for entertainment
VPN Countries : 26 | VPN Servers : 45 | Simultaneous Connections : 12 | Price : $5.83 p/m (≈ £4.17)
Low cost
Great for entertainment
Few VPN locations
If you like to stream content from official TV services or services such as Kodi then StrongVPN is definitely worth considering.
Alongside their VPN service you get a free SmartDNS feature that allows you to access geo-blocked content without speed loss.
You don’t get the encryption of the VPN service but you’re unlikely to suffer any buffering.
Of course you also get the VPN service too so if protecting your online privacy while connected to Virgin Media is top of your priority list then you’re covered.
You can connect 5 devices at the same time so if you want to protect your entire family then you’re covered with StrongVPN.
How to choose the Best VPN for Virgin Media
Choosing a VPN for Virgin Media is much like choosing a VPN service for any other UK ISP but there are a few Virgin Media specific features that a VPN service can help with.
Below we’ve listed a few benefits of using a VPN with Virgin Media.
Avoid Traffic Throttling
Between peak hours which is 4 pm until 11 pm on weekdays and 11 am until 11 pm on weekends Virgin Media actively reduce the speeds for certain services.
Torrent use, Usenet and even some video streaming fall into traffic shaping.
When you use these services your speed is automatically reduced. Using a VPN allows you to disguise your traffic so they can’t reduce your speed.
Access Censored Websites
The UK has one of the most censored internet services in the developed world.
Many websites are blocked on the Virgin Media service for copyright reasons such as The Pirate Bay, KAT & Popcorn Time.
Even if you don’t download any files you can’t access these websites.
A VPN allows you to access these websites on your Virgin Media connection and avoid censorship.
Access Overseas Geo-blocked Websites
Websites from outside the UK that often show entertainment content such as SBS from Australia, CBC from Canada or CBS from the United States are often restricted to viewing from within their country.
When using a VPN from a provider such as IPVanish you can alter your virtual location and appear in another country allowing you to stream overseas content on Virgin Media.
Avoid the Investigatory Powers Bill
New powers in the UK known as the IPBill allow the government to legally snoop on your Virgin Media internet connection.
Soon Virgin Media will be required to log every website you visit and store it for 12 months.
Using a VPN encrypts your information as it passes over your Virgin Media connection so no one can read what you’re doing and the websites you visit can’t be logged.
How to enable a VPN on your Virgin Media Superhub
Before you get started you should consider which VPN protocol you want to use with Virgin Media.
There are three main protocols available.
- PPTP – The fastest but insecure
- L2TP/IPSec – Secure but not as widespread
- OpenVPN – The ultimate choice and most secure, the one we recommend.
With a VPN service such as ExpressVPN you can select the protocol you want to use in the Settings -> Connection area of their software.
We always recommend OpenVPN because it is the most secure and when using it on ExpressVPN with Virgin Media the speeds are excellent.
OpenVPN works out of the box on Virgin Media which makes it the easiest to use and it’s also the most secure which is why it makes sense to select this one.
If you need to use PPTP or L2TP for a specific reason you’ll need to enable their use on your Superhub. You can find instructions on how to do this below.
- Visit your Virgin Media Superhub admin page by opening a new web browser.
- In the address box type, http://192.168.0.1 and press enter.
- Log in with your admin username and password (you can find this on the back of the Superhub itself).
- Press Advanced Settings. You will need to press Yes to confirm you want to enter that area.
- Press Firewall.
- Tick IPSec Pass-Through and PPTP Pass-Through.
- Press Apply and then Yes to confirm the settings.
You will now be able to go back to the VPN software on your device and connect with both PPTP and L2TP protocols.
Remember though that you don’t need to do this for OpenVPN which will work out of the box.
Conclusion
Without a doubt my favourite VPN for use with Virgin Media right now is ExpressVPN because you get more for your money.
You don’t really need to overthink it though. If you’re still confused simply choose any of the five above as they’re the best for use with Virgin Media, you really can’t get it wrong.
None of these VPN work with the Superhub 3 ??
Do you mean on the Superhub 3 router itself or when using on a computer/device that is accessing internet via the Superhub 3?
My understanding is you can’t install IP Vanish on a Superhub 3 ? But it also seems to be blocked using it on a device as well,it allows the set up and does function but the IP address does not alter
It definitely works on a device, I’ve tested and confirmed that myself.
What device are you trying to use it on and do you know what VPN protocol? You should use OpenVPN but if you’re attempting to use PPTP or L2TP then you may need to enable the option in your Superhub.
If your IP Address isn’t changing then it hasn’t connected.
I’m using on a 2nd Gen fully updated firestick
Try following this guide : http://www.watchtvabroad.com/how-to-install-ipvanish-vpn-onto-an-amazon-fire-tv-stick/
Let us know how you get on.
Thank you will keep u posted ?
Maybe a silly question this ? see attached photo showing device is connected the visible location is my actual location does this change only with internet traffic ? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad5b9a0f6019991e3355ed96733d09a691467773574ec3d5703ab28f3d48e467.jpg
Yes, you’re correct, this is not right.
Did you follow the guide step-by-step and still the same result?
Can you pop onto a web browser and check https://iplookup.flagfox.net/ while connected just to double check.
Confirmed with IPVanish the visible location issue is just a bug of the app when working with Kodi. You are actually connected.
Check the website I mentioned in my last post to confirm.
Just an update for you Steve. IPVanish have launched a fully native Amazon app. You can download it from the Amazon app store.