Virgin Media O2 urges families to claim cheap exam-time net

Virgin Media O2 has urged families on benefits to check whether they qualify for discounted broadband and mobile plans, as its research suggests online revision is now central to GCSE and A-Level preparation.

A nationally representative survey of 1,020 people found 84% of parents consider home internet essential for their child to do well in exams. It also found 86% believe pupils without home access are at a disadvantage.

The results highlight how quickly schoolwork has moved online. Four in five parents (80%) said the internet is more important to their child's education than it was two years ago. Among parents with home internet, seven in 10 said more than half of their child's homework is now completed online.

Revision habits

Parents said pupils use a mix of online tools for revision and homework. School portals or homework platforms were cited by 72%, while 69% mentioned revision apps. Video platforms were used by 64%, and 58% said their child relies on online past papers or downloadable revision materials.

The shift is also changing expectations of what households need to provide. Nearly three quarters of parents (73%) said home internet is now as essential for education as textbooks once were, and the same share said their child would struggle to revise properly without internet access at home.

Some families already make alternative arrangements when connectivity is not available. The survey found 14% said their child has had to go elsewhere to get online to study, while 16% rely on mobile data rather than a fixed broadband connection.

Cost pressures

The research also captured household finances as exam season approaches. It found 76% of parents are worried about rising living costs, while 22% said they are struggling to cover usual household expenses.

Against this backdrop, Virgin Media O2 highlighted low awareness of so-called social tariffs. The survey found 40% of parents did not know discounted broadband and mobile tariffs exist for households on Universal Credit, Income Support and other benefits.

The company is promoting its Essential Broadband and Essential Broadband Plus products for eligible households. Essential Broadband costs £12.50 per month and includes 15Mbps speeds. Essential Broadband Plus costs £20 per month and includes 54Mbps broadband.

Both plans are 30-day rolling contracts with no activation or exit fees. Prices do not change while customers continue to receive benefits payments.

Eligibility covers households receiving Income-based Employment Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit or Universal Credit. Virgin Media O2 also offers the O2 Essential Plan mobile tariff, which includes 10GB of mobile data and unlimited calls and texts from £10 per month.

Access and controls

The Essential Broadband plans include Virgin Media Essential Security, with adjustable parental controls. These include timers to restrict access and settings to block specific website categories.

Virgin Media O2 also pointed to its digital inclusion programmes, including the National Databank with the Good Things Foundation and a device rehoming initiative with Hubbub. Its Community Calling programme has rehomed more than 32,000 devices to people in need across the UK.

The survey also suggests a link between connectivity and exam confidence. More than half of parents (52%) said they would feel worried if they could not provide the tools their child needs to succeed. Parents also linked lack of access to outcomes, with 64% saying exam results would suffer and 61% saying their child would miss out on important learning resources.

Virgin Media O2 operates fixed and mobile networks across the UK and sells broadband, mobile, TV and home phone services. It has around 45 million UK connections. Its fixed network covers more than half of the country, with 18.8 million premises serviceable, and its mobile network covers 99% of the population.

The company is upgrading its fixed network to full fibre to the premises and works with nexfibre on network expansion. As a wholesale customer of the nexfibre network, its total footprint will reach around 80% of the UK once build and upgrade work is completed.

"Exam season is one of the most important periods in a young person's education, and today reliable home internet plays a vital role in how students revise and prepare," said Dana Haidan, chief sustainability officer at Virgin Media O2.

"But many families are under real financial pressure, and some may not realise discounted support is available. Through Virgin Media O2's social tariffs, we're helping eligible households access affordable broadband, so no student is disadvantaged when it matters most," Haidan said.