Travel Tips

Using Virgin Mobile abroad

Alex Beaney

15.05.24

Read time 3 minutes

Planning a trip? Whether it’s a blissful beach holiday, city break or backpacking adventure, you’ll want to know how to use your phone while abroad.

In this guide, we’ll be taking a close look at using Virgin Mobile abroad. We’ll run through how international roaming works with the network, and whether there are any charges you need to know about.

And while you’re making your holiday preparations, make sure you check out the Wise card from the money services provider Wise.

It could save you money on holiday spending, letting you pay and withdraw cash like a local in 150+ countries - and all for low fees and great mid-market exchange rates.

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

Find out more about Wise card 💳

Can I use Virgin Mobile Abroad?

Virgin Mobile does permit roaming, so you will be able to use your phone when you go on holiday. Whether there are any roaming charges depends on the destination.

The way the network works has changed, since Virgin Media merged with O2. All Virgin Mobile customers are being migrated to O2 plans, which means that O2 roaming rules will apply.

The good news though is that O2 does offer free roaming in certain destinations, meaning you can use your UK plan allowances overseas. There’s also the option to buy roaming Bolt-On packages if you’re travelling outside the free roaming area.

Using Virgin Mobile in Europe

If you’re travelling to Europe, you can use your O2 (formerly Virgin Mobile) allowances for calls, texts and data free of charge.¹ This essentially means you can hop off the plane and start using your phone just like you would in the UK.

The O2 Europe Zone covers 40+ destinations,¹ and you can check if yours is covered here.

An important thing to note though is that there is a fair usage limit on data. You can only use up to 25GB (if you have that much in your UK plan). If you go over this cap, charges may apply.¹

Using Virgin Mobile abroad - worldwide destinations

For all destinations outside the O2 Europe Zone, roaming isn’t free. You can still use your phone, but you’ll need to choose and pay for one of the following options:¹

Volt or Pay Monthly customers on selected O2 Refresh and sim-only tariffs can get the O2 Travel Inclusive Bolt On. This gives you unlimited data, minutes and texts in 27 destinations outside of Europe.
Other Pay Monthly customers can get the Travel Bolt On for £6 a day in selected destinations.
Pay As You Go customers can get the Travel Bolt On for £1.99 a day.

If you don’t have any O2 Travel Bolt Ons, standard rates will apply for using your phone abroad. We’ll look at what these are likely to be next.

Virgin Mobile international roaming charges

If you’re not roaming in Europe or have a Bolt-On for roaming worldwide (or you accidentally go over your allowance), it’s useful to know what charges you may face.

Here are the Virgin Mobile/O2 roaming charges for a few popular destinations:¹

Destination	Making calls	Receiving calls	Sending texts	Data
USA	£2 a min	£2 a min	£0.50	£7.20 per MB
Turkey	£2 a min	£2 a min	£0.50	£7.20 per MB
Australia	£2 a min	£2 a min	£0.50	£7.20 per MB
India	£2 a min	£2 a min	£0.50	£7.20 per MB
Thailand	£2 a min	£2 a min	£0.50	£7.20 per MB

You can also buy a data bundle if you like, with prices ranging from £9 to £26 for 100MB to 1GB (depending on destination).¹

Ready to travel? Don’t forget your Wise card

Now that you’re all clued up on roaming with Virgin Mobile/O2, it’s time to think about how you’ll spend during your trip.

The Wise card is the ideal travel companion, as it lets you spend and withdraw in the local currency in 150+ countries.

Your pounds are automatically converted at the mid-market exchange rate whenever you spend, without any margins or mark-ups. You’ll just pay a small conversion fee, or no fee if you already have the currency in your Wise account.

Open a Wise account online and you can order your own Wise card for a one-time cost of just £7.

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

And that’s it - our handy guide to using Virgin Mobile abroad, including details of the O2 policies on international roaming that now apply to all existing customers.

If you’re travelling outside of the free roaming zone and are worried about expensive roaming charges, it could be sensible to turn data roaming off before you travel.

Sources used for this article:

O2 - Using your phone abroad

Sources checked on 01-May-2024.

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.