Virgin Cashes In With Student Broadband Deals

Virgin Media has become the first Internet Service Provider to offer a nine-month broadband contract, aimed at the student market.

Unlike standard 12- and 18-month contracts, Virgin Media’s offer means that university students will not have to pay for broadband over the summer holidays, when they are likely to be returning home.

Student packages

Prices start from £20 per month for speeds of up to 10Mbps. Customers do not need a BT or a Virgin phone line to qualify, and those in possession of valid NUS identification will not even have to pay the £20 activation fee.

Alternatively, students can get their hands on a 20Mbps broadband package for £30 per month, with a £10 discount for the first two months. Those who also sign up for a Virgin Phone line for £11.99 a month can get the same deal for £20 a month, as well as unlimited weekend UK landline calls.

In addition, students that sign up for Virgin Media’s student discount scheme will get a 15 percent discount on any Virgin Media mobile service – including its BlackBerry Curve 8520 deal, which Virgin claims is “perfect for students”. The phone comes with 50 inclusive minutes and 250 texts per month, as well as unlimited BlackBerry Messenger and web and email access.

“With our fantastic 15 percent discount for students, university halls will be buzzing with the bleep of the brilliant BlackBerry Messenger,” said Jonathan Kini, director of mobile at Virgin Media.

While Virgin is the first telco to be explicitly targeting the student market, there are already a number of short and no-contract broadband packages available from companies such as Plusnet and Zen Internet. However, many of these require paying an activation fee and/or do not include a modem or router.

Cashing in

Virgin is not the only tech company to be cashing in on the student market, as many prepare to return to university this month. AVAST Software, providers of the freee AVAST antivirus program, has published a list of the UK’s “most infected” education-related websites, pointing out that downloading antivirus and anti-spyware software can help protect investments made in new computers.

“With the new school year, many students will acquire new computers and getting a certified antivirus and anti-spyware software is a key step in protecting this investment,” said Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technical Officer at AVAST Software. “It is a fact of life that education is not immune from the danger of malicious and hijacked websites. The real lesson to be learned is that all computer users need to be protected from malware and viruses.”

To help keep students protected against most infected websites, AVAST offers the following tips to ensure computers remain virus-free:

• Install certified anti-virus software
• Make sure that updates are in automatic mode
• Get original software rather than counterfeit
• Be careful which websites you choose to enter your personal information
• Passwords should have at least seven characters and include a mixture of capitalisation, numbers, and symbols