How Virgin Media is keeping people connected

Virgin Media are doing all they can to ensure people stay connected with family and friends during the COVID-19 crisis.

With people in the UK currently unable to spend time with people who don’t live in the same household as them, they’re relying on the internet to stay connected with others. Thankfully, technology makes it easier than ever to stay in touch with video calls, social media and messaging apps.

Some of Virgin Media’s customers have shared the ways that they’re staying connected in the broadband provider’s video: Stay home, stay safe, stay connected.

Behind the scenes, to keep all this going is a team of people classified by the UK government as key workers because of the essential work they do in maintaining and building Virgin Media’s network. Whether they’re answering phone calls from customers to help solve issues, or out on the ground fixing problems, Virgin Media teams are working night and day to keep the country connected.

Some, like Denny, are based in contact centres and are working hard to keep the most vulnerable people connected. During back-to-back 12-hour shifts last week, Denny helped an NHS nurse and her disabled partner get back online after their services went down – spending more than an hour on the phone troubleshooting and then sending an engineer to visit on the same day.

Others, like Lee, work out in the field. Last week, he helped an elderly customer in St Helen’s whose phone and broadband had stopped working, leaving her isolated from the outside world. Her children are frontline NHS workers so unable to visit her and she was worried she wouldn’t be able to contact help if she fell ill. Lee visited the customer and was able to fix her services there and then, ensuring she was safe and could call for help should she need it.

Similarly Curtis, a network engineer, was flagged down while working on another job to help a 99-year-old customer with an emergency care alarm whose phone line had stopped working. Curtis waited with her while she tested the alarm – and was praised for being so approachable when she asked for help.

Virgin Media’s teams have responded to COVID-19 in a range of ways over the last few weeks – from upgrading the connectivity of scientists that are modelling the spread of the virus to inform government policy, to connecting NHS doctors to see patients remotely, to helping small businesses keep running from new locations.

Visit Virgin Media to find out more about how they’re helping people stay home, stay safe and stay connected.