Virgin Media has begun its nationwide programme to double its customers’ broadband speeds, initially reaching 1.5 million homes.
The firm is rolling out the improved service beginning this week in certain areas across the country after its announcement in January. Lucky locations to get the upgrade this month and next include Newcastle, Bedford, Cambridge and Ashford.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media said, "Virgin Media has driven broadband development in the UK and we’re delighted to be boosting our customers’ broadband speeds once again. Following our Double Speeds programme, all of our customers will be ‘superfast’ as standard and ready to access a new breed of high bandwidth entertainment services."
"By continuing to give our customers faster speeds and greater value services, we’re committed to providing our customers the best broadband in the UK." he added.
Users of Virgin Media’s 10Mb, 20Mb, 30Mb and 50Mb services will see their speeds at least doubled while 100Mb subscribers will get a jump to 120Mb and a price reduction. The 120Mb will be the UK’s faster broadband offering.
Subscribers to the 50Mb deal will even be bumped up to 120Mb when it is rolled out. Users of the 20Mb and 30Mb package will be upgraded to 60Mb while 10Mb users will be given a double in speed to 20Mb.
Full roll out of the faster network will take place over the next 18 months for more than four million customers, according to Virgin Media. Customers can find out when their area will be upgraded at Virgin Media’s website.
Comments
Chris Dale said: Those of us on 50Mb will be getting a 100 increase initially to 100Mb and then the upgrade to 120Mb All supposedly free but my bundled deal coincidently is going up 520 ish a month Its still good value for money but smacks of a cover up
Maccyroo said: It seems pretty clear that Virgin are going to be usingour price increases roughly 10 to fund the not so free upgrades over the next 9 monthsAlthough the ginger beard is worthless Im sure Mr Bolt was paid a fortuneto dotheir ads Looks like us Virgin customers are paying for his services tooI really think OfCom should do something about the way ISPs advertise on TV Every time TalkTalk are waxing lyrical about superfast broadband for 350 or whatever I cringeYes there is a tiny asterix on the screen that leads to small print at the bottom of the screen explaining that monthly line rental is required 1250 But they should not be allowed to make the statement that you can have broadband for 350 as it is an adsl service that requires line rental to functionOne good thing about Virgins cable serviceis that you can have broadband without having a phone line or paying the rental fee But as adsl broadband requires a phone line to functionthe headlineprices advertised should reflect thisIt is like Ford saying you can have a brand newMondeo for 2000 and hiding in the small printsubject to paying 15000 for an engineTalkTalk clearly stating that they will supply superfast broadband for only350is not justmisleading but patently untrue
Maccyroo said: Sounds like VirginMedia are making it up as they go along They clearly told me that my 4 Increase related to 50p for my international call package 150 for broadband and 2 for my TV package If you have no TV then 350 sounds wrong I would phone them free if you dial 150 and check the breakdown for your increases
Mamparra said: Yeah yeah yeah All very nice as long as you dont have to wait until October next year like I will Usain Bolt-Branson can go on all he likes but thats a hell of a long time to wait Maybe Ill try Sky
Matt Egan said: Thanks all This is very interesting and well certainly look into it
Paul Riley said: Virgin Media 30Mbit 326 UNLIMITED Phone TV amp V box 5 3750Infinity 40 Mbit 34 UNLIMITED Phone TV 4 4360 after discountsThe infinity is for my cousin who live 30 metres from where cable ends the engineer got 40 Mbit in the test socketSO LETs ALL RUN BACK TO BT amp PAY 610 a month moreOh yes I forgot 1 more little thing as I have not got a BT lineADD 250 for a phone line amp 125 to be connected that was the last quote 6 years ago when they tried to persuade me to go to BT
B Leader said: What do you mean FREE UPGRADE do you mean how the politicians mean it which is the opposite to the truth
Pcrook said: As others have said this is no free upgrade due to a 350 increase and I only have phone and broadband no tv
no country for old men said: I have been on the Virgin Media Broadband amp telephone service for 4 years and when I complained about the cost of the service the staff could not be less bothered I advised I was looking around for a better deal but they could not have been less bothered All I need is to be able to check my emails surf the net I am not into dowloading movies or playing games online so I do not feel it is price competitive When I ask if I could take my email address they said if you leave you will lose your email address I can not understand why it can not be the same as when you port your telephone service you can take the phone number with you I will look to go with Sky for the tv service amp look for a competitive deal for an unlimited telephone service As far as I am concerned Virgin Media are over priced and certainly not offering value for money as you pay one way or another they are a joke
Maccyroo said: I am currently on a 10MB package and am due for a free upgrade in October 2012to 20MB However like The Grey PantherI have received notice that my monthly package is going up4 in AprilI have tried to discuss this matter with Virgin Media and they refuse to make any connection between the current price increases and the Free not so free upgrade of broadband speed AllI could get out of them is that 150 of the 4 increase relates to broadband supply 2 of the increase relates to myTV package and the other 50p is for increases to my phone packageHave a heart for us Virgin Media customers who actually feel they are actually paying 6 months in advance for a not free upgrade and change the headline to reflect this Double or Nothing is not accurate and very aggravating for Virgin customers like us who are having their charges upgraded before the service is upgradedI should imagine that if Virgin Media were to be honest the current increases its customers are having pushed upon them ismore than likely funding their ad campaign and Mr Bolts fees for embarrassing himself by donning a false ginger beard and pretending to beRichard Branson or is he supposed to be Santa bearing free gifts
The Grey Panther said: Double for Nothing - Absolute rubbish On 24 February I received an email from Virgin Media headed Important Changes to Your Account and stating cost of your bundle charges will increase by 350 a month from 1 AprilYes I also have a TV package and use their phone service But Double for Nothing Please choose another headline
MRLIN12 said: al this talk of hgh broadband speds is making me giddy my local exchange wont support higher than 3megs and you would have to live next door to it to get that my broadband is a shade over 15 mb and drops well below 1mb at peak times that blows Camerons acceptable 2mb minimum right out of the water yet I am asked to pay the same price exactly as others who live in the big city who get from 6 and up mb service unfair yes do they care NO
HTTP500 said: Double for nothingCrp - Virgin Media have just announced they are raising their prices from 1st April 10 in my case with no explanation as to why except to say its to improve my Virgin Media experience