Virgin Media plans to upgrade 2.6m customers with 2Mb cable broadband connections to its superfast 10Mb service in May.
The free upgrade follows a similar move by Virgin last year, when the ISP switched those with 4Mb connections to its 10Mb service. From May, Virgin's three fibre optic broadband deals will be available with 10Mb, 20Mb and 50Mb download speeds.
"Our entry-level broadband product is now twice the speed of comparable services and, with our new 10-20-50 range, we clearly offer the highest quality broadband service in the UK," said Virgin's chief executive Neil Berkett.
"Coupled with our recently launched 50Mb service, we are proactively developing the UK's broadband market, driving consumer expectations and the demand for high speed broadband services."
Virgin, which has more than 10m customers in the UK, said the widespread availability of 10Mb connections will allow more people to use BBC iPlayer and other high-bandwidth services, and said the upgrade supports the government's Digital Britain policy agenda.
Comments
121 media said: The free upgrademay come with the same usagedownloadupload limits as what you had before the upgradewhere as those who are paying the higher price for 10mbit have a higher downloadup load limit before having their speed restricted
121 media said: Im with Vm and i just have to laugh at their shoddy oversubscribed networkblaming the top 2 of customers for bringing their network to a crawlhence the stmtraffic managment nonesenseHa haif their mother of all broadband can be effected by just 2 of 2mbit downloaders this just proves based on VMs own press statementshow shoddy and broken their debt ridden US owned company truly is And stay away from the BBCs new HD i playeras youll hit your download limit and be classed as a naughty heavey user who spoils it for the rest of usstick to email and eh email onlyand do not share your connection with the rest of your householdas they will use up all your daily limit and again youll be classed as a heaveyilligal downloader pirate 2 for the free increasewith a 75 reduction in your speeds once you begin to use it
Alan said: It is not free increas of 2 for Virgin Media switches 2Mb customers to 10Mb
Steve said: Thanks sir richard branson -
shark said: yes and there is a cap limit i can notice this in peek hours its a joke to be honest it never happened when it was owned by blueyonder telewest Ive been with them also about 10 years or more basically i cant play games from 330 pm - 11 30 pm ish on a 10 mb line have phoned them lots of times about it they said try and upgrade lolol i dont think so
shark said: its not free they will be charging 2 extra for thsi
LaurieP said: Im not sure what all the capping talk is about Ive been with VM and NTL for 10 yrs and have never been capped and I download a lot of games and demos VM is currently the most stable internet you can get in the UK and its the most reliable Its very rare theres ever a problem The only problem I have is paying more for my 10mb than those who are getting the free upgrade from 2mb
Karl said: For those that do not believe this 2MB to 10MB us real this is the actual email I had of virgin on Sunday March 15 2009 137 PMTo make sure youre always getting the most out of the fast changing internet world weve been speeding up your service Weve already upgraded customers from up to 4Mb to up to 10Mb and now its your turn Well be boosting your broadband from up to 2Mb to up to 10Mb But who says we need to stop there With fibre optic technology the possibilities are virtually limitless On top of almost infinite speeds theres the simply brilliant things that only fibre optic broadband brings Right now youre already getting unlimited downloads and free internet security But were about to bring you moreIts not the entire email but you get the point It is real it is happening and if your currently on the 2MB speed it WILL be upgraded to 10MB with no extra monthly charges whatsoever
Dragon said: 2bathred - no cable here either BT say my phone line will only sustain 512 kbps yet I got 14 MB with Pipex Homecall before Tiscali trashed it and now get average 15 MB from Talktalk If that is possible why cant BT do it There will never be cable TV or fibre optic roll out here because they would never recoup the cost Freeview doesnt work here nor do mobile phones Im about 4 miles from the nearest town
2bathred said: Started with dial up 1795month slow went BB at 05mb same pricewas upped to 2mb at no increase in price upped again to 8mb runs at average of 65mb still same price Never been capped and had less than 4 breaks 3 of those when I moved house 4th was lightening strike on Exchange Im with Orange Still 1795monthNo cable in the countryside
no point said: i have just read the post by squillery are you sure you never download illegal content do you ever save content if you do then you are in breach of someones copy write somewhere you are just targeting bit torrent sites with your claims ALL internet content is subject to copy write that picture you saved to use for your desktop for instance the only way to avoid copy write is not to use the internet at all get off your high horse if virgin claims unlimited then it should be unlimited we actually pay for unlimited or are you on a special high horse contract which gives you special rights to slag other people off bet you like Jesus too
no point said: there is no point in upgrading their customers to 10mb from 2mb this is because Virgin Media cap your usage then knock you speed to a crawl when you hit the cap it just means you will hit the cap sooner i actually downgraded my service saving 35 a month from the 4mb to the 2mb because of 3 issues 1 Phorm or Webwise as they like to call it snooping i call it the capping of my service even though it is supposed to be unlimited and the fact they police the internet for the bpi the internet is being controlled and is no longer the free expression internet it used to be whether this is good or bad is for us to decide surely
Tyler said: I upgraded from 2mb to 10mb a few days before this articles posted date I asked will 2mb get a free upgrade to 10mb in the near future the response was NOWonderfulStarts breathing again
ramesh said: jhggjhjhgjh
kumar said: hi am kumar im working in software company plz call me this is my id dkrs007gmailcom
hari said: hi im hari thi is my games
JHK said: Currently a 2mb subscriber with Virgin media and in light of the many claims on the internet that Virgin media is upgrading its 2mb customers to 10mb for free I contacted Virgin media to confirm this claim and have been assured that Virgin media has no such plans to upgrade any customers from 2 to 10mb broadbandCan anyone substantiate any of these rumors currently circulating
Poit said: Im - theoretically - on 10 megs Downloaded patches amounting to around four gig today my largets load in months so at the moment Im gettin 15 meg thanks to their throttling 25 quid a monthIm now going to use some of my limited bandwidth to take a look at Sky and Be
Greg Martin said: Great Now I can download more before being throttled to a lower speed for get this you will like it USING THE INTERNET We really need some more backing for net neutrality in this country a bill has been passed in the US enforcing it and we call them stupid We need that here
LaurieP said: 4mb was 25 per month and was upgraded to 10mb free So now those on entry level are getting the same upgrade but still paying a lower price I think theres going to be a few complaints