Virgin Media Increases ‘Standard’ Broadband To 100Mbps

Virgin Media has thrown down a challenge with the news that its default line speed is now quicker than the top speed offered by rival Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

It has made ultrafast broadband standard with new bundles, which means that customers should be to enjoy speeds of 100Mbps and above as standard.

And if 100Mbps is not fast enough, Virgin Media has now raised the top line speed for consumers from 200Mbps to 300Mbps, from the end of March.

Need For Speed?

The decision by Virgin Media to revamp its broadband bundles and offer ultrafast speeds of 100Mbps and above as standard, is an aggressive move in the fiercely competitive broaband advertising arena.

Quite how anyone would fully utilise the bandwidth from a 100Mbps (or 300Mbps) connection remains to be seen, but Virgin Media was quick to point out that the top speed from Openreach in comparison is 76Mbps.

Virgin Media has also launched the Virgin TV V6 box, will be included in the new Mix, Fun and Full House bundles. And existing customers can upgrade their boxes to the Virgin TV V6 box, with pricing varying depending on the package taken.

“By beefing up our bundles we’re leaving our competitors in the rear view mirror, starting where they finish,” explained Tom Mockridge, CEO of Virgin Media. “Eye-watering speeds, a better box and top-notch TV is a winning combination.

“More and more switchers tell us they are joining Virgin Media for our faster speeds and we understand why – whether it’s 4K Netflix, box sets in multiple rooms or online gaming, the best entertainment requires the best broadband and we’re making sure our customers are covered with these bundles at incredible value,” he said.

Virgin Media apparently launched its TV V6 box towards the end of last year, and it is being touted as the smallest, smartest and fastest box yet from the company. It allows people to record six shows while watching a seventh. It also supports 4K Ultra-High Definition and comes with 1TB of storage allowing 500 hours of SD recordings or 100 hours of HD recordings.

Network Expansion

Virgin Media of course operates its own network and is not dependent on BT Openreach lines, most of which are deployed via the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) approach.

Earlier this month Virgin Media revealed it was connecting 38,000 homes to its broadband network in Edinburgh and West Lothian, as part of the ongoing ‘Project Lightning’ expansion programme.

It has also connected two million properties to fibre to the premise (FTTP), and will connect 4m properties to its cable network by 2019 – half of which will be FTTP broadband.

Quiz: What do you know about Virgin Media?