Virgin Media to double fibre broadband speeds for customers

Virgin Media are to double their broadband speeds for over 4 million customers and those on their current 100Mb deal will see their broadband speeds increased by a further 20Mb.

The speed upgrade is likely to take around 18 months, starting in February 2012 and be completed by around mid 2013. Customers who are on 10Mb, 20Mb, 30Mb, and 50Mb services will see their broadband speeds at least doubled. Those customers on the 100Mb service will have their speed increased to 120Mb making it the UK’s fastest widely available broadband service (BT are to offer a 300Mb service but only very few people will be able to access it).

Neil Berkett, the Virgin Media Chief Executive, said:

“The internet has become an integral part of our social, work and family lives, so we think our customers are going to love this. As people are increasingly doing more online, and getting connected to the internet with lots of different devices, having a fast, reliable broadband service should not be a luxury. We want to make sure that consumers have access to the best value broadband service and that means a superfast connection.“

David Cameron, the Prime Minister even applauded the news by saying:

“I welcome this announcement from Virgin Media; it will provide a great boost for the economy and change the way many households, consumers and businesses use the internet. Rolling out superfast broadband across the country is a critical part of our plan to upgrade the UK’s infrastructure and build a new and smarter economy.“

The upgrade programme will see those with older out of date modems receiving free upgraded modems that will be future proofed and be able to deal with broadband speeds up to 400Mb. Virgin Media customers do not need to request the upgrade, it will be done free of charge without many customers knowing.
Those on 10Mb broadband will be increased to 20Mb, those on 20Mb and 30Mb will be increased to 60Mb and those on 50Mb will be increased to 100Mb.