August 17, 2010
Virgin Media have launched a free malware defence campaign to help protect customers computers from malware such as viruses, trojans and spyware.
 The free service will be available customers who have Virgin Media broadband and be in adition to the free security package that customers already receive with their broadband service.
The executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, Jon James said:
We’re writing to customers we’ve been told may be infected by malware, encouraging them to check their computers have an up to date security package, such as Virgin Media Security, and offering advice on simple and free ways to disinfect their computer. For those who need a little bit more help we also have our fee-based Digital Home Support service which fixes problems using the latest cutting edge remote control technology.”
“Malware doesn’t just affect computers – it can affect lives. It’s time for ISPs to go beyond the basics and do whatever they can to help protect their customers from this growing problem. Customers may think they are protected, but with the ease by which malware can infect a computer – even just by visiting a innocent-looking website – we’re going to do whatever we can to help defend our customers from serious consequences such as identity theft, and even banking fraud.”
Virgin Media will be working with organisation and groups such as The Shadowserver Foundation who monitor the spread of malware around the internet.
Those customers who Virgin Media are informed are likely to be infected with malware will be sent a letter from Virgin Media which will tell them how to scan their computer and also remove viruses. They will also be given the details for how to sign up (at a cost) to Virgin’s home support service which is able to access customers computers remotely to remove malware.
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June 24, 2010
Virgin Media are looking to increase broadband speeds to 400Mb.
 By the end of the year Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) plan to be offering 100Mb fibre broadband to it’s customers, this is double the current headline speed that they currently have available of 50Mb of which there are around 70,000 customers signed up to it. They are also already doing trials and test on 200Mb broadband but it seems that they have even faster targets that they want to strive to be able to offer. Virgin Media already have a new modem lined up to be available by the end of the year that is able to deal with 400Mb broadband.
Virgin are already in front of BT when it comes to offering the fastest broadband speeds, and with BT’s own fibre broadband network only going to be offering 40Mb to most people Virgin are making sure that they keep their noses well out in front in the fast lane.
BT’s fibre broadband network is only offering fibre broadband to the cabinet (FTTC) and then from there it will rely on copper wires to take the broadband that final distance to the house and as such BT are offering headline speeds of40Mb for their fibre broadband, however Virgin offer their fibre broadband direct to the house and as such are able to offer faster speeds as their whole connection is done with fibre.
Only a few selected places, mainly new build locations are where BT will be installing fibre directly to the house but for the majority of people it will just be FTTC.
Virgin Media currently only cover around half of the UK but are looking at extending this with the use of using existing telephone cables to help reach other parts of the country with it’s fibre broadband, an estimated 1 million homes around the country in more rural areas could be reached from doing this.
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June 2, 2010
Virgin Media are giving new subscribers access to their fibre optic broadband network for just £5 per month for an introductory time.
The new online only offer from Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) is available to new broadband subscribers to it’s 10Mb fibre broadband service which offers customers unlimited downloads, free wireless router, free internet security and unlimited UK weekend landline calls with the Virgin phone line which is charged at £11.99 per month.
After the 3 month introductory offer is over the price reverts back to the standard price of £12.50 per month for the broadband.
Users who don’t take out a Virgin Phone line can take an introductory offer of £15 per month for 3 months for the broadband which will then revert back to £20 per month after the 3 months.
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May 17, 2010
Virgin Media the UK Cable operator has brought in some online offers that gives customers fibre broadband at reduced prices for 3 months when taken with a Virgin phone line.
This means that the Virgin Broadband (www.virginmedia.com) L package which offers 10Mb fibre broadband is available for just £5 per month for the first 3 months, there is also discounts on the 20Mb broadband and their headline 50Mb broadband that they offer.
The full deals and what each one offers are listed below:
- L (10Mb broadband) – Save £22.50
- £5 per month for 3 months then £12.50 per month (when taken with Virgin Phone line for £11.99 per month) or
- £15 per month for 3 months then £20 per month if only broadband taken
- 10Mb broadband speed
- Unlimited downloads (fair use policy)
- 12 month contract
- Free Internet Security
- Free Wireless N Router
- Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines and Virgin mobiles when taken with a Virgin Phone line.
- XL (20Mb broadband) – Save £30
- £10 per month for 3 months then £20 per month (when taken with Virgin Phone line for £11.99 per month) or
- £25 per month for 3 months then £30 per month if only broadband taken
- 20Mb broadband speed
- Unlimited downloads (fair use policy)
- 12 month contract
- Free Internet Security
- Free Wireless N Router
- Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines and Virgin mobiles when taken with a Virgin Phone line.
- XXL (50Mb broadband) – Save £39
- £15 per month for 3 months then £28 per month (when taken with Virgin Phone line for £11.99 per month) or
- £33 per month for 3 months then £38 per month if only broadband taken
- 50Mb broadband speed
- Unlimited downloads (fair use policy)
- 12 month contract
- Free Internet Security
- Free Wireless N Router
- Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines and Virgin mobiles when taken with a Virgin Phone line.
The discounted Virgin Media fibre broadband offer runs until 30 June 2010.
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April 28, 2010
Virgin Media added 72,300 new cable broadband customers in the first quarter of 2010 according to their latest results out today.
The new subscribers joined Virgin Media at a faster rate than ever before, so much so that they had a 53% increase compared to the previous quarter, even more good news for Virgin is how popular their bundled services are.
They currently have 61.9% of customers on triple-play services, such as broadband, Digital TV & Phone, with 11% on quad-play services.
Virgin Media broadband is available with a headline speed of 50Mb.
Virgin Media Chief Executive Officer, Neil Berkett said:
“This quarter, we added cable customers at our fastest ever rate. A combination of higher gross additions, low churn and increased ARPU enabled us to deliver year-on-year cable revenue growth for the fourth consecutive quarter. This has driven the growth in total revenue and, with solid cost control, a double digit year-on-year increase in OCF for the second successive quarter.
“We are developing our services to exploit our natural network advantage, both now and in the future. More customers than ever before are choosing faster broadband and every day millions of our customers are enjoying the benefits of the video-on-demand revolution we are leading. On average our customers pressed “play” more than two million times a day, every day in the last three months. The latest addition to our set-top box range, the V HD Box, will also enable more Virgin Media customers to enjoy HD television without an on-going monthly fee.”
Earlier this week Virgin Media launched a new online movie service called “Virgin Media Online Movies” which allows users to watch hundreds of movies online, on-demand. 2 big titles to start the service with include “Fantastic Mr Fox” and “District 9″.
The service will allow users to watch the films as many times as they want over a 48 hour period and even stop, pause and rewind the films. It even allows the film to be watched wherever the user logs on, be that at home or at work!
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March 11, 2010
Virgin Media are to look to look up instead of down when it comes to installing some of it’s fibre optic cable by using telegraph poles.
Plans by Virgin Media, the UK’s largest cable operator are to use telegraph poles and existing ducts to deliver it’s cable broadband services that will be able to deliver broadband speeds up to 50Mb and also it ’s digital TV services if a trial of the technology to Woolhampton in Berkshire goes well.
Virgin Media currently have their current fibre cable network underground which can prove expensive to deploy with the digging up of roads, however up to this point they have not been able to do any different as there are planning guidelines which stop large scale overhead deployment of cable.
The government is looking at the possibility of changing these guidelines which would then open up the possibility for Virgin Media to do large scale overhead deployment of their cable network which Virgin Media estimate could benefit around 1 million homes.
Virgin Medias Chief Executive, Neil Berkett said:
“This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next generation broadband services. With everything from BBC iPlayer to YouTube increasingly demanding reliable ultrafast broadband speeds, we’re keen to ensure that all communities, in towns, cities and villages right across the UK, stand to benefit.”
The government are keen to get next-generation digital services out to rural communities and allowing Virgin Media to look up instead of down could be one way to help with rolling out fibre broadband to more rural areas.
Virgin are already planning on extending their network to another 500,000 homes that would then be able to access it’s current top rated XXL broadband service offering 50Mb. There are currently 12.6 million homes in the UK that are able to connect to the Virgin Media network.
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March 8, 2010
Virgin Media customers are to be exclusively able to watch Film4HD from this summer.
A deal between Channel 4 and Virgin Media has been agreed that will mean that Film4HD will be exclusively available only to Virgin Media customers when it launches later this summer on their digital TV service.
Also available to Virgin Media customers will be E4HD which gets many popular TV programmes such as Glee, Skins, Hollyoaks, Desperate Housewives, 90210 and Ugly Betty. The E4HD channel is due to launch on Virgin Media in April this year.
The executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, Cindy Rose, said:
“Channel 4 has a great track record in delivering innovative and compelling content and we’re delighted to bring some of their very best films and most popular programmes to our customers in stunning HD. As more and more households become HD-ready, we’re lining up content that makes the most of High Definition and are making HD available to all our of customers for no extra fee.“
V irgin Media already have a range of HD channels available and are due to get more added. Some of their current HD channels include: C4HD, BBC HD, National Geographic HD, ESPN HD, Discovery HD and Eurosport HD.
Virgin Media XL TV customers will be able to access the HD channels at no extra costs with BBC HD and 4HD being available to all Virgin Media digital TV customers.
To be able to receive the HD channels Virgin Media customers will need a V+ HD digital recorder which is needed to decode the channels, a HDMI cable to connect to a HD-ready TV.
Some of the new Film4 HD films expected to be shown soon are Slumdog Millionaire, Go Lucky and Looking For Eric as well as other Hollywood blockbusters and many more.
Virgin Media also have a hundreds of hours of HD on Demand programmes available to Virgin Media customers as well as the BBC iPlayer which is delivered through their cable network.
Virgin Media have recently also announced that they are to start offering 100Mb fibre broadband (Read: Virgin to start roll out of 100Mb fibre broadband) meaning that they will be able to deliver far more content such as broadband and HD Television at the same time.
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February 25, 2010
Virgin Media are set to start the roll out of their own 100Mb fibre broadband and help take broadband in the UK up to the next level.
The news comes hot on the heels of yesterdays announcement by Fibrecity who announced the three broadband providers who would be offering the residents of Bournemouth their own 100Mb fibre broadband services.
The news that virgin Media are to start rolling out a 100Mb fibre optic broadband service will also be a blow to big rivals BT, who are currently rolling out their own fibre network “BT Infinity” that offers broadband speeds up to 40Mb.
Also, with Virgin already having it’s network available to around half of UK homes and businesses it gives them good footing to deploy their new technology to double their current headline speed of 50Mb to 100Mb.
Thew new speed increases come as part of Virgin’s DOCSIS 3 network which is already delivering broadband speed of up to 200Mb in Ashford, Kent where the initial trials are taking place. These trials are set to be extended now to Coventry where the trials will continue to focus on future technologies such as teleconferencing and downloading HD programmes on demand.
The other exciting news with this is that Virgin believe that the DOCSIS 3 network will be capable of broadband speeds up to 400Mb.
Neil Berkett, Virgin Media’s Chief Executive said:
“There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre optic cable network, and the upcoming launch of our flagship 100Mb service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience. Just as we led the way by launching the UK’s first ever next generation service, we want to keep giving our customers the very best broadband available, by investing in technological innovation and transforming the experience they have when they are online. The launch of Virgin Media’s 100Mb service will be a historic moment and will mean the UK will be comparable to other leading broadband nations.“
Although this will likely be a bit of a blow to BT, as consumers hopefully we will see the benefit as the battle to offer the fastest broadband continues between Virgin Media and BT.
BT won’t want to stay a long way behind Virgin Media but unless they perhaps up their ambitions they could well be stuck behind, especially as Virgin Media have funded this with their own money and not been asking for tax payers money to fund it like BT was asking for to help with the roll out of their own fibre network.
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January 20, 2010
Virgin Media are starting to inspect the traffic that goes through their fibre broadband network to see how much of it could be illegal.
The Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is being provided by Detica and currently does not take note of the IP address of the users it monitors and those who are downloading files illegally and so won’t be used at present to target offenders.
The technology is reportedly able to see what type of files are being downloaded by users and file sharers and able to match them up to a database if they are illegal downloads for example of music or films or if they are just personal photo albums exchanged between family members.
At this stage it is just being used so Virgin Media can see how much illegal traffic is going through it’s Virgin Broadband fibre network, although there is nothing ruling out that in future it being used to target those guilty of Internet piracy.
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November 6, 2009
The latest set of broadband speed test results for October 2009 compiled by broadband.co.uk still have Virgin Media leading the way with the fastest broadband speeds.
The results are compiled from broadband speed tests that are performed each month for 10 of the most popular broadband providers in the UK.
Virgin were head and shoulders in front by averaging a broadband download speed of 7.328Mb and 2.3Mb faster than O2 & Be Broadband (they use the same infrastructure) who came in second place with 5.019Mb.
Virgin are expected to be at the top as they have a fibre optic broadband network and have a broadband package with a headline speed of 50Mb, we do anticipate that when BT’s fibre network is rolled out that the gap will close slightly.
Coming in slowest was AOL broadband who recorded an average broadband speed of just 2.183Mb with the average across the 10 broadband providers being 4.328Mb.
The broadband provider and their average broadband speed for each are listed below.
Virgin Media – 7.260Mb
O2 ( Be Broadband ) – 5.019Mb
Eclipse Internet – 3.899Mb
Sky Broadband – 3.512Mb
TalkTalk – 3.357Mb
Orange – 3.199
BT – 2.920Mb
Tiscali – 2.770Mb
PlusNet – 2.559Mb
AOL – 2.183Mb
For the first time Virgin Media managed to average over 8Mb broadband speed (8.303Mb) for speed tests taken between midnight and 8am.
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