Virgin Media boosts bottom tier broadband
'M' subscribers go to up to 10Mbit/s
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Virgin Media will begin upgrading its "up to" 2Mbit/s broadband subscribers to "up to" 10Mbit/s from May, it said today.
The firm stopped selling the up to 2Mbit/s "M" package to new customers early in February, and an upgrade for the lowest broadband tier has long been expected as part of network capacity improvements.
Virgin Media now offers services at up to 10Mbit/s, up to 20Mbit/s and up to 50Mbit/s.
It claimed today that the "L" 10Mbit/s service typically offers real world speeds of about twice those provided by ADSL-based "up to" 8Mbit/s lines. Independent testing by the broadband monitoring firm Epitiro at the end of 2008 showed an average throughput of 6.9Mbit/s versus 3.4Mbit/s for BT's standard "up to" 8Mbit/s service.
The "L" broadband package is available to new customers for £20 per month, following a six month £15 per month introductory period. Taken with an £11 per month home phone, it's £14 per month, after six months at £5 per month.
Virgin Media reckons "competitive" ADSL2+ providers, able to offer similar speeds, typically charge £30 per month for similar service. They don't; Sky and O2 are both cheaper (though Sky requires that you are a TV subscriber). The usual ADSL caveats about distances from local exchanges apply however.
Meanwhile, unlike those two rivals, Virgin Media's upgraded service remains subject to bandwidth throttling. New limits are currently being trialled in the North West. ®
COMMENTS
Speeds...
I am on 20MB and I must say that 99% of the time i so in fact get this speed, downloading is a dream and I would never switch back to ADSL for all the tea in china...
... Regardless to throttles and any other negatives people want to look for, there is no comparison when it comes to the quality of a connection on cable vs ADSL!
If people want un-throttled internet connections, pay a premium and get a business connection - then you can download till your little hearts are content.
Advice!
Piece of advice to Virgin users, If you are on the L package and are still under a 1 year contract then no you can't change what you pay or what speed you receive.
If you are not under a year contract with Virgin then WHY NOT ? This is how you get a good discount you phone up say "I want to sign up for another year what will you do for me?"
I've been with Virgin for many years and everytime my contract and deal runs out I phone up and get the new one, that is how it's done and how I'M still only paying £30 for phone, L broadband and TV service.
Happy with VM for now, but no Phorm please
I've been happy with ntl/VM service, I started out at years ago with 500kB/s and now am on 10MB/s.
'Massive Letdown', your packet loss may be a modem signal level issue, maybe get an engineer out to check your installation.
A speed tip is to upgrade your router, my old one only had a 10MB WAN ethernet port. Get one with a 10/100 port and your speed will improve if you are on the 10MB/s or faster service. FYI, I'm now using a Netgear RP614.
I'll stay with VM because I like the reliability of the connection, unless they decide to shoot themselves in the foot by getting into bed with Phorm, but that's another story
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