Virgin Mobile doffs its cap: Web speed limit axed after outrage

Virgin Mobile UK has suspended its internet speed cap while it tries to get its network reliability back up to scratch.

Large numbers of the operator's customers suffered intermittent connectivity over the last week or so, quite possibly related to the company's attempt to impose a 2Mbit-per-second cap on mobile internet download speeds.

Now that cap has been removed while the technical problems are ironed out - although the speed limit will be back at some point to keep connections stable as reliability is still considered more important than data transfer rates.

Virgin Mobile said it has identified the cause of the connection problems - located deep within EE's phone network upon which Virgin Mobile piggybacks its operations - and is working to get a fix in place. Anyone still having problems should drop by the support forum and get in touch with Krystal_E who will look into each issue in turn.

Krystal may wish to start with Reg reader Mark Slattery, who told us he achieved the heady heights of multiple megabits in the early hours of this morning before crashing back to 2Mbps. Our man now sits with no connectivity at all, and is far from the only reader who's been in touch and will be keeping Krystal_E busy.

Such experiences lend credence to the opinion that it’s the capping which is knocking out connections, otherwise it's a remarkable coincidence. Capping itself isn't a problem as long as operators are honest and open about it. But sneaking it out in the hope no one will notice, and then screwing up connectivity for all, just makes the whole industry look shabby. ®