Tag Archives: Virgin Media

Gordan Browns Broadband Tax Scrapped.

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Posted by Admin on April 7, 2010 – 5:53 pm
Filed under Broadband News

The 50p per month broadband tax planned by the Government has been scrapped in a last minute rush to get key legislation through before Parliament is dissolved next week.

The other two taxes to be scrapped are tax releif on holiday homes and the 10% tax increase on cider.

The £6 per year tax which would have affected all households with a land line was expected to raise roughly £170million per year in a bid to bring high speed broadband to rural areas that companies such as BT and Virgin Media could not reach.

The Conservatives planned to scrap the tax if they win the General Election. They have plans to use some of the TV license fees set aside for digital switchover. The tax has been labelled unfair as the people paying the tax would not benefit from it.

The future of super fast broadband for all is now un-certain although if Labour win the election next month it may well be re-instated.

Virgin to Trial Telegraph Poles for Broadband

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Posted by Admin on March 25, 2010 – 12:37 pm
Filed under Broadband News

Virgin is to run a six month trial in a bid to deliver fibre optic high speed broadband over telegraph poles.

The trial will take place in Woolhampton in Berkshire and should deliver 50Mbps broadband. Fibre optic cables are generally run through underground ducts although some companies have also experimented with running cables through sewer networks.

Virgins’ Chief Executive Neil Berkett reportedly said ”’The trial would allow the firm to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide a new way to extend next generation broadband services’. 

The Government hopes to ensure that everyone in the UK has access to a broadband speed of 2Mbps by 2012 and high speed broadband by 2017 and they have earmarked £200m to extend broadband coverage to 15%of homes here in the UK who currently do not receive broadband at 2Mbps.

Virgins are trying to bring broadband to people who currently live out of reach of their current network.

Virgin to Roll Out 100Mbps service.

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Posted by Admin on March 17, 2010 – 1:24 pm
Filed under Broadband News

 

Virgin has stepped up its broadband speed battle with BT by declaring that it will roll out its 100Mbps by the  end of the year.

The company signed up over 63,000 new customers over Christmas and claimed that over a third of the new customers had taken the more expensive 50Mbps service. There will clearly be a demand for  an even faster speed. 

The fiber-based 100 speed network will allow users to download a music album in 5 seconds and a hour long TV show will only take 31 seconds.Virgin has also announced that it will extend the testing of a 200Mbps service to other parts of the UK after initial testing  was announced in May 2009. 

Virgin Media provides broadband, TV,phone and mobile phone services  to around 4 million homes in the UK currently offering services of 10Mbps,20Mbps and 50Mbps. Already some customers are using the 50 Mbps service to its full capacity as some homes use different services such as watching high definition TV and downloading music at the same time.

It seems there is nothing that these new fibre optic cable networks can do and the days of the 2Mbps services are numbered.

BT Launches Fibre Optic Broadband For Businesses

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Posted by Admin on January 31, 2010 – 6:00 pm
Filed under Broadband News

BT’s new fibre optic broadband service for businesses was launched last week. It offers up to 40mbps download speeds and a special ‘fast lane’ which gives right of way  to businesses at busy times.

Prices start at £30 per month with a 24 month contract and upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps. While up to 10Mbps speeds and a 24 month contract will cost £45 per month.  

12 month contracts are more expensive. £35 for BT Business Total Broadband Fibre and £50 for the advanced package.

Each package will include 500 minutes of BT’s Openzone Wi-Fi network, 24 hour technical support, 50MB of web space and 10 e-mail addresses.

BT expects the 10 Mbps upload speeds to be very attractive to small businesses wishing to send bigger  files. BT’s biggest competitor is Virgin Media who believe that their upspeeds are faster than BT’s but BT of course dispute this.

BT plans to make fibre optic broadband ( FTTC ) available to 4 million businesses and homes by the end of 2010 and available to 10 million businesses and homes by mid-2012.

Mobile Broadband Speed Doubled By Virgin Media

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Posted by Admin on December 5, 2009 – 4:36 pm
Filed under Broadband Speed

Virgin MediaVirgin Media has released a new mobile broadband which they say will double the speed of the mobile broadband previously offered.

The new USB modem will offer speeds of 7.2Mbps on a range of contracts. Mobile broadband is becoming more and more popular for people on the go. If you are not near a wireless connection and are away from home mobile broadband is now considered vital by some people.

Customers are given the option of a one month rolling contract or a full 18 months with a choice of 1 GB or 3 GB data limits per month.

The deals are now available and monthly payments range from £10 to £15. The modem will cost £24.99 on the 1 Gb contract and £49.99 on other options.

Bt Promises Broadband Speeds Of Up To 100Mpbs

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Posted by Admin on November 7, 2009 – 4:40 pm
Filed under Broadband News

BT BroadbandBT has promised to double the number of households that will have access to its super fast broadband network where speeds could reach up to 100Mpbs. They promise  to set up 10 % of Britains households ( at least 2.5 millions homes) with ultra fast speeds by 2012. The network will allow their customers to watch streaming HD television whilst surfing the web and downloading music on their PC’s.

The first trials will take place in Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park in London where up to 20,000 cutomers will receive the high speed connections by March 2010. 

 Due to a revision of plans BT will have the new fibre optic network passing through 10 million households although much of the network will be FTTC  (fibre to the cabinet) which means it will be connected to the green boxes outside on the streets rather tha plugging directly into peoples homes. Because of this speeds will be slower- maybe 60Mpbs slower- as the final part of the connection to the house will just be a traditional copper phone line. Most ot the new technology will take place in the brownfield sites that already have copper broadband infastructure rather than greenfield areas.

BT is competing with Carphone Warehouse, Virgin Media and BSkyB to bring out high speeds. Virgin Media has already launched broadband at 50Mpbs and is testing 100Mpbs services.

Huge Demand for Relaunched Virgin Media Package.

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Posted by Admin on September 6, 2009 – 8:40 pm
Filed under Broadband News

Virgin MediaCustomers who recently signed up to Virgin Media UK’s ADSL broadband package have found that there are lengthy delays getting accounts activated. 

There has been a huge demand for the 20 Mbps package , which is intended for customers who live outside Virgin’s cable coverage, and want to bundle their broadband and phone lines together.

The package appeals to users wanting a single bill from one provider.The package boasts faster download speeds of up to 20Mpbs and its own telephone line rental. The problem is that  Virgin has been unble to cope with demand and was struggling to post out modem kits to customers.Users are leaving BT and rushing to Virgin’s new deal.

Virgin say that they have now resolved the stock problems and everything should be up and running very soon. It is possible that Virgin Media will cancel the £30 set up fee for customers who have experienced problems so anyone affected is urged  to to e-mail the company and lodge a complaint.

Virgin have also reduced their 50 Mbps package for a limited period. The service with a Virgin phone line  is now £18 a month for the first 3 months and then £28 per month. Without the phone line the cost has reduced from £50 to £33  for the first 3 months and £38 per month after that.  They have not yet announced how long the deals will last.

Virgin Media are also celebrating after a recent study found that they have the quickest download speeds of 7.243 Mbps compared to the overall average of 4.331Mbps. 

Although O2 had the best overall score in the survey Virgin only came second in terms of connections speed recording a score of 0.489 Mbps

Finding the Best Broadband Deals

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Posted by Admin on August 25, 2009 – 1:20 pm
Filed under Broadband Speed, Home Broadband, Internet Service Providers

Broadband speed test - www.broadband-test.co.ukHow many hours do you spend online? Broadband providers offer deals based on your usage so to get the best deal, you shouldn’t buy more than you need. Some packages offer ‘unlimited downloads’ but if you don’t surf that much, then it might be cheaper to get a capped deal. If you download a lot then check the fair usage policy to ensure your new service wont be suspended if you download excessively.

Download speed is the most  important element of your package so first of all check the speed that you can get in your area with each provider. The closer you are to your telephone exchange the quicker your speed will be. Dont sign up for a 12 Mbps deal if you can only get a maximum download speed of 6Mbps for example.  Bt hope to provide a 20Mbps speed deal by March 2010. They will also give free Broadband Accelerators to anyone applying online.

Save money by combining your landline, broadband and TV. Check the deals carefully as they all vary. Virgin Media, Sky and BT offer the best deals.  Talk Talk and Plusnet also offer good deals.

If you are short of time consider a comparing broadband deals to see if switching provider can help save you money

It can be difficult to change providers if you are tied to a 12 month contract so make sure that you choose a reliable company. Cheap is not always the best.

Virgin Promises Not to Exaggerate Broadband Speeds

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Posted by Admin on August 13, 2009 – 2:00 pm
Filed under Broadband News, Broadband Speed

Virgin MediaVirgin Media has pledged not to advertise broadband connection speeds that it’s customers cannot acheive. Virgin is making an effort to be honest with users about the broadband speeds that it can offer and they are setting up a new marketing campaign promising that users will receive the actual speeds that they advertise. 

This is now being referred to as the ‘National Broadband Speed Promise’ in a bid to move away from misleading customers into taking out broadband services that do not deliver expected speeds.

Virgin hope to be able to send IPTV services to areas that previously were unable to accesss broadband srevices by using the ADSL2+technology. This should also increase broadband speeds for everyone. The Managing Director for Virgin Media Graham Oxby said that it should not cost extra to access these high speed  broadband services.

Virgin Media Relaxes Broadband Speed Throttling Policy

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Posted by Admin on July 21, 2009 – 5:27 pm
Filed under Broadband News, Broadband Speed

Virgin MediaWith Virgin media topping the broadband speed test charts and offereing the UK’s fastest broadband, you’d think their priority might be advertising this fact and getting new customers onboard. It seems though that the company is focassing first on fine tuning its policies to cope with the extra demand for its services, which involves restricting the broadband speed of some customers.

In February Virgin announced that they were to trial “bandwidth throttling” during peak hours as a way of coping with the increase in demand for broadband that they had experienced over the previous year.

The trial started in Preston, where the top 5% of Virgins heaviest downloading customers had their bandwidth restricted.  Virgin say they are only restricting users that constantly exceed their fair useage policy, and this process ensures that all of their customers receive a reasonable download speed during the peak hours of 4pm until 9pm.

With the trial in Preston now complete the bandwidth throttling policy is about to change again. Virgin now state that they will only need to restrict the top 2% of customers, and it is these customers that will be affected when the company applies the policy nationwide.

UK Broadband Tax of £6 Per Year

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Posted by Admin on July 13, 2009 – 3:40 pm
Filed under Broadband Regulations, Digital Britain

Digital BritainThe Government is planning to impose 50 pence per month broadband tax on every household with a fixed line telephone to fund broadband installation to rural properties.

Some experts believe that Gordon Browns idea of broadband for all is just not achievable while others think that the tax will help to provide fast networks to most homes within a decade.

BT plans to upgrade 40% of UK homes to FTTC by 2012 (Fibre to the cabinet Technology) but this will not include difficult to reach rural areas.

Virgin Media plans to upgrade to speeds of 50Mbps. Virgin supplies broadband to 50% of urban and suburban homes.

It is estimated that the Government will raise about £170 million per year with the £6 per year tax although it is expected that some people will give up their lines to avoid the tax. Some experts think the tax may not be enough because it will be expensive to provide broadband to homes miles away from existing networks.

Gordon Brown has said that broadband is as essential as water, electricity and gas and the Government has earmarked £200 million to roll out broadband at speeds of 2Mbps to approx 2.5m homes who currently do not have access.

He believes that the Digital Britain report could make the UK the broadband world leader. However the final decisions will not be made for some time and we may have a new Government by then.

Virgin Media to Open More High Street Broadband Stores

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Posted by Admin on July 2, 2009 – 11:03 am
Filed under Broadband News, Home Broadband

Virgin MediaVirgin Media have revealed plans to open more high street stores around the country, increasing the number of stores from 27 to 70.

Stores were opened recently in Leicester, Leeds, Plymouth, Bromley and Birmingham and two more are expected soon in London. when the next phase begins.

Last month Virgin announced plans to expand its cable broadband, phone and TV network to cover 500,000 new homes and businesses over the next few years.

Virgin plan to introduce ‘retail lite’ sites, which are shops in prominent positions in shopping centres, without the need for walls. Sites confirmed so far include The Victoria Centre in Nottingham, Meadowhall in Sheffield, and The Ropewalk Centre in Nuneaton.

Each store will create local jobs, with staff receiving intensive training giving them valuable communication skills and product knowledge.

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