Virgin Media launches 50Mbps internet service in UK

by Darren Murph posted Dec 15th 2008 at 7:58PM

Remember that fanciful cable modem that Virgin Media unveiled last month? Now it's clear as day what it will be used for. This week, the operator has announced the launch of its lightning fast 50Mbps high-speed internet service in the UK. The service has instantly placed VM at the top of the class in terms of speed, though it certainly won't come cheap. Reportedly, it'll run locals some £51 ($77) per month, though the monthly fee is lowered to £35 ($53) if users also take a Virgin phone line for £11 ($17) / month. There's no mention of what regions will have access right away, though it should be rolled out "country-wide" over the next six months. Not to be completely outdone, rival BT has also come forward with plans to trial a 40Mbps service during the summer of 2009. Who knows -- maybe our "status quo" 2Mbps connections will eventually be akin to 56k modems of yesteryear.

[Thanks, Alex]

Filed under: Cable, Internet

Tags: 50mbps, broadband, cable modem, CableModem, global, high-speed internet, High-speedInternet, internet, UK, virgin, virgin media, VirginMedia

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

loosely_coupled @ Dec 15th 2008 8:21PM

Thats by far the cheapest 50mbps service I've ever heard of, certainly compared to the prices In the United States (for the minuscule percentage of the population that has access to such speeds). I believe Verizon's fiber-to-the-home 50mbps service is ~$150/month... Though most of us are lucky to be able to get 6-8mbps cable service...

Neutral

Marshall @ Dec 15th 2008 8:53PM

Um...yeah. My folks in Iowa have Mediacom, pay $45 (and that with a cable TV package), and their phone line was $25 before they went for Skype, so $53 with a $17 phone line for 10x the speed is a pretty good deal.

Marshall
The Real HT Info Podcast

Neutral

Big Sam @ Dec 15th 2008 9:08PM

Since I can't get FIOS, I'd gladly pay $77 for 50Mbps down as long as the upstream was at least 5-10 Mbps. But maybe not when the next best competitor (Be Broadband) offers 24Mbps for a third of the price.

Neutral

Paul @ Dec 15th 2008 9:36PM

Be Broadband is UP TO 24Mb, unless you live in the exchange you will never see that speed, the max would be around 16Mb if you lived next door.

The service Virgin is offering is 50Mb, plain and simple. no UP TO bull crap............its not without restrictions however, you can only download at 50Mb in small amounts/night time.

Neutral

Truth Teller 2 @ Dec 15th 2008 9:54PM

"maybe our status quo 2mbps connections"?!

What part of 'way out in the sticks' are you from Darren?

The 'status quo' connection across most of the UK is the 'up to 8mb' connection
(with many areas, especially the cities - the Birmingham area has C21N 'up to 24mb' - now doing way better than that).

You're a tad out of date.
Have a look around this site here - http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

Neutral

Matthew @ Dec 15th 2008 10:01PM

I have WildBlue (only internet service offered where I live), and I pay $89 a month for 1.5mbs up and 256kb down. I would love to have 2mb down and 1mb up with a reasonable latency speed of 300-400ms, and pay 60 a month.

Neutral

hey hey @ Dec 16th 2008 12:06AM

Lets be realistic about the situation. Like our Cell phone services here in the USA, Broadband internet is way overpriced and lacks speed in comparison to other services around the globe.

We need higher speeds for more affordable prices here in the states.

Neutral

daaper @ Dec 16th 2008 9:29AM

Is Darren in the UK? I thought he was here in the US (this is a US site,), which would mean by "our" he really did mean ours and not yours. Believe it or not, the whole world isn't on the same level of internet speed.

Neutral

r @ Dec 16th 2008 1:52AM

And where I live - in Slovenia - I have a 10/10 MB internet, phone and IPTV on FTTH for 30 €. 50/50 MB would cost me 50 € (without the phone and TV). :-)

Neutral

B @ Dec 16th 2008 4:31AM

That's nothing. UPC, a Dutch cabler, is already offering 120Mbps connections since October or so.

Neutral

Pete @ Dec 16th 2008 5:51AM

It may say "50Mb/s", but if you use that for more than a couple of minutes they cap your speed. I am on their 10Mb/s service. If I download over a gigabyte a day they reduce the speed by SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT! Making my "10Mb/s" service a 2.5Mb/s. They say they won't throttle the 50Mb/s until it goes nationwide next year, but at 50Mb/s it's only going to take a matter of minutes before the unbelievable cap comes in. Better of going with a DSL provider like Sky, who offer a lower top speed, but maintain it 24/7.
As soon as my 12 month min term with Virgin is up, I'm off, never to return!

Neutral

Rodney @ Dec 16th 2008 11:47AM

to my us based peers - go to www.speedmatters.org and petition congress to increase the broadband infrastructure!

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