Virgin's 50Mbit Service - FYI

All info current at time of posting!

£52 / month.

New 12 month contract.

Rollout starts in 2 weeks, completes April 2009.

50Mbit downstream 1.5Mbit upstream.

Upstream to go to 2.5Mbit at some point in the future.

Initially no traffic management however when rollout complete will have a (currently) 10GB limit between 4pm and 9pm, after which connection will go to 7.5Mbit.

Edited by Ignitionnet (Sat 04-Oct-08 18:39:01)

Interesting. Where did this info come from? Official release or just rumour?

Why would I need to start a new contract just to do a speed upgrade, that'd definitely be a barrier for me to upgrade.

John.

In reply to:

---

Why would I need to start a new contract just to do a speed upgrade, that'd definitely be a barrier for me to upgrade.

---

Because it will be on a different tier than the one you are on at the moment. You won't be staying on the XL package (if you're on 20mb now) but something else so it needs a new contract.

Virgin Media:20MB

Download Speed: 21624 kbps
Upload Speed: 729 kbps
http://www.speedtest.net/result/161563470.png

The 12 month new contract, is most likely because you'll require a new cable modem for 50mbit.

I filled in a survey recently from VM, it seemed they were thinking about charging a £50 'connection fee' for the 50mbit ...maybe they dropped that idea, and went with the 12 month requirement instead.

The £50 Connection fee is actually for the new modem.

A new 12 month contract would be required regardless as it's a new tier.

So abuse it until april? sounds okay.

2.5mb? That's going to be more like what people need DOCS 3 can do more than that as we all know.

In reply to:

---

Because it will be on a different tier than the one you are on at the moment. You won't be staying on the XL package (if you're on 20mb now) but something else so it needs a new contract.

---

But why do I need a new contract? Is this VM just being self-destructive or are there some hidden costs involved in upgrading that they need to recoup? If the latter, why not just have an upgrade fee?

John.

Because you'll be on a different tier. It's almost like buying a new car. Getting upgraded from 10mb to 20mb is like changing the wheels. You don't need to do anything with the insurance. However, going from 20mb to 50mb (changing tiers) is like buying a new car and therefore you have to update the insurance.

The service you will be getting won't be XL. At the moment your contract is for the XL package. So inevitably your contract will have to change to show this and once it's been changed a new period of 12 months sets in.

Virgin Media:20MB

Download Speed: 21624 kbps
Upload Speed: 729 kbps
http://www.speedtest.net/result/161563470.png

Edited by gunnersboy (Sun 05-Oct-08 10:54:01)

Sorry, that makes no sense to me. What does it mean to be on a different 'tier' and why does it require a 12 month lock-in?

John.

Ok - different tiers on Virgin Media at the moment are M (2mb) L (4/10mb) and XL (20mb). Assuming you are on the XL package at the moment (20mb) then when the 50mb comes out you will be required (if you want to have 50mb) to change tier. In other words a new tier will be introduced. It won't be called XL. The tiers refer to the speed package you are on. 2/4/10/20mb.

The reason it requires a 12 month lock in is because all Virgin Media contracts are for 12 months. Your current one is for 12 months and as soon as a contract changes it sets off another 12 month contract. This is standard across the board. Some ISP's have shorter contracts such as 6 months or even 1 months. However, with any of them if you change your contract it sets off a new period and the contract date is from the date you received the new product.

Hope this helps

Virgin Media:20MB

Download Speed: 21624 kbps
Upload Speed: 729 kbps
http://www.speedtest.net/result/161563470.png