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Virgin Media fires up 152Mbps ultrafast and broadband boosts for all

Virgin Media has launched a new 152Mbps service and has begun to increase the top speeds of all of its fibre broadband services. 

Customers previously getting up to 120Mbps will start to see Virgin Media turbo-charging their connection up to 152Mbps. 

Those on the 30Mbps and 60Mbps will also be getting boosted up to 50Mbps and 100Mbps respectively. 

Virgin Media fires up 152Mbps ultrafast and broadband boosts for all
You got Boost Power: Virgin Media cranks it up a notch

Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, said: “Overwhelmingly people tell us the internet is a force for good. From daily life to the bigger aspects of society, culture and economic growth, digital is making a significant, positive difference to people’s lives. 

“We’re supercharging our incredible network to ensure that Virgin Media customers can make the most of the online world.”

The speed boosts follow prices rises which took effect from the first of this month. Details of the on average 6.7 per cent price rise and the speed boosts were announced by Virgin Media last November. 

Prices for Virgin Media broadband on its own (no phone service or TV) costs £25/month for 30/50Mbps, £30/month for 60/100Mbps and £37.50/month for 120/152Mbps. 

Taken with a Virgin Phone line (£15.99/month) Virgin broadband and weekend calls costs £15.50/month for the 30/50Mbps package, £20.50/month for 60/100Mbps and £28/month for 120/152Mbps. 

Even if you’re not in line to get a speed boost of up to 152Mbps, Virgin Media says that you should benefit from more people in your area signing up for faster services. 

Ade Brittain, innovations technologist at Virgin Media, told Recombu: “When we increase the bandwidth available in an area, it has a positive effect on all the customers in that area. 

“If you’re downloading a large file, you’ll be able to download that faster, there’s less congestion back in the network, which means that everybody benefits. Packets of data are held up for shorter amounts of time and will be delivered more quickly to your home.” 

Brittain also revealed that with the current level of technology, Virgin can go even faster. Tests in 2012 proved that the DOCSIS 3.0 tech Virgin uses can provide customers with speeds of up to 1.5Gbps

Speed boosts will be rolled out to Virgin’s 4.5 million broadband customers in phases, meaning you might not get yours as soon as other parts of the country. Virgin Media has set up a speed checker tool on its site, giving you an idea of when broadband tune ups are likely to arrive in your neck of the woods.  

As well kicking off this latest round of speed increases – Virgin Media launched a similar Speed Doubling programme in March 2012 – the UK’s biggest cable ISP has today also announced that it’s scrapping peak time restrictions on downstream traffic. This means unless you’re downloading hundreds of files from BitTorrent or accessing newsgroups you shouldn’t see your download speed cut in any way. 

Image: Zack Dischner/Flickr

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