Virgin Media increasing broadband speeds by 20 - 200% starting February

Glaucus · 22 Jan 2012 at 13:46

Alicarve said:
they should install cable first to those who don't have it before upgrading others

not going to happen(on a large scale anyway), they almost bankrupted themselves doing that and still pay it off now.

Thanks goverment for lack of foresight. Why they don't build cable runs under roads as stanadard and plenty of them in one pipe I have no idea. Could then rent or sale cable runs off to companies.
Would hardly cost anything extra when first building. Cost once road is in use and tarmaced is huge.

simon22 · 23 Jan 2012 at 17:28

Just bumping this topic for your help guys!

So I'm currently on the 10Mb package and I was thinking to myself since I pay £21 a month for my broadband why can't I upgrade to 30Mb for only £7.50 more? And since the speed doubling will be happening this year it seems like a wise choice. If not I will still get 20Mb from the upgrade but apparently I will have 60Mb if I upgrade to 30Mb now and pay that 7 quid more.

But should I wait until they are done with the upgrade or head on and order it now? Also are the prices going to increase? If the difference of 40Mb will cost me £7.50 then I'm over the moon.

I will got straight on and order that 30Mb now and wait until my broadband speed doubles in July! But it all seems simple. Really need some sort of confirmation.

Narj · 23 Jan 2012 at 17:47

Are there any chances to the traffic shaping along with this? Otherwise it just means you'll hit the limit twice as fast, surely?

Phreaky · 23 Jan 2012 at 18:43

Traffic management policies are increasing at the same ratio to the speed doubling.

Narj · 23 Jan 2012 at 18:49

Phreaky said:
Traffic management policies are increasing at the same ratio to the speed doubling.

Got a link? I might hold off on the BT Infinity move if it's going to be more sensible...

A2Z · 23 Jan 2012 at 20:54

simon22 said:
Just bumping this topic for your help guys!

So I'm currently on the 10Mb package and I was thinking to myself since I pay £21 a month for my broadband why can't I upgrade to 30Mb for only £7.50 more? And since the speed doubling will be happening this year it seems like a wise choice. If not I will still get 20Mb from the upgrade but apparently I will have 60Mb if I upgrade to 30Mb now and pay that 7 quid more.

But should I wait until they are done with the upgrade or head on and order it now? Also are the prices going to increase? If the difference of 40Mb will cost me £7.50 then I'm over the moon.

I will got straight on and order that 30Mb now and wait until my broadband speed doubles in July! But it all seems simple. Really need some sort of confirmation.

Im in the EXACT same position..not sure whether to upgrade or just wait...

simon22 · 23 Jan 2012 at 22:13

A2Z said:
Im in the EXACT same position..not sure whether to upgrade or just wait...

It seems like I have found an answer for both of us!

If you visit this link http://shop.virginmedia.com/existing-customers/customer-offers/upgrade-to-faster-broadband.html it tells you all about upgrading from 10Mb to 30Mb. You apparently get the first three months for free which seems nice. After the three months I would think that I will pay £28.50 but it doesn't say that on the page. But it does in the general 30Mb broadband section for new customers. Surely the prices wouldn't be higher for us?

If you have a phone line you would pay after the three months £23.50.

And as far as I know the upgrade to 60Mb will be totally free of charge and the prices will stay the same.

Good time to upgrade!

Irish_Tom · 27 Jan 2012 at 13:46

A2Z said:
Im in the EXACT same position..not sure whether to upgrade or just wait...

simon22 said:
It seems like I have found an answer for both of us!

If you visit this link http://shop.virginmedia.com/existing-customers/customer-offers/upgrade-to-faster-broadband.html it tells you all about upgrading from 10Mb to 30Mb. You apparently get the first three months for free which seems nice. After the three months I would think that I will pay £28.50 but it doesn't say that on the page. But it does in the general 30Mb broadband section for new customers. Surely the prices wouldn't be higher for us?

If you have a phone line you would pay after the three months £23.50.

And as far as I know the upgrade to 60Mb will be totally free of charge and the prices will stay the same.

Good time to upgrade!

That's what we've just done. SuperHub got delivered yesterday and they activated the 30Mb line within 15 minutes of calling the activation number.

30Mb is flying compared to the old 10Mb so I'll looking forward to 60Mb!

Liquid_Entity · 27 Jan 2012 at 14:03

Did you have to take a new 12 month contract when you upgrade though. My only concern is that I won't be in the same property in the next 12 months and would suck if the next place couldn't have Virgin Media.

HeX · 27 Jan 2012 at 14:10

Panzerbjorn said:
Didn't notice this before but they are offering three months free + SuperHub if you need it to upgrade from 10/20Mb to 30Mb (which then means free upgrade to 60Mb).

All you pay is a £30 activation fee on your next bill.

So I managed to do that without needing to call them at all.

Yup I did this. Got the hub on Weds, all up and running at 32Mb down, 3Mb up

Well happy! Got the first 3 months free, and then only £3.50month extra (over my 10Mb costs) after that :cool:

So in effect when it goes to 60Mb i've got 6x the speed for £3.50 extra a month

rampin · 27 Jan 2012 at 14:15

i just got 50mb from virgin does that mean they will upgrade me to 100mb if its in my area?

Sp00n · 27 Jan 2012 at 14:28

You will be upgraded to 120mbit when your scheduled area upgrade comes around

Irish_Tom · 27 Jan 2012 at 15:19

HeX said:
Yup I did this. Got the hub on Weds, all up and running at 32Mb down, 3Mb up

Well happy! Got the first 3 months free, and then only £3.50month extra (over my 10Mb costs) after that

So in effect when it goes to 60Mb i've got 6x the speed for £3.50 extra a month

They never actually confirmed how much extra it would be.

Should get my girlfriend to double check that.

A2Z · 27 Jan 2012 at 16:38

Liquid_Entity said:
Did you have to take a new 12 month contract when you upgrade though. My only concern is that I won't be in the same property in the next 12 months and would suck if the next place couldn't have Virgin Media.

I have just got off the phone from Virgin and can confirm you would be signed up to a new 12 month contract - for the broadband only (if you also have TV and Phone like me, that won't change). Although you don't need to stay at the higher speed/price - you can downgrade in future, the contract is just to have broadband with Virgin.

Hex how is yours £3.50 extra a month? I was told mine would be an extra £5, from £53 -> £58 (total incl tv/phone).

Also how long did your delivery take? I was just told earliest they could sent it out would be next week Tuesday. Also Hex...on your 10mb did your speed go down to 2.5mb during peak hours (4pm+)? As thats the main reason for me wanting to upgrade...as during these times if there is anything downloading it slows down the whole internet....so im hoping that on 30mb, if its again slowed down to 25% during peak time, 7.5mb, should be sufficient for browsing etc while downloading too.

HeX · 27 Jan 2012 at 20:10

A2Z said:
Hex how is yours £3.50 extra a month? I was told mine would be an extra £5, from £53 -> £58 (total incl tv/phone).

Also how long did your delivery take? I was just told earliest they could sent it out would be next week Tuesday. Also Hex...on your 10mb did your speed go down to 2.5mb during peak hours (4pm+)? As thats the main reason for me wanting to upgrade...as during these times if there is anything downloading it slows down the whole internet....so im hoping that on 30mb, if its again slowed down to 25% during peak time, 7.5mb, should be sufficient for browsing etc while downloading too.

I've been with NTL/Virgin for about 11 years now, and when I rang up I played the loyal customer card trying to get the £30 activation waivered.

The guy wouldn't give me that, but went away and came back saying that instead it'd be £3.50/month and not the £5/month originally quoted, plus i'd get the first 3 months free.

I said fair enough and snapped up that deal

Delivery was pretty fast, I rang up last Friday, and they said I could have the hub on Monday, but as no one would be in I arranged for the Weds instead.

On 10Mb my speed only dropped to 2.5 if I went over the limits, which are pretty tight between 4-9 (1.5GB download). On 30Gb you get 5GB between 4-9, so fair bit more breathing room. Plus as you say, if you do go over you've still got 7.5Mb to fall back on

Liquid_Entity · 28 Jan 2012 at 10:16

A2Z said:
I have just got off the phone from Virgin and can confirm you would be signed up to a new 12 month contract - for the broadband only (if you also have TV and Phone like me, that won't change). Although you don't need to stay at the higher speed/price - you can downgrade in future, the contract is just to have broadband with Virgin.

Thanks for the info, will probably just leave it to get a free upgrade then, not sure what the next 12 months will hold for me in this flat.

Nevakonaza · 3 Feb 2012 at 21:10

I wonder how long after the upgrade it will take VM to put the prices right up....im paying £35 a month for 50mb as it is. :/

mrk · 3 Feb 2012 at 21:10

I think £35 for 50Mb is a fairly decent amount of money to pay considering what else is available. And then that 50 goes to 120 soon so even better?

Nevakonaza · 3 Feb 2012 at 21:13

mrk said:
I think £35 for 50Mb is a fairly decent amount of money to pay considering what else is available. And then that 50 goes to 120 soon so even better?

Yeah but have you had to deal with VM...they dont keep their promises and you get diffrent info everytime you phone up...Yes it would be very good of them to give us double the speed for free....but i just have the feeling its not going to be so free after all,i bet a few months after upgrade they will put the price up!

mrk · 3 Feb 2012 at 21:16

Prices shouldn't go up tbh for such connections, they haven't before so why would they now

With BT's connections increasing at such a rate and prices remaining decent too VM can't afford to have people switch because they're losing customers due to price increases.