Virgin Media Launches the UK's Fastest Broadband

Rew

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Virgin-Media-Launches-UKs-Fastest/story.aspx?guid=%7B87D92885-16E6-447C-9DD7-A08DC6D906A7%7D

LONDON, Dec. 15, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virgin Media (VMED:virgin media inc com
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4:00pm 12/12/2008

the UK's leading broadband provider, today launched its much anticipated ultrafast 50Mb broadband service. Giving customers nearly nine times(1) the average headline broadband speed in the UK, the launch of the 50Mb service is a seismic leap forward for broadband access in the UK and the coming of age of Virgin Media's unique fibre optic cable network.
Neil Berkett, Virgin Media's CEO, said, "Today marks a historic moment, for both Virgin Media and the UK. As the first ISP to roll out next-generation broadband access, our 50Mb service represents the dawning of a new era of high-speed services in the UK and is just the beginning of what we hope to offer our customers over the coming years. This service will transform the way people interact and entertain themselves online and will provide a broadband experience that is truly world class."
With the massive take-up of video-rich entertainment and social networking websites, the new 50Mb service is expected to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand for faster broadband speeds and greater bandwidth. Research conducted by YouGov(2) for Virgin Media found that in the last year more than half (53 per cent) of Brits had started watching TV programmes or clips online. The research also found internet use is at an all-time high with 88 per cent of Brits going online every day. The average amount of data consumed by Virgin Media customers has nearly doubled in the last 18 months and is predicted to quadruple by 2011(3).
The 50Mb service will allow users to download(4) an entire music album in as little as 11 seconds, a TV show in around one minute, a high quality movie in as little as 3 1/2 minutes and a high definition movie in around 15 minutes. The increased bandwidth also means that multiple users can be on the internet at the same time without it affecting the quality or speed of their service. This makes 50Mb ideal for families, people in shared households, such as students and couples, or anyone needing to share a broadband connection. YouGov's research found 71 per cent of UK homes now have two or more computers/laptops or games consoles connecting to the internet. In addition 78 per cent of homes share broadband access as there are two or more people within the home.
The launch of 50Mb is part of a massive investment in Virgin Media's network and more than doubles the capacity of the original build of the UK cable network, creating the potential for speeds of 200Mb. The upgraded network means significant improvements to the service received by all of Virgin Media's broadband customers, with current 10Mb and 20Mb users being moved onto the new "DOCSIS3" network(5), freeing up capacity for increased traffic on the existing DOCSIS 1.0 network. In time, the upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 means Virgin Media will be able to handle more than three times the data currently handled by the cable network.
Using the latest state of the art hardware, the 50Mb package comes with a new DOCSIS3.0 modem, a wireless 'N' router offering the UK's fastest wireless connection, plus free anti-virus and anti-spyware software as well as unlimited downloads(6). A typical family will be able to get the new ultrafast service for as little as GBP35 a month(7).
By the end of 2008, Virgin Media will have completed deployment of its next generation infrastructure to 40% of the network. This will include areas in Scotland, the Midlands and South London. Roll-out to the rest of the 12.6 million homes covered by Virgin Media's fibre optic network is expected to be complete during the Summer of 2009.
To find out more about Virgin Media's 50Mb service, visit www.virginmedia.com/50

Hank Scorpio

this is how a company should act, €ir$cum

Mountjoy Mugger

nuxxx wrote: »

this is how a company should act, €ir$cum

Maybe. But it's not DSL they use. It's cable.

Whats wrong with cable?

Virgin have a bad rep for throttling people under there strict fair usage policy.

Ponster

About €60 a month it seems. A fine service IMO.

Randomswinger

Magnet beart them to it here in Ireland with 50Mbps broadband launched to their fibre to the home customers earlier in the year

SamandFrank

Randomswinger wrote: »

Magnet beart them to it here in Ireland with 50Mbps broadband launched to their fibre to the home customers earlier in the year

Yea but how many people can get it? im sure Magnet only supply it to Dublin residents. Who have to pay a pretty penny and can only get 50mb on a tuesday at 3 in the morning once a month. Like all other broadband suppliers in this country.

smellslikeshoes

SamandFrank wrote: »

Yea but how many people can get it? im sure Magnet only supply it to Dublin residents. Who have to pay a pretty penny and can only get 50mb on a tuesday at 3 in the morning once a month. Like all other broadband suppliers in this country.

The same questions can be asked about the Virgin product. Magnet provide 50mbit to highly populated areas in Dublin. Virgin will provide this to similar cities in the UK.

Cabaal

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

The same questions can be asked about the Virgin product. Magnet provide 50mbit to highly populated areas in Dublin. Virgin will provide this to similar cities in the UK.

This would be true, not everyone on Virgins network will be able to get this speed.

Also population wise you can't compare what Virgin are offering in the UK with what Magnet have in Ireland, Magnet are doing a decent job given that Ireland has a less dense population.

As for what the speed is available on...its cable only as the fastest general ADSL available ion the UK is upto 24MB

subway

SamandFrank wrote: »

Yea but how many people can get it? im sure Magnet only supply it to Dublin residents. Who have to pay a pretty penny and can only get 50mb on a tuesday at 3 in the morning once a month. Like all other broadband suppliers in this country.

i get 50mB all day every day
never a drop in service or speed

Marlow

SamandFrank wrote: »

Yea but how many people can get it? im sure Magnet only supply it to Dublin residents. Who have to pay a pretty penny and can only get 50mb on a tuesday at 3 in the morning once a month. Like all other broadband suppliers in this country.

Maintaining uncontended 50 mbit/s on FTTH is no problem and I would believe that Magnet does so without problems within their network and also on their transit connections. It's the places that you access from, that might not sustain those speeds. FTTH rollout is usually done on gbit CPE's, but then limited to whatever the product says on the tincan.

Also as a reminder, Magnets sister company owns the only transatlantic fiber out of Ireland and they run multiples of 10 gbit on those. So if Magnet had a problem with bandwidth out of the country, that would be easily solvable for them and they would solve it.

/M

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

Marlow

NiSmO wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That's because you are looking at ADSL. 50 mbit is only available on FTTH (Fiber to the Home) and only where the housing estates were pre-wired for it.

/M

Onikage

1.5Mbps upload? Eww.

Cabaal

Onikage wrote: »

1.5Mbps upload? Eww.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/50Mb/faq.html
Pretty poor upload alright, I'd expect atleast 5MB upload to be honest.

Gonzo

Virgin arent that wonderfull all over the uk, i know 2 people in the guild im in left virgin recently as the service was unusable with constant disconnects and outages just like some ntl customers get here in Ireland so its not all wonderfull.

Marlow

Virgin is matter of fact what used to be NTL before ... or part of Virgin.

Same as NTL is not really NTL anymore in Ireland, but UPC.

And yes, quality of the connection depends on if the network was build with tv or with broadband in mind. Most of the older cable-tv networks will get overcontended very fast, if the topology hasn't changed, whereas a cable-tv network, that was build with broadband in mind will perform very nicely.

/M

christophicus

Marlow wrote: »

Also as a reminder, Magnets sister company owns the only transatlantic fiber out of Ireland and they run multiples of 10 gbit on those. So if Magnet had a problem with bandwidth out of the country, that would be easily solvable for them and they would solve it.

Really ?? So there is actually a connection from Ireland Directly to North America without routing back to the UK or the continent ? Thats pretty cool, I did not know that. Do you know if its connected to INEX by any chance ?

Marlow

christophicus wrote: »

Really ?? So there is actually a connection from Ireland Directly to North America without routing back to the UK or the continent ? Thats pretty cool, I did not know that. Do you know if its connected to INEX by any chance ?

The sister company is Hibernia Atlantic. Their fiber goes from Halifax to Dublin to London and back to Halifax. You can probably find a map on the web by searching.

None of the large carriers are on the INEX, as they have a different agenda. Hibernia Atlantics fiber terminates in their own datacenter. INEX is in DEG and TeleCity. You can check who is connected to the INEX at https://www.inex.ie/about/memberlist . Associate members are not peering on the INEX.

/M

billybob69

http://www.speedtest.net/result/377129265.png