UK broadband speeds increasing as Virgin Media remains top internet provider
/v3-uk/news/2143080/uk-broadband-speeds-increasing-virgin-media-remains-internet-provider
02 Feb 2012, Dan Worth , V3
Ofcom has revealed that the average UK broadband speed achieved by households is 22 per cent faster than 12 months ago as consumers take advantage of the numerous high-speed services being offered by internet service providers (ISPs).
The average connection speed is now 7.6Mbit/s, an increase on 6.8Mbit/s in May 2011 and 6.2Mbit/s in November 2010.
But four out of ten households have yet to upgrade to faster packages, despite a minimal cost increases in doing so, Ofcom noted.
The watchdog's chief executive, Ed Richards, welcomed the speed increases and said Ofcom expected even higher average speeds in the coming years as firms such as Virgin and BT upgrade their services.
"There is a real opportunity for consumers to look at the packages and deals in their area in order to receive the best value, speeds and performance available to them," he said.
"We can look forward to further increases in UK broadband speeds over the next few years."
Ofcom's latest report also provided insight into the average speeds achieved by customers on some of the nation's major ISP, including BT, Virgin Media and Sky, with Virgin once again performing well.
Ofcom found that Virgin's up-to-10Mbit/s service offers an average speed of between 9.3 and 9.6Mbit/s while its 50Mbit/s service ranged between 47.4 and 48.8Mbit/s.
By contrast BT's up-to-20Mbit/s service achieved between just 7.8Mbit/s and 9.7Mbit/s. Its 40Mbit/s offering delivered between 35.4Mbit/s and 36.7Mbit/s.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said the increasing speeds being achieved by consumers was a demonstrated the health of the UK's broadband market.
"More and more people are choosing fibre optic broadband and making the most of superfast speeds. It's good to see broadband speeds moving in the right direction," he said.
Despite the increasing speeds the UK is still a long way from achieving its goal of being the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015. A recent report placied it seventeenth among its European rivals.
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
Lies
I've been with Virign Media (formerly NTL) since living at my parents in the early 1990's. We've always used their services and been generally happy with them. I continued to take them with me when I moved out, I was subscribed to their 30mb, XL TV & XL phone. I recently had to move (7 months now), and continued and brought Virgin Media with me, and I'm the only one around here who sticks with them. The area has no cable installed so I now have to stick with download speeds of around 1-10kbps, yes KBPS. They don't care about customers, all they care about is money.
I've been in contact with them regarding getting my area cabled, which was a no. They even blanked our local MP and shunned me away when I mentioned the £4m put aside for them doing this in my area. They used excuses like 'we can't talk about business matters', seriously... this information is publicly available on BBC. They just don't care and won't spend the money where it's needed.
2000+ familes are having to live with an average download speed of 1-10kbps, making downloading 1 song take up to 8 hours. The children and adult work life is being affected by the useless speed. There's no watching catchup TV, viewing YouTube videos or playing learning games, unless you're willing to wait a couple of weeks.
I understand they're going to blame BT, but truth is, Virgin Media are money hungry, they care more about TiVo boxes and upgrading 10mb to 30mb rather than helping people with nothing!
They disgust me, I will soon be having to move because whenever I'll have to begin my software development job, I'm going to rely on my net connection 24/7. Nobody cares, not even BT.
These downloads mean nothing tbh, focus more on the 'can't download'.
Posted by Dan, 02 Feb 2012
Virgin Media
I have also been a customer of Virgin Media and their predecessors.
Overtime they have steadily increased the broadband speed at no extra cost (and even reductions sometimes).
I now have a 50mb connection and get every ounce of it 24/7. During February and for no extra cost to me, my broadband speed is being doubled to 100mb and later to 120mb. This is all for what I am paying now.
Perhaps Dan should have checked what broadband connections were available locally when he decided to move house.
I am very satisfied with my service.
Andy
Posted by Andy, 02 Feb 2012