Understand home broadband speeds from Virgin Media

Broadband Speeds, Fast Broadband, High Speed Broadband

Speed does matter

The faster your broadband, the more you can do online. Pretty obvious, really, isn’t it?
With Virgin Broadband, everyday browsing is a pleasure rather than a chore. And when it comes to the really exciting stuff, like streaming HD video or downloading, you can enjoy it without having to stop and wait while your connection catches up. Not only that, with our up to 60Mb and up to 100Mb superfast broadband, you can have several people sharing the same connection without slowing each other down.

Fibre optic is the fastest

The mega speeds of up to 100Mb that you can get with Virgin Broadband are thanks to fibre optic cable. It’s made from strands of glass as thin as hair, which carry information by light. This is much, much faster than the copper telephone wire used by other providers. And, unlike broadband down your phone line, fibre optic broadband doesn't get slower the further away your house is from the telephone exchange.

So how fast are we talking?

Our up to 100Mb broadband makes light work of even the heftiest downloads:

A whole music album (60MB) in 6 seconds
A TV show (350MB) in 30 seconds
A high quality movie (1GB) in 1½ minutes
An HD movie (4GB) in 6 minutes

What can you do with it?

Our broadband comes to you via fibre optic cable rather than regular copper telephone wires. This gives you more bandwidth, so everyone in your house can be online at the same time without any drop in speed.

Here are some of the other things you can do:

Download games and apps faster
Upload photos to Facebook faster
Skype friends and family around the world in high quality

You could say bye bye to buffering

Fibre optic broadband gives you low lag times and consistent speeds. So you could stream films, videos and TV shows even at peak times without seeing that pesky buffering symbol.

And it's future proof

However speedy the web gets in the future, fibre optic cable is going to be able to handle it. We've led the way with fibre optic broadband in the UK and we're determined to keep offering incredibly fast broadband to as many people as possible. And it’s only going to get faster.

See how fast fibre optic broadband is

Home Phone & Broadband, TV Broadband & Phone Packages

See our bundles

High Speed Broadband, Fast Broadband, Home Broadband

Compare broadband

The legal stuff

General:
Service availability: SERVICES AVAILABLE IN VIRGIN MEDIA CABLED STREETS ONLY. Subject to survey and network capacity, minimum term contract applies, check basket for details. If you cancel during the minimum contract period you will incur an early disconnection fee.
Installation: Installation charges apply (starting from £49.95 for standard install).
Payment: Offers require you to pay by Direct Debit and use eBilling. If you prefer not to pay by Direct Debit, you will incur a monthly £5 payment handling fee payable to Virgin Media Payments Ltd. If you would like paper bills, the fee is £1.75 a month. Payment may be required in advance. All prices include VAT. Information correct at 01/04/2012. Calls may be monitored. Further legal stuff applies.
Money back guarantee: Available to new customers and existing customers taking a new service. Call us within 28 days of activation for a refund of your first month’s rental charges and any installation charge. You will only be charged for transactions (calls, purchases, service upgrades) occurring after activation. Statutory rights are not affected.
Free servicing and repairs: Excludes misuse/mistreatment.

Six months half price: Offer ends 30/06/12 and is only available to new customers. May not be used in conjunction with any other offer unless stated by Virgin Media. 18-MONTH MINIMUM TERM CONTRACT APPLIES. New customers (subject to status and credit checks): to get half price discount you must take TV M+ with a phone line, Broadband L with a phone line, or a bundle combination of at least TV M+, Broadband L, Phone M with a phone line. Half price discount not applicable to Phone L or XL, line rental, premium channels or TiVo monthly charge for additional TiVo boxes (any subsequent TiVo boxes bought will be charged at £5 per box). Virgin Media reserves the right to withdraw or amend the discount if you change any part of your offer package. Standard prices apply after first 6 months. This offer requires you to pay by Direct Debit and use eBilling.

Broadband
Speed: Speeds referred to are download speeds. Minimum computer requirements apply. Speed of internet connection assumes components working at optimum speed and capacity.
Free Virgin Media Super Hub: Available to all new broadband customers taking our 30Mb, 60Mb or 100Mb broadband services, and to existing customers upgrading to 30Mb, 60Mb and 100Mb broadband (subject to status and credit checks). Broadband activation fees may apply. Super Hub provided free while you are a subscriber. Wireless-enabled equipment required. Existing customers not upgrading their package can buy a Virgin Media SuperHub for £75. Equipment remains property of Virgin Media.
Virgin Media Security: Security features not available to Mac users.
Downloading: Copyright owner's permission may be required for the downloading of music.
Acceptable Use Policy applies. Traffic Management operates from 4pm to 9pm and 10am to 3pm to ensure a consistent user experience.

Estimate based on Ofcom’s review of UK broadband speeds published in May 2011. Speeds tested over a 24 hour period through a wired connection for 1 PC. Customers may experience slower speeds when multiple devices are connected and when using broadband wirelessly.

Download speed examples: Download times are estimated and calculated based on full-rate downloads on a wired connection, with 5% allowance for Internet Protocol transfer and connection overheads. The sizes used for calculation are a music album at 60Mb, a TV show at 350Mb, a high quality movie at 1.1 GB (e.g. from LOVEFILM) and an HD movie at 5 GB (e.g. HD movies from Xbox Live marketplace).