Back to top
Back to all articlesBack to all articles

Virgin Upgrades Some Customers to 600Mbps Broadband for Free

Virgin-speed-upgrades

Virgin Media is boosting speeds on their top-tier Oomph TV and broadband bundle to 600Mbps and allowing customers to access its previous 516Mbps speeds in a standalone internet deal.

At present speeds on the majority of Virgin’s network are limited to 516Mbps downstream and can only be acquired with the Oomph TV broadband and phone bundle. It's the fastest widely available broadband package on the market, available to the half of UK residences covered by Virgin.

But Oomph, with 260 television channels, Sky Sports HD, Sky Cinema and a hefty bill (currently £79/month for the first year and £135/month thereafter), isn’t for everyone. And the fastest speeds available to standalone broadband customers are 362Mbps, with the M350 tariff.

Virgin is rolling out an upgrade which will make 1Gbps (actually 1104Mbps) speeds available, across all of its network with its new HUB 4.0 router,

However, the upgrade is currently only available to around two million homes, primarily in the Midlands, Manchester, Southampton, Reading, and parts of Berkshire, Hampshire and Buckinghamshire. Virgin is aiming to reach all 15 million of its connected premises by the end of 2021 and it’s not known how coronavirus has impacted installation.

But customers across the country won’t have to wait that long to upgrade their Virgin cable.

The new tiers, available from July, will juice up the Oomph package and give internet-only customers a higher speed option.

The Oomph speed upgrades will reportedly be automatic and free, ISPreview is reporting. It’s not yet known how much the standalone 516Mbps package will cost.

Virgin Media didn’t comment on the rumoured speed upgrades but an official announcement is expected later this month.

Virgin launched a similar speed boost in January, upgrading one million subscribers to its M50 (50Mbps download) package to its M100 deal, doubling their broadband speeds to 108Mbps in one stroke and for no additional charge.

Customers wishing to take advantage of the new standalone 516Mbps broadband deal will need to sign up online or over the phone. Virgin Media announced that none of its 53 high-street locations will reopen following their closures during the coronavirus lockdown. Virgin said the pandemic had accelerated the shift of its customer services to digital platforms, making the branches obsolete.

Virgin is also in the process of a £31 billion merger with mobile operator O2, which is expected to be complete by mid-2021.

Lauren Smith
Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

Read all articlesRead all articles

Read on our blog

With the government poised to implement tough new measures to...

TalkTalk Confirms Huge Bills Hikes from Friday
Broadband
30. 03. 2022 | Lauren Smith

Budget broadband provider TalkTalk has been notifying customers via email...

A year-long investigation by charity Citizens Advice has revealed a...

All English Schools Will Have Gigabit Broadband by 2025
Broadband
23. 03. 2022 | Lauren Smith

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has announced a new commitment to...