Wednesday, 10 August 2016 16:56

Virgin Media to offer ultra fast broadband

Written by
Usain Bolt in the latest Virgin Media advertising Usain Bolt in the latest Virgin Media advertising Virgin Media, BBH London
Virgin Media hopes to be able to offer its ultrafast broadband network to 40,000 homes and businesses across the Borough of Barnet by the end of 2018.

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, told the Barnet Society that a connection to the network should become available to several thousand properties within her constituency in streets in High Barnet, East Barnet and Friern Barnet.

This news will be much appreciated by the many households that have complained for so long about slow broadband speeds.

“Virgin Media’s network can provide far faster speeds than British Telecom, and the fact that Virgin Media can offer an alternative might put even more pressure on BT to update those telephone cabinets that cannot supply fibre connections.”

A recent survey showed that there are 2,649 homes in Mrs Villiers’ constituency that do not have a superfast internet speed of more than 24 megabits per second.  

Virgin Media announced in July that it is to invest a further £3 billion in extending its ultrafast network.  

Work has already started in London: 90,000 premises have been covered so far; a further 38,000 will have access by early 2017; and this will have risen to a total of 400,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2018, including 40,000 in the Borough of Barnet.

Virgin Media claims to offer the fastest widely available speeds in the UK of up to 200 megabits per second for consumers and 300 megabits per second for businesses.

Currently the Virgin Media network covers 2.8 million premises in London and householders wishing to register their interest in a connection should visit www.virginmedia.com/cablemystreet

4 comments

  • Comment Link Sunday, 14 August 2016 21:46 posted by rob

    this is great news, well done and thanks to all those who have been campaigning for this.

    In related news I noticed that the status of BT Fiber for our house in wood st has just changed from Build to Connect:
    https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx

    "We're connecting power to the new fibre cabinet and joining the new fibre lines to the existing copper network. You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next four months."

    and BT have some parking restriction notices on Wood St to work on the cables so hopefully we'll get BT Fibre soonish.

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  • Comment Link Monday, 22 August 2016 13:32 posted by AK57

    Just got back from Co Mayo, northwest Ireland, where rural fibre speeds are up to 70mbs. Puts our lack of fibre into real perspective!

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  • Comment Link Sunday, 09 October 2016 12:54 posted by rob

    An update on cabinet 40 - around wood st - has moved from Connect to Activate which means high speed broadband should be available in about a month..

    http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx

    Again, thanks again to everyone who has been pushing this.

    "making sure everything is ready for your fibre order.
    You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next month."

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  • Comment Link Wednesday, 19 October 2016 22:13 posted by rob

    Another update on cabinet 40 - status has changed to activated. We just ordered (on wood st, near ravenscroft park) from BT for proper fiber.

    thanks to all at the society who pushed to get this sorted.

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